We bring all the information to you, so you can choose the best online poker site to play and compete against other players. We focus only on trusted online poker sites, which have good reputation and solid gambling license where you are located.
Why play online poker?
Poker is one of the most popular card games in the world. You can choose to play poker at home with friends, or at your local casino’s poker room, if there is one that is and lastly, of course, online poker. Poker is a great pastime, but it can be so much more.
Many players around the world have read about poker pros who have earned and are earning millions by playing online poker, but that money is not easy for them either. Poker professionalism means that a player must be prepared to occasionally lose for long time before winning a tournament which can produce a full year’s result in one go, and still must play almost every day. So, the poker as a profession is a real job which require a tough mind and large bankroll.
Before the internet, the poker profession was only available to a few, but today the internet offers us a lot of different way we can play and win in poker. There are even variety of opportunities to learn, practice, and most importantly, play poker.
Because the internet is full of different poker sites, we have listed here what we consider to be the best online poker operators that overall are trustworthy, secure and provide a high-quality poker games, customer service and fast money transfers.
Best online poker bonuses
A good poker bonus is directly recognizable by how much it gives bonus money. Like many things in life, bigger is better also applies in poker bonuses. Some sites offer huge bonuses, sometimes bonuses can even be several thousand euros, dollars or pounds.
Best poker bonuses are often expressed as a percentage of the first deposit amount and at the same time indicate how much the bonus is at its maximum.
A usual online poker bonus for new player is 100% bonus up to €/$/£ 100. With this kind of bonus, online poker room pays doubles players first deposit amount up to €/$/£ 100. So, player will have total of 200 disposal.
Usually, these online poker bonuses do not come available at player, as they require most often some kind of wagering. Typically, bonuses are added incrementally to players cash balance after they have generated enough rake.
Bonus terms varies from site to site. Somewhere the first deposit bonus will come off so easily that you do not even have to pay attention to the whole thing, while on another poker site you may have to play many hours of poker to meet the bonus conditions.
In many poker sites poker bonuses are related to player points in a sense how fast bonuses are cleared. Bonus money is paid into the game account against a certain number of points, for example $ 10 for each 100 points. The way points are collected varies from site to site.
How to start playing online poker with real money
Getting started with online poker is easy. You can play with a browser or download the software from the online casino website. Both are good options, but we recommend you download and play with a software.
The popularity of online poker is certainly influenced by numerous success stories, but of course the game itself. Luck alone is not enough, and you need skill and tactical thinking to win in long term. Sometimes a gut feeling and sense you get in some situation can affect your own chances of winning, and when you get those feelings right in poker table it gives you a good feeling and motivation boost.
Many online casinos focus on online poker, some more than others. Some of these are good, some are bad. We recommend that you look for a trusted online poker site from our site as we will only promote good poker sites with excellent reputation among players.
Different forms of online poker
Cash games and tournaments. Poker is typically divided into these two parts, but online casinos also have Sit & Go tournaments. These are especially suitable for online poker beginners. The various forms of poker play generally lower the threshold for starting to play in online poker room.
Tournaments – There is always a buy-in for tournaments and it is stated in the form of, for example, 10+1 €/$/£. The first part of the buy-in goes to the prize pool, the latter to the organizer as an organizing fee, which is called a rake. There are a variety of poker tournaments and there are a lot of them. PokerStars Sunday Million is probably the biggest poker tournament on the net, held weekly.
Cash Games – The basic form of poker and requires more skill than tournaments. In these, you always play against other players with money, meaning that each chip directly corresponds to real money. For example, you can enter to in cash games for as little as 1 €/$/£, which gives you the same amount of chips on the table.
Sit & Go Tournaments are best for beginners
Do you want to try online poker, but do not want to invest much time or money? If so, Sit & Go tournaments does not cost much or take much time. It is easy to participate on this kind of poker format as there are constantly starting new sit & go tournaments and they last anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours, depending how many players are playing in the same game.
You can play sitters at online casinos for virtually any time and any poker site. The minimum number of participants is usually 10 players and once these have registered, the game begins.
Lately there we have been introduced to a new type of Sit & Go tournament, where is only three players with very small amount of starting chips. This game variant is excellent for those who want to have a little fun or try or the games as these games last less than 10 minutes. Even some cases game is won on the first hand as players are willing to take their changes more often.
Sit & Go’s can also effectively teach you the skills you need in poker. As players drop out of the game, situations change, and you also need to be able to change your tactics. Quickly.
Is online poker a scam?
If you suspect whether online poker is a scam, I can happily answer this right away: it is not. There are plenty of reliable poker sites on the Internet that have been around for decades; the first poker sites appeared on the web as early as the late 1990s.
An easy way to check if a poker site is trustworthy and secure is to look at which gaming authority has issued its gaming license. If the license is from a well-known and trusted authority, such as the Malta Gaming Authority or the UK Gambling Commission, you can be safe. Americans have their own licensee’s, and it varies state by state.
These authorities regularly review the operation of the gambling site and the fairness of their games before licensing the site. The authorities will continue to monitor the operation of the sites to which they have licensed and ensure that everything is done in accordance with the rules.
The simple answer to the title question is “depends on you”. After all, choosing your favorite poker site depends largely on what you are looking for. There is clearly no one best poker site, it is your own preferences that determine it.
What makes an excellent online poker excellent?
There are many things to keep in mind when choosing an online poker site. One example is graphics. How good does the site look? How does it feel to play with the software? Is there any fun features you can use, like throw tomatoes at your opponent?
All casinos know this, and that is why they often allow players to customize the gaming experience to their liking. However, the look itself has a much greater impact on the gaming experience than you might imagine.
The first image of the casino and poker site is immediately formed in the gaming lobby. PokerStars, for example, has invested heavily in this part of the gaming experience and honed it to the top to provide players with a stylish and easy-to-use gaming platform.
Other poker site might have taken a different approach and focused on improving its performance on the bonus front. Some invests in being able to build a relationship with its players.
Service and readily available customer support also play a really important role in considering whether an operator ranks among the best online poker sites. All of our best sites meet our requirements in this area as well.
We have come so far in digital development today that if a casino and poker site is unable to provide a service that works technically well regardless of the device used by the player, it will be impossible to compete in the fierce competition in the gaming industry. Players can afford to be very demanding when choosing a casino and poker site.
Especially mobile gaming has become extremely popular in recent years so it has put online poker sites to test, who can provide best mobile experience to players. And there has been many who has tried, and we have seen many who has failed. We think mobile gaming is the future and highly rank those sites who can provide excellent mobile poker experience.