Party Poker Review
Party Poker is one of the original online poker pioneers, having operated worldwide for over two decades. It was the largest poker site in the world until it closed its doors to U.S. players in 2006 after Congress and the President passed the UIGEA into law.
In November 2013, Party Poker (and its sister site Party Casino) reentered the U.S. market after receiving a New Jersey online poker license. New Jersey remains Party Poker’s only domestic market, although it is also a part of the larger Party Poker US Network which also operates in online poker in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker also operate on the Party Poker US Network and combine players across tables to boost traffic across the board.
Read on for a full Party Poker review. Below, BettingUSA provides player traffic reports, information on cash games and tournaments, the mobile poker app, and how to claim up to $625 in welcome bonuses.
Party Poker
- $25 No Deposit Bonus
- Party Poker Loyalty Program
- Available In New Jersey
Pros
Daily Guaranteed TournamentsWide Range Of Cash GamesCons
Low Ring Game TrafficOnly Available In NJParty Poker Bonus Code
$25 + $600 BonusParty Poker Bonus Code: BUSABONUS| Title | Details |
|---|---|
Party Poker Bonus Code | BUSABONUS |
| Registration Bonus | $25 bonus after signing up |
| First Deposit Bonus | 100% up to $600 |
| Clearing Requirements | $1 bonus funds cleared for every 4 points earned playing poker Bonus released in 10% chunks 2 points earned for every $1 paid in rake/tournament fees |
| Minimum Deposit | $10 |
Party Poker Deposit Bonuses
Party Poker offers a two-part welcome bonus to all new players.
First, new users receive an instant $25 no-deposit bonus just for signing up. Players can claim this offer by registering their accounts and logging in.
Second, Party Poker offers all new users a 100% match bonus worth up to $600 on their first deposit.
Party Poker $600 First-Time Deposit Bonus
New Party Poker customers who make their first deposit receive a 100% bonus for up to $600 extra. Party Poker awards the bonus in Bonus Dollars, which players release in 10% increments as they earn reward points by playing real money games.
Customers earn two points for every $1 they pay in rake or tournament fees, and they clear $1 of their bonus for every four points they earn. As such, every $2 players contribute to poker rake returns $1 in bonus funds, which Party Poker pays in 10% increments as withdrawable cash.
For example, if a player deposits $200, they would receive their bonus in $20 increments each time they accumulate 80 points (equivalent to contributing $40 in rake).
All players have 90 days from the time of deposit to clear the Party Poker bonus. Players must deposit $10 or more to qualify for the bonus.
Party Poker No-Deposit Bonus
All new players receive $25 in Online Cash immediately upon signing up and verifying their information.
Party Poker issues the Online Cash in three parts:
- $10 for Cash Games: Players can use the $10 to participate in real-money cash games and “fast forward” tables – customers must play one raked hand to withdraw the money
- $10 Casino Cash: Players can play Party’s casino games and jackpot slots with this money and may withdraw their winnings after rolling over the bonus one time
- $5 Tournament Cash: Customers may use this money to buy into multi-table tournaments and sit-n-go games
Party Poker Loyalty Program
$25 + $600 BonusParty Poker Bonus Code: BUSABONUSAfter claiming their welcome bonuses, players can leverage the Party Poker Loyalty Cashback Program for additional rewards.
In short, players earn iRewards Points (iRPs) that count toward their tier status. In addition, players earn cash back each week based on their previous week’s play. The program also awards tournament tickets to players every month.
Players can earn anywhere from $0.50 to $3,000 in cashback rewards every week based on the number of iRPs they earn. At the lower end, 10 iRPs is good for $0.50 back, while 19,500 or more iRPs gets players $3,000 in cash back.
Additionally, players earn monthly tier bonuses as they move up through the four-tier VIP program. All players begin in the Bronze category and move up based on their monthly iRP earnings.
- Bronze: <50 points per month
- Silver: 50 points per month (awards $5 tournament ticket each month players reach Silver status)
- Gold: 750 points per month (awards $5 tournament ticket and $109 tournament ticket each month players reach Gold status)
- Palladium: 2000 points per month (awards $5 tournament ticket, $109 tournament ticket, $215 tournament ticket, and $500 Hot Cash Bonus* each month players reach Palladium status)
*Party Poker awards the Hot Cash Bonus in ten $50 increments
Party Poker Download
Party Poker is fully compatible with all typical desktop and mobile devices. Players can download the Party Poker client for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS.
