Overview
The site hit hardest by the Republican US government’s less-than-intelligent decision to crack down on online gambling, Party Poker used to be the daddy of them all. $25/$50 played like $0.25/$0.50 and it’s where online greats such as Taylor Caby and Cole South cut their teeth. Now, there aren’t any Americans for you to pick on and the traffic has diminished. However there are still lots of games and big tournaments.
Conclusion: Tonight we’re gonna PartyPoker like it’s 1999 (and the UIGEA wasn’t in place) because there is still money to be made here. What our US brothers refer to as “Eurodonks” populate the tables and they’ve got some good MTTs going on too.
Software
It was seriously ugly before. Now they’ve renovated the entire software package, and I hate to say it but… we like. Major changes include an expanded lobby, new tournament blind structures, table resizing (finally catching up with the 21st century) and a generally cooler-looking table.
Conclusion: Not stunning compared to the likes of Full Tilt or ‘Stars but it’s better than its predecessor like Gordon Ramsay cuisine is better than Tesco Value spag bol’.
Traffic
Not quite up to what it was but that’s hardly surprising considering that when the UIGEA came into play the publicly-traded stock of PartyGaming dropped 60% in 24 hours. However, it’s still one of the better-known sites and you won’t have trouble finding a game.
Conclusion: Best take the American family reunion game elsewhere but there are a lot of games going, both cash and MTT at all levels.
Donks or Not?
It’s not one of the fishier sites, largely because the influx of poor American players who saw poker on TV and wanted to win millions too has dried. But then it’s not one of the tougher sites either – it settles in nicely between Full Tilt and RedKings in the difficulty league.
Conclusion: Not full of CardRunners members but the average player will have read a starting hand selection sheet. Just employ some good table selection and you’ll do fine.