PokerStars.com Review

PokerStars.com is a fun, safe place to play poker with people from around the world for real or play money. We realize there are plenty of places you can play poker over the Internet, but PokerStars is the only one where you’ll be treated like the poker star you are! So we’ve put together a dedicated and professional service team, and the best online poker software with the most features to keep you playing at our poker site.

PokerStars is a registered legal business located in the Isle of Man, in the British Isles. We abide by the laws and regulations where we do business. PokerStars is not an Internet casino. Unlike an Internet casino, you never play against the house; You always play against other real poker players from around the world. PokerStars receives compensation for hosting poker games between players by collecting a rake from each real money pot. There is absolutely no charge to participate in our play money poker games. In fact, we encourage you to try our play money games, especially if you are new to cardroom-style poker. Credit card transactions are processed through our E-Cash subsidiary, Rational Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, Douglas Bay Complex, King Edward Road, IM3 IDZ Onchan, Isle of Man and Openshore Trading Limited, 6 Loanni Stylianou St, 2nd floor, Nicosia, Cyprus. To download your free poker software and check out the action on PokerStars, go to the poker download page.

A more detailed explanation of the installation process is available on the Getting Started playing poker page. Registration is not required to view any of our poker games, so why not check it out? Play poker with the best, play with PokerStars! PokerStars is home to the world’s largest online poker tournaments and qualifies more players for World Series of Poker Satellites, the World Poker Tour, and the European Poker Tour than any other internet poker site. We offer every one of your favorite ring games and host exclusive signature events like the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker and the PokerStars World Cup of Poker. PokerStars has long been known as the place where poker players become world champions. Many of poker’s top professionals honed their skills on internet poker sites. These players know that long-term tournament success doesn’t hinge on the turn of one card. On this website, you will find all the tips and tricks you need to start your poker career. Poker Games: Play Poker Games – Holdem Games – Omaha Games – Stud GamesAt PokerStars, you can enjoy all of your favorite poker games with thousands of other players twenty-four hours a day. The greatest benefit to you is that you can always find full tables in any game at just about any limit you want to play. Here is a list of the poker games available at Poker Stars:

Texas Holdem Poker Games Available in limit, pot limit and no limit action, Texas Holdem is the game that our three World Series champions were playing when they won the crown. By far the most popular game in today’s poker world, we have hundreds of ring game tables running right now as well as hundreds of tournaments every week. Omaha Poker Omaha Holdem is similar to Texas Holdem in some ways, but the players receive additional hole cards, and the hand must consist of 2 and exactly 2 cards from the players’ hole cards and 3 and exactly 3 cards from the board. (As opposed to Texas Holdem, where the hands can consist of any combination of board and hole cards.) Omaha High Omaha High poker is a popular variation of poker in the European nations, especially in pot limit action. PokerStars offers Omaha in both limit and pot limit for all of our players around the world. Omaha Hi Lo Poker Arguably the second most popular poker game in the world today, Omaha Hi Lo, or Omaha Eight, is offered in limit, pot limit and no limit action.

Seven Card Stud Games: Until the recent surge in popularity of Texas Holdem, Seven Card Stud was the most popular poker game played for many years. You can still find plenty of options at the Seven Card Stud tables at PokerStars, available in a wide range of limits. Seven Card Stud Hi Lo Poker The split pot version of Seven Card Stud, Hi Lo offers a unique twist to this classic game. Available in limit action, if you like Seven Card Stud or Omaha Hi Lo, look into the Seven Card Stud Hi Lo tables. Also be sure to check out our Poker Game Rules and Poker Hand Ranks if you have any questions about how any of the above poker games are played.
Razz (7 Card Stud Low) If you think you can never make a hand, Razz is the game for you. This version of seven-card lowball allows you to shoot for the absolute worst hand and still win.

HORSE (Mixed games) HORSE (Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Eight-or- Better) is the collection of games that allows you to prove how well-rounded a poker player you are. If you get bored playing one game all the time, try out HORSE to round out your skills. Five Card Draw Five Card Draw is the game most people grew up playing around their kitchen table. This classic game will get you back to your poker roots and maybe make you some money in the process. 2-7 Triple Draw Sometimes called Kansas City Lowball, Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is a lowball game that forces you to make the worst possible hand and gives you three draws to do it. Themes: New PokerStars themes are here! Choose from several new looks including: Shiny, Marine, Stars, Saloon, Renaissance and Hyper-Simple. Visit the PokerStars Themes page for more information on our new themes. Internet Poker Player Images: No longer are your fellow Internet poker players just text and an infernal blinking light. As poker players ourselves, we know how important it is to be able to recognize the faces at your table. That’s why at PokerStars, you have the option of selecting a personalized image to represent you in our Internet poker room. The image can be of anything you want: Your pet, your favorite movie star or, of course, you! When you open your PokerStars account, you’ll have the option of supplying your own picture, or not providing an image at all. More on getting an internet poker image.

Opponent Poker Notes As the old adage goes, poker is not a game of cards, it’s a game of people. PokerStars allows you to keep a profile on your opponents by giving you a window to jot down notes about their poker play. Your notes are saved on your system, and can be accessed the next time you square off against an old opponent. More about poker opponent notes. At PokerStars, we’ll take on the task of tracking various statistical data for your Internet poker play. Any time you want this data, we’ll e-mail it right to your inbox. You can also view statistics accumulated during your current session right at the table. Your statistical data is available to you and you alone. Note that as we do not archive play money or freeroll poker tournament hand histories, this information is unavailable for those poker games. More on your poker statistics. Poker Hand History What the heck did that guy call me with? Are those two players colluding? Didn’t I have a flush there? These kinds of questions can be answered by requesting your poker hand histories. You can request a hand history for a specific poker game number, a full poker tournament, or up to a full transcript of your last 200 hands by clicking on the dealer tray and selecting “Request Hand History”. A hand history will show all the action during the hand, as well as the cards of anyone who did not fold during the hand. Table Re-sizing: Ever wish you could make your PokerStars game screen larger or shrink the table down to let you view more than one table at once? Now you can, PokerStars now offers a re-sizing option that allows you to change your game screen size and even save your favorite settings for later. Visit our Table Re-sizing page for more details.

Table Focus Choices: Perhaps you like to play many tables at once, and want our software to pop your cursor to the table where your next action is. No problem – that’s the default behavior. But maybe you like to instant-message your friends while you’re playing at a table and don’t want us to grab your cursor away from your IM window. That’s not a problem either. In our main lobby window, select Options -> Advanced Multi-table Options, and then un-check the box that says “Popup table whenever user action is required”. Thereafter, we’ll let you move the cursor to the table. Displayed Internet Connection Status: No longer do you have to sit through the frustration of playing poker with an Internet slowpoke. PokerStars gives its players information about the Internet connection status of other players. The Internet connection status of any player can be viewed by moving your cursor over his or her player image/name. Multi-table Internet Poker Tournaments: PokerStars has top-notch poker tournament software, the best on the Internet! We plan to provide great tournament poker action with features which will keep you coming back again and again. From satellites to re-buy poker tournaments to freezeouts, stay tuned to our Tournaments page for the latest news. More on the Internet’s best online site for poker tournaments. No Limit and Pot Limit Play Money Poker Side Games Whether you want to try No Limit Texas Hold’em, the Cadillac of Poker, or prefer the strategic intricacies of Pot Limit Omaha High, you’ll get a great chance to hone your big-bet poker skills in our popular No Limit and Pot Limit poker games. Poker Strategy:

Poker Tips and Tactics: It’s been said that poker is easy to learn but hard to master. Mastering any poker game is a fun and challenging goal. In the poker strategy section, you will find many resources to help you become a winning poker player. This page features general poker advice and strategy as well as links to poker strategy and tips for other poker games. Poker Strategy Tips – Poker Tactics The basics of solid poker strategy involve many concepts that you must combine to become a consistently winning player. The following concepts are crucial to learning poker strategy: * Tight play * Aggressive play * Random play * Taking advantage of opponents’ mistakes Keep these concepts in mind as you develop as a poker player.

These strategic concepts are like the colors on an artist’s palette: the basic colors are the same, but the artist’s use of them is unique and stylistic. Some Poker Strategy Considerations Decisions for the New Poker Player Decide whether you want to play poker to win or to play for fun. To play at a consistently winning level requires both time and effort. In other words, it takes work. There is nothing wrong with playing poker for fun, but there is no reason to plan to lose, even when you are playing for fun. However, deciding which type of poker player you want to be before you start will make your decisions and sessions easier. Make Good Decisions – the Results Will Follow Even the best poker players in the world have losing sessions. Don’t make the mistake of expecting to win every time you play. Your goal should be to play to the best of your ability in every session. If you do, the cards and winnings will take care of themselves as you improve. Many players make the mistake of judging their poker playing ability based on the results of each session. Your goal should be to make the best possible play every time.

The closer you come to this, the better your results will be. The Mathematics of Poker Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of incomplete information. That may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. On a very basic level, winning poker starts with the selection of which starting hands to play. If you enter the pot with the best hand more often than your opponents do, you will win more times than your opponents. Beyond Starting Hands Starting hand selection is fundamentally important, but it’s only one piece of the poker strategy puzzle. Once you have mastered solid starting hand guidelines and understand how they change by your position at the table, the next area you should work on is your play for the rest of the hand. The area that separates professional players from amateurs is that professional players tend to play much better than their opponents during the remainder of the hand, after the starting hand decisions are made.

This is especially true concerning the decisions made at the very end of every hand. These skills involve calculating pot odds, recognizing betting patterns, bluffing, and using position. The years of practice necessary to master the middle and end game play are well worth the effort, because even small improvements in a player’s abilities can have a tremendous effect on that player’s lifetime winnings. Avoiding Tilt Another meta-skill that should be part of a winning player’s poker strategy is avoiding tilt. Your opponents will use your emotions against you, but only if you let them. Emotional play results in poor decisions and lost money. Tilting and steaming can happen to anyone, and sometimes the only cure is a break from the game. That’s okay; the game will still be there ten minutes from now. In fact, it will still be there tomorrow.