Best Poker Sites in 2024

Are you trying to find the best online poker sites?

Good luck. There are lots of gambling sites on the internet, but it’s tough to tell the legit poker parlors from the cheats and scammers. There’s conflicting advice about the legality of offshore sites. Unscrupulous sites tempt you with generous welcome bonuses that somehow never materialize. Scammers collect outrageous rakes. It’s a jungle out there, and you never know whose thumb is on the scale.

These are real issues with real dollars-and-cents consequences. That’s why we took on the hard job of evaluating the internet’s top poker sites. We’re looking for the answer to a simple question:

Who do you trust?

The best digital poker destination for you is surely listed on this page. We can’t tell you which one it is because we don’t know whether you prefer stud or draw, dollars or Bitcoins, sit-and-play games or tournaments. So we did the next best thing: We collected the facts and stats on all of them. We present our findings here so you can judge for yourself.
Here’s the straight dope on the best places for Americans to play poker online for money.

Operator
Rating
Key Features
Welcome Bonus
Website
1.

One of the only legitimate no-deposit bonuses left

Instant-play option with no download required

Great bonuses for new players

100% (up to $400) bonus on 1st deposit. Bonus expires in 90 days. Bonus is remitted in $10 increments for every 10 Bonus Points collected on $1 of the Bonus. Wagering requirements vary by game. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time. T&C’s apply.
2.

Generous first deposit bonus

Available to players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Unbeatable selection of poker games and tournaments

New customers only. T&Cs apply.
3.

Great customer support

Well-designed, easy-to-use lobby

Plentiful table customization options

New 18+ customers only. T&Cs/wagering requirements apply.
4.

Good sports betting and casino promotions

Allows anonymous online gambling

Well-designed user interface

5.

Mobile casino

Lots of video poker options

Welcomes US players

T&C apply. 18+
6.

Best customer support and prompt payouts

Stellar poker room

Easy-to-claim bonus

18+ T&C APPLY.
7.

Exclusively for US players

Anonymous tables

Many payment options

Terms & Conditions apply.
8.

Wide tournament selection

High-quality games

Good for low-stakes players

* New customers only. T&C Apply.
9.

Welcomes US players

Great for beginners and high rollers

Full schedule of tournaments

T&C Apply.

How we do our research

  • We create an account
  • We make a deposit
  • We join poker rooms
  • We play as many games as we can
  • We withdraw money
  • We write honest reviews of the sites we recommend
Moneypage ilustration

Our Evaluation Process

The internet is full of reviews in which writers who aren’t experts give a website a cursory look and then write up their opinions.

That might be a reasonable way to choose a restaurant, but when it comes to playing poker with real money, we think some objective rigor is called for. That’s why we created our proprietary evaluation methodology, a rubric for collecting and comparing objective data about the websites we review.

We gather and verify data we consider relevant and important in choosing a poker site. We present that information here so you can use it to make an informed choice about the best US poker sites.

Our methodology is an open, transparent, repeatable process. You won’t find opinions here, except possibly about website color schemes. Our goal is to give you facts you can rely on.

It’s real money. Anything less would be irresponsible.

User Experience

Every online gambling site aims to provide a visually pleasing, fun, dynamic experience to gamblers. The most important features to take note of include the user interface, graphics, site navigation and layout, and the overall effect of the platform itself. That’s exactly what we evaluate as we rate the poker sites on our list.

Bonuses and Promotions

A generous welcome bonus is a key feature that attracts new players and helps a site keep growing. We rate poker websites more highly when their welcome bonuses are not bogged down with fine print that makes them impossible to earn. It’s reasonable for websites to require a bit of loyalty in return for the free money they hand out, but the terms and conditions must be fