Party Poker is one of the biggest poker rooms in the world with great player volume, competitive promotions, tons of special events, a nice loyalty program and great tournaments and cash games.

 

Once the biggest online room in the world, Party Poker has been playing catch up since 2006 when it moved out of the U.S. market but it appears to once again be on the upswing thanks to returning to the U.S. through New Jersey.

Play is still definitely on the soft side though, especially at the lower-limits of Hold'em and Omaha. Ridiculously soft in some cases, especially in tournaments.

 

Party Poker also has a new team of pros that includes stars like Mike Sexton, Tony G and Kara Scott and Dragan Galic.

 

Games offered are all variations of Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo. Because of its size and geographical diversity, action at Party Poker can be found in pretty much any game at any hour. Party Poker also offers its own speed poker variant called FastForward Poker.

 

A major software redesign has also added a lot of great new features, including crisper graphics, a quick-seat feature, a live-action preview, customized player images and enhanced multi-tabling options. Party Poker also added an exclusive client for Mac users.

 

Publically traded on the London Stock Exchange, Party Poker is arguably the most secure online poker room in the world with certification from eGaming, GamCare and eCOGRA.

 

Last year the owner of Party Poker, PartyGaming, purchased the World Poker Tour which has made Party Poker the best source for WPT satellites.

 

Minimum deposit required for the exclusive Party Poker bonus is $25. To claim your full bonus, collect eight times the amount you deposited in PartyPoints.

 

For example if you deposited $50 you need to collect 400 points to get your $50 bonus. The bonus is broken down into 10 increments and you have 120 days to clear.

 

After years with a somewhat complicated loyalty system, Party Poker has revamped the program to make it as simple as possible. Now you just earn PartyPoints, and that's it. Points are credited to your account right away for all real-money play and your balance is updated whenever you leave a game.

 

Players earn two PartyPoints for every $1 in tournament fees and a varying amount based on raked hands and limits at cash games. For players with 5,000+ points in a month, Party has also introduced the Palladium Lounge Club with bigger rewards, rake races, exclusive events and VIP service.

 

Loyal players get several types of perks including cash bonuses and credits to play in the Party Poker casino or bingo room. Party Poker also offers good reload bonuses from time to time, usually at 15-25% match up to $100-$200.

 

Party Poker hosts a huge flagship tourney - the PartyPoker.com Million - every year with tons of satellites, plus massive guaranteed tournaments and more satellites to big events than most sites.

 

• Party Poker is still one of the biggest sites around when it comes to tournament play - especially in No-Limit Hold'em. The biggest volume events are definitely the small buy-in tournaments and play at any level is relatively loose, but the big buy-in tournaments will definitely offer up some tough competition.

   

  Party Poker 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.

   

  The freeroll spread is great, with special events for new players, country-specific freerolls plus special points freerolls and promotions. Party also spreads plenty of different qualifiers to big live events all over the world like the Aussie Millions and the World Series of Poker.

   

• SOFTWARE AND GRAPHICS

  To say Party Poker’s software has improved over the last few years is an understatement. The current Party Poker offering is one of the sharpest, fastest and most reliable poker clients in existence.

   

  The software offers all the industry standards including four-color decks, comprehensive hand histories, customizable sounds, deal-making, avatars, quick seat, training tables and statistics.

   

  Multi-tabling is a dream on Party Poker with support for play at 12 tables simultaneously and table re-sizing. Tiling and cascading is also available as is the unique “stacking” view, which some players swear by.

   

  One of the best features is the “hot hand” hand alert, which you can set to notify you whenever you get a specific hand like pocket aces or pocket kings.

   

  Party Poker also offers a speed poker variant, similar to Zoom Poker and Rush Poker before it, called FastForward Poker that allows players to record thousands of hands in relatively short order.

   

  The Flash-application browser version of the software makes it possible to play Party Poker on Windows, Apple and even Linux computers and the download version is now available to both Mac and Windows users.

   

Party Poker has always had very loose and juicy games, mostly due to its extensive affiliate program and massive marketing bringing in hundreds of new players daily.

 

Even at middle-limit games this holds true, and you can typically find very soft games even up to $2/$4 in No-Limit and $5/$10 in Fixed-Limit, whereas many other poker rooms at these stakes will give you rather tough opposition.