Party Poker

Posted by Lassieham 26/02/09

7.5 / 10

Network: Party Poker (independent)

Country of origin: Gibraltar

Established: 2001

Accept US Players: No

Eu Based: Yes

The site in general: Party Poker is one of the biggest poker rooms in the world, with first class traffic, promotions, tournaments and game selection. Party Poker is also known for running tons of satellites and special events, including the famed PartyPoker Million. Because of the good traffic and game variety, any player can typically find a table they like - particularly if they're looking for soft Hold'em action.

Big name pros: Mike Sexton, Ian Frazer, Kara Scott, Dragan Galic, Remy Biechel and Tony G.

Bonuses: Sign up and deposit through a SmartGambler link and get a world-best up to $500 bonus at 100% match. Party Poker is definitely an industry leader when it comes to player-friendly promotions. For starters, it hosts a huge flagship tourney - the PartyPoker.com Million - every year with tons of satellites, plus massive guaranteed tournaments and more satellites to big events than most sites. Loyal players also of course get several types of perks including cash bonuses, special reload bonuses and credits to play in the Party Poker casino or bingo room. Party Poker from offers good reload bonuses from time to time, usually at 15-25% match up to $100-$200. After years with a somewhat complicated loyalty system, Party Poker has revamped the program and made it as simple as possible - earn PartyPoints, and that's it. To claim your full bonus, collect five times the amount you deposited in PartyPoints. For example, if you deposited $50, you need to collect 250 points to get your $50 bonus.

Software: Party Poker offers competitive, privately developed software that's relatively fast, stable and secure. A major software redesign in Sept. 2008 also added a lot of nice new features, including crisper graphics, a quick-seat feature, a live action preview, customized player images and improved multi-tabling options. he stats functions allow for notes on your opposition during play, and the lobby supplies vital table stats like average pot size and hands played per hour. The hand history function in the software also saves the hand histories on the player's local hard drive for a pre-set number of days. The Party Poker software supports play at up to 12 tables simultaneously and multi-table play runs fairly smooth. A new table re-sizing function allows you to resize any individual table - including PLO tables - by holding your cursor over the left or right-hand edge of a table and dragging that edge in or out.

Tables: Party Poker's graphics are much improved with a crisper, clearer look and a revamped table and lobby. The table functions are very easy to learn and well-oriented, with a nicely redesigned and easy-to-use betting bar. All sound and animations can be turned on or off, as well as the sometimes very annoying congratulations message that, as standard, plays after you win a hand.

Layout:   

Special features: The new Party Poker software offers quite a few new special features worth checking out. One of the best is the "hot hand" feature, which you can set up to notify you whenever you get a preferred hand in certain circumstances. Customizable player images are also now available, plus a new table preview function and a much easier-to-navigate lobby. No-install, Java-based version of software allows players to play anywhere. Innovative, automated final-table dealmaking functionality built into software. Unique Steps Challenge step sit-and-go tournaments give more play for the buy-in. The popular game of Blackjack has been added to Party Poker and is available directly from the tables. Create a private table - Set the password and the table will be up and running, great for online friends to meet up and play amongst themselves privately. Video/Audio options - A whole host of options are available for players here. Avatars can be turned on and off as can different sound effects. Customize the poker room the way you want to play it.

Player traffic: Party Poker used to be the largest online poker site in the world, but since banning US players it has dropped down a few spots. It definitely still is near the top and this is largely due to the release of its software is many different languages, which enables many different countries to play easier on it. Because of this, you can expect action at every limit, and tournaments. There are thousands of tables running at once, so you can definitely find a game you want to play. Even in the middle of the day, there can be upwards of 10,000 players online, and this number obviously increases during peak times. The good thing for players is that this means there are always numerous games going no matter what limit or variation you play.

Ease of game: Party Poker’s reputation was largely built upon being the largest and fishiest website back when it was first released. Although it isn’t the largest anymore, it still holds true to the fish part. Many people who still play at Party Poker feel it is the easiest site to play on today. Even at "middle-limit online games" this holds true, and you can typically find very soft games even up to $2/$4 in No-Limit and $5/$10 in Fixed-Limit, whereas many other poker rooms at these stakes will give you rather tough opposition.

