I have played online at PartyPoker more than at any other online site. PartyPoker is the world's largest online poker site.

The banner displays the time, the number of players currently at PartyPoker, and the number of tables that are currently being played. Also, PartyPoker has a Progressive Bad Beat Jackpot, and its current status is displayed in the top banner area, as well. In case you are new to poker, in general, a Bad Beat Jackpot is an amount of money which is paid to a player who gets a very good hand beaten. At PartyPoker, that hand is four 8's or better. This means that, if you have four 8's or better, and you get that hand beaten, then you get a piece of that Jackpot, as does everyone at the table. Of the distributed amount (PartyPoker gets a piece of it to start the next Jackpot), 50% will go to the loser of the hand (the Bad Beat), 25% to the winner and 25% will be split between the other seated players who actively participated in the hand (any player sitting out will not receive a portion of the jackpot). The term "Progressive" means that the Jackpot amount keeps increasing until someone wins it. The increases come from a special "rake" that is taken from the pots at the Bad Beat tables. Announcements are also displayed in the banner area.

The main lobby is used to display at menu of the various game areas at PartyPoker, such as RealMoney, Bad Beat Jackpot, PartyPoker Million, Tournaments, Sit&Go and PlayMoney. RealMoney is where you play a variety of Limit games. The Bad Beat area has a range of table stakes starting at $2/$4 tables and the above mentioned Bad Beat Jackpot applies. I will talk about regular tournaments, where most users play, later in this article. The PartyPoker Million area is where you play special tournaments called "satellites" where the top player(s) advance to higher level tournaments. A number of players will ultimately win seats in the World Poker Tour event. Sit&Go Tables are single-table tournaments that pay the top three players on the table at a rate of a percentage of the total purse. The winner gets 50% of the purse, 2nd place gets 30%, and 3rd place gets 20%. So, a $5 buy-in table pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd $25, $15, and $10, respectively.

The main lobby option buttons allow you to perform several common actions. You can Logout, thus allowing another family member, friend or roommate to Login and play on your computer.

The How-To-Play just pops up this window which describes how to perform some of the basic actions that are required to start playing on a table. Clicking on the "OK" button closes the window.

The Cashier area displays your personal information and shows you your Real Money and Play Money balances. Additionally, you can click on buttons that take you to other windows where you can make a Deposit, make a Withdrawal (Cash Out), get you Bonus Account information, or view your recent transaction History.

The 24-hr Live Help area just allows you to start a live chat session with one of the live PartyPoker respesentatives who are on hand to answer questions and take care of problems.

The Table Search tab allows you search for tables that meet your search criteria, such as Stakes.

The Player Search tab allows you to search for a particular player if you want to see if someone you know is currently playing so you can play with them or watch their game play.

The cash game list displays a hierarchy of the available RealMoney games. Plus and Minus symbols allow you to open or close each type of game. PartyPoker offers one of the best varieties of cash games of all the online sites. When you click on a Stakes value in the list, you get a list of tables that play those Stakes. For each table, there are columns for the table Name, the Stakes, the number of Players currently playing on the table, the number of players currently Waiting to play those Stakes, and the current Average Pot size for that table.

The Tournament game list list displays a hierarchy of the Tournament types. Plus and Minus symbols allow you to open or close each type of tournament. The PartyPoker Million area is where you play special tournaments called "satellites" where the top player(s) advance to higher level tournaments. A number of players will ultimately win seats in the World Poker Tour event. Sit&Go Tables are single-table tournaments that pay the top three players on the table at a rate of a percentage of the total purse. The winner gets 50% of the purse, 2nd place gets 30%, and 3rd place gets 20%. So, a $5 buy-in table pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd $25, $15, and $10, respectively. When you click on a Stakes value in the list, you get a list of tables that play those Stakes. Regular tournaments have a buy-in amount and usually have a maximum number of players that can participate before Registration closes. Special tournaments are, generally, private games. For each tournament, there are columns for the Tournament Name, which includes its Type (like Limit, Pot Limit, or No Limit), its Date, its Buy-in, the number of Players currently Registered to play in the tournament, and the Status of the tournament (Announced, Running, or Registering). The purses and pay-outs vary for each tournament depending on the Buy-in amount and the number of players who register to play in the tournament.

The tournament lobby shows everything you need to know about the state of the tournament. The lobby is sectioned into different areas in the client window that show categories of information about the tournament. There is a Tournament Description area, a Message area, a Player area where you can sort by clicking on the Player or Placed header, a Table list area where you can click on a table to get a list of players on that table as well as High/Low chips counts on the table, and a main tournament information area which shows the overall tournament status, current Stakes, number of players left in the tournament, the Prize Poll, the Pay-outs, and Break information. Buttons at the bottom of the Tournament Lobby allow you to Close the window, go to the Cashier, go to the Tournament Lobby, get Live Help, Register/Unregister, Watch the Table, or Take Your Seat in the tournament.

Both the Cash and Tournament tables look the same, so I will just describe a table screen once and that description will apply to both game types. The PartyPoker table is very standard. Each player's bet is shown as chips in front of each player. The Pot is shown under the community cards. A Player is "In" the hand so long as their cards are displayed in front of them. You can mouse over any Player name to see that Player's location. There is a Chat area and Rebuy (to Cashier), go to Lobby, and Leave Table buttons. Play buttons appear, as appropriate, to allow you to play your hand or fold. Additionally, a mouse-over of the Dealer's chip rack will allow you to set various playing options, including deck color.

The top menus are My Account, Banking, Options, Sound & Audio Options, News & Events, Tell-A-Friend, Game Rules, About Us, and Help. I am not going into a detailed explanation of them because they are generally self-explanatory. Most of these links take you to pages on the PartyPoker web site.