Trusted Online Poker Sites
The single most important factor when considering an online poker site is trust. There’s no point in playing on a site if you don’t trust the people and technology behind it. You need to know that your bankroll is safe and you’ll always be able to withdraw your winnings. Fortunately poker sites have come a long ways in recent years and most of the shady operators have been wiped from the Internet.
There are still a large number of factors to consider when picking an online poker site, however. Can you make a deposit with a credit card? How long does it take to withdraw cash? Can you get a big bonus for signing up with a new poker site? These are all great questions and online reviews and rankings can help you decide where you want want to play.
Finding the Right Online Poker Site
Over the years, we’ve cultivated relationships with some of the best online poker sites available. We have worked with many of these operators for years and trust them to be reliable, fair and pay out in the quickest manner possible when you take down a big tournament or post a huge cash game win.
Online poker reviews are intended to be objective while rating several different factors. But the truth is, different people like different things in a poker room, as we discussed earlier. Big sign-up bonuses may attract some novice poker players so they can get the most bang for their buck. Other newbies might prefer the safety of anonymous tables (like Bovada offers) so they can build up their confidence and learn the game at their own pace. More experienced players may enjoy a variety of game play because a huge network of players is more important to test their skills in many variations and buy-in levels.
There are obviously many different variations of online poker sites, and different players have different priorities and requirements they need to meet.
To choose the best online poker site for your needs:
- Make sure the online poker site you want to play is trustworthy.
- Explore the pros and cons of each site you visit.
- Check the local and national laws in your country to ensure that online poker is legal.
- Find a site that offers significant upside for signing up, such as a deposit bonus.
Sign-up Bonuses & Promotions
New poker players are extremely important to online poker sites. More players = A healthier ecosystem and bottom line. Therefore online poker sites generally offer incentives for players who are signing up for the first time.
The most common way that poker sites do this is by offering a match on whatever the player deposits (although there is a limit). This is generally referred to as a sign-up bonus. So if a player decides to plunk down $100 on a site and the poker room offers a 100% deposit match then they’ll theoretically be getting another $100 for free.
Of course there is a catch to the free money. To keep players from immediately withdrawing their free cash poker sites require customers to play a certain number of real-money hands to unlock the bonus.
That bonus can be quite easy to unlock for small deposits while unlocking big ones for over $1,000 would require thousands upon thousands of hands played. Many players build their bankroll from their poker bonus so it’s important to get one that works for you.
If you are a very casual player you might be better off going with a small bonus (some sites even offer instant cash back) while a more experienced player might want to take a shot at the big cash.
Sign-up bonuses are usually provided through a download link or a deposit code.
Software
While poker software is relatively simple compared to high-end video games there is still a big difference between a top-notch client and something that has been hastily thrown together.
Fortunately poker software has improved immeasurably since the early days of online poker but there are still some league leaders. Most poker players are looking for poker software that is secure, reliable and lightning fast. They are also looking for an interface that provides numerous features without being cluttered.
Some of standard features for online poker software include four-color decks, re-sizable tables, hand history, multi-table support and hand-replayers. The more advanced features include customizable table views and betting buttons. Some sites also offer comprehensive stat tracking for high-volume players.
Forgetting the technical side there are also some sites that have the right “feel” for certain players. That can be a combination of the interface, overall aesthetic and speed.
Player Skill Level
Most poker players prefer to play against the worst possible players so that they can make the most money (funny how that works). On the flipside if you"re trying to improve your poker game it can actually be beneficial playing against solid players.
There is a wide range of skill when it comes to poker on the Internet and some of the bigger sites tend to attract the best players.
Meanwhile some of the lesser-known sites, especially ones with casino and sports betting businesses, tend to have a lot of fresh players who are looking to try their hand at poker. It can be worth it to play those sites despite software that is a significant downgrade and overall smaller traffic.
It’s a carefully balancing act between picking online poker sites with great software and traffic versus ones with weaker players. Our advice? Don’t count out some of the smaller sites as you look for potentially soft games.
Game Variety
These days the vast majority of players want as much No-Limit Hold’em as they can possibly get but there are actually a wide variety of Hold’em variants, some of which are exclusive to specific sites.
Action junkies will likely enjoy the turbo-paced speed of fast fold poker (also known as speed poker) while poker tournament players will likely have more interest in the few sites that run massive Sunday majors.
More and more variants have been coming to No-Limit Hold’em over recent years with Bounty, Jackpot and 50/50 formats getting interesting tweaks.
Pot-Limit Omaha, which is similar to Hold’em but uses four cards, has also been on the rise and most sites will include PLO to their poker options at the very least.
Of course some players also want to play the old-school mix games like Seven-Card Stud, Badugi and even Five-Card Draw.
If you like the more obscure games then you’ll want to carefully research your options because only the biggest sites tend to spread those games. Some of the smaller sites technically offer those games but they rarely run because there simply aren’t enough players.
Traffic
Overall traffic is another carefully consideration when picking the best online poker site.
You want there to be a big enough player base on a site so that you can always get into a game. This shouldn’t be that difficult when you’re playing micro-stakes cash games but it becomes more difficult if you enjoy medium stakes games and bigger multi-table tournaments.
Even on the biggest sites you’ll have to wait for big buy-in tournaments but these days most poker rooms offer regularly scheduled online series that offer huge guarantees and multiple events.
One other thing to consider when contemplating site traffic is location. Most online poker sites have global reach so there is always someone playing but some sites focus on Europe or North America.
The poker sites that are more regionalized will see different peak times.
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