PokerStars Review

PokerStars is the biggest online poker site in the world, and naturally it is the first choice of many players who want to play Stud Poker online. Despite its size, it caters for players of all bankrolls and offers a choice of ring games, Sit n Go games and multi table tournaments in many different Stud Poker formats – from the smallest buy-ins to the most breathe-taking.

The site provides online Stud Poker players with attractive and stable software, and the company behind PokerStars has developed a reputation for integrity when it comes to looking after players´ interests; with a high level of customer support and safe banking facilities. But, does the biggest always mean the best? This is what our review will help you decide.

Stud Poker Ring Games Offered

Stud Poker ring games are tables that you can join and leave at any time. You would normally join a table with 20-40 times the Big Blind indicate in the Stud Poker lobby (so you might bring $80.00 to the table in a game advertised as $1.00/$2.00) and hopefully leave with much more!

PokerStars offers players a choice of the most popular Stud Poker games played in the ring game format including:-

• 7 Card Stud
• 7 Card Stud Hi Lo
• Razz Poker

PokerStars also hosts Triple Stud ring games(*) – where 7 Card Stud Poker, Razz Poker and 7 Card Hi Lo Stud Poker are played in a rotation of eight hands each – and mixed poker games, such as HORSE and 8-Game where a knowledge of how to play Stud Poker is essential if you want to be successful in these disciplines. (*) Except in Spain, France and Italy, where players have their own PokerStars sites.

PokerStars hosts online Stud Poker ring games from $0.04/$0.08 stakes up to $100.00/$200.00, and you will find plenty of action at $10.00/$20.00 even at the quietest times of day.

How Stud Poker Helps You Win Mixed Poker Games

Excelling at Stud Poker can help you be successful in many of the mixed poker games hosted by PokerStars. The most popular mixed poker game on PokerStars is HORSE – in which the final three of the five disciplines are Razz Poker, 7 Card Stud Poker and 7 Card Hi Lo Stud Poker. If you master the principles of Stud Poker, you will have a substantial advantage over players who can only play Fixed Limit Hold´em and Fixed Limit Omaha Hi Lo (the other two disciplines in a game of HORSE).

The three Stud Poker disciplines appear in the same order at PokerStars´ 8-Game mixed poker tables, and although the proportion of Stud Poker games may not be as high as in HORSE, the three disciplines immediately precede the NL Hold´em round. Good online Stud Poker players can gain a significant advantage over their opponents by bossing the Razz , 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Hi Lo Stud rounds and taking a chip advantage into the round where the chips invariably start to fly.

Online Stud Poker Tournaments

In comparison to the Stud Poker ring games hosted by PokerStars, there seems to be limited demand for Stud Poker single table tournaments (also known as “Sit n Gos”) which are only played at buy-ins of up to $15.00 (although heads-up Sit n Gos are available up to $200.00). Multi Table Tournaments are a different matter altogether.

At least four Stud Poker tournaments are scheduled every hour on PokerStars, with buy-ins ranging from $2.20 to $215.00, and the variety on offer including turbo tournaments (which have short levels), hyper-turbos (in which each player starts with a small stack of chips) and knock-out tournaments (in which each player receives a bounty every time they eliminate another player from the game).

Note: During the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) buy-ins for online Stud poker tournaments can be as high as $2,100 and the events offer guaranteed prize pools of $100,000!

PokerStars Level of Competition

The level of competition at PokerStars is one of the toughest you will find on any poker site. All the top names in the world of poker play at PokerStars and – as an example of just how tough the competition can be – in a recent $25.00 buy-in Stud Poker tournament on PokerStars, WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel was the only PokerStars-sponsored professional player to cash in a field which included EPT Barcelona winner Sebastian Ruthenberg, EPT Copenhagen winner Mickey Petersen, EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis and PokerStars´ Caribbean Adventure winner Bertrand ‘ElKy’ Grospellier.

Inasmuch as the quality of Stud Poker players on PokerStars is very high, this does not mean that you should shy away from the fantastic challenges that await. The lower stakes online Stud Poker tournaments are a great place for a new player to improve their game and raise their own standard of play to the highest level.

PokerStars New Player Bonus

PokerStars offers a generous new player bonus of a 100% match on deposits of £400/€500/$600 depending on where you are playing from. It may not be the biggest new player poker bonus available on the Internet, but the fact that a player´s first three deposits all count towards the bonus, means that you do not have to deposit the maximum amount in one go.

A comprehensive example of how to clear the PokerStars bonus by playing Stud Poker is provided on our PokerStars Marketing Code for December 2023 page, but the nuts and bolts of the PokerStars new player poker bonus are:-

• A player earns VIP Player Points for contributing to the amount of rake deducted from ring games or paying to enter a Sit n Go or multi table Stud Poker tournament.
• The points accumulate, and every time a landmark is reached (which varies according to the account currency) a portion of the new player poker bonus is released into their account.
• Players are allowed 183 days from the date of their first deposit to collect the VIP Player Points which will enable them to clear the full PokerStars new player bonus.

Other PokerStars Stud Poker Benefits

There many, many other good reasons for playing Stud Poker at PokerStars. Once sufficient VIP Player Points have been collected to redeem the new player poker bonus, the points can be used to enter Stud Poker tournaments, buy goods in the PokerStars shop or convert into further cash rewards.

Players who attain certain VIP levels are eligible to play in valuable freerolls (sadly not at Stud Poker) which can increase the value of your bankroll even further, exchange the points you have collected for a live event package or even entry into the site´s premier online poker tournament – the $5,200 buy-in World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, which in 2010 paid the biggest individual first prize for an online poker tournament ever – an incredible $2,278,097!

So, is PokerStars the Best Place to Play Online Stud Poker?

PokerStars – in our opinion – is by far the best place to play online Stud Poker. The rewards for being a successful player can be life-changing and the site provides the safest environment at which to play. Even players who do not reach the highest echelons of the game will have an enjoyable Stud Poker experience with the many options that are provided by PokerStars and the most important thing for a player who has struggled to get a game of Stud Poker at other online poker sites is that there is always traffic at PokerStars.

If you have not already got a PokerStars account, visit our “PokerStars Bonus Code” page to find out how you can clear the PokerStars new player bonus by playing Stud Poker online.