Best Online Poker Game Real Money
Posted : admin On 4/1/2022One of the most flexible ways to play online poker and make some serious money is through online poker cash games. Cash games let you choose the stakes, choose your opponents, choose when you want to play, and choose how long you want to be in the game.
The flexibility of cash games has now gotten even better thanks to the convenience available through online poker sites. If you’re looking for the best real money online poker cash games and all the important information you need to get started, you’re in the right place.
Best Online Poker Sites for Real Money – Ignition and Bovada Casino. There are several factors that make the best online poker site. In fact, we have a list of over 50 online casinos that have a range or real money and free poker games. Nonetheless there are some sites that stand out more than others- Ignition and Bovada Casino. Play poker online, anytime, anywhere. Take our software tour and check out everything partypoker has to offer, including Missions, Achievements and exciting game formats like fastforward poker. Best of all, our mobile poker app allows you to take your game. Best Online Poker Apps for Real Money. Any of the best poker apps we recommend can meet your needs. Whether it’s the smoothest software, specific payment options or the ability to multi-table to the max. So it may be best to try a few before you start grinding on one of them.
Best Online Poker Cash Game Sites
Poker Site | Bonus | Get Started |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% up to $400 | Go to Site |
Are you ready to dive into the online poker cash game scene right now? Are you ready to get the cards and the chips flying? If you are, we’ve got you covered. All of the options listed above are the best online poker cash game sites operating in your area. The list is regularly updated and obsessively checked to make sure it only contains the best of the best options to play poker online for money.
Reasons Why These Are the Top Online Poker Cash Game Sites
- Each site has a healthy mix of different stake levels.
- The real money online poker rooms all have quality levels of traffic.
- The user-friendliness of the platform and tables is superior.
- The cash game action is not overrun by sharks and professionals.
- Each real money poker sites offer an industry-competitive bonus and rewards program.
- The rake structure is fair and on par with other comparable poker sites.
- The online US poker sites are safe, trusted, and have a long history of putting players first.
Each Site Has a Health Mix of Different Stake Levels
Everyone is at a different point in their poker careers. The best online poker cash games have stakes that start very low ($0.01/$0.02) and go all the way up to the nosebleed levels. Additionally, a great poker room will have cash games at helpfully incremental levels all the way up. No one wants to try and go from $1/$2 to $5/$10 in one jump.
The Poker Rooms All Have Quality Levels of Traffic
The mere presence of different stake levels is not enough to get our signature of approval. The games need to have action at different levels in order to count. All of the online real money poker sites we recommend have extensive action all throughout the different stake levels. Do be aware that not all of the sites will have the same peak volume times, as this is heavily dependent on the player pool.
The User-Friendliness of the Platform and Tables Is Superior
All of these real money online poker rooms offering cash games have user-friendly platforms that make everything simple for players. This includes banking, finding games, getting on a waiting list, updating account information, and the actual gameplay. Not only are these factors important for convenience, but they are also important for the ability to make money.
The Cash Game Action Is Not Overrun by Sharks and Professionals
Unless you don’t care about winning or making money, you’re going to want to pick an online poker site with cash games that aren’t overrun by grinders and professionals. Yes, it can be fun to challenge yourself against the best in the world, but winning money is much more fun, in our opinion. All of the cash game poker sites we recommend are not completely devoid of value and have softer games.
Each Poker Site Offers an Industry-Competitive Bonus and Rewards Program
Because of the nature of the online poker industry, you should be getting rewarded for checking out new online US poker sites and receiving loyalty perks. All of the best cash game poker sites online offer lucrative bonuses for new and existing players.
These include things like deposit bonuses, reload bonuses, frequent player points programs, VIP clubs, and more.
The Rake Structure Is Fair and on Par With Other Comparable Poker Sites
Online real money poker sites don’t run cash games as charities. The sites are companies that need to make a profit to keep the lights on and keep the games going for you. The way that the real money poker sites achieve this is by taking a rake. While more poker players already know this, there is something not all players know.
The differences might seem like pennies every hand, but that adds up over time. We make sure the cash game poker sites we recommend are not gouging players with an unnecessarily high rake.
