PokerStars

Site Summary

It’s really not until you try out PokerStars firsthand that you can truly understand what all these numbers really mean. For example, the Casino Papa test team began carrying out its usual testing ritual somewhere in the region of 6pm on an average Tuesday. Nevertheless, despite the fact that this wasn’t exactly one of the week’s peak times, there were still well over 120,000 active players online at the time. Suffice to say, there isn’t a competitor in the world that comes close to this.

As for the action itself, the list of poker variations on offer is equally spectacular. Rather than just sticking with a few favourites, these guys well and truly up the ante with Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha-8, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/lo, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., Five Card Draw and Deuce to Seven Triple Draw. And of course, PokerStars is also world famous for organising and hosting probably the biggest and best global online poker tournament every year – the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).

Absolutely everything about PokerStars was crafted from the ground up with players in mind. Not only was it one of the first poker sites in the world to offer the option of table resizing, but the entire platform focuses on outstanding quality of gaming with no unnecessary garnish. In fact, more often than not one of the only criticisms that are thrown the way of PokerStars is that of the visual prowess of the platform itself not been quite spectacular enough. Nevertheless, anyone with a genuine interest in poker will tell you that anything that takes away from the gaming action itself is completely superfluous and doesn’t count for anything. When the poker itself is this a good, who the hell needs fancy 3D avatars and animations?

You’d probably expect a brand as enormous and popular as PokerStars to offer full 24/7 customer service telephone lines, but sadly you’d be wrong. Maybe it comes down to the fact that there are simply too many customers worldwide to be able to effectively man the phones 24 hours, but still…not a good thing in most books. There is a 24/7 e-mail customer support service, though in this instance responses can sometimes take up to four hours.

As for those all-important bonuses…well, it’s pretty much the same story once again as it was with the graphic interface. PokerStars actually ranks relatively low when it comes to bonuses and promotions, but this really doesn’t matter if it is just the quality of the poker available that you are interested in. There’s a £20 welcome bonus along with a 100% initial deposit match bonus, which in both instances carry relatively heavy and complex wagering requirements, terms and conditions.

Over the years, the PokerStars mobile app has been overhauled any number of times and today stands out as one of the best in the business. Once again, simplicity is the order of the day and unnecessary frills are left out of the equation – all of which guarantees stellar performance at all times.

Best Features

Without any shadow of doubt whatsoever, the best feature over at PokerStars is the way in which there are always literally tens of thousands of players active at any one time. This means that no matter what style of poker you prefer playing or the kinds of limits you’re after, you’ll always find a whole world of players right on your level. The platform itself is also an absolute joy to work with.

Conclusion

Here at Casino Papa, we know that bigger isn’t always better. In the case of PokerStars however, it absolutely is. Not only is PokerStars one of the biggest and most popular gaming sites on the face of the earth, but they’ve also well and truly nailed it when it comes to the total poker package.