pokerstars review

pokerstars is the largest poker site in the world, offering massive volume in cash games and tournaments and action at almost any game and limit 24 hours a day.

it really sets the standard in the industry as far as tournaments go, with an unmatched selection and sit-and-gos at all stakes starting up virtually every second.

pokerstars also offers good promotions and an exceptional loyalty program, with a huge selection of merchandise, special events and qualifiers to all major poker tournaments.

the software is also top-notch and offers fast play, high reliability, great multi-table options and a high level of customization - it pretty much sets the bar for the industry there as well.

if you're looking for a downside, though, it's probably the inconsistent competition. because of the huge player base, the opposition can range from super soft at one table to unbelievably aggressive just the next table over.

lower limits and tournaments are still flush with bad players, say up to the $6 and $11 SNG level, but there are literally thousands of strong players trolling pokerstars daily looking to make a living, so expect some tough competition scattered throughout your games.

if you like more obscure poker variations, pokerstars is for you, with a wide spread of games offered - texas hold'em, omaha and seven-card Stud in all versions, h.o.r.s.e., h.o.s.e., 2-7 triple draw, five-card draw, razz, 2-7 single draw lowball, badugi, 8-game, mixed hold’em and mixed omaha hi/lo. by the time you read this, they've probably added more.

overall, pokerstars keeps its spot at the top of the industry for traffic by offering a real "feel for poker" and responding rapidly to player feedback.

bottom line, it does what it does very well, and if the competition wasn't so tough at the higher stakes and there wasn't the occasional inconvenience that comes with such a huge site, it would be tough not to rank pokerstars higher.

real-money player statistics as of july 2009 show 22,500 ring-game players at peak hours and 155,000 tournament players at peak hours.

hits
> offers a $1.5 million weekly guaranteed, largest in the world
> massive satellite, ring game and tournament spread
> large and well-known pro team to rail, chat and play against
> great software
> very responsive to player feedback, adding new features, games and tournaments often

misses
> only offers e-mail support
> tough opposition in high-stakes tournaments and cash games

review courtesy of poker listings, for more inforamtion visit their great site here

Read more...

full tilt poker review

launched in 2004, full tilt poker is now by far one of the biggest and most famous poker sites online, growing daily and always pushing to build its reputation as a market leader.

adding to its visibility and prestige is of course "team full tilt," the site's main sponsored pros and the bulk of its ownership group, including poker legends howard lederer, chris ferguson, allen cunningham, phil ivey, mike matusow and andy bloch.

The site's famous catchphrase is "learn, chat and play with the pros," and they definitely live up to it, with the main sponsored team plus with a growing list of full tilt "red pros" found playing regularly at a variety of limits.

for the regular player there's action at virtually any game and limit 24/7, with games offered including texas hold'em, omaha, omaha hi-lo, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-lo, five-card draw and razz.


full tilt poker is also one of few sites with mixed games like h.o.r.s.e., h.a. and h.o.s.e. in both cash games and tournaments, making the game variation one of the most extensive and impressive online.

full tilt poker's software has some very innovative functions, is very stable and features excellent graphics - definitely measuring up as one of the best in the industry. The cartoon avatars are a bit tiresome to look at after a while, but not a huge obstacle to overcome.

same goes for the perpetual spamming and $5 transfer requests in the chat wherever the pros are, but that can also easily be turned off.

for those that want to look like the pros, the points shop is excellent, offering players all sorts of ftp merch that can be bought with their full tilt poker points.

overall, full tilt delivers what you expect - plenty of tables and games to pick from, a strong pro presence to give you the cool "poker experience" and a chance to watch some super sick games at the marquee $500/$1,000 no-limit hold'em tables.

the hard work and huge advertising budget has definitely paid off, as real-money player statistics as of July 2009 show 10,500 ring-game players at peak hours, and 70,000 tournament players at peak hours.

hits
> $8 million in guaranteed prize money each week
> accepts u.s. players
> great points store with full tilt poker merchandise
> chance to play with famous full tilt pros
> great mini-view functions for multi-tabling
> supports completely automated import of tournament and ring-game data to poker tracker

misses
> very tough competition at higher levels
> no-download software isn't available

review courtesy og poker listings, for more inforamtion visit their great site here

Read more...

swimming at the bottom

so just played my first ever mtt on stars with some fellow bloggers. can't say i set the felt alight as i only lasted a mere 38 minutes before my a/q suited was slapped straight out the tournament by pocket 5's to finish 19 of 22!

so what did i learn. well for one, stop being so idiotically aggressive. i was raising with trash and calling large raises with even worse. don't know why, maybe just caught in the headlights! other then that my tournament life wasn't really long enough and i spent what little there was using the chat box, lol!

overall was good fun though, the other bloggers were really cool so will defo be back for some more punishment next week.

on another note i want to start setting myself some targets. i need to have a bit of a think about these though as they will form my foundation to bigger and better things, or at least an attempt at bigger and better things. but more on that shortly. right now i need a beer after my tournament success!

Read more...