The Party Poker development team significantly upgraded its software in 2020 with multiple improvements. Some of the highlights included the addition of progressive knockout tournaments (PKOs), reducing major tournament series tables from 9-handed to 8-handed tables, and introducing a rabbit hunt feature for players to see what cards they would have drawn had they not folded.
Overall, players will find the Party Poker software runs reliably, quickly, and efficiently. In addition, the lobby is intuitive, which makes it easy to find and sort tables according to players’ preferences.
Multi-tabling is a breeze, and other features include four-color decks, auto-rebuys for cash games, and the ability to save multi-table layouts for future convenience.
In summary, the Party Poker software is easy to use across all platforms, features clean design elements, and adheres to modern best practices for security.
Party Poker App Review
$25 + $600 BonusParty Poker Bonus Code: BUSABONUSPlayers can download the official Party Poker app for iOS and Android.
The app provides access to the complete Party Poker games menu, spanning cash games and tournaments. Party Poker’s mobile app even supports multi-tabling, although players will find the desktop client significantly more intuitive for playing at more than one table.
Whether using the lobby to find available games or during in-game play, players will find the Party Poker app employs a simple and easy-to-use interface, which may be even more critical when playing on a mobile device. Overall, the mobile app is plenty sufficient to play cash games and tournaments.
Party Poker Cash Games
$25 + $600 BonusParty Poker Bonus Code: BUSABONUSCash games run on Party Poker 24 hours a day, with stakes ranging from $0.01/$0.02 ($2 buy-in) to $25/$50 ($5,000 buy-in).
No-Limit Hold’em (NLH), Fixed-Limit Hold’em (LHE), and Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) are all available, with NLH boasting the most traffic by far. Several PLO games run regularly as well, while LHE games are far less common.
The best times to play online poker cash games are on weekends and weekday evenings, where peak traffic is comparable to that of PokerStars. However, both online poker sites fall short of the traffic WSOP/888, which is the only poker site of the three to share player pools with traffic in Delaware and Nevada.
Because Party Poker has no shared liquidity agreement with its skins in Pennsylvania and Michigan, its ceiling for overall cash game traffic is relatively limited. However, there is still enough action for players to find several active tables at a time, especially for NHL games.
Another fun cash game offering on Party Poker is Fast Forward Poker, its version of “fast-fold poker.” At Fast Forward tables, all online poker players join a common pool that constantly creates new tables to seat players who have folded their hands elsewhere.
As a result, players can play many more hands per hour than at standard cash games. Rather than waiting between hands when they receive poor hole cards or see a bad flop, they can fold and instantly join a new table with other players who have also just folded.
In short, Party Poker Fast Forward games eliminate the wait between hands.
Party Poker Cash Game Types and Limits
- No Limit Hold’em: $0.01/$0.02 NL to $25/$50 NL
- Fixed Limit Hold’em: $0.02/$0.04 to $30/$60
- Pot-Limit Omaha: $0.01/$0.02 PL to $25/$50 PL
- Fast Forward Hold’em: $0.05/$0.10 to $0.25/$0.50 (6-handed and heads-up tables)
- Seating options: 6, 9, 10, or heads-up
Party Poker Tournaments
$25 + $600 BonusParty Poker Bonus Code: BUSABONUSParty Poker hosts daily and weekly tournaments at all buy-in levels, many with guaranteed prize pools. In addition, Party Poker hosts several tournament series each year with massive guarantees.
Daytime tournaments feature smaller guarantees (25-50 players’ worth of entries), but evening tournaments provide more appealing prize pools.
There is also a daily $10K Guarantee at 7 p.m. ET with a $109 buy-in and a weekly $35K Guarantee each Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.
The Party Poker US Network also runs event series throughout the year that span several weeks, featuring significantly enhanced prize pools. Party Poker’s bigger series feature tournaments with buy-ins of $109, $215, and higher, with prizes exceeding $20,000. Main Events for Party Poker’s tournament series usually top out at $50,000 to $100,000 in guaranteed prizes.
