Party Poker Review

In many sports, including poker, the phrase “form is temporary, class is permanent” rings true and for me this seems an apt description of Party Poker’s time in the poker industry. Having established itself in the early days of the poker boom the sites fortunes took a nosedive after the US fallout.

But like any major player, Party has battled through the difficult times and now looks as though it may once again become the premier place to play poker.

The most pleasing change that Party have made is their software and user interface. Gone are the 80’s style table graphics, making way for a slick, fully customisable, table view encompassing preferred seating options, changeable backdrops and the option to insert your ugly mug into your avatar.

The one quirky feature Party haven’t scrapped is the congratulatory message whenever you win a pot, I’m sure it won’t be to everyone’s taste but when your drowning in a sea of sick river cards a rousing round of applause when you finally clinch a pot can do wonders for your moral.

Over-lapping tables are a thing of the past and a single button can tile or cascade your playing space, perfect for any sickos who need to play 20 games at once to stay interested. One minor annoyance is that the tables can’t be manually resized which can be frustrating when you want to single table and browse the web at the same time.

The lobby’s quick-search feature is perfect for those eager to jump straight into the action. The extended lobby breaks down each game into its different variants and limits and there is none of the frustrating jumping table lists characteristic of Stars and Tilt.

While these features certainly make playing at Party a pleasant experience the one feature that trumps them all is the hot hand setting. OK, so maybe it’s a little bit gimmicky and maybe it doesn’t really enhance the sites appeal but it definitely peaked me interest.

The hot hand setting allows you to set a default “hot hand” which the software automatically looks for and alerts you to. Love to get lucky with 7-2 offsuit? Can’t resist getting trigger happy with pocket fives? Whatever default hand, the software will buzz, text and flash to direct our attention towards your sacred holding.

The site can also alert you when pots reach a certain size and even when a set series of betting patterns occur. Maybe it’s just a bells and whistles feature to excite casual players but in my view it’s little touches like this that make a room a joy to play at.

Party Poker has certainly had its ups and downs over the years and where many lesser sites would have fallen Party has only grown stronger.

Their software is well put together, their bonus scheme is one of the industry’s best and the customer service is speedy and efficient. Part Poker might not be the party in town anymore but it is definitely still one of the hippest.