Poker Stars is one of the world leaders in online poker tournaments as well as amongst the leaders in ring game traffic. Poker Stars has a very ambitious weekly program of both fixed time and sit and go tournaments, where many high stakes games are available. The software is excellent in terms of functionality and graphics. Their web site is detailed and informative. One of the few poker room that allows you to use your own photo or image (cats seem to be very popular) to represent you rather than the usual name plate or player avatar. The only real draw backs are that players are on average of very high quality - as lots of pros play here.

Huge tournament traffic. Sit and Go's turnover is incredible with short waits even for the 45 player SNGs. MTT's start from as low as $0.10 (yes, 10 cents). If you like poker tournaments, Poker Stars is probably the best site for you today!

• Texas Hold Em
• Omaha
• Omaha Hi/Lo
• Seven Card Stud
• Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo

As you can see from the image below, the player images used range from the absurd to real photos. So it isn't strange that the chat can be a lot of fun. Easy to use notes and statistics function at the bottom left corner above the chat. There is no time limit bar and limited sound. The cards are rather small and sometimes difficult when playing more than one table to recognise the suits. This is a big negative in our view. It is possible to colour code the suits although it looks terrible. Graphics are OK but nothing to write home about. Action can be extremely lethargic. And remember that a lot of pros play at PokerStars. So if you like playing with the big boys, then PokerStars is for you but it can, therefore, be difficult to find loose "easy to win" games.

Poker Stars is typically in the top 3 in terms of ring games traffic which is most of the time well over 2,000 players logged on at any time with the numbers rising well over 4,000 at peak hours. A relatively large share of the players is European, which makes the site reasonably busy also at evening time in Europe. High player volumes in all poker variants apart from Omaha Limit.

Poker Stars comes to its own with regards to big tournaments. Not only do PokerStars have a huge number of tournament players online at any time, often in excess of 10,000, but its strength lies in big money events such as World Series of Poker, European Poker Tournament, PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and World Poker Tour Championship. PokerStars also hold many live tournaments and you could even end up on TV in PokerStars organised poker event. Naturally, there are many satellite qualifiers for all the major poker tournaments. PokerStars is also one of the best in holding tournaments for poker variants with regularly scheduled tournaments for 7 Card Stud, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo.

Comparing PokerStars ring game and tournament traffic, it is obvious that PokerStars' strength lies with tournaments. Freerolls often have in excess of 3,000 players and can be nearly 5,000. Yes, there are a number of freerolls but with so many players joining them, it is a hard slot to win some free $. Even with these huge numbers, the software remains reliable and server connectivity excellent. The software has special tournaments features. For example, they ensure that there is an even balancing of the tables during the course of the tournaments and also prevents tactical slowing down of tempo with individual time banks (after time bank is up you must act in the normal allotted time or else the hand will be folded) and in the end of tournaments by playing all tables "one hand at a time" time (so no table can wait out the others to escape the dreaded last no-pay "bubble" placements). The player has a great overview of his or her stand in the tournament, relative to all other players. There are about 50 regular scheduled events daily and other special high value tournaments as well as palyer points freerolls. So the list below just shows a few of the high value tournaments. Sit and go (single table tournaments) range from $5 + $0.50 to $5,000 +$100 (which is the highest SNG that we have come across).

The list could almost go on forever, but the tournaments above are some of the major monthly and annual events. If you like tournaments, you will plenty of guaranteed tournaments at all times of the day and week.

DEPOSIT OPTIONS:
VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, FirePay, CentralCoin, Western Union, cashier's check and money order

CASH OUT OPTIONS:
NETeller, FirePay, CentralCoin and check.

Poker Stars has only 24/7 email support which is, however, very quick and with great poker knowledge. A big minus, however, is that there is no live or telephone support.

A Frequent Player Point (FPP) is awarded for each raked hand and five points are awarded for each $1 paid in tournament registration fees. The FPPs can be redeemed for entries in weekly and monthly special tournaments and other promotions, as well as the very well maintained member's store.