PartyPoker Software

PartyPoker has a variety of themes you can utilize and, like many sites, players can easily upload a customized avatar. Their games are easy to find via a filtering system in the lobby. Sending money to another player is also easily done within the interface. Hand and tournament histories can be emailed to you within the client or stored on your hard drive, which is very useful to those who utilize a HUD.

There is also a replay button available that animates your previous hand in case you missed the action while multi-tabling. PartyPoker also offers synchronized breaks for the serious poker grinder.

In the past, PartyPoker’s software has been known to be buggy at times and tends to crash more often than the other major online poker networks’ clients do. Lately, there have been fewer reported problems and it seems that some of the upgrades have taken care of this issue for the most part. In general, PartyPoker’s software is easy to navigate; however, there isn’t anything special about the software to differentiate it considerably.

Player competition

PartyPoker has some of the softest games around, even at the higher stakes tournaments and cash games. The number of fish seems to be declining over time, but it is still one of the softest sites for online play.

Security and Ethics

Party Gaming, the parent company of PartyPoker, is a publicly traded entity. The company’s fraud department has had some high profile cases in catching people who collude, cheat, or multi-account in their games. PartyPoker also cracks down on people using bots or artificial intelligence and rigorously enforces its prohibited software list.

PartyPoker uses a 128-bit encryption and a third-party company has audited its random card generator. To be secure with your funds, you can buy a security token in the store that randomly generates a six-digit encrypted number that you would use when logging into the site, along with your password and four-digit pin number.

Customer Support

PartyPoker allows users to contact support via a toll-free number, live chat, and e-mail. Unfortunately, the level of support isn’t great and sometimes questions, although answered timely, are not always answered accurately. Support has also been known to give users the runaround when there have been server crashes.

Banking

PartyPoker allows most customers to deposit via credit card, e-wallet, bank transfer, check, or Western Union. Withdrawal options include all of the deposit options mentioned along with a check sent by mail. Cashouts are always done within a few days of requesting one, provided that the site’s security department has verified your documents.

Promotions

For an initial deposit, PartyPoker offers 100% bonus up to $500. The bonus is split into 10 increments and you have 60 days to complete it. When completed, new customers receive approximately 33% back on the rake paid to the site. At least four times per year, PartyPoker offers reload bonuses similar to the initial deposit bonus.

PartyPoker has a tiered system of rewarding players, who receive Party Points based on how much rake they contribute during a month. Party Points can be used in the VIP Store to purchase a variety of items, including clothing, tournament tickets, and cash bonuses. The value of the points compared to the rake you pay in the VIP store can be worth anywhere from 5% to 50%.

The reward system is not as good as other sites unless you plan to put in significant volume, as it is very difficult to achieve the higher tiers in the VIP program. The casual player will typically receive a 5% to 15% rebate on their rake paid.

Flagship Tournaments

PartyPoker runs a $215 tournament with $200,000 guaranteed every week along with a $530 weekly High Roller event with a $100,000 guarantee. On a quarterly basis, PartyPoker has a $640 tournament with a $1 million guarantee that always has an overlay and also introduced an annual tournament series.

Overall Review

PartyPoker is a great place to make money if you are a Hold’em or Omaha player. The software is easy to use and your competition is not as good as it is on other online poker sites. The drawbacks to playing on PartyPoker are their customer support, less-than-stellar VIP program, and lack of variety of other poker games.