Online Poker Site Reviews

            Interested in playing poker online? There are plenty of big sites out there to choose from. Here are some of the things you should look for when choosing a site:

Deposit Bonus: The first thing that catches a newbie’s eye in a poker site ad is the “free” 20% bonus on your first deposit. This is technically not free; you have to play a certain number of real money hands before you are able to withdraw it. The size of the bonus, along with the required length of play to unlock it, contributes to the ratings below.

Player Traffic: It’s no good signing up for a profitable poker site if you can’t find your favorite game when you want to play. Sites that have big user bases receive higher rankings.

Game Selection: Another helpful characteristic towards finding your favorite game. If you’re only interested in Hold ‘em, you can play virtually anywhere. You can usually find a 7-card Stud or limit Omaha/8 game at any of the big sites (Party/Empire, UltimateBet, Paradise, Poker Stars). More exotic games like Pineapple, 5-card Stud, and Pot Limit Omaha are usually only available on certain servers during peak hours.

Beatable Games: It’s important that you select competition you can beat. This is probably the most important thing to think of if you want to play for real money.  You can win with less study, and win more on average, playing against poor opposition.

Graphics/Peripherals: While I don’t consider this too important a category overall, if you’re only interested in play money, then having a nice-looking card table can mean a lot. Some sites have horrible graphics that detract from gameplay, however, so you may want to avoid them.

I’ve played at all of these sites, and gathered the opinions of other players who have also played at each. They are listed below in order of where I would go to play low-stakes real money games.

(Note: typically, a sign-up bonus requires you to play a certain number of real-money hands before you are allowed to withdraw it. The ease of withdrawing a sign-up bonus is a qualification for the site’s rating)

Party Poker (detailed review) is the most lucrative site on the Net right now.  Like Paradise Poker and Poker Stars, Party has a huge user base, currently tops on the Net by a wide margin.  Unlike those sites, the low-limit games at Party are generally very good.  One curious fact about Party is that unlike most sites, their software does not allow you to see how many players are in per flop or per 4^th street, although they do show the average pot size for each table. This makes it slightly harder to find a juicy game, but it also means that fewer sharks are attracted to a table with lots of bad players at it, so the table will remain profitable longer.

Party also offers a good selection of tournaments, which are generally very beatable if you play well. However, the tournaments at Party draw more than twice as many players as those on any other site, so while there are plenty of bad players entered, the tournaments are also very long and tiring. Be prepared. They offer a good sign-up bonus (choose from 20% up to $100 or $25 free), are well-known for having beatable no-limit hold ‘em and pot-limit Omaha games, and according to most internet poker veterans have the best $1/$2 and $3/$6 tables of all sites. One thing I dislike is the graphics on this site, especially the terrible color scheme and ugly cards. If you don’t want to play in multi-table tournaments, then Empire Poker will offer a more aesthetically pleasing server. I actually recommend that you sign up for both sites, in order to get two deposit bonuses.  (Both sites are gateways onto the same poker server, so you can play at the same tables from either site)

Site security is not an issue with most of the bigger sites, but Party routinely gets complaints about poor customer service and site performance, for good reason. If you are more interested in a secure and reliable site than a profitable one, then pass on Party Poker. Overall, though, I give this site a thumbs-up.

Empire Poker (detailed review), Multi Poker (detailed review), Eurobet Poker (detailed site review),  Poker NOW (detailed site review), and Intertops Poker (detailed site review) are all skins of Party Poker.  (what is a skin?)  They offer good bonus opportunities because you are familiar with the software and game selection if you have played at Party, but you can open a new account and collect a new deposit bonus at each.  The big difference is that you cannot play the Party Poker multi-table tournaments.  I like the graphics at these servers better than Party; the color setups are much nicer.  As far as gameplay and other issues go, all the comments about Party apply here.

Poker Stars (detailed review) now has the second highest traffic on the Net, and by far the greatest trafficfor tournaments, which are the pride and joy of Stars.  There are usually more tournament players than ring game players logged on at any given time.  Stars spreads a wide variety of limits and games for their tournaments, and has better tournament software than the other sites.  However, the ring games are generally a good bit tighter and more boring than at other sites.  They do offer a nice player rewards program with a good selection of apparel, books and other poker products to choose from.  Stars also has a lot of traffic for seldom-spread games such as pot-limit Omaha, although these games are generally tighter than those found at other sites.  2003 World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker won his seat on a Poker Stars satellite tournament.

