Poker Stars is probably the largest online poker room for a reason. You don't get that many players to come to your room because you're bad at what you do.

These guys are a little old-school, so don't expect the latest, greatest software features, etc. But, they way they run things is exactly like a card room that just happens to operate online, instead of under a roof. Maybe that's why poker players flock here.

I think that Poker Stars is light on bonuses. A welcome bonus of up to $50 isn't even competitive in the world of online poker. It's almost as though they realize they have to give new players something, and that's what they came up with.

What they do do at Poker Stars is provide a high quality player rewards system. Their Frequent Player Points program has some teeth to it, and combined with their VIP system, regular players at the room actually reap tangible rewards.

Like most comp point systems, the FPP system at Poker Stars lets you use your points to buy into different tournaments at the room. They also have a merchandise store. I must note that the items in the Poker Stars store are high quailty goods, not the budget line of logowear.

In short, the system is heavy on the backend rewards, and lighter on the welcome bonus side of things.

This is where Poker Stars excells. While other rooms like to feature monthly (or weekly) events with guaranteed prize pools of $60,000, or $100,000, or even $250,000, PokerStars has been running a weekly $1,000,000 event every Sunday for over a year now.

With so many players in the house, Sit and Go's start up in a timely manner. There is a very full schedule of multi-table events, and you will of course find the steady supply of freerolls and online satellites.

Poker Stars even has a "tournament dollar" system set up so that player who win satellite entries can bank the value of their satellite win, and use those "tournament dollars" for other events. This is a great convenience for players because they don't have to worry about missing the chance to play in a tournament that they've satellited into should some life event occur at the wrong moment.

The software at Poker Stars is solid. There are a lot of features to it that you might not notice at first.

The tables are resizeable, so you can fit several onto your screen while watching all of the action at each of them. There is a "preferred seat" option, so you can sit at what looks like the same seat at each table. The room has several touches like that, allowing players to customize the feel of the room to suit their tastes.

They also offer things like four-color decks, changeable backgrounds, and player-chosen icons. Some players do show some serious creativity in their icon selections.

There are plenty of players at Poker Stars. That translates into great table selection, and a nice SnG start-up rate.

The players at the room all come to play poker, and only poker. So, you won't find the same amount of fish that you would at a room that offers sportsbetting and casino games, but not every PokerStars player is truly a "poker star" either.

As I said at the beginning, it's simply hard to fill a room full of this many players day in and day out if you're not doing a lot of things right. Poker Stars is the largest poker room online, and if you're looking for a place to play, these guys belong on any short list.