PartyPoker.com Summary

Party Poker is the largest online poker room reviewed on this site. During peak hours, there are usually around 10,000 real-money players logged in.

They offer plenty of ring games, single-table tournaments, and multi-table tournaments. Recently they've expanded their ring game offerings and now have micro-stakes available in no-limit betting.

PartyPoker.com Games Available

There's a respectable but not amazing range of poker variations in the Party Poker gaming rooms: Texas Holdem, Omaha and 7-Card-Stud in the usual high and high-low combinations. Most of all, we miss a couple of things: heads-up matches and micro-limit sit-and-gos. Plus of course, one or two more exotic variations would be welcome at this huge site.

Lately, Party Poker has performed a large and very good revision of its tournament structures and has introduced some improvements, such as deeper starting stacks and time-based blind levels in sit-and-gos, rather than the old hand-based levels.

PartyPoker.com Player Traffic

Party Poker has been hit more than most sites by the new law banning US players from playing poker online. The position it once held as undisputed market leader in terms of player numbers has come under severe threat from the likes of Poker Stars and Ultimate Bet who both still accept US based players.

The new focus for Party Poker is towards Western Europe and Scandinavia as well as emerging poker markets like South America and the Far East. All of these have seen a big leap in the numbers of active players since the law was introduced and Party Poker increased their advertising in these areas. Right now they average about 7,000 ring game and 40,000 real money tournament players during peak hours.

PartyPoker.com Quality of Players

The competition at Party Poker is pretty soft for the small stakes no-limit games. The medium to high stakes no-limit games as well as many of the limit hold'em games are tougher than they used to be. Many of the thousands of players at this site are beginners or casual players, but some are seasoned professionals. Recently, some players have complained that the games at Party Poker have gotten more difficult.

PartyPoker.com Tournament Info

Party Poker hosts a lot of great tournaments, with buy-ins as small as $1 up to several hundred dollars. The biggest volume events, however, are the small buy-in tournaments.

Play at any level is relatively loose, but the big buy-in tournaments will definitely offer up some tough competition as you get closer to the final table.

Party Poker is still one of the biggest sites around when it comes to tournament play; especially No-Limit Hold'em, so if you're a Hold'em player, you're sure to find a tournament you like.

Party Poker also runs a great deal of guaranteed tournaments and qualifiers. The most common are the qualifiers to the weekly $300,000 guaranteed tournaments, where a player can win the tournament's $215 buy-in for as little as $3 or using Party Poker points.

Party also spreads plenty of different qualifiers to big live events all over the world, such as the Aussie Millions and the World Series of Poker. Overall, Party Poker is one of the world leaders in both multi-table and sit-and-go tournaments.

PartyPoker.com Software

While Party Poker's software is nothing earth-shattering, it is quite fast. It is also fairly easy to use, though players may experience some delays when loading the lobby screens and gameplay tables.

Table Statistics: One frustrating aspect of Party Poker is that they only display the average pot size in the ring games. All in all, they provide you with little information about the games. I recommend watching the game for a minute or two before joining to see how loose everyone is playing.

PartyPoker.com Bonus & Promotions

A lot of soft games together with very good loyalty programs and promotions grant Party Poker a natural popularity among players. Numerous special events and a generous program for membership referrals are offered.

Party Poker organizes a huge tourney called the PartyPoker.com Million with a guaranteed prize pool of one million dollars. Other big guaranteed tournaments are held regularly, as well as plenty of satellites to big events.

Loyal players enjoy regular cash bonuses from the site, usually smaller amounts that are made available for play without preambles. There’s also a great player points scheme with points that can be redeemed for cash or merchandise as well as entries into special tournaments and freerolls.

PartyPoker.com Deposit & Withdrawal Options

Deposits are handled by most of the major online payment processors. Click&Buy, Click2Pay, FirePay and Moneybookers are accepted as well as all major credit/debit cards. PartyPoker.com also have their own Gaming Card which you can use, finally there’s Bank Transfer/Bank Wire Transfer from your local bank or Ukash and paysafecard which you buy in your local store.

There are a few other options that are specific to particular countries, like BPAY in Australia.

Withdrawals are slightly more restricted but can be done by credit/debit card, Click2Pay, NETeller, FirePay and Moneybookers. Other options are Bank Wire Transfer or checks by mail or Fed Ex.

PartyPoker.com Customer Service

Party Poker’s customer service is excellent, with 24 hour free phone support to US, Canada and Western Europe including UK. There is also email support available too for less urgent problems.

PartyPoker.com Additional Information

Player Location Restrictions: PartyPoker currently does not accept USA players.

PartyPoker.com Pros & Cons

Pros: Good cash game and tournament traffic, Very fast 24/7 e-mail & phone support, Loose and juicy games at all stakes
Cons: No US players, View flop percentage missing