Winning Online Poker

What is a Party Poker Skin?

Empire Poker, Intertops Poker, Multi Poker. Eurobet Poker, and Poker NOW are all 'skins' of Party Poker. In essence, what this means is that by logging into one of these 'skins', you are taken to the same online poker server as Party Poker players, and can sit at the same tables. When you sit at a Party Poker table, you may be sitting at the same table with players logged into Empire, Intertops or Multi.

Imagine that you are on your way to play poker at your local cardroom. Instead of going through the front door wearing a yellow shirt, you decide to use the side or back entrance, wearing a blue shirt. This is essentially what you are doing when you log into Empire Poker instead of Party Poker. You use a different door, but you get to the same cardroom. If you walk in through a third door wearing a red shirt, that's logging into Intertops Poker, and a fourth door is Multi Poker.

What advantages are there to having accounts at multiple Party Poker skins?

Each skin requires you to create a new account, with a different screen name. However, this makes you eligible for a new deposit bonus! This way, you can get six new user deposit bonuses for playing at Party Poker, instead of just one. These deposit bonuses really add up, and they are quite helpful for building up your poker bankroll when you are getting started online.

Similarly, each site offers reload bonuses independently, and if you don't have accounts at all six skins, you may miss out on a great reload bonus. For those interested in more bonus money (and who isn't?), having accounts at all six skins is a must.

The extra skins also provide you with a way to get around Party's limit of four tables open at once, because you can log into each server simultaneously and sit at four tables at each. If you're really skilled, that's 24 total tables that can be played at once!

You are not allowed, however, to sit in two different seats at the same table. For example, if you log in to Party and sit at table Fantasy Football, you will not be able to sit in an empty seat at Fantasy Football with your Empire screen name also. The server notices your IP addresses are the same and blocks you from sitting. (You also cannot sit at the same table as someone using the same internet router as you, because your IP addresses will be the same.)

Are the skins exactly the same as Party Poker?

Not exactly. Each server has its own selection of multi-table tournaments. So you will not be able to sign up for a Party Poker multi-table tournament from your account on Empire Poker. (You can sign up for the same single-table tournaments, however.) In all other relevant respects, the servers are the same, and logging into one is really no different from logging into another.

Is there any catch?

One fly in the ointment remains. Party Poker has recently begun cracking down on players who try to sign up for accounts at all the skins, when they already have an account at one or more. For those who have been stopped this way, there is one possible solution: signing up from a different computer. This remedy has worked for many who had been thwarted from signing up through their own computer.