Game Variety (9)

Party Poker has very good game variety and offers all variations of Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo. The very large player base ensures action at all varieties of poker, making Party Poker a great site for all players.

The games vary between No-Limit, Pot-Limit, and Fixed-Limit. Full-table games, short-handed, and heads-up tables are all available. The games are somewhat concentrated on No-Limit Hold'em, especially in the small and middle limits.

Ring Game Traffic (9)

Traffic at Party Poker is very high and growing at a rapid rate. There are always several games at any level of No-Limit Hold'em and Limit Hold'em. Party Poker has peak cash-game traffic of 9,500 real-money players during peak hours (May 2008).

Soft Competition (8)

Party Poker has always been able to maintain loose and juicy games over time, mostly due to their affiliate program and massive marketing. Even at "middle-limit online 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.

Rake (5)

The rake at Party Poker is not so attractive, as it highly disfavors the low-limit games. The higher-limit games actually have a comparably low rake. The rake runs as high as 10% in 50¢/$1 and $1/$2 games, as 50¢ is raked when the pot reaches $5. This also holds true for the tournaments, where good value is only provided at the higher stakes. There is a 20% fee in $5 games and an 8% fee in $100 games.

Support (7)

The support at Party Poker is great - in particular the 24/7 telephone support, available through a wide range of regional toll-free numbers, that often responds in under a minute! The support is very knowledgeable about promotions and other trickier issues. E-mail works well, even though the response times can be a bit long.

Financial Security (9)

Top score. Party Poker is one of the leading online poker rooms in the world and has no earlier recorded problems.

Deposit & Withdrawal Options (9)

Deposit Options: IGMPay, VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, citadel, FirePay, wire transfer, bank draft, cashier's check, money order, and echeck.

Withdrawal Options: NETeller, wire transfer, check, eChecks (by iGM-Pay).

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