Party Poker Review

Software & Graphics

Score
	9.5

Party Poker is still one of the largest online poker operators and with the huge volume of traffic that Party Poker must deal with the software has to be robust.

The software deals with this traffic well and is stable during peak hours. Party Poker have invested in additional servers and bandwidth to ensure that its software can handle the huge player numbers.

The software is simple and clean and has all the features you would expect from one of the largest online poker operator. The graphics are not overly impressive but the software runs smoothly and the graphics are reasonably pleasing to the eye.

Party Poker allows you to play up to 4 tables at the same time and the software deals with multi-tabling very well. The software also provides all the usual features such as player notes and hand histories etc and it also supports features that are not so common such as deal making (on the final table of tournaments) and the "Auto-Resize" option which will take all open tables and resize them to all fit on your screen at the same time which is excellent for when you are multi-tabling.

The only let down to the Party Poker software in our eyes is the lobby where you cannot resize the window. Everything feels very cramped and it's a strain to look through the tables to select one. This is compensated slightly by being able to alter the layout of the lobby and to filter out unwanted game types / stakes but the lobby still feels cramped.

Player Traffic

Score - Ring Game Traffic
	9.0
Score - Tournament Traffic
	9.0
Accepts US Players?
	U.S.A Players NOT accepted

Party Poker used to be the largest online poker room but has dropped back into second behind Pokerstars since they pulled out of the US market. However Party still boasts massive player traffic thanks to it's aggressive advertising strategy over the past 5 years.

Even during off-peak hours you will find 30,000+ players online and during peak times this will rise to around the 60,000 player level.

Ring Game traffic will be around the 8,000 level at peak times and Tournament traffic will reach a level of around 60,000 players. With this level of player traffic it will not take you long to find the game you want on Party Poker.

Party Poker hosts some of the biggest tournaments on the internet which is headlined by it's weekly Sunday tournament which usually has an execellent turnout and prizepool. It is also the home of the now famous Partypoker.com Million which is a live WPT tournament which takes place on a on a luxury cruise boat.

Player Toughness

Score
	9.5

We're not exaggerating here when we say that you will find some of the loosest and most profitable poker games at Party Poker.

In fact when we where trialing Party Poker as part of our Winning Poker Strategy Course one of our beta testers actually turned a starting bankroll of $45 into nearly $3,000 in the space of a few weeks.

The level of play at Party Poker is definitely below average probably due to the fact that there are a significant influx of novice players from the other Party Gaming brands like Party Casino and Party Bingo.

Game Variety

Score
	9.5

You will find all of the popular types of Poker at Party Poker with Hold'em, Omaha and 7-Card-Stud all enjoying high player volumes.

Party doesn't offer some of the more rare variations of poker however such as pineapple but for the majority of players this isn't an issue.

Bonus / Promotions

Score
	9.0

Party Poker offers a good signup bonus and we have a higher than the norm bonus for Poker Professor players and you will receive 100% up to $500.

The majority of Party Poker's promotional spend goes on the big tournaments and events which it hosts.

Party Poker also offers a Players Club where it rewards frequent players with "PartyPoints" which can be cashed in for merchandise or tournament entries.

You will also find massive levels of satellite tournaments held on party for entry in to just about any big land based poker event you can think of including the WPT and WSOP.

Customer Support

Score
	9.5

The support service offered by Party Poker is excellent and is as you would expect from the largest online poker room. A large part of this service is situated in non english speaking countrys however the level of english spoken is ok.

They offer a 24 hour phone and email support service which is on hand to resolve your problems quickly and efficiently. From our experience this service is excellent. Party don't offer a live support service however which can sometimes be a constraint if you just want a quick answer to a simple query.

Deposit / Withdrawal Options

Score
	9.0

Party Poker offer all popular forms of deposit including:

Visa, Mastercard, Neteller, Firepay, Western Union, Citadel and others.

Withdrawals are usually made to the same card that you deposited with, and will usually take between 1 to 4 days depending on your card operator. Withdrawals via Neteller normally take about a day.

Rake

Score
	8.0

The Rake at Party Poker is more or less in line with industry standards.

The rake structure can provide a disadvantage to the lower / mid stakes tables where the rake can run as high as 10% at these levels as $0.50 is taken when the pot reaches $5. Tournament Fees are 20% on the lower tournament entry fees and 8% on the higher entry fees.

Security

Score
	10.0

Party Poker provides the highest levels of security as you would expect from the biggest online poker room. The Party Poker software uses 128 bit encryption to ensure the security and privacy of your data and transactions.

Table stats and hand histories are always available at any time by simply requesting them with one easy click from the software. The integrity of Party Poker staff and their software is second to none. There is also anti-collusion monitoring to ensure that cheaters are not allowed. You can be guaranteed to get top of the line security when playing at Party Poker.