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Pokerstars Review
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Poker Strategy
Poker Bonus Codes
Poker Stars Codes
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2010 Review Of Pokerstars
Updated, 03/2010 - Simply put, Pokerstars is the number one online poker room in the industry, not just because it boasts the largest active player base (300,000+ players at once), but for the sheer excess of software features, the most lucrative tournament schedule, lightning fast cashouts, an amazing VIP program and the best deposit bonus system in the industry. Poker Stars accepts players from the Unites States of America, in addition to every other major country. Pokerstars has a flawless reputation in regards to fair gaming. They are monitored and certified by third party companies to ensure that everything is completely fair. Pokerstars Bonus Instructions
There are a could steps that you must complete in order to receive the 100% match bonus on your first 3 deposits, up to $600. After you have visited Pokerstars & downloaded their free software (using one of our links), you will need to create an account. On the final step of the account creation process you will be asked to enter a Pokerstars marketing code (shown below). Click on the "Friend Referral" option and enter the marketing code PSP11820.
After you finish registering you will need to enter the bonus code STARS600. You will see the place to enter the bonus code when you make a deposit.
Bonus Details:
After you enter the codes mentioned above and make a deposit you will have 3 months to maximize your bonus by making two more deposits. This is the best bonus format because it doesn't force players to make one huge initial deposit. You do not have to make 3 deposits that equal $600 either. If you only make a $50 pintail deposit and a $100 2nd deposit, you'll receive $150 in free bonus money.
Another thing players love about this bonus is the way it is paid. Instead of paying you in one large lump sum, Pokerstars will credit your real money account in $10 increments. The bonus requirements equal out to 170 VPP's for each $10 increment. I play at the $5/10 (fixed limit) Omaha HL tables and I earn 170 VPP's every 2 hours, when I play at just one table. Overall, this bonus is very easy to clear. You'll have 6 months to clear it so I doubt that even micro-stakes players will have much trouble in that department. Pokerstars also gives players regular reload bonuses so be sure to check your email on a regular basis.
Poker Stars Software
Poker Stars is powered by its own private software platform, having chosen not to integrate a shared play base from any other network – a statement that attests to the pure quality of the online poker room, having maintained the status of world’s largest online poker room for so long. The software is nothing short of amazing, having set the standard for other online poker software platforms to follow. Offering separate downloads for Windows and Mac/Linux users, the software is lightning fast, extremely functional and highly customizable. Even the multi-table options can be customized so a player’s windows are automatically sized and/or tiled to their preference, sitting in their preferred position every time they enter a table.
Poker Stars hand histories are well organized and easy to analyze, as well as being compatible with just about any poker odds calculator on the market. Note taking is available during pay to keep track of past opponents for future competitions. The Poker Stars Lobby supplies all of the necessary statistics for both new and veteran players to find the most suitable tables. Viewed-flop percentages, average pot size and hands per hour are displayed automatically, and when highlighted, seated players, stack sizes and players waiting to join are all visible.
Poker Stars Games
Poker Stars supplies a full range of online poker games to choose from – Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud hi/Lo, 5 Card Draw, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, 2-7 Single Draw, 8 Game Mix, Mixed Hold'em, Mixed Omaha HL, PLO/PLH, HOSE, Badugi and HORSE poker. Games vary between all limits, with micro-limit stakes of $.01/$.02 scaling up to high stakes action of $100/$200. As an added bonus, not found in most online poker rooms, all game varieties can be played in tournament form, not just the typical Hold’em and Omaha poker games.
Poker Stars Tournaments & Sitngo's
Pokerstars holds the Guinness World Record for the largest poker tournament ever played. This obtained this record in December of 2009. The tournament had a playing field of 149,196 players, and there wasn;t even any lag! Their initially made their name in this industry by running the largest and best tournaments online. Most of the people you see playing poker on ESPN can be found competing in the massive tournaments Pokerstars hosts daily. Every possible tournament format you can think of can be found at Pokerstars including Re-buys, small stack (300 or less starting chips), double stack (3,000+ starting chips) and much much more. I have compiled a list of some of their most popular tournaments below. In addition to these Pokerstars also sends thousands of players to the major live televised events like the WSOP every year.
- The Sunday Million(s) - Every Sunday Pokerstars hosts a NL Hold'em tournament with a guaranteed prize pool worth $1,500,000. They need to make the guaranteed amount higher though because this tournament's prize pool normally ranges from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000. This is the largest weekly poker tournament available online. Satellites and feeders to this event start at $2. You can even use your VPP's to enter this tournament. There is also a "Sunday Millions Warmup" event earlier in the day that has a $750,000 GTD prize pool.