UltimateBet (detailed review) is the site I’ve logged the most hours playing.  The site has recently expanded a lot owing to publicity on TV, now ranking third in user traffic, but the games have gotten tighter at the same time.  The site combines a solid user base with a good selection of games (even featuring Crazy Pineapple and Triple Draw Lowball), and very good software that mimics the feel of a real table in a faux-3D layout, which makes it decent for ‘play money’ as well.  Though I prefer this table layout to that of most other sites, it takes a bit of getting used to, so I recommend going to a few play money tables first to get your bearings.

UB also has a good selection of ‘big-bet poker’ games, with blinds as low as .01-.02 for no-limit hold ‘em and pot limit Omaha (high only or hi-lo) if you wish to put very little at risk.  It is also one of the best sites for tournament play.  There is a great selection of tournaments each day, with buy-ins ranging from $1 to $50, and some special $200 events. There is generally a good supply of players for all these tournaments, many of whom have no idea what they are doing.  My only big complaint about UB is that it is poorly run: the customer service is comically bad, and the site management team needs to be fired and replaced by some competent officials.

Paradise Poker (detailed review) was the internet’s biggest cardroom before the rapid growth of Party Poker and Poker Stars but now ranks fourth.  It features excellent graphics, software, player traffic and the internet’s best customer service.  However, the games at the site are very tight, even at low limits.  Thus, it is not a good place for a poker novice to get started online, since loose games are usually more profitable and enjoyable to the beginner.  On the other hand, if you are planning to move up to a higher-stakes game like $5/$10, these tables will give you some insight as to how tighter poker tables play, at less risk.  Paradise recently started offering multi-table tournaments, which are doing well.  I definitely believe that the server has great software and a very nice look (including special effects like lightning and flames on your cards if you win a pot), and I highly recommend it to those who wish to only play ‘play money’ games.  For real money players, however, profitability should be the first issue, and it is not great here.

Pacific Poker (detailed review) is a site powered by CasinoOnNet. The site itself is relatively new, but the games seem to be very good. They currently offer a good (25%) sign-up bonus. The user base is currently moderate but seems to be on its way up. Game selection is okay, and the graphics are standard, but the players at the site are almost notoriously bad. Perhaps the connection to the online casino attracts rich flounders. The site’s software and support team, however, are terrible. You’re liable to witness a server crash at any time. In other words, it’s a good place to make money, but the awful customer service might bug you over time to switch to another server. I definitely do not recommend this site for play money players due to the horrible reputations of the software and support people.

The Poker Club (detailed review) is notorious for having extremely loose .50/1 and 1/2 games. This isn’t a bad place to get your feet wet with little risk (the games are so loose you can hardly lose over the long run), although you’re not likely to find games this loose (except micro-limits like .01/.02 or .04/.08) anywhere else on the Net. For those on limited bankrolls, they also offer a good deposit bonus: 25% up to $100.

I like the gameplay at this site. They host the only loose 5-card stud game I’ve found online, and the players are generally loose everywhere. Unfortunately, player traffic at the site is very light. To play any game other than low-limit hold ‘em, you generally need to be online at peak hours.

Absolute Poker (detailed review) is a very new site. They currently offer an amazing deposit bonus: 20% up to $100, and all you have to do to clear it is play 100 hands where 50 cents or more is raked from the pot. However, player traffic is extremely light on the server right now. If you are one of the so-called ‘bonus whores’ who like to sign up for a site to clear a deposit bonus and run, this is an excellent place to do so.  Apparently people have taken notice of the site, as its user traffic is increasing heavily of late, though it is still a small site and basically only hold 'em is played here.

I don't like the software on this site; there are only nine seats per table, and all their decent features are inferior copies of innovations from other sites. This deposit bonus offer may not last forever (it’s much easier to clear than any $100 bonus I’ve seen in a long time), so I recommend you jump on it if you want to gather some bonus money.

PokerRoom (detailed review) is a relatively new site that is known for the fact that it can be played without a download.  The game selection is also rather poor right now, although when you can find a low-limit stud or Omaha game, the action is very good.  The hold 'em games are typical for online servers.  PokerRoom's software is very, very bad, and I project that many of you will want to get off the server immediately after clearing your deposit bonus.

True Poker (detailed review) has a server that is designed to give the user a more realistic feel for the game, with realistic avatars, and cards that you can actually pick up and drop.  This is catchy to the new player, but once you are there for awhile you get kind of sick of it.  As for the games themselves, the low-limit hold 'em features fairly tight play, and games such as stud or Omaha are rarely played although they are offered.  However, they seem to be one of the only sites out there genuinely interested in creating a better experience for online poker players, which is a big plus.  I expect to see good innovations from them in the near future.

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