Game variety: The size and diversification of players at Party Poker is such that practically any game can be found around the clock.  The games that are offered include:

Texas Holdem – Fixed Limit, No Limit, Pot Limit, Tournaments and Sit and Go’s.
Omaha – Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, Tournaments and Sit and Go’s.
Omaha Hi/Lo – Fixed Limit, Pot Limit, Tournaments and Sit and Go’s.
7 Card Stud – Fixed Limit, Tournaments and Sit and Go’s.
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo – Fixed Limit, Tournaments and Sit and Go’s.

A new feature at Party Poker in their games is they now offer heads-up Sit and Go matches and rematches.

Party Poker additionally offers casino games, sportsbetting, bingo and backgammon.

Tournaments: Party Poker hosts a lot of great tournaments, with buy-ins as small as $1 up to several hundred dollars. The biggest volume events, however, are the small buy-in tournaments. Play at any level is relatively loose, but the big buy-in tournaments will definitely offer up some tough competition as you get closer to the final table. Party Poker is still one of the biggest sites around when it comes to tournament play; especially No-Limit Hold'em, so if you're a Hold'em player, you're sure to find a tournament you like. Party Poker also runs a great deal of freerolls, guaranteed tournaments and qualifiers. The most common are the qualifiers to the weekly $300,000 guaranteed tournaments, where a player can win the tournament's $215 buy-in for as little as $3 or using Party Poker points. Party also spreads plenty of different qualifiers to big live events all over the world, such as the Aussie Millions and the World Series of Poker. Overall, Party Poker is one of the world leaders in both multi-table and sit-and-go tournaments.

Cash games: Traffic at Party Poker is near the top of the industry, with prettty consistent action 24/7. Peak times are definitely European peak hours, but there are always several games at any level of No-Limit Hold'em and Limit Hold'em. Party Poker has peak cash-game traffic of 9,500 real-money players as of February 2009. On PartyPoker, the shorthanded (six-max) tables are much more popular than their tenhanded counterparts. Tables are very easy to find at most stakes up to $5-$10, from which point interest begins to fall drastically.

Rake info: The rake at Party Poker is as follows:

Limit games:
-Up to $0.50/$1, $0.05 per $1 up to a maximum of $1.
-$0.50/$1 to $1/$2 with pot size of $5, $12 and $20, rakes at a maximum of $0.50, $0.75 and $1 respectively.
-$2/$4 to $30/$60 raked through to a maximum of $3.
-$50/$100 and above raked through to a maximum of $5.

No limit and pot limit games:
-Up to $0.10/$0.25, $0.05 per $1 to a maximum of $3.
-Above $0.10/$0.25, $0.05 per $1 ranging from a maximum of $1 to $3, dependent on number of players.
-$25/$50 Blinds and above; $0.05 per $1 to a maximum of $2 for 2 – 3 players, up to a maximum of $5 for 4 – 10 players.

Rakeback: Party Poker does not offer rakeback, but they offer a loyalty program where you earn PartyPoints which you can use to buy cash and bonuses.

Deposit/Withdrawal:

Deposit Options: VISA, MasterCard, Paysafe card, eps (Australia), WebMoney, Bancontact Mister Cash, iDeal, Laser card, Click & Buy, Click2Pay, Giro pay, ukash, Przleway24, DirectPay24, my citadel wallet, Poli, eWire, ELV Germany/Austria), Electronic Transfer (Canada), UsemyBank (Canada/U.K.), Switch/Solo/Maestro, Moneybookers, EntroPay, Neteller, bank wire transfer, bank transfer.

Withdrawal Options: VISA, Mastercard, WebMoney, Switch/Solo/Maestro, Electronic Transfer (Canada), Neteller, Click2Pay, Moneybookers, bank wire transfer, my citadel wallet, bank transfer, checks by mail, checks by courier.

Support: Party Poker has great customer service support through either 24-hr toll free number or e-mail. The phone support is excellent: agents are knowledgeable and friendly, always reminding players of the latest promotions and perks. E-mail support has been known to occasionally take too long to respond, although replies are always accurate. A major letdown with Party Poker is their lack of live chat support, which is very convenient for today’s busy players. Support is also offered in 12 languages.

info@partypoker.com

As a valued SmartGambler.com-member we offer you a Loyalty Program where you can earn PartyPoints which you can use to buy cash and bonuses. We also offer a 100 % deposit bonus up to $500.

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