Party Poker Review

Player review

Once the world’s favourite poker site,  founded in 1997,  Party Poker stopped taking US players in 2006 and now has to settle for being the biggest poker site in Europe. With a good choice of games around the clock, multiple European languages and regular promotions other sites can only dream of, Party Poker is still a ‘must have’ download for all poker players. It’s not just poker they offer, once you’ve created your account you can play casino, backgammon or bingo from the same player wallet with links directly from the poker client.

So, what is it that draws players to Party Poker? First of all party.bwin (the owners) are listed on the London Stock Exchange and have an outstanding reputation for security, you won’t find a safer site to store your bankroll.

Party Poker is also well known for having ‘soft games’, you won’t find hordes of poker pros preying on the apprentice and casual players.

Another hidden benefit of Party Poker is their own independent software which is sleek and easy to find your way around. For those still playing on old laptops held together with gaffa tape you won’t find it slowing down your system or overheating during long tourneys. Good news for multi-tablers too, you can resize the tables to fit your screen and play on as many as you like without decreasing performance.

Overall Party has a relaxed and social atmosphere and is a great site for starting out on your poker career.

Welcome Bonus

There’s a first deposit bonus of 100% up to $50 /£30 / €35 waiting for you at Party Poker when you use the bonus code PARTYx2 when you deposit. We have found out exactly how you can take full advantage of this offer and have explained all in our Party Poker Bonus Code page.

Loyalty

When you play at Party Poker (or anywhere across the Party brands) you earn Party Points and become part of the Party Poker Loyalty Programme where the more points you earn the higher your key level. There are four levels to aspire to starting at Bronze and rising to Palladium. The higher your level the greater the rewards.  Learn all you need to know about this generous loyalty programme in our dedicated Party Poker Loyalty page.

Cash games

With cash games starting at just 1c/2c all the way up to $25/$50 Party has something to please most low to mid stakes players. Although not a great range of variations as there are only normal and ‘speed’ tables, there is a progressive badbeat jackpot (make sure you sit at one of the special jackpot tables to opt-in) and enough games running around the clock so you’ll never have to wait long for a table.

Sit and Go’s

Seating 6 or 10 players the sit and go’s at Party have standard, speed, turbo and double or nothing options. Most action is at the low to medium stakes levels and you will never have to wait too long for a game to start.

One of the outstanding things about sit and go’s at Party are the ‘Steps’ sit and go’s, with an initial buy-in at the lowest level of $3, you have to simply finish in the top half of the field to progress to the next level. This format suits grinders and tight players (although they can sometimes turn into a competition of who can play the tightest), if you’re on a budget or trying to increase your bankroll these tourneys could be just what you are looking for.

Tournaments

The biggest tournament of the week at Party is the sunday $200k with a $215 buy-in, don’t worry though if that’s a little too rich for your bankroll, there are satellites leading up to the grand event all week. Other highlights include a daily weekday $100k tourney and plenty of options for winning a seat at a live event such as WSOP or WPT.  Most tournaments are Texas holdem, but you can also find tournaments for Omaha, Omaha hi/lo and 7 card stud.