Poker Room
Not long ago, if a player wanted to get into a decent poker game, they needed to get into their car and drive to their nearest, often smoke filled, casino. For many poker players, this wasn't even a viable option. All that has changed however. Poker players can now play in the biggest poker room, with the best online poker tables in the world, Pokerstars, from the comfort of their own home at any time of the day they like. Whether the poker room is smoking or non-smoking is purely down to the player of course. Players can choose from all of the following poker variations via our downloadable card room: Texas Holdem, Omaha Poker, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, Seven Card Stud High-Low, Razz, HORSE, Poker Tournaments.
Players should click on any of the poker games in the above list for a thorough description of its rules. For players new to online poker, reading our basic poker rules is advisable before joining a table. Players may also wish to visit PokerStars' glossary of poker terms.
PokerStars is pleased to offer many types of multi-table poker tournaments, in each and every one of the games we run. And by popular demand, we are delighted to offer players play money pot-limit and no-limit poker on our free poker tables. These are in addition to our already long running fixed-limit play money games.
Just as a player would find in a traditional Las Vegas poker room, if a table that a player wishes to play on is currently full, they can put their name on the waiting list. Of course, when players play online, all they need to do to get on the waiting list is to click their mouse button. When a seat becomes available at the selected poker table, the player is automatically asked if they wish to take the seat and join the game.
At PokerStars, whatever table a player may be playing at, they can always rest assured that they are playing poker against their fellow online poker enthusiasts. The player's opponents can come from all walks of life and any part of the world, but one thing for sure; they are always playing purely for themselves. This is important, because unlike some other online poker rooms, at PokerStars players will never have to play against any bots (computer programmed opponents), shills (paid players), or play against the 'house' in any other guise.
Pokerstars policies and rules can be reviewed on our poker room rules page.
Room Limits
PokerStars is delighted to offer a huge selection of real money poker games for every budget, from the micro-limits of $0.02/$0.04 right up to the super high stakes games of $1000/$2000. PokerStars also offers no-limit tables; with games of $0.01/$0.02 blinds right up to mega money $200/400 blinds games for the high rollers. For players interested in playing for play money, they can visit our free poker page for further details.
Minimum Table Buy-In
The minimum buy-in for the PokerStars poker room is ten times the small bet for fixed limit games (the bet on the first two rounds of betting). For instance, on a $10/$20 table, the minimum buy-in is $100. The buy-in is twenty times the small bet for no-limit poker games.
All-In
A player is said to be all-in when he/she has put all of their poker chips in the pot. Since an all-in player has all their available poker chips in the pot, they can't win any money past this final all-in bet and any bet amounts that match it. If the all-in bet has any excess amount, this will either be returned to the bettor, or used to make up a side pot with another player(s) who can match the bet. Importantly for the all-in player, they cannot be folded from the hand, and are always eligible for the main pot, regardless of future betting amongst other players.
Sometimes a player with enough chips to continue playing a hand will find his/herself disconnected and therefore not able to respond. When this happens, the player is also considered to be "all-in" for the sum of chips he or she has already bet on that particular hand. When this happens repeatedly, it normally implies that the player has a poor Internet connection. While uncommon, if this happens to a player while playing on PokerStars, it's advisable to leave the poker table until such time as their Internet connection improves. When the player's Internet connection is back to normal, then he/she can return to the poker room and resume normal play.
No All-In Tables
When a table contains "no all-in" in parentheses following the table name, this denotes that the table does not provide the all-in protection proffered on other tables to those who may get disconnected. These tables are identified by the words "no all-in" in parentheses after a table name. However if a player does happen to get disconnected from a no all-in table they are granted additional time to reconnect. If a player does not respond after the time given, their hand will be folded. For this reason it's important to have a reliable Internet connection if the player wishes to play on a ‘no all-in' table.
Fast (a.k.a. High Speed) Tables
When a table contains the word "fast" in parentheses following a table name, this denotes that these tables allow less time for players to act. These fast tables were devised for players who like the action to move at a faster pace than happens on the standard table. A "fast" poker table works as follows.
- Players receive just 15 seconds in a Limit poker game to act, instead of the standard 25.
- Players receive just 18 seconds in a no limit and pot limit poker game to act, instead of the standard 35.
- Players have just 1 second to show or muck, instead of the standard 3 seconds.
- The pot gets pushed to the winner faster.
- The showdown finishes faster; it takes 2 seconds instead of the standard 4.
Additionally, "auto-posting" of blinds is a requirement at a "fast" poker table. Players are automatically in "Wait for Big Blind" mode once they sit down, and will auto-post when it arrives at their turn to post the big blind. A player can also play straight away by unchecking "Wait for Big Blind" and on the next free hand they will post a big blind and be dealt in.
If a player wishes to take a break during the course of a fast game, they can select "Sit out next blind". The player will then be dealt-in until the blinds reach them, at which point they will be put in "Sitting Out" mode.
Game Issues
In the highly unusual event of our poker room server crashing, all transactions will be delivered to the player's online PokerStars account at hand completion. If a hand does not complete for one reason or another, every player account will be rolled back to the way they were at the start of the hand. All bets are deemed off and a new hand gets dealt. When a server crash disrupts a poker tournament, it will restart play from the beginning of the hand preceding the disruption.
Poker Room Rake
PokerStars receives compensation by what's known as the rake for running poker games. The rake is a small portion (5% to a maximum of $3 usually, in a few of PokerStars mega-high stakes games this can rise to $5) of the pot. For complete details on the rake, visit our poker rake page.
We hope to have answered any player questions that they may have had about our poker room here at PokerStars.
Download the Pokerstars poker software now and take a seat in our free or real money poker tables. Want to get to know more about our Las Vegas style 'comps'? Then visit our poker promotions page. PokerStars have worked hard to make our poker room the biggest and best Internet poker room. Want to play Poker online? Make the right choice; play with the best, play at Pokerstars.