The Online Poker Rooms Are Safe, Trusted, and Has a Long History of Putting Players First
Last, but certainly not least, all of these US online poker rooms running cash games have been checked and rechecked for safety, security, and overall trust. Rest assured that if you choose any of these sites to play poker online for cash, you’ll have a safe experience with a provider known for putting players first.
The Pros and Cons of Online Cash Games vs. In-Person Cash Games
Making the switch from playing cash games at your local poker room or at home with your friends to playing online can seem like a big jump. For many, it’s a welcomed change filled with lots of conveniences and new opportunities. But before you make the switch, we wanted to help by pointing out the major pros and cons playing real money poker online vs. in-person cash games.
The Pros of Online Poker Cash Games
Always an Open Seat
When your local poker room runs out of seats, you have to wait. The room can’t just magically create more tables and dealers. Online, though, the poker room can. All of the tables and dealers are digital, which means that when a table fills up, another one automatically opens. You may be forced to play short-handed for a few if you don’t want to wait, but for many, that’s much better than getting no action at all.
No Favoritism on the Waiting Lists
If there’s a particular table you want to join online, you’ll have to wait your turn like you would in person. However, you don’t have to worry about someone who is friends with the poker room manager or someone who throws some money to the floor getting the seat before you. When you get on a waiting list for an online poker cash game, there is no favoritism in the waiting process.
More Lucrative Bonuses and Rewards
Live real money online poker rooms often offer bonuses to players in return for their time spent at the tables. Usually, this is in the form of a few comp dollars an hour that can be used in the poker room or somewhere else on the property. While this is nice, it pales in comparison to what you can get when you play online poker cash games.
United States online poker sites offer extremely lucrative bonuses to new players and as rewards for existing players. These can be deposit bonuses, rakeback, VIP perks, trips, swag, cashback, and more. Because of the digital nature of the games, online cash games can track your play down to the penny, meaning you’ll get credit for every bonus you deserve.
The Ability to Multi-Table
Possibly the greatest perk of online cash games is the ability to play more than one table at a time. Some players struggle to turn a profit because they get bored playing just one table. At the best online cash game sites, you can play as many tables as you want! If you’re a winning player, this also means you can dramatically up your hourly win rate as well.
Convenience
Cash games are incredibly convenient for playing real money poker online. There is no physically traveling to the casino, no traffic, no parking, no getting sick from other people, no drunks spilling drinks on the table, and no sitting around waiting for hours to get into a game. Brick and mortar poker rooms may take the cake socially, but when it comes to convenience, they don’t hold a candle to online cash games.
The Cons of Online Poker Cash Games
No Facial Reads or In-Person Tells
If your favorite part of playing poker is staring your opponents down and trying to read their souls, online poker is not for you. There are no in-person tells unless you’re playing at one of the sites that use webcams, but those sites never really get much activity. You can still pick up betting tells and timing tells when playing online, though, so it’s not all completely lost.
For many, this may be a positive because you won’t be able to get physical reads on people, but you also won’t be able to give off any either. If you’re a walking tell machine, online cash games are where you belong.
Play Online Poker For Real Money
Less of a Social Game
One area where brick and mortar cash games win out is socially. You’re able to chat online with other players, but that’s the extent of the social side of things unless you’re playing a private game with friends. If face to face camaraderie is a deal-breaker, you’ll want to stick to live real money poker cash games.
Third-Party Software
Another con that may be a pro (depending on your viewpoint) is the presence and use of third-party software. Programs like Holdem Manager exist that help track hand histories and give players information on decision making through heads up displays. If you’re a player that embraces technology, this is a big perk. If you’re on the other side of the aisle, your opponents using this type of software may put you at a disadvantage.
The Pros of Online Poker Cash Games vs. Online Poker Tournaments
When you play real money online poker, you have the choice between cash games and online poker tournaments. While both are great ways to make money, there are some exclusive pros you get as a cash game player. Here are the four most important to be aware of if you’re on the fence about what style of poker you want to play.
No Fixed Start Time to Adhere To
Multi-table tournaments start at a specific time that does not care what your schedule looks like. SNGs may start a bit more on-demand, but you still have to wait for enough players to register. Online cash games, though, are running around the clock. You can choose to sit down and play cash games whenever you want. This gives you a lot of scheduling flexibility that is hard to beat.
Play for as Long or as Little as You’d Like
In addition to no fixed start time, there is no requirement to play for any period of time with online cash games. If you want to play one hand and leave, go for it. If you want to play for 20 hours at the same table, go for it. It is 100% up to you to decide how long you play for each session.
Chase Someone Who Put a Bad Beat on You
While poker should never be an emotional game about revenge, the ability to get even financially is an important pro of poker cash games vs. tournaments. When someone puts a bad beat on you, it’s usually because they made a mistake and got their money in bad. Players that constantly make mistakes are the types of players you want to be playing against.
The problem with tournaments, though, is that as soon as you identify a bad player who puts a bad beat on you, you’re eliminated from the game, and that’s the end of the story. With cash games, though, you can reload your stack, keep the same seat, and go right back after your money. It shouldn’t affect the way you play, but it’s a nice perk to have a shot at winning your deserved money back.
Select the Players You Want to Play Against
In a tournament, you’re randomly put at a table and have no control over who you play against. With online cash games, you have full control. The best online cash game players know how to game select. Game selecting is the process of choosing the right opponents that you have the best chance of winning against. It’s a luxury that only exists for cash game players.
Tips for Selecting the Right Online Poker Cash Game Site for You
Now that you’re fully up to speed with online cash games, it’s time to pick out the best poker sites accepting US customers for you. Luckily, we’ve already done a lot of the heavy lifting by selecting a good pool of the best online real money poker sites. Now, it’s up to you to pick the right one(s) for you. Here are a few helpful tips from our experts to help you in the process.
Use the Play Money Tables
Play money cash game tables give you the opportunity to test drive a poker site without making a real money deposit. All you have to do is create a free account, then you’re free to test out the software with zero risks.
Now, you’ll be playing at the play money tables, so don’t use this as a test of the skill level of the players that you could be playing against in real money poker games. But it’s an ideal way to see if you’re going to like the look and the feel of the software before you decide to play online poker for real money.
Check the Game Activity at the Times You’re Planning on Playing
If you’re planning on playing online poker when you get off work every night to let off some steam, what do you care about how many people are playing in the mornings? You shouldn’t! When you’re looking at the volume of players at top online US poker sites, check during the hours you plan on playing. While it’s great to be at a site that has volume 24/7, it only affects you if you’re planning on playing every hour of the day.
It’s Okay to Join Multiple Online Poker Rooms for Cash Action
All of the top online poker players and serious grinders in the world play on multiple online poker sites. Why? Joining multiple real money online poker rooms give you more flexibility to game select, access to more action, and the ability to cash in on multiple promotions at the same time.
It doesn’t cost you a penny to join multiple sites. The only financial considerations are that you have enough of a bankroll to spread it across multiple online real money poker sites. If you’re serious about playing poker for money and making a profit, this is a must.
Getting Started Playing Poker Cash Games Now!
Are you ready to start scraping monster pots, running genius bluffs, and showing the world you’re the cash-game boss? If you are, you can get started playing real money poker online right now. Head back to the top of the page, pick out one of the top online poker cash game sites, and get yourself in the action. It takes no more than 10 minutes to sign up, create your account, make a deposit, and sit down to get your first real money poker hand dealt. What are you waiting for?!
Are you looking for the best US legal online poker sites or a real money poker app? If the answer is yes, then you came to the right place. This is one of our many online poker reviews where you can find more about the best online poker options.
Without further ado, keep reading to discover how to play the best online poker for money and how to form an online poker strategy. So, let’s get started!
Contents
Best Legal Online Poker Sites
- WSOP
- PartyPoker
- PokerStars
- Pala Poker
- 888poker
- Global Poker
Is online poker legal? It's not always the same as legal online casinos and legal online sportsbooks. All new players who decide to explore the vast universe of real money poker sites should know that federally, online poker sites are illegal. However, on the individual level, online poker is legal in some of the states.
Some websites such as Global Poker (which is a sweepstakes poker site) are allowed in 49 out of 50 US states. Only Washington does not allow it. At the moment of writing our online poker reviews, only four states offer legal online poker websites in the United States. These are the following: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.
For more information about some of the available sites, make sure to consult our Global Poker review.
US Legal Online Poker: State by State
Is online poker legal in your state? If the answer is no, keep in mind that the situation can change pretty quickly. Unsurprisingly, Nevada was the leader of regulated online poker. Once the ice was broken, the domino-effect followed.
One by one, many states tried or are still trying to pass the legislation. As you can see, some of them even succeeded. The last one to recently pass online poker is West Virginia, and we expect more legal US poker sites to be launched in the future.
When it comes to future predictions, we believe that chances are pretty good for some of the states to overcome all the legal obstacles and finally launch real money poker sites so their residents become able to play legal online poker.
Real Online Poker For Money
Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, New York are some of the states that’ll probably make some innovations when it comes to the possibilities of playing poker online. These are the states that have active supporters of online poker in the state senate.
What’s more, regulated real money poker sites in neighboring states can only have a positive effect on public opinion. Additionally, within the borders of the aforementioned states, you can find a considerable number of land-based casinos.
Many of them come with the best online poker rooms where you can play various variants of poker, including the most popular one - Texas Hold’em. In other words, these poker offline options make it easier to launch legal poker sites and eventually start to offer legal online poker.
States Where Legal Online Poker Seems Like a Distant Dream
From this point of view, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah are just some of the states where we can see a certain legislative hostility towards online gambling. Therefore, we don’t believe that we won’t be able to play Texas Hold’em online there for quite some time.
Sweepstakes Legal Online Poker - Play Poker Free No Matter Which State You’re In
As said before, Global Poker, a sweepstakes legal online poker site, can be accessed in all US states except for the state of Washington. This legal online poker platform was launched in 2106, and since then, many players use its services. The virtual currency gaming business model is what makes it unique.
Instead of playing for real money, players play poker free, using gold coins or sweeps cash. That’s why Global Poker often appears when players search for “play poker free” or “play poker online, free”.
To understand how sweepstakes poker works, let’s start with some poker basics and make sure to understand sweeps poker terminology clearly. There’s a difference between gold coins and sweeps cash, and there’s a reason for which “play poker online, free” is actually a bit of a misnomer here.
Gold Coins are the name for the virtual currency in Global Poker, and they are equivalent to what regular legal online poker sites usually call “play money”. In other words, you can’t cash them out, but you can use them to play Texas Hold’em online or participate in some of the available tournaments with other players. On the other hand, “$weeps cash” is a promotional, virtual currency that can be cashed out through PayPal.
To sum up, you can buy gold coins that don’t have any monetary value and can’t be cashed out. “$weeps cash” is obtained as free of charge once you buy Gold Coins. Because of this virtual currency online poker model, Global Poker is not quite considered an online gambling activity. Therefore, it’s allowed in almost all of the US.
Where Can I Play Legal Online Poker in the US?
Pennsylvania is the last state where online poker had become legal when PokerStars was launched there at the end of 2019. Right now that’s also the only available option to play online poker for money in Pennsylvania.
If we don’t count Global Poker, which can be accessed in 49 states, all the other legal online poker sites come with pretty restricted access. For example, Pala Poker and PartyPoker are only available in the state of New Jersey.
However, they are not the only NJ poker sites one can access. WSOP, America's top legal online poker site, is available in the Garden State, and it’s also accessible to all Nevada online poker fans as well. Likewise, PokerStars NJ, available both independently and within the FOX Bet app
Claim the WSOP promo code in New Jersey and Nevada to get a $1,000 signup bonus!Where Can I Play Poker Live?
Most of the land-based casinos across different states include special poker rooms where you can play live poker. Playing Texas Hold’em online is definitely the most popular option. After all, poker is an American thing, so it’s no wonder to see it available in the vast majority of mortar and bricks casinos.
In fact, instead of listing all the states where you can sit back, relax and try out your luck with live poker, it’s better to list all those where you can’t play poker online. It’ll be easier to remember this list:
- Alaska
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- New Hampshire
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
We must add that in Texas, private poker clubs aren’t forbidden. As long as no house makes a profit from the game, poker can be played in private places for fun.
US Online Poker Basics
When talking about the current status of legal US poker sites, there are two especially important laws that you should be aware of. Let’s take a look at these two federal laws that govern online poker in the country.
The Wire Act
The first one is the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act. As you can see, it passed long before online poker or even the internet existed. However, it prohibits certain types of betting businesses to operate via wired communications.
In 2011, the US Department of Justice concluded that the scope of the act was limited to sporting events. Therefore, states, where online poker is now regulated, found that the bill didn’t apply to online poker nor other forms of gambling.
However, in 2019, the US Department of Justice reversed its opinion. The new opinion concludes that the Wire Act applies to all types of online gambling.
The UIGEA
The other relevant law is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) from 2006. This law made it illegal for US banks to proceed with transactions for offshore gambling companies. That’s how they were pushed out of the market.
History of US Legal Online Poker
Online casinos started to appear back in 1994. They were usually situated in Antigua or the Isle of Man. However, the vast majority of their users were US-based customers. Two years later, in 1996, online gambling was also brought to the North American market soil.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established just outside Montreal. They started issuing licenses, and pretty soon, it was possible to find hundreds of new online gambling websites.
Once again, two years later and again in Canada, the first-ever poker online website saw the light of day. Planet Poker was the favorite source of fun to thousands of Americans who were spending endless hours playing the first real-money online Texas Hold’em.
Over the next few years, thanks to technological advances, better online poker software was developed, while the number of websites kept increasing. These online poker operators also started to offer various tournaments and cash games and got a solid fan base all over the world.
The Industry Kept Growing & Then It Collapsed
Even though there were different interpretations of the law, especially of the famous Wire Act, the newly developed industry kept growing.
Best Poker For Real Money
The year 2003 is especially important in the evolution of online poker. Using an account from Tennessee, Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker after participating in the event through an online satellite. In Chris Moneymaker's case, we guess, it's okay to say that name determines destiny.
This online poker strategy was live-streamed on ESPN. Suddenly, the whole nation knew about Chris's story. A good number of Americans were hoping to be the next. All of a sudden, poker was everywhere on TV. Live games were followed carefully, and commercial breaks had one purpose: promoting online poker for money and playing Texas Hold 'em online.
The great number of promoted sites were, in fact, offshore online poker sites. A lot of them disappeared from American browsers after Congress passed the above-mentioned UIGEA in 2006.
However, even though a lot of sites weren't accessible anymore, online poker couldn't be erased that easily. Some of the offshore gambling companies had found a way around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, but not for long.
In 2011, some of the largest online poker operators, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet, were accused of violating UIGEA and money laundering. These websites were definitely excluded from the significant US online poker market, which seemed to come to an end at the time.
Legal Online Poker Sites Rise Again
Also in 2011, the DOJ released a legal opinion that the Federal Wire act exclusively applied only to one form of gambling: sports betting. A few states saw this as a possibility, paving the way to regulated online casinos and legal US poker sites.
In 2012, Delaware was the first state that managed to do just that. Then, in December 2013, Nevada followed the example of passing online poker legislation. A week later, the Garden State became the third to legalize online gambling, and plans for NJ poker sites were made.
The first-ever regulated US online poker site was launched in Nevada in April 2013. Delaware and NJ poker sites went live that same year, a few months later. In 2017, Pennsylvania became the fourth state to join this group. West Virginia is the fifth state where online poker was regulated in 2019. Probably, more states will try to do the same thing in the near future.
Which State is Next?
Is online poker legal in California or New York? This is one of the frequently asked questions that people search for in the USA. They also search for different terms of poker terminology that sound unfamiliar to them. However, that’s another question that we could discuss on some other occasion.
Let’s get back to our question of legal online poker sites and the possible new markets in the USA. Michigan has made significant efforts to legalize online gambling, particularly online poker, while California, New York, and Massachusetts also seem to be moving in the right direction.
Real Money Poker App: How to Find the Best Poker App
It doesn’t matter if you are a Pennsylvania online poker fan or a regular visitor of NJ poker sites, the good news is that you can play poker whenever you want, anywhere within the borders of one or the other state.
Many of the best online poker websites have launched a dedicated real money poker app that you can easily download and install on your device. The best poker apps are available for both iOS and Android operating systems.
In order to find the best poker app, make sure you visit one of the websites we listed at the beginning of our review.
Also, before you replace your poker offline adventure with the one that can be found on the internet, make sure to read some of the online poker reviews and get to know the poker terminology used by the players worldwide. After a brief introduction to the poker basics, it’s time to create your own online poker strategy and join one of the legal online poker communities!