| What Poker, Inc. says... PokerStars is widely thought of as THE tournament site for online poker players. Two of the last three WSOP main event winners - Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer - won their entries into the event on Poker Stars and Joseph Hachem, the 2006 winner, has endorsed the site as well. In addition to the countless qualifiers that PokerStars runs to the WSOP, WPT events, and the World Cup of Poker, PokerStars plays host each year to the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). The WCOOP was the third biggest poker series, live or online, in 2005. A player will have no problem finding a game or tournament at any time of day as many of the PokerStars players are European and they boost the traffic at times that might ordinarily be light for North American players. The traffic is predominately on the tournament side, but Stars is still second only to Party Poker in terms of ring game traffic. The competition at PokerStars is actually tougher than one might expect at such a large site. The low-limits still provided plenty of profitable opportunities, but as you move up into middle and high limits, the competition level amps up considerably. Stars offers players the choice of the "big five" - Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. In addition, micro-limit players (less than 0.25/0.50) will find plenty of games at PokerStars. The PokerStars software is one of the best in the business. Game play is smooth and fast and the look is more attractive than any other site. One knock on the lobby interface is that a player can not simply click on a waiting list for the first table to open up at a particular limit. You must click on each individual table on which you wish to be placed on the waiting list. Fortunately, there is a good deal of information provided about each table in the lobby listing, so you can make educated decisions about which tables you choose. The bonuses offered by PokerStars are few and far between. They do not offer any sign-up bonus and they offer reload bonuses about every other month that are usually 20%. On the positive side, the bonuses are easy to clear at the low-limits. PokerStar's VIP program (frequent player points) is one of the best in the industry and rewards players exponentially more for the more they play. Points can be used for tournament entries or merchandise such as books and iPods. Cash-outs Neteller or Firepay are quick, taking no more than one day and often time in a matter of hours. Cash-outs to your bank account is the industry standard of about 2 business days. Customer service at PokerStars is very fast and knowledgeable. One interesting aspect that is missing is a telephone or live support function. You must e-mail your questions or issues to PokerStars and they will usually respond with a good answer within half a day or less. In summary, if you are interested in honing your tournament skills and long to win your way into any of the major poker events, you can not play anywhere better than PokerStars. If you are primarily a ring game grinder who is looking for the softest competition or sites that will offer you generous bonuses to play, you may want to take a tour of some other poker rooms. Overall, Poker, Inc. recommends PokerStars.
| 
