Poker Stars In New Jersey. 100% first deposit bonus.

To: Beat the Fish <email address not displayed> Your Name: Email address: Subject: Message: Beat the Fish wrote on the message board: > Poker Stars Review: > Overall: 4.5/5 > Bonus and Promotions: 3.5/5 > Fish Rating: 3/5 (Raymer ate them all?) > Tournaments: 5/5 > Software: 5/5 > Payouts: 5/5 > Customer Service: 4.5/5 > > U.S. players can use ePassporte at Poker Stars. > > Poker Stars became an online poker giant following back-to-back WSOP > wins from Chris Moneymaker in 2003 and Greg Raymer in 2004. With > Joseph Hachem joining them in 2005 they ensured their massive exposure > even further. In 2007, they became the largest online poker room > boasting the most tables and players online. Aside from the publicity, > this is a very professional site to play on without any real flaws. > Poker Stars caters to the serious poker player, and their tournament > traffic and offerings are unquestionably the best online. Their > software package is sharp, payouts are fast, and customer service is > very prompt. If you play at high stakes, you can actually find plenty > of action all the way up to $100/$200. With other large sites dropping > out of the market, it was great news to hear that this site continues > to welcome US playes. This decision has helped to make them the > largest online poker room in terms of player volume. Overall, I have > continually been impressed by Poker Stars and they have earned one of > my top spots. > > Bonus (100% up to $50) and Promotions: > For the rest of 2007, they're offering our visitors a 100% deposit > bonus (up to $50). This is a fair deal as they typically offer very > few bonuses. You'll need to use one of our links to Poker Stars and > bonus code "First2007" to receive it. The playing requirements are > quite low and you should cash it out in a few sessions or less playing > average-stakes cash games. This site also runs an annual promotion > called the World Championship of Online Poker, which topped $10 > million in prizes this year. The events are structured similar to the > WSOP, holding events of mostly Hold 'em, but also Omaha, Stud, and > HORSE games. This is a great promotion for serious tournament players > with serious bankrolls. The FPP program is probably their main > promotion. They have some neat ways to use them such as for big > tournament satellites, cash freerolls, or merchandise like poker > books, posters, and clothing. Most of their promotions focus on live > tournament satellites or huge guaranteed tournaments. While these are > great for big tournament players, they don't offer a lot of other > promotions for smaller players and tend to rely on the quality of > their games to carry them. Also, their VIP Club rewards frequent > players on the site. Everyone has always earned FPPs to spend on > merchandise, but this new program puts larger players in a different > tier where they can earn even more points and enter an exclusive > player store. > > Fish: > Traditionally, Poker Stars has been one of the tighter online poker > rooms. I think that it is opening up quite a bit due to their > promotions bringing in new players. It is tighter than many sites in > terms of flop percentage, but I still regularly run into awful players > even at the $5/10 NL level. Players drawing with terrible odds also > still runs rampant. At the lower-to-middle stakes, the flop percentage > is about 25-40%. Personally, I can find this refreshing after an > extended bad-beat session on another wild site. Many new players are > scared away by their reputation of having stiff competition, but it > really is mostly hype. Yes, for the most part players are tighter at > this site, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are better. You > usually want to be playing the opposite style of your opponents, so > use their tight nature to your advantage, mix up your play, and run > over timid players. If I find that a table is simply too slow for my > liking, I'll switch to one with a higher average pot. If you're > looking to play at a more consistent table that is more similar to > cardroom play, you might try Poker Stars. > > Tournaments: > One of the major draws of Poker Stars is the tournament offerings. In > my opinion, this site is the best online for tournaments. They have an > unmatched number of satellites not only to live tournaments, but also > to their own guaranteed events. Their biggest weekly event is a > $1,000,000 guaranteed event and they hold numerous double-shootouts > throughout the week to win a cheap seat. This is the largest recurring > online poker tournament in history and is simply unmatched by any > other online poker room. Normal tournaments between the $10-50 buy-in > range can attract over 1,000 players during peak hours giving you > great value on a small investment. They structure tournaments well by > providing an easy-to-understand lobby, giving a good amount of > starting chips relative to the blinds, and allowing sufficient time > between blinds. I like this structure because it tends to give a > slightly larger edge than normal for skill vs. luck. As Poker Stars > has been experiencing a huge boost in traffic, the tournament traffic > is massive. No tourney is ever empty, which is a major positive for > building big prize pools. They offer lots of middle-to-high buy-ins, > but also offer a few $1 events during prime hours. Overall, if > tournaments are important to you, you can't do better than Poker > Stars. > > Software: > Poker Stars publicizes their software as the best online, and I would > probably have to agree. I don't think that it is head and shoulders > above the other sites, but it is a pretty good package. They allow you > to upload your own image as your avatar, which is a neat little > feature that a few sites are picking up on. I recently increased their > score to 5 because of the latest software update which I thought was a > great improvement in both function and cosmetics. Firstly, you can > resize any table window (or tile them) to whatever size you desire. > Next, they have new themes that allow you to change the graphical > theme to things like "Marine", "Stars" which is my new personal > favorite, "Saloon", and "Renaissance". Each has their own background > imagery and colors or, if you'd rather, you can upload your own image > for the background. Their hand history feature is probably one of the > best online and is easy to use. You're able to see all hole cards that > were in the showdown even if it was mucked, which is useful if you're > trying to get to know what types of hands your opponents are playing. > I also like the game speed of the software, which runs at a pretty > quick pace. > > Payouts: > The main feeling I get from Poker Stars is professionalism, so they > handle their payouts quickly and consistently. This site is probably > in the top 3 in terms of speed of cashouts. If you deposit > electronically, you instantly get any amount up to your deposits paid > out to you. For funds over this amount, they can credit your > ePassporte account or send out checks via Fedex. Checks shouldn't take > longer than a week to receive. > > Customer Service: > Again, I like sites that offer all forms of customer service such as > live chat and/or telephone support. Poker Stars only offers e-mail > service, which is why they don't earn the top score. However, they > seem to have plenty of reps waiting to respond, so you'll usually get > a response within a few minutes. > > Player Traffic > With with help of never-ending WSOP repeats on ESPN, Poker Stars has > experienced continued growth for a long time and they're now the > largest online poker room in terms of active players. Peak hours will > sometimes bring in 100,000+ players, and they've solidified a #1 > ranking for player traffic by continuing to allow US players. This is > actually one of the best reasons to play here, since you can find > multiple tables active at all limits (even high stakes) at all times > of the time. Tournament traffic is also the best online, with several > thousand players entering some events. > > Best Features > Excellent software. This should mean that you won't get frustrated > from slow game speed or difficult-to-follow lobbies. > > Professional service. They resolve problems very quickly, and I've > always been happy with their professionalism. > > Best tournament action online. This is probably the best site to go > with in terms of large tournaments because of sheer volume. > > Extremely busy ring game traffic up to the highest limits. This is one > reason that I continue to play here - you can always find a few games > going on at any limit so you have greater choice in terms of game > selection. > > Game Selection: Hold 'em, Omaha, Stud > > Limits: Limit: 2c/4c up to $100/$200 No-Limit: 1c/2c up to $5/$10 Code: Enter the following code: (required) Consider sharing your comments with the other readers of the message board. They may benefit from your insights If you decide not to send email, post a follow up instead, or return to the original message

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