Other Party Poker tournaments include satellites to higher buy-in events and “Phase” tournaments. For the uninitiated, Phase tournaments function like satellites but allow players who win seats to take their stacks into the target events.
Lastly, Party Poker hosts daily sit-n-go tournaments (SNGs). Buy-ins range from $0.10 to $1,000, but Party Poker struggles to fill SNGs. As a result, players will often log in and find zero SNG action.
Party Poker Player Traffic
Party Poker traffic levels are decent but not great. Multi-table tournaments and cash games run around the clock, and players will occasionally find high-stakes NLHE games running, but SNG action is intermittent.
During peak evening hours, Party Poker attracts 200 to 500 real-money players, which is enough to fill low and medium-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em games. However, traffic dips to 100-200 players during off-peak hours.
Pot-limit Omaha games run fairly frequently at low and mid-stakes levels, but high-stakes PLO games are uncommon. The situation is dire for fixed-limit players, with Party Poker LHE games rarely running.
Weekends attract significantly more traffic, and the number of active tables expands accordingly. Major tournament series generate even more traffic as players visit Party Poker for large guaranteed prize pools and stay after for the cash games.
Party Poker Rake
Rake is a fact of life in online poker, and Party Poker is no exception. Party Poker’s rake schedule varies according to the game stakes, buy-in, and the number of players at the table.
Party Poker takes $0.05 for every $1 in the pot in heads-up cash games, with a maximum rake of $1 per hand. Tournament fees vary, ranging from 0% to 25%.
A full breakdown of all other rake scenarios follows:
| No-Limit/Pot-Limit | # of Players | Rake Rate | Rake Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.10/$0.25 and higher | 2 | $0.01 per $0.20 | $1.00 |
| $0.10/$0.25 and higher | 3-4 | $0.01 per $0.20 | $2.00 |
| $0.10/$0.25 and higher | 5-10 | $0.01 per $0.20 | $3.00 |
| $0.01/$0.02 to $0.05/$0.10 | 2-10 | $0.01 per $0.20 | $1.00 |
| Fixed Limit | # of Players | Rake Rate | Rake Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.02/$0.04 to $0.15/$0.30 | 2-10 | $0.01 per $0.20 | $0.50 |
| $0.25/$0.50 to $1/$2 | 2-10 | $0.05 per $1.00 | $1.00 |
| $2/$4 | 5-10 | $0.25 per $5.00 | $3.00 |
| $2/$4 | 3-4 | $0.25 per $5.00 | $2.00 |
| $2/$4 | 2 | $0.25 per $5 | $1.00 |
| $3/$6 | 5-10 | $0.50 per $10 | $3.00 |
| $3/$6 | 3-4 | $0.50 per $10 | $2.00 |
| $3/$6 | 2 | $0.50 per $10 | $1.00 |
| $5/$10 to $10/20 | 5-10 | $0.50 per $10 | $3.00 |
| $5/$10 to $10/20 | 3-4 | $0.50 per $10 | $2.00 |
| $5/$10 to $10/20 | 2 | $0.50 per $10 | $1.00 |
| $15/$30 to $30/$60 | 5-10 | $1 per $20 | $3.00 |
| $15/$30 to $30/$60 | 3-4 | $1 per $20 | $2.00 |
| $15/$30 to $30/$60 | 2 | $0.50 per $2 | $1.00 |
Party Poker Deposit Options
Party Poker FAQ
Expert Opinion: Is Party Poker Legit?
Party Poker is a legal, licensed, and legitimate poker site. Although it has only operated (legally) in the United States since 2013, it has more than 20 years of experience offering safe online poker.
As a licensed U.S. poker site, PartyPoker.com has been thoroughly vetted by qualified regulators. Players can confidently assume that Party Poker’s games are fair, free of conclusion, and truly random. In addition, state regulators have verified that Party Poker maintains appropriate safety protocols to protect customers’ funds and private information.
Cash game and tournament specialists alike should consider PartyPoker.com, especially on the weekends.
Wes Burns has more than a decade’s worth of experience as a writer, researcher and analyst in the legal gambling industry and is co-founder of BettingUSA.com. As a former professional online poker player, Wes approaches his work from the viewpoint of players.