- Weekly Championships - Every weekend Pokerstars hosts a "championship" type tournament for every game they offer. For example. every Saturday there is a pot limit 5 Card Draw tournament with a $5,000 GTD prize pool. Even obscure games like 2-7 Triple Draw are included and overlays are very common in these events.
- SCOOP - The "Spring Championship of Online Poker" is the specialty series they are running right now. Like the weekly championship tournaments mentioned above these events have huge GTD prize pools and cover every poker game. In 2010, the combined prize pools (guaranteed) add up to $45,000,000. The actual prize pools will easily peak 100 million dollars though. They break each game up into 3 buy-in levels: low, medium and high. They do it this way so ever micro stakes players have a chance to win hundreds of thousands of dollars. In this year's SCOOP schedule there are 114 separate tournaments!
- WCOOP - Pokerstars also hosts the "World Championship of Online Poker". It is like the internet's version of the WSOP.
Sitngo's:
I am a big fan of sitngo tournaments, and Pokerstars hosts more sitngo's than every other online poker room combined. A sitngo is a tournament that starts when a certain number of players signup. You can find a sitngo for any poker games, at any buy-in level, any time of the day. They have developed specialty sitngo's like "Double or Nothing" events, which are very popular. Here is a breakdown of the sitngo tournaments you will find at Pokerstars.
- Double or Nothing - These sitngo's run with 10 players and will pay the top 5 double the buy-in. I know guys that have gotten rich playing 5-6 of these at once for 5-6 hours/day. You just have to finish in the top 5 and you will win double the buy-in. Using the tight-aggressive playing style is obviously the key to dominating this unique type of sitngo.
- Turbo Sitngo's - Blind levels will increase every 5 minutes!
- Hyper Turbo Sitngo's - Blind Levels will increase every 3 minutes!
- Steps Sitngo's - The Steps promotion allows players to work their way to the massive guaranteed events. Buy-ins start at $.02 or 2 FPP's.
- Multi-Table Sitngo's - Pokerstars offers plenty of 1v1, 4 seat, 6 seat and 10 seat sitngos but they are also the home of the best multi-table sitngos. These sitngos have playing fields ranging from 30 players to 990 players and will start when full.
Poker Stars VIP Program
If you combined the benefits of Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and Cake Poker's VIP program you might get close to the kind of value offered by Pokerstars. Their 5 level VIP system gives so much back to players it amazes me how they can even make a profit.
- BronzeStar - You will start here. You'll earn 1 FPP for each VPP.
- SilverStar - 750 FPP - Earn 1.5 FPP for each VPP.
- GoldStar - 3,000 FPP - Earn 2 FPP/VPP
- PlatinumStar - 7,500 FPP - 2.5 FPP/VPP
- Supernova - 100,000 FPP (you have the whole year!) - 3.5 FPP/VPP
- Supernova Elite - 1,000,000 FPP (you have the whole year!) - 5 FPP/VPP
Stellar Rewards:
In 2010 Pokerstars introduced the Stellar rewards program. It basically adds up to free cash bonuses, that get credited directly to your real money account. As you reach each level you can just go to the VIP store and but each bonus for 1 FPP. I have added a benefits chart below:
This means you can earn up to $1,000 per year and it will only cost you 20 FPP's. I consider myself an "average player" in regards to stakes and hours/week. I was already past the 10,000 level by mid Feb, 2010 (45 days total). They have a built-in "Stellar Rewards Meter" so you'll know when you have reached a benchmark. No other poker room has anything that even compares to the VIP program at Pokerstars, and I haven't even covered the best most important aspect: spending your FPP's!VIP Store:
You can trade your Pokerstars FPP's in for virtually anything. They have TV's, Wii's, cars, T-shirts, poker chip sets, gift cards, cash, computers, poker accessories, cool gadgets, tournament tickets and that's only the tip of the ice burg. If you want something they don't have listed you can just write support and they will acquire it. Everyone is a VIP at Pokerstars. Within the last 6 months I've received well over $1,000 worth of merchandise. Poker Stars Deposits & Cashouts
This is one of the most important factors for the average online poker player. Being able to make hassle free deposits and extremely fast cashouts is what sets Pokerstars apart from their competition. U.S. players can use a variety of deposit methods but I strongly suggest sticking with e-checks. If you have a checking account you will never have a problem depositing at Pokerstars. Cashouts via e-check take 24-48 hours til the money is in your bank account, this is the fastest cashout method for U.S. players. Depositing via credit cards is another easy method that has an extremely high success rate. Non-American players have over 100 deposit/withdrawal methods so there isn't a problem there. Even if you opt for a paper check cashout, you'll have the check in hand within 4-7 days! Some other poker rooms take over 2 months to send me a check!