World-exclusive combo
package for PokerListings users at Party Poker with $100 bonus PLUS $5,000
private free roll PLUS a free Party Poker cap. On top of that, expect to get
surprise re-load bonuses on a regular basis (exclusive to PokerListings
players.)
BONUS
CODE : MERIDIAN
IF YOU
WANT $25 on First Deposit
BONUS
CODE : ORFEJBONUS
IF YOU WANT
20% up to $100
A detailed summary of the
features of Party Poker, the biggest -- and fishiest -- of all poker rooms
online.
Party Poker is the largest online poker room on the internet. On a weekend
night, almost 80,000 people from all over the world can be found playing on
their site. In the middle of the afternoon it is not uncommon to find over
40,000 players at the tables. Party Poker is also known to hold the largest
Limit Holdem tournament in the world and is one of the many stops on the
World Poker Tour.
Getting Started
Party Poker’s software takes a few minutes to download. They offer a variety
of play money games, which is good if you want to learn how to play a
different game like Omaha Hi/Lo. Setting up a real money account is simple.
My preferred method to fund an account is Neteller. Within minutes the
transfer is approved and you can begin playing right away. They accept all
major credit cards, e-Passport, FirePay, IGM-Pay, and Western Union
transfers. Within minutes of setting up a real money account, a customer
service rep calls you to verify that you funded your account. This is part
of their attempt to provide extra security for their customers.
Interface & Software
The software is above average. The main lobby is easy to navigate. You can
choose to play on regular tables or tournament tables. The best feature is
the “Average Pot” function which helps you select a loose or tight table as
you prefer. The poker tables include male and female avatars with your
screen name and chip amount clearly visible. You are able to check your own
session stats and take notes on players. You can choose a four-color deck if
you have a tough time reading different suits. Another feature is an
“Auto-Post Blind” button so you will never miss posting a blind. You have
the option to show or muck your losing or uncalled hands. This function is
perfect if you want to display your bluffs. You can also speed up the action
by clicking on the “Fold to Any Bet” button. You can elect to get hand
histories mailed to your email account, or downloaded into a special folder
on your hard drive.
Party Poker offers a wide selection of Limit, No Limit and Pot limit Texas
Holdem, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, seven card Stud, and Seven Card Stud
Hi/Lo. The highest limit for Holdem is $30/$60 and they recently doubled the
number of highest limit tables from three to six tables. The lowest limit
they have is $0.50/$1. They also offer $1000 No Limit tables along with
$600, $400, $200, $100, $50, and $25 NL tables. Unfortunately, there is not
a large selection of high limit Seven Card Stud tables: only two $20/40
tables available. Party Poker also has Bad Beat Jackpot Tables from $2/$4
Limit Holdem all the way up to $15/$30.
Party hosts a variety of multi-table (MTTs) and single table tournaments (SNGs).
They are both broken down into two sub-categories: regular and special. The
regular MTTs are mostly NL Holdem with a couple of Limit events and
Seven-Card Stud tournaments. The buy-ins are as little as $5 running up to
$100 and run 24 hours a day. Party also offers Speed Tournaments with an
accelerated blind structure. The special tournaments are usually satellites
to the bigger Party Poker tournaments like the Million Dollar Guaranteed,
WPT events, and other tournaments held in England, Australia, and Ireland.
Party Poker hosts SNGs for all of their table games. They offer $5, $10,
$20, $30, $50, $100, and $200 tournaments. The SNGs are comprised of 10
players with the top three places winning the prize money in a 50%-30%-20%
split. You can also play special SNGs to win seats into various multi-table
satellites.
Deposit Bonus
The poker room initially offers players a 20% sign up bonus. Most recently,
they offered reload bonuses of 20% up to $200, where you have to deposit
$1000 to get $200. You have to play 7x the amount of your bonus in raked
hands in order to clear your bonus. All new money players are eligible to
play in a $5,000 New Player Freeroll.
Player’s Club
Party Poker recently introduced a Player’s Club where you accumulate points
based on how many hands you play and how many tournaments you enter. These
points can be exchanged for various Party Poker merchandise, or you can use
the points to play in different Player’s Club Freeroll tournaments that give
away as much as $5,000. You can also receive bonus points if you deposit
additional funds, play raked hands for 20 or more days in a month, or if you
play between the hours of 4:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST.
The Players
The players on Party Poker are notorious for being some of the worst players
on the internet. The lowest limits are some of the toughest to crack on
Party Poker. The middle levels are soft and that’s where a lot of people can
make a profitable living if they play smart. Party Poker allows you to play
more than one table at a time, and a lot of smart players take advantage of
this feature.
Customer Service
Aside from the initial security check, Party’s support staff has a
reputation of being below industry standards. The 24 Hour Live Help Chat
feature never seems to work. You have to e-mail support a couple of times
before you get a straight answer to your question. And usually you have to
call them to get a real live person on the line so they can help you out.
The staff is friendly and courteous but they are obviously swamped.
Summary
Party poker is also the fastest growing poker
site and they are adding more players daily. A year ago, only 35,000 nightly
players could be found on the tables. Today, those numbers have doubled due
to their aggressive marketing promotions. The word is out that some of the
fishiest players navigate the low limit waters on Party Poker. So beware of
the sharks swimming around out there, too.
