Best Online Poker Sites (2021) – Play Real Money Poker Online

How To Choose The Best Real Money Poker Sites

When you're playing real money online poker, picking a site that's honest and reputable is hugely important; you don't want to have to fight to cash out winnings that are rightfully yours.

Beyond that, you want one that's reliable and won't crash on you when you've just put together a royal flush. Our checklist below covers what we look for (and what you should be looking for) when we rate and review online poker/gambling sites:

Bonuses and Promotions

In such a competitive market, the bonuses and seasonal promotions a poker siteoffers can set them aside from the rest. Not only do these help maximize yourbankroll but show value in choosing that site, as they are likely to offer morepromotions as you play.

Banking Options

The more payment options a site offers, the better. Not only do they provideplayers with great choice, but partnership with a number of respected bankingmethods is a good sign that a poker room or casino is legitimate and safe forplayers to use.

Payout Speed

The speed at which a poker site pays out is incredibly important. Naturally, if youwin money while playing poker online, you might want to withdraw straight away,rather than wait for days to be paid. A strong poker site will pay you instantly,because any unexplained delays may indicate dishonesty.

Game Variety

If you want to play different types of real money poker online, you don't want tohave to hop from site to site. The best should not only offer all the pokervariations but also provide a good range of tournaments, buy-ins and limits.

Mobile Experience

More and more players are enjoying playing online poker for money on smartphonesand tablets while they're on the move. Even if that's not something you'replanning to take advantage of, a solid mobile offering is still a good sign thata site embraces change and is always looking for new ways to provide its users witha great experience.

Licensing/Software

When online casinos and poker rooms start up, they license their software fromdifferent software providers. Each of these software providers has their own takeon how to replicate casino games, including poker, and you'll almost certainlyprefer one to the others. Stick with the best online poker sites that use yourpreferred software provider.

The best way for a site to attract players is to offer brilliant poker bonuses and promotions. As a player, you can use these to your advantage to improve your chances of winning real money. There are several types of bonuses at the top poker sites, here's a breakdown of the most popular.

Welcome/Sign Up: After registering with an online poker site, you'll receive a welcome bonus, whichis usually a specific amount of bonus money to add to your first deposit.

Match Bonus: This bonus «matches the amount of money deposited by players to a setpercentage. For example, a 100% match grants a $50 bonus on a deposit of $50.

Reload Bonus: This is similar to a welcome bonus but is aimed at returning playerswho are topping up their account. It aims to be attractive enough that it candiscourage players from going elsewhere to take advantage of a welcome bonus onanother site.

No Deposit Bonus: The clue is in the name here: this is a small amount of bonus cash, with plenty ofstrings attached, that's gifted to players without the need to make a deposit first.

VIP Bonus: Players who are part of VIP programs or loyalty schemes qualify foradditional bonuses, sometimes very generous ones, that may not be available to thegeneral public.

Ongoing/Weekly Promotions: It's in a poker room's interest to hold on to players,so they'll often release bonuses (either at random or on certain days) or offercomplimentary freeroll tournaments.

Wagering requirements, which outline the number of times you must wager bonus money before you can withdraw, prevent players from claiming a welcome bonus and attempting to cash everything out immediately. They're more reasonable on the best online poker sites, with most falling in the range of 20-40x the value of the bonus and/or your original deposit. Different types of bonuses will be better suited to some players than others, so be sure to read all the small print.

Playing poker for free gives you the perfect opportunity to get familiar with different variations, hone your skills and become accustomed to reading opponents' moves, but it still won't fully prepare you for real money poker online.

It's difficult to successful prepare certain strategies and for scenarios in free poker; when there's no money on the line, players are much more likely to go all in, bluff or bet more aggressively than normal. In addition to learning about your own bankroll management, real poker online play helps you to see how others behave in ring games. That experience will prove vital as and when you transition to playing in tournament situations.

The bread and butter of the online poker world,Texas Hold'Em isavailable in every reputable poker room. The game sees players dealt two hole(face down) cards. They must use those cards and up to five community cards,dealt around multiple rounds of checking, betting and raising, to build the besthand possible. At the end of a round, a showdown determines who wins the pot.

You'll find Three Card Pokerin online casinos rather than poker rooms, because it's played against thedealer instead of other players. Players are dealt three cards after placingtheir bet and must decide whether to play the hand by doubling their wager orfold instead. Their hand is then compared with the dealer hand, which typicallymust have Queen high or better to qualify, to see who wins the round.

Another very popular game on the web, all the best online poker rooms offerOmaha alongside Texas Hold'Em and. Like inTexas Hold'Em, five community cards are dealt around multiple rounds ofbetting. In this case, however, players are dealt four hole cards and must useexactly two of their cards in conjunction with three community cards to buildthe best hand they can.

In Open-Face Chinese Poker, also known as OFCPor OFC, all cards are dealt face-up. Players start with five cards and aredealt another eight cards until they have thirteen. From these cards, theymust construct three hands (3 cards in the front, 5 each in the middle and back)comprised of two five card hands and one three card hand. The back hand mustbe stronger than or equal to the middle, and the middle must be stronger thanor equal to the front.

The easiest way to understandCaribbean Stud Poker, sometimes calledCasino Stud Poker, is to think of it as Stud poker that's played against thedealer in an online casino rather than against other players. For example, oncea player has anted up, both them and the dealer might be dealt five face-downcards. Once the dealer has revealed one of their cards, the player can choosewhether or not to double their initial bet or fold.

Although there are various different varieties ofdraw poker, such as 5-Card Draw, the gist ofthe game is this: players are dealt several hole cards and must attempt, aftervarious rounds of betting and a chance to discard some or all of their cards,to put together the best hand that they can. At the end of the round, there'sa showdown to determine who the winner is.

The basic rules of Hi Lo can be appliedto various different types of online poker gambling. In Omaha Hi Lo, for example,the game is played almost identically to standard Omaha rules except for thefact that each player must construct a high hand and a low hand (typically8 high or lower to qualify). The pot is split between the playerswho have the highest and the lowest hands in the showdown.

There are several different variations ofStud Poker, of which 7-Card Stud is one popularexample. The underlying aim of the game is to build a competitive hand from amix of face-up and face-down cards. In 7-Card Stud, for example, players aredealt two hole cards then four face-up cards and a final hole card. From these,they must use any five of their cards to build their hand.

The rules of Razz are similar to those of7-Card Stud with one very big difference: the aim of the game is to put togetherthe lowest hand possible. This means that A, 2, 3, 4, 5 is the best hand in Razz.The game is a real outlier in the world of poker, where a Royal Flush is almostalways the ultimate hand that players are searching for. It's definitely apopular variant though, and even features in the World Series of Poker.

Playing online poker for money offers so many different options and exciting opportunities that some new players get too excited. This can result in costly mistakes because they're placing bets without really thinking about what their next move should be. The tips below might seem simple but they're worth bearing in mind, even for those who don't consider themselves true beginners, and apply across all forms of poker:

While many rules are consistent across all the variations, such as hand strength,there are also some key differences. It's these which you must master to be successfulat any game type. While you may play different games, you're likely to come up againstplayers who are experts in a variant. Read our how to play pokerguide for more information.

Understanding the role of table position in poker (e.g. whether or not you'vecontributed any blinds) will help you to figure out when folding early is the rightmove. If you have a poor hand and haven't yet spent any money on the round, bowing outearly to avoid wasteful betting can be a good decision. Read ourintermediate poker strategy guide for more information.

The chance to enjoy multi-table poker is an exciting one that's rarely afforded toplayers offline. Although playing multiple hands at once offers the potential to rack upsome big wins, it should be avoided until you're confident playing(and winning consistently) at a single table. When you have more experience withonline poker, real money multi-table action is just a few clicks away.

Although physical tells have no role in the world of online poker, there are otherthings you can watch out for: how many hands are they playing, which (if any) face-upcards are they showing, have they been betting aggressively up to this point? Buildingup a picture of your opponents is part of the art of online poker.

When many people think of poker, they think of bluffing. In actual fact, there's noneed to bluff in order to become a successful poker player. Bluffing and semi-bluffingcan definitely be a valuable tool in your arsenal but playing the hand you're dealtshould always be your primary tactic.

Although the majority of poker rooms on the web play fair and offer a great experience for both new and established players, some sites out there don't play by the rules. It's these sites that, for various reasons, find their way onto our blacklist.

When we rate and review poker rooms, we look at everything from the software they use to the speed at which they pay out winnings, and everything in between. If a site seems rigged, or delays/complicates withdrawals, then that's a very bad sign.

Fortunately, sites that behave in a deceptive way or try to fix games develop a bad reputation very quickly and rarely last for long. We would recommend that, for the reasons outlined in each case, you avoid the sites below until they up their game:

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Best Online Poker Sites (2021) - Play Real Money Poker Online