Party Poker no longer accepts US players, which resulted in losing their famous title as the world's largest online poker room. The statistics are a bit limited and the graphical interface is nothing to write home about, but the over playability and functionality are good. Poker Tracker is supported, with fully automated importing of ring game and tournament data. Party Poker offers a Poker Training section to learn the rules and basics of poker, plus a Poker Academy for the more serious players.
The Party Poker software, developed by their own company, is quick and reliable with lots of nice features, including 13 languages. Usability is very good, with deal making, player notes, an excellent hand history feature, and sound/animation toggle. Multi-table support allows up to 4 tables at once, with an auto-resize option. Lobby statistics show the usual information like average pot size and hands played per hour, but no viewed-flop percentages.
Party Poker presents a good game variety, including variations of each game; Texas Hold'Em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. Limits are available in No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Fixed-Limit, with heads-up, shot-handed and full-table varieties. The large player base at Party Poker assures play at all games, especially at peak hours where an average 11,700 real-money players are found in ring games, though Limit and No-Limit Hold'em attracts the majority of players.
There's a $100 Rookie Freeroll held several times a day, plus many other daily and weekly freerolls with $250 guaranteed prize pools. New Tournaments start every 5-15 minutes, including Sit-n-Gos, Multi-Table, Single Table, WSOP Satellites and Qualifiers. Buy-ins start as low as $1 ranging up into the hundreds. Buy-in to the qualifier for as low as $11 to win entry to the $200,000 Guaranteed Tournament, negating the normal buy-in of $215. Tournament competition is generally loose until the final rounds, which becomes very tight. Peak hour tournament traffic averages around 75,000.
Soft competition can be easily found in lower limit games, even as high as $2/$4 No-Limit and $5/$10 Fixed Limit games. The rake is quite high in lower limit games, but average for higher stakes. In $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 games where the pot reaches $5, a 10% rake of $0.50 is taken. $5 games rake at 20%, $100 games 8%. High stakes games with 4-10 players take a max rake of $5. Lower limits rake between $.50 to $3 max, depending on blinds and number of players.
Party Poker claims to offer enticing first-deposit bonuses, but players are asked to email the 24/7 support center to find out about current sign-up bonuses and promotional codes. Or you may sign-up an account to see the current bonus offer in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Reload bonuses are occasionally offered at 15-25% up to $100-$200. The Loyalty Program presents surprise cash bonuses, automatically added to player accounts, typically in low sums. Points accumulation is also presented as part of the loyalty program, with points used for merchandise and frequent special tournament buy-ins.
Party Poker suplies an array of deposit/withdraw methods for their players convenience. Deposit methods include Visa, MasterCard, Visa Electron, PaySafeCard, EPS, WebMoney, Mister Cash, iDeal, Laser, Click&Buy, Click2Pay, GiroPay, Ukash, eWire, ELV, Electronic Transfer, UseMyBank, Switch, Maestro, Solo, Bpay, MoneyBookers, EntroPay Visa, NETeller, Citadel, MyCitadel, Bank Transfer and Bank Wire Transfer. Withdraw options are generally made in the manner as deposits, with the following methods available: Visa, Switch, Maestro, Solo, WebMoney, Electronic Transfer, NETeller, Click2Pay, Bpay, MoneyBookers, Bank Wire Transfer and Checks by mail. Checks may also be requested with express delivery (FedEx, DHL and UPS) with a $25 fee.
Customer support at Party Poker is ranked among the best in terms of reliability and knowledgeable staff. 24/7 Telephone support is the best option, receiving expert assistance usually in under a minute. The e-mail support is a little on the slow side, but very reliable and always friendly. The FAQ page located on the Party Poker web site is very informative and search-able.
There are no reported problems with payouts as Party Poker is one of the largest and most financially secure online poker rooms in the world. SSL and 128-bit encryption technologies are implemented to ensure the safety and confidentiality of all transactions and player information. Random Number Generators and card shuffling is utilized and certified by iTech Labs for fairness in all games. Party Poker is licensed by and in accordance with all laws and regulations of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.
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