Winning Online Poker

Where Should You Play Online?

A lot of people ask what the "best" poker site is to play at. The reality of it is, each site has strengths and weaknesses, and it is important to pick the site that caters to what's most important for you.

As I say elsewhere on the site, I'm a big advocate of trying each site out, to get a feel for the software, and the availability and action at your favorite game and limits. In addition to finding the site that is best for your individual interest, each site will give you free money (sometimes as much as $200!) just for trying them out. I can't understand why anyone would turn down free money just to try out some new poker site. Who knows, you might like it more than where you currently play.

After you've tried all the sites out, though, it is normal to settle down at one or two sites, playing almost exclusively at your favorites. (But some sites offer frequent re-deposit bonuses, which you should take full advantage of even if you don't normally play there.) Where should you settle down? It depends on what's most important for you.

Game Availability/Table Selection

If the availability of your game and limit when you want to play is what's most important to you, the best site is undoubtedly Party Poker or its skins. At any given time, Party has several times as many active players as any other site, and you can almost instantly find a seat anytime you want. Also, if you like to play the less popular games of Omaha or 7-stud, it is much easier to find games running at Party than most other sites.

The three other big sites all score decently in this category as well. Poker Stars is especially good for no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit Omaha, both high and hi-lo. UltimateBet has a big selection of games at the ultra-low limits, especially $.01/$.02. Paradise Poker offers many obscure games like 5-card draw and 5-card stud, for those who enjoy more traditional games. PokerRoom has a great availabity of hold 'em games but little in the way of Omaha or 7-stud.

Profitable Games

Party Poker also tops this category. One big advantage is that the other three big sites have added very small-limit games, $.01/$.02 or $.02/$.04. Each site has a large population of players who know they are bad, but want to play at the lowest real-money limit they can to minimize their losses. At the other sites, these players go to the extreme low limits, but at Party, they must play at $.50/$1, Party's lowest limit. So if you are starting out at $.50/$1, or just want to play small because you have a limited bankroll, you will find the best action at Party. This effect probably also makes their $1/$2 and $2/$4 games better, for bad players who want to play above the smallest stakes. For higher limits, $3/$6 and above, Party is still generally the best site, simply because they are the best at using advertising to attract new players, many of whom have no clue what they are doing.

Profitability is generally better at small sites than bigger sites. This is partially because you are playing with the same guys all the time and can get reads on their play, and partially because these sites are populated by players who aren't willing to seek out bigger, better sites. Better players are more likely to look for better sites to migrate to. So the games at sites like Absolute Poker and PokerRoom are quite a bit better than at Poker Stars, UltimateBet, or Paradise Poker. However, remember that it is much harder to find games running at these sites, especially at off-peak hours.

Tournaments

For those interested primarily in big multi-table tournaments, Poker Stars is the clear winner. They offer round-the-clock tournaments at all limits and a variety of games including hold 'em, Omaha and 7-stud. UltimateBet and Party Poker also have a good selection of multi-table tournaments, and Paradise Poker's multi-tables are growing in popularity.

For sit-and-go tournaments, the best site is clearly Party. You can usually find a tournament starting for your game and limit of choice in under a minute, and most of the players have no clue what they are doing. Poker Stars also scores high in this department, with UB and Paradise lagging behind some.

Deposit/Reload Bonuses

What if you're interested in getting the most free money possible? Two sites - Absolute Poker and UltimateBet - give away an insane amount of bonus dollars, usually at least $100-200 a month. It's not all that easy to clear bonus at these sites, however.

For ease of clearing bonus, look no farther than to Party Poker and skins. They only require you to play 5 raked hands per dollar, and you can play at any limit. If you're not planning on playing at Party for awhile, cash out all your money. Often they will give out a bonus specifically for people with $0 account balances.

Poker Stars is especially stingy with bonuses, offering no first-time deposit bonus and only occasional reload bonuses.

Trustworthiness

All sites reviewed on Winning Online Poker are trustworthy and you can feel secure trusting them with your money. No documented cases have reported any of these sites stealing from their customers or using 'bots' to play against them. However, some small sites may potentially use these tactics, so beware of sites not endorsed by Winning Online Poker.

Conclusion

That's about all there is to say. If you're still undecided about a site, or deciding between two sites, just download the software and give each site a shot. That's the easiest way to discover which one(s) you like best.