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PokerStars vs PartyPoker
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker
Given that PokerStars is the most popular USA poker room and PartyPoker was once in that same position, pitting the two against each other in a heads up match is valuable. Both have legions of fans and can boast a long history of evolution within an industry that can be unforgiving to the less adaptable. The key point to remember is that PartyPoker no longer accepts players from the U.S. They closed their doors years ago.
Below, we’ll compare PokerStars versus PartyPoker with regards to their respective software, traffic, bonuses, tournaments, and customer support. If you know very little about either poker room, consider the following comparison a speed course.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Software
Both poker rooms provide their members with software that is both reliable and intuitive. We’ll describe PokerStars’s download first. The lobby is organized in a way that makes it incredibly easy to find the type of game and stakes you’re looking for. Once you enter a room, you’ll find the tables are clearly rendered; everything is simple to read. Plus, you can resize the table easily as well as multi-table. Another item we liked is that the color scheme was changed awhile back from a black base to more eye-pleasing earth tones.
PartyPoker’s software has also been developed with a keen eye for intuition and readability. Their lobby is organized differently and is a little difficult to navigate. However, once you grow accustomed to it, you’ll be able to find everything easily. The graphics used on the tables are less appealing than those used in PokerStars’s software, but they won’t get in your way.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Player Traffic And Competition
PokerStars is the leviathan of online poker rooms. They gained the lead in player traffic at the end of 2006 and have aggressively expanded that lead since. There’s also a huge disparity in skill level at PokerStars; the reason is partly due to their promotions. Nationwide television ad campaigns and a growing online presence have attracted waves of new players. However, as a result of the fish, sharks have predictably circled. Join for the fish, but keep your eyes open for lurking sharks.
PartyPoker has a large player base, but it’s smaller than PokerStars and comprised entirely of non-US players. Before abandoning the US market, they enjoyed the distinction of being the largest online poker room (based upon membership levels). Non-US players will find plenty of action at all of the tournaments as well as at the individual ring games. The average competition at PartyPoker is a little stiffer than at PokerStars. But, with a little reconnaissance, you’ll be able to identify the fish and sharks.
In our opinion, PokerStars is a much friendlier place to start.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Bonuses And Promotions
PokerStars offers one of the easiest-to-clear bonuses when compared to other major poker rooms. It’s a 100% match up to $600 which is par for the course with the major online poker sites today. They also have a perpetually rotating list of promotions in order to keep player activity high. They finally revised their miniscule $50 bonus when Full Tilt Poker started gaining market share.
PartyPoker used to offer a miserly 30% match sign-up bonus up to $150. They have since changed that to a 100% match up to $500. Even though the ceiling on their bonus is much higher than PokerStars’s bonus, it’s more difficult to clear (though you’ll have six months during which to do so). Like PokerStars, PartyPoker has a long list of promotions, including those which rotate and others that are ongoing.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Tournaments
Tournament selection is definitely an area of strength for PokerStars. Plus, not only is their tournament structure well thought out, but their prize pools are typically enormous. Their regular tourneys include the Sunday Million and Sunday Warm-Up as well as a huge list of ongoing Sit N Go’s, freerolls, and satellites. If you’re planning to play in tournaments, you need to join PokerStars.
PartyPoker also has a strong list of tournaments though their list has less breadth than PokerStars’s schedule. That said, their membership base is large and active in the daily and weekly tourneys, so prize pools for the multi-tables can grow to be reasonably large. Unfortunately, since they don’t allow US players, we no longer participate in the PartyPoker tournaments.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Customer Support
Both PokerStars and PartyPoker have strong customer support. Their staff is responsive and knowledgeable which means they can actually provide answers in a timely fashion. We’ve played at poker rooms that included a “support” page on their website, but failed to provide anything resembling true support.
At PokerStars, you can contact a representative through email. PartyPoker provides email and phone options through which to contact them.
PokerStars Vs. PartyPoker: Overall Verdict
So, who’s better, PokerStars or PartyPoker? In our book, Pokerstars edges out PartyPoker by a respectable margin. That’s not to say that PartyPoker is not a high-quality poker room. In fact, if they allowed U.S. players, we’d definitely participate. There’s a reason why they were enormously popular in the U.S. a few years ago and why they’re still popular overseas today.
For more information, read our highly popular PokerStars vs Full Tilt Poker article and the in-depth first person online poker reviews we link to from our home page.
PlayersOnly.com Review
PlayersOnly.com offers online poker, casino and sportsbook and a very large deposit bonus. This review won’t look at the details of the casino or sportsbook other than to say that there are plenty of games to play and virtually all the normal sports betting lines at competitive action. Instead, we’ll take a look at the PlayersOnly.com Poker site. A leading brand of the Cake Network, PlayersOnly is gaining ground on both Sportsbook.com and CakePoker.com in the competition of the leading skins. They attract gamblers and because of this, also savvy online poker players looking for a substantial deposit bonus, fishy action at most stakes, and ease of deposit for new players. PlayersOnly.com meets this need completely.
Quick PlayersOnly.com Facts
- USA Players Allowed
- Highest % of Visa and Mastercard Deposits Accepted
- $1000 matched at 110% with PlayersOnly.com Bonus code: KAP1000 *poker only
- Cash Game Texas Holdem from .02/.04 up to $25/50 NL and up to $100/$200FL
- Visit PlayersOnly
Playersonly.com Poker Tournaments
Most poker tournaments are NL Texas holdem, although there are Omaha tourneys as well. Tournaments happen every day, from freerolls, to satellites, to large guarantees with soft fields. Here are some of the promotional tournaments offered at Players Only.com Poker room.
- $150,000 Guaranteed $150+12 – $31,125 1st place prize.
- Lots of satellites to internal tourneys and World Poker Tour events
- $30 rebuy and addon with $20k guaranteed
- $3.30 rebuy with $1,000 guaranteed
- $500 Friday Night Freeroll
- $500 Welcome Player Freeroll (small tourney for new Real money players only).
PlayersOnly.com Poker Table & Lobby
Here are screenshots of the Players Only Poker table and lobby.
The software is very user friendly even if you have not played online poker before. The buttons are easy to read, easy to press and they don’t jump around on you based on whether or not it is your turn to act. There is also a handy betting bar that lets you easily size your bets using your mouse instead of typing in certain amounts.
The lobby is pretty straightforward with easy sorting options. I found it easiest to find a game by clicking on the Texas Hold’Em tab and then sorting by stakes. They do show the amount of players seeing the flop which is a handy feature if you are looking for a tight table to play wild and loose on or if you are looking for a loose table with fishy players calling raises before the flop.
PlayersOnly.com Poker Games Offered
Poker players can enjoy the following poker games at Players Only.
- Texas Holdem (limit, no limit and pot limit)
- Omaha (pot limit and fixed limit)
- Omaha Hi-Lo (pot limit, no limit, fixed limit)
- Seven card stud shows up in the lobby, but currently there are no games running or offered
- Multi-Tournaments
- Sit-N-Go (1 table tournaments)
PlayersOnly Poker Final Thoughts
With the shrinking options for USA poker players, it is nice to find a site that has a quality reputation of that of PlayersOnly.com. They are a medium to small sized poker network, but they are seeing growth as more and more people are taking advantage of the incredible special deposit bonus offered of a 110% up to $1000 and finding out that being at a site that is super easy to deposit at is good for the action.
- MasterCard and Visa Deposits from Americans is a huge plus
- Easy software to use is a plus
- Reasonable traffic is ok
- Huge Deposit Bonus
- USA Players Accepted
- Download Players Only Software
FullTilt’s FTOPS vs PokerStars WCOOP
Full Tilt poker and PokerStars.com battle one another for online tournament players, and arguably these two sites put together the two most popular online poker tournament series during the year, the FTOPS (Full Tilt Online Poker Series) and the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker). Let’s take a look at these two tournament series compared to one another.
The Full Tilt Poker FTOPS IX
Here are the lean mean details on the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS IX Series
- Starts August 6th
- 24 Events Total
- $15 Million in Prize Pools Guaranteed
- Largest Buy-ins = $2500
- Smallest Buy-In = $120+9 “Knock Out tourney at the end of the series, most events are $200
- Satellites start at $50+5 to events currently, more expected soon.
- Blind Times range from 10 minutes to 30 minute rounds.
Poker Stars WCOOP
Here are the lean mean details on the Poker Stars WCOOP, aka the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker.
- Starts September 5th
- 33 events total
- $30 Million in prize pools guaranteed
- Largest buy in = $25,000, this is a special high roller Heads up Poker tournament with 1.6 mill guaranteed! Sick!
- Also a $10,300 NL hold em main event for the non heads up tourney.
- Smallest buy in = $215
- Satellites start at $2.20
- Satellites also from FPP’s.
- Steps satellite system, win a seat through a series of steps sattelites.
- Winners win a WCOOP Bracelet
- 30 minute blinds across the series
PokerStars WCOOP or FullTilt’s FTOPS?
The choice is really up to you, the debate rages constantly about which is the better place to play online poker, PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker, but in this comparison of the FTOPS vs WCOOP I’m going for PokerStars and the WCOOP. That is even with the recent criticism by online poker players about the new tournament payout structure that PokerStars implemented where they award more money to a larger portion of the field and not as top heavy as a typical poker tournament. Argue that as you may, the fact that I was quickly and easily able to find a ton of cheap PokerStars satellites into the WCOOP and the Full Tilt Poker satellites were $50 bucks, a fourth of the initial buy-in itself which doesn’t seem that great of a satellite to me. It is possible that they just do not yet have any satellites listed in the Full Tilt Poker lobby for the FTOPS series yet, but they should have. One other thing is to make sure you use a valid PokerStars.com marketing code if you are going to sign up so you maximize your bonus.
This Comparison Winner goes to: PokerStars.com
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