Choosing the Right Poker Room

There are literally hundreds of different online poker rooms you can play at. With such a wide variety, how do you choose the one that’s best for you? This may sound complicate at first, but it really doesn’t have to be.

First and foremost, always research a poker room before playing with real money on it. This is critical. If people have negative experiences with a particular room, you can be sure they are writing about it on the web so take the time to do some research! We offer a series of quality and unbiased poker room reviews. Take the time to read them as this can only help choosing where you’ll play. You can find those on all poker rooms we sponsor.

Read Poker Room Reviews

When looking at reviews, don’t choose a poker room based on a review scores alone. It’s common for a review to rate different elements, like graphics for example. Or maybe youy’re trying to find US friendly poker sites. If you don’t care about graphics, you’d be better off paying attention to individual element scores and drawing your own conclusions. A room with great graphics and poor functionality could have a better score than a room with poor graphics and great functionality, depending on the reviewer’s criteria’s, so draw your own conclusion.

Here is a list of elements you could also consider when determining which poker room is right for you. Some of these elements may not be important to you, and that’s fine. Everyone has personal preferences and we don’t all value the same things.

Overall Reputation of a Poker Room

How long has this poker room been operational? Is it part of an established poker network? Which country does it operate from? What have people been saying about the company in bogs, reviews and forums? It is important to deal with a reputable company you can trust.

Poker Promotions

These include a poker bonus, tournaments, poker freerolls, special events, the chance to win seats at major events like the WSOP, reload bonuses or any other incentives offered. Promotions are always easy to find on the poker room’s website. Also, remember that sign up bonuses are usually not automatic. Most rooms have a point system in place and you as you acquire points, your bonus dollars are released to you in small increments. Most rooms offer this bonus on the initial deposit, so if you’re only going to deposit $50 to start, then it shouldn’t matter if the room offers a $100 sign up bonus, or a gazillion dollar sign up bonus because the amount you can receive in bonus is normally based on your $50 deposit.

Poker Rake

How much money is the poker room taking from every pot? That varies with the stakes you play at, and the types of games so make sure to investigate the rake for the games you will be interested in. There’s generally a maximum amount they will take per hand, called a rake cap, and it also varies depending on the type of game and the stakes.

Frequent Player Point Program

Poker rooms have their own names for their own programs, but it ultimately all boils down to you earning some points for playing on their tables, and then being able to spend those points freely in exchange for something beneficial. Research what you can do with these points, and the point costs associated with the rewards. Generally, points allow you to participate in free rolls, and the more points you earn in a short period of time generally means you’re eligible for bigger prize tournaments. Just be sure you know how your points are earned and how they can then be spent.

Customer Support

If you have a question, comment, or require assistance, how will you be served? Will they respond to your e-mail within 24 hours? Within 48? Within 2 hours? Are there toll free telephone numbers, or local phone numbers you can use? Will they go the extra mile for you? You can usually find contact information by researching the poker room’s website. By reading blogs and poker forums, you can also find out about other people’s experiences.

Poker Software

Try out the software with play money first. If you end up in a strange poker room where you can only play for real money without even being able to try out the program first, run away! If you can test drive before you buy, then don’t buy! Software elements you want to consider includes the look and feel of the room. Do you like it? Can you customize it by changing colors and themes? Then consider the functionality. Are there limited functions and do you feel the room should have more? Are there too many functions and it’s getting confusing or annoying? Take the time to try out the program with play money, and give the room a fair chance before you call it quits. In order words, try it out for a good hours at least. Try out different games, figure out how the lounge works and were you can find the freerolls and so on. It’s really important to be comfortable with the program.

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Poker Room Traffic

How many people are playing in these rooms? Will I be able to find a table to join for the games I want? Even if it’s in the middle of the night? You can probably get traffic stats from their website, and a lot of poker reviews provide traffic stats as well. Sometimes when I read reviews, there are suggestions that some rooms are ?easier? than others in terms of the competition and skill level of players. If you ever read comments like that from blogs, reviews or forums, don’t pay much attention to them. When you have thousands of people playing in a room, you’ll always have a mix of good players, bad players and average players. It’s going to be the same everywhere. Telling people that it’s easier to win in a specific room is just a lame attempt to get you to click on someone’s banner.

There could be other elements you would want to consider, but these are the main ones that people are generally interested in. I always encourage people to try out different rooms with play money before picking which one they’ll play in with real money. I also think it’s not a bad idea to have a few top picks and alternate from one room to the next once in a while. It changes the scenery and gives you access to a wider range of promotions since each room often offers unique ones. I hope this will help you find a room you like and I invite you to look at the list of poker rooms we are currently featuring.