Party Poker

Hits

• $6 million in guaranteed tournaments every month
• Fast software and play in several languages
• Supports completely automated import of tournament and ring-game data to Poker Tracker
• Statistical analysis of hands per each game type
• Good table layout options (new and old)
• Improved action area to make placing your bets straightforward

Misses

• Registration layout is lacking
• Updates sometimes load poorly
• May sometimes stall or delay
• Does not accept U.S. players

FULL REVIEW - Party Poker (8.06)

Due to U.S. legislation preventing credit card companies from collecting payments for wagers made by U.S. residents, Party Poker has determined to suspend all real-money gaming business in the United States.

Party Poker is one of the leading online poker rooms in the world, sporting massive player volume in both cash games and tournaments. On top of the great traffic, there are lots of other advantages with Party Poker, such as loose games, great promotions, tons of special events, an excellent loyalty program and a membership-referral program.

The Party Poker software comes in download versions for Mac, PC and Linux, making it one of the absolute best for players on every major computer platform. It offers very easy-to-understand graphics, excellent functionality, is quite fast and offers good playability.

The functionality also incorporates some nice new features, like deal making and table auto-resize. You'll also find the usual tools including player notes, hand history, statistics and more. Another plus is players can enjoy other games such as casino games, bingo, betting and backgammon from the same Party Poker account.

A major software redesign in Sept. 2008 has also added a lot of great new features, including crisper graphics, a quick-seat feature, a live action preview, customized player images and several enhanced multi-tabling options.

The games offered are all variations of Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo. The games vary between No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Fixed-Limit and full, shorthanded and heads-up tables are all available. Due to the size and geographical diversity of Party Poker, action can be found in pretty much any game at any hour.

Real-money player statistics as of November 2008 show 9,500 ring-game players and 60,000 tournament players during peak hours.

Overall, Party Poker offers relatively loose games and software that plays well and is relatively fast. The software is updated frequently to ensure safety and stability, with almost no downtime as a result.