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Party Poker Review
Reasons to Join |
Great info to help you select your Ring Game table
Final table dealmaking - very handy for good MTT players
Fun 15 minute sit and go's called Hellkat - highly recommended!
Excellant loyalty promotions with lots of free money! |
 | Signing Up |
The installer offers to download itself to your dektop while you browse their website, it took less than a second to download and only a couple of minutes to setup the software with one form I had to fill in; after that was done, the software automatically loaded and I was playing my first Sit & Go minutes later.
Partygaming open accounts on your behalf with PartyBets, PartyCasino, PartyBingo, PartyGammon and PartyMarkets; you use the same login details for all of them and your poker balance is linked to each sister site, so whether you fancy some poker, roulette, bingo, backgammon or just checking out the PartyGaming KPI's for the last quarter, PartyGaming has you covered.
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8/10 | Software |
Their software allows you to customise the lobby with mutliple lobby layouts to choose from and powerful filters help you locate the right game for your bankroll.
You can play up to 18 tables at the same time which is essential for those who beat the game using a high volume strategy, there is a limitless hand history and over 2,000 characters can be stored for each player using their impressive note taking facility; there's nothing truly groundbreaking about their software when compared to rival platforms, it's simply more robust and very reliable.
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9/10 | Ring Games |
Party Poker recently broke the world record for the largest payout of an online bad beat jackpot which stood at over $1,000,000.
If you normally play on these types of tables then you might want to consider playing here.
Table selection is made possible thanks to specific details of all ring games listed in the lobby such as hands per hour, average pot size and the seated players; at the time of writing, Party Pokers game traffic is the 4th largest in the world, which makes table selection even more of a meaningful and worthwhile exercise.
I found the action on the No Limit Texas Hold'em tables to be loose and fast, just how I like it.
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9/10 | | Tournaments |
$6,000,000 in MTT payouts are given away every month and there are many different formats to choose from like shootout, rebuy, speed and regular multi table tournaments; each are available at a wide range of buyins starting from $1 up to $690.
At the time of writing, there are qualifiers to the WPT Fallsview offline event aswell as numerous satellites leading to $50k and $300k guaranteed tournaments hosted every weekend on their site; there are far too many tournaments to list each one, suffice to say there's a constant stream of cash to be won 24 hours a day.
I most impressed that Party Poker still offer final table dealmaking where some or all of the prize pool can be distributed to the remaining players at the final table, so long as a suitable deal can be agreed upon.
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9/10 | Sit & Gos |
There are Sit & Go's available from as little as $1 all the way up to $5010, the higher buyins naturally have less traffic but the lower levels are as busy as any other site I can recall.
Most of the action is to be found on the No Limit Texas Hold'em tables although Omaha and 7 card Stud players are also well catered for. The multi table Sit & Go's are blessed with decent traffic throughout the day and come in 20, 30 and 50 seater version which start once filled, single table qualifiers to big money MTT's such as the weekly $50k and $300k events present a good opportunity to get involved in the richest tournament action the site has to offer whilst minimising your liability.
The most interesting offer in their bustling Sit & Go section may well be their Hellkat tournaments which last exactly 15 minutes and payout to the 3 players who have the most chips after the final hand is dealt; this certainly makes for a thrilling end to the tournament as players fight to accumulate chips, I highly recommend trying them. |
9/10 | Support |
Round the clock email and telephone support means there is always a friendly voice at hand to help with any problems you may encounter, they helped me locate details of the rake which is published on their website and is set to a very competitive 5% across all the No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em ring games.
I suggest using the toll free phone service if you can't find an answer in the comprehensive FAQ section featured at partypoker.com/help. |
8/10 | | Banking |
It would be easier if I listed the payment methods Party Poker don't accept!
There are currently 25 ways to fund your account and they include the usual suspects such as all major debit/credit cards, Neteller, Moneybookers, Click2Pay, Ukash, Citadel and bank transfer, to name but a few.
There are no charges for the majority of deposit options and most of the popular methods perform the transaction instantly. |
10/10 | Standard of Players |
Party Poker once had a reputation for having the softest games on the net, but when they closed their US facing operations in 2006 due to the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), this definitely changed.
Nowadays, the PartyGaming network is a different beast completely, they have since diversified heavily into the casino, bingo and sportsbook markets and as a result, I believe we are seeing a resurgence of the good old Party days where the typical low stakes player has as much poker knowledge as a slug.
I mostly played multi table tournaments during my weeks play at Party Poker, managing to make 4 final tables, winning one and finishing runner up in another, I made over $2400 profit from the juicy tournament action alone. |
9/10 | Loyalty Promotions |
Party Poker are the only site I know of that constantly send me free money for doing nothing.
I rarely play on their site yet they have sent countless emails over the years informing me they have credited my account with $15 just because I had'nt visited them for a while.
Partygaming's 2008 interim results state over 19% of their revenue is spent on customer retention via the aforementioned player bonuses, in my opinion they make a huge effort to keep their patrons happy. For those opening a new account, there's a 100% signup bonus on your initial deposit up to $500, redeemed by earning Party points.
There's an excellent VIP program that rewards players for their loyalty and activity, you earn Party Points which go towards unlocking the shedload of bonuses they offer to all players.
You are rewarded with Loyalty Points for regular play and the higher your loyalty status the quicker you can earn Party Points, you also accrue Reward Points which can be redeemed at their online store for gift certificates, tournament buyins and even cash.
For serious poker junkies, Party Poker have the Free Ride offer where you pay no fees to the house for 80 hours of play once you have played for 160 hours that month, this helps to reduce the effect of the rake thereby boosting the potential profits you can make. |
10/10 | Summary |
Party Poker offer by far the best promotions around. Your loyalty will be truly rewarded here and its well worth sticking around for the loose play anyway!
Plenty of action whatever your favourite game and some superb tournaments. |
9.0/10 | |
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