Poker Software Reviews

How to Read Online Poker Software Reviews

Internet Cardroom Software Reviews

Since most poker rooms offer similar games and stakes, knowing the difference between the poker software can help you decide which Internet cardroom to play at. Some online poker software features enhance your experience while others detract from it.

Reading software reviews help you find the Internet cardrooms with the experience-enhancing features. You can skip the boring stuff and get to playing poker as soon as possible.

Below are brief reviews of the top five online poker sites’ software.

Top 5 Online Poker Site Software Reviews

PokerStars Software Review

Pros: PokerStars is my second favorite in terms of software. PokerStars' software sets the bar for other online sites. An example of a "bar setting" software feature would be the hand history replayer. While most sites use raw hand histories, PokerStars offers a flash replayer. A few of other great software features include:

Real Mac download of their software
24 different languages
There are several table and card backgrounds to choose from. You can even upload your own or buy one from a 3rd party developer.
Euro and GBP currency in addition to USD
Flash hand history replayer

Cons: I had a difficult time finding something I didn't like about PokerStars software. They truly have excellent software features with few flaws. Here are the only cons I could think of:

You can only have two avatars. You can have one when you sign up and then can only change it once after that. PokerStars needs to change this rule.
The note taking isn't as intuitive as I think it could be. I have had this software on my computer for several years now, yet I had no idea you have the option to color code your notes like most sites. I had to find out through a forum thread.

If you decide to play at PokerStars, you might as well learn how to win on PokerStars.

Full Tilt Poker Software Review

Pros: Full Tilt Poker offers my favorite poker site software. They have all the same features as PokerStars and more. Full Tilt also recently renovated their whole site, making it user friendly by adding more game filters and lobby options. Here are some details:

Extensive game filters within the lobby. You can pick from your favorite game, number of players, stakes, variation, minimum number of players and minimum pot size.
The lobby can be customized. You can have the lobby displaying all kinds of different things including session information, keys, Iron Man status, a mini cashier or the find a player option.
18 different languages
Note taking is excellent and easy to use
7 different backgrounds plus the ability to upload yours or a 3rd parties background
Flash hand history replayer
Mac version

Cons: It's hard to think of something negative to say about Full Tilt Poker's software. If I did dislike something about Full Tilt Poker's software, I could probably just disable it in the option bar.

For example, some people hate the Full Tilt Poker avatars. But that's no big deal; you can turn the avatars off in the options, and all you'll see will be the seats and the names. I'm not crazy about the tournament advertisements, but those can be turned off too.

Learn how to win on Full Tilt Poker here.

Carbon Poker Software Review

Pros: Carbon Poker is a part of a huge network of sites with similar software features. These pros and cons will apply to those other Merge sites as well.

Where Carbon Poker stands out the most is their unique interactive features that allow you to communicate in an entertaining way with your opponents. A few examples of this include:

Smilies: Smilies are different kinds of faces or images that are shown depending on what you type in the chat box. For example, type in "lol" and get a laughing smiley face. Or, type in "nudie run" and get a naked women running across your screen. Another fun one is "whosurdaddy." This one will bring up a panda that points to himself in an egotistic way. There are tons of these smilies, many of which are specially made for holiday seasons.
Deal it twice: Deal the turn and river twice like they do in high stakes poker
Rabbit Hunt: Once everyone folds, you can see what the rest of the community cards would've been.
There are casino games including black jack, roulette and video poker.
There are several background and table options.

Cons: A few things I don't like about Carbon Poker's software include:

A small avatar. It's only a 28 by 28 pixels square. This is very small and hard to see.
There is no hand history replayer. Carbon Poker uses raw hand histories that are color-coded if you want to view past hands.
Carbon Poker's game filter is weak. You can only filter from real money/play money games, the type of game and variation.
There isn't a Mac version.
Carbon Poker is not compatible with 3rd party software such as Poker Tracker or Hold'em Manager.

You can also read a more detailed Carbon Poker review on this page.

Cake Poker Software Review

Pros: Similar to Carbon Poker, Cake Poker's pros and cons apply to several sites. Cake Poker is the head of a network of similar poker skins. The ideal Cake Poker site would have many of the same positive elements that Carbon Poker has in addition to the benefits that Cake Poker has.

Cake Poker allows 3rd party software such as Poker Tracker and HEM
The cashier tab opens in the same window. Most poker sites have their cashier open in a new window.
When the avatars are turned off and you have chosen the simple table layout the screen is clean and easy to read.
Note taking is easy
Lobby navigation is good and user friendly
Cards are easy to see, especially when multi colored deck is on

Cons: There are a few things that Cake Poker can improve on:

They have pop up ads. These pop up in the bottom right out of your computer's tool bar and display upcoming tournaments and promotions. I couldn't find a way to turn this off.
There are tabs for 7-card stud. While this doesn't sound like a big deal, here's the kicker: Cake Poker doesn't run any 7-card stud games, ever.
Cake Poker avatars are ugly and blotchy looking. If "human" avatars cannot be made to look real, they shouldn't be on the site in the first place. Thankfully, they can be turned off.
No Mac version

Find a detailed Cake Poker review here.

Party Poker Software Review

Pros: Party Poker only caters to the European market. After playing their "play money" games, these are the software features I enjoyed the most.

Flash version of their software for Mac users
Party Poker has a quick seat feature. You choose what game, stake and variation you want to play and you will be quickly seated. This works for play money, real money, cash and tournament poker games.
There is a training/advisor table. When you play at this table, you are playing a "practice" game against the computer. You will be told what hands you should fold, call or raise with.
Access to sports betting, casino, and bingo from the same lobby

Cons: Party Poker only had a few features that I didn't care for.

Their tables cannot be resized larger than 700 pixels or so. This isn't a big deal if you are tiling all of your tables. But it is a big deal if you're cascading your tables or playing only on one or two at a time.
Very small icons. The icons on the table are hard to see. This is made worse by the fact that the tables are pretty small themselves.
Player seats/avatars are cramped. Party Poker has something similar to Carbon Poker where all of your images, chip stacks and name are located within the same box. This makes things crowded. I would make everything separate or eliminate the avatar (image) altogether.

This detailed review of Party Poker Anywhere is worth looking at too.