Compare UK poker sites and see which are the best online poker rooms to play at. We list the top poker websites for you to play at that are trusted and safe to bet with.
We only list the best, most trusted and safe online poker sites.
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Online Poker Sites Guide
We all love poker – but which online poker sites do we love? Online poker is absorbing, entertaining – sometimes maddening – but which is the best poker site to play on? You don’t want to have to join up on twenty sites just to sort out the good, the bad and the ugly.
The great news is that you don’t have to.
We love poker too, and we’ve done the hard work for you. Read our guide below, and find the answer to the $64,000 dollar question – how do I find the best online poker?
Online poker is absorbing, entertaining – sometimes maddening – but which is the best poker site to play on? You don’t want to have to join up on twenty sites just to sort out the good, the bad and the ugly.
The great news is that you don’t have to. We love poker too, and we’ve done the hard work for you. Read our guide below, and find the answer to the $64,000 dollar question – how do I find the best online poker?
Different poker games
The vast majority of online sites offer Texas Hold’em. It is, without doubt, the most played internet poker game across the world. You’ll find lots of flavours of Hold’em, such as Omaha Hold’em and Omaha Hi Lo.
Whereas Hold’em has five community cards and two personal cards in the hole, some other variants have different card distribution.
Perhaps the best-known alternative is 7 card stud, one of the classic poker games. Players get three hold cards, and four communal cards.
Pick your platform for the best playing experience
When you’re playing online, the software platform makes a great difference to the game experience. The major gaming players are also big names in the online poker world, for example, Playtech, IGSoft, Micrograming and others. Some of the bigger poker sites have their own proprietary technology.
It’s important to distinguish between games that are run by online video technology and those that employ real dealers and live streaming.
With a video game, you join a game, with avatars representing you and the other players, then play the game. The major difference in playing with live dealer play, streamed to your device, is that it aims to replicate the experience of playing poker in a casino, often using webcams to stream live pictures of players.
This technology is transforming online tournament play too, with NetEnt leading the way in live dealer casino games.
In both cases, the graphics matter, and the game needs top quality resolution, particularly if you want to play multiple hands and therefore need to display the games at a smaller size.
You also need some player aids, such as a history table, showing the hands you’ve played. And if you’re a sociable type, you’ll want to replicate the banter of the real-life poker night, so a zippy chat function is a must.
Traditionally, many of the sites required you to download software, but they now realise that mobile play is a huge, and fast-growing, market.
That means that a significant percentage of these sites are now able to offer instant, browser-based play with no need to download an app.
Pick your pot and game type
Poker sites will offer a range of tables, with different types and levels of pot. Some sites have tables offering very low “blinds” – the bets that have to be posted by one or two players each game.
These low wager tables may have fairly wild and unpredictable play, as people are less inhibited when they are going to lose less, and newer players often start on these tables.
At the other extreme, you’ll find “No LImit Hold’em”. In these games, players can bet, or raise another player’s bet, to any level. That includes all the chips they have, which is known as “all in”.
The highest staking players have found a new home on the internet, because local land-based casinos (except for Vegas) don’t offer tables with very high stakes.
Between these extremes, the larger poker sites will offer a range of table limits and blind sizes, so you can pick the level of game that you’re comfortable with.
There are also two types of games – “Sit n Go” and cash games. If you’ve deposited cash and are therefore playing with your own “real” money, you can join or leave a cash game whenever you want, whether you’ve lost or won.
Sit n Gos are different. There’s a fixed buy-in and everyone starts with the same sized stack. They usually last from 20 minutes to an hour, although there are very fast “turbo” versions.
One of the things you may want to look at is volume. That’s the number of games available at any one time. If you work irregular hours, for example, you may be better off with very large sites where there are games are running virtually 24/7.
Sign-up promos and bonuses
No deposit bonuses are common although not that high – £20 would be typical. Bonuses can take the form of a cash deposit match, along with tickets or free passes for entering pay-to-play tournaments. There’s very often a playing requirement before you can withdraw bonuses; you’ll need to play a certain number of hands.
Getting better and better
Some of the big sites offer great resources for improving your game – for example learning about aspects of play such as bankroll management. Some even offer facilities for tracking your progress towards becoming a better player.
In the end, it’s a matter of personal preference – the type of game you want to play, how much you want to stake, whether you like large, high volume poker sites, or smaller, quirkier ones.
As you continue playing your favourite poker sites may change. But one thing’s for sure – a love of poker tends to last forever!
