Party Poker Review

Overview: 7.5/10

Party Poker is one of the biggest poker rooms in online poker today. At one stage, before the U.S legislation, it was the biggest room in online poker. It started out in 1997 and offers its services in poker, casino, bingo and backgammon games. You can use your poker money to bet on sports or blackjack, which is an added bonus. Party Poker is a very strong brand, and sponsors lots of land based tournaments. You can often see poker on T.V, which is sponsored by Party Poker.

Over the last few years however, Party Poker has not been as successful as it once was. When they stopped allowing U.S players, a lot of the traffic left and has seen them drop in size. There are still plenty of people that play there but, and it is currently the 4th largest poker room.

The competition at Party Poker is very weak indeed, there are so many fish there its unbelievable. However, the software is in need of an upgrade and some new promotions need to be added. Nothing seems to have changed over the past few years, and the poker room does need a face lift.

Software: 6/10

The software the Party Poker provides has fallen behind in recent years due to their lack of upgrades. A few years ago Party Poker was at the forefront of the online poker world. These days, the software looks old, has no new features, and is in a real need for an upgrade.

• Player Search
• Multi Tabling
• Resizeable Windows
• Hand History Text
• Hand History Graphic
• Heads Up Cash
• Heads Up SNG
• Mac Compatible

You still cannot check your rank in a tournament, it only shows what place you came once you are eliminated. You can only guess as to what rank you are in the tournament. Also, when you place a bet and the other person folds, the size of the pot that you won includes your bet. So you have to work out for yourself how much you actually won from the pot. To go along with this, their software has said for years that observer chat will be coming soon. They still have old silhouettes, and a move to avatars, or better looking silhouettes would be in their best interest. They do need to address these problems.

Now that we have addressed the negatives, it is time to anyalyse what they do provide players. The room has a very nice lobby, it is easy to navigate and has a similar look to using Windows. Simply click on the left navigation bar and the information pops up in the main part of the screen.

• Download Now
• Go to Site

The colour scheme is smooth, it doesn’t affect the eyes at all, and in general it looks nice. The software has 10 player full ring games, which is a bonus in my books, especially here because one more fish can make a lot of difference.

• 
• 
• 

Overall, the software looks smooth, is easy to navigate, but it does need an upgrade. The features that it provides are not up to scratch and they are falling behind the competition in terms of software.

Promotions: 6/10

The promotions that Party Poker run are fairly average to say the least. They offer satellites to the WSOP and to their Sunday 300k event, but when it comes to big promotions that everyone hears about, Party Poker rarely have them. They run a Bad Beat Jackpot that usually pays off pretty well and an occasional land based event. For such a large room, you would expect a lot more from them in terms of the promotions that they run. But to be honest, the are below standard, and don’t offer players anything new or unique.

Currently the only promotion that they are running is the PartyPoker.com Million VI. You can win a $12 000 USD package to the Mediterranean to play in the event. Satellites for this event are currently running from as little as $1. The event will take place from May 3 through to May 10, 2008.

Tournaments: 8.5/10

The tournament selection at Party Poker is quite good. At most times of the day you can find a tourney in your price range to play in. There are buy-ins of all kinds, they are not focused for any particular type of player. They have some nice weekend tourneys with large guarantees, the details are listed below. The quality of players in these tournaments is terrible, so you have every chance to make some decent cash.

The structure of the tourneys is pretty good. You receive 1500 or 3000 starting chips in most tourneys and the blind structure is spot on. There aren’t any negatives to report in terms on the structure and I’m sure you will enjoy the way the tournaments are run here.

The notable tournament that they run here are as follows:

• Sunday 300k – Buy-in is $215. Starting time is Mondays at 4:30am AEST.
• Friday Special – Buy-in is $215. Starting time is Saturdays at 6:00am AEST.
• 50k Gtd Saturday – Buy-in is $320. Starting time is Sundays at 6:00am AEST.
• Super Weekdays – Buy-in is $162. Starting time is Tuesday-Friday at 6:00am AEST.
• 30k Gtd Highroller – Buy-in is $530. Starting time is Mondays at 6:00am AEST.

Traffic: 8.5/10

The traffic that Party Poker currently has is the 4th largest in online poker today. There are always enough players online to multi-table in cash games, and tournaments run frequently. You will find that during Aussie Prime Time there will be quite a few Aussies online. So if you are looking to meet some fellow Aussie poker players, you can meet a few here.

Overall, the traffic is really good. You won’t be disappointed with the amount of people that play here, and there is plenty of action for all. Because of the weak competition, you will enjoy all the action that you receive here. Make sure you play in the big guaranteed events because they get a large amount of entries, and the field is fairly weak.

• Hold Em
• Omaha
• Stud
• Razz
• Horse

Bonuses: 7/10

The bonus that you receive when you sign up at Party Poker is 30% up to $150. You receive this bonus when you enter the code P3PAR when you are making your first deposit. This bonus is low compared to the rest of the poker rooms, and is not a main attraction to the site. People come to play here because of the large amount of people and the very soft competition. It is relatively quick to unlock though, so you won’t have any problems in that regard. As mentioned above, you can easily earn great sums of cash here, so the bonus is really not that much of a factor.

• Download Now
• Go to Site

What Party Poker lacks in generosity in the first deposit bonus it makes up for with its excellent VIP program. You can trade your Party Points in for real cash, use for tourney entries and spend them in the gift shop. The more Party Points that you earn, the better your VIP status gets. As you move up in VIP status, you rate of acquiring Party Points is accelerated and you can earn extra cash a lot quicker. This is an excellent VIP program and Party Poker looks after their players in this regard.

You will see from time to time that Party Poker will reward its loyal players by putting cash straight into their poker accounts. This is a great incentive to be loyal here because the more you play, the more cash they will randomly give you to keep playing there. It is a nice extra bonus, which makes up for their small first deposit bonus.

Fish: 9.5/10

There is a whole ocean of fish a Party Poker and they almost throw their money at you. Party Poker has a reputation for having terrible players and it is most certainly true. Only Pacific Poker have worse players and Party Poker isn’t far behind them. At all limits you will find numerous fish at each table and it is easy to take their money. They are very loose players and a lot of them don’t even look like they know what they are doing.

You will find that the softness of competition here is due to the T.V. advertising in Europe. They advertise for the casual, part time players looking to play a bit of poker. If you are a solid player, you won’t be able to wipe the smile of your face because these guys are really that bad. You can download the software here to begin playing.

Customer Support: 7/10

The customer support that Party Poker provides is fairly standard in comparison with the other poker rooms. They offer 24 hour phone and email support which most rooms have. There are two things that are different here than anywhere else that I have played. Firstly, they will ring you up after you register to confirm your account. This is a good thing in my opinion because any extra security is a bonus in my books. Secondly, if you are a regular player, they will look after you very well. The will assign you a dedicated host to ensure that all of your demands are being met. They keep you updated with all of their latest competition and bonuses. This is a nice feature that adds a bit of a personal touch to their service.

In the dealings that I have had with Party Poker they have been efficient and timely. There are no problems with the service that they provide, but overall, what they offer is about the standard of the rest of the poker rooms. They don’t offer live chat which I feel all rooms should have. However, they are good at what they do offer and you shouldn’t have any problems. They just aren’t exceptional in what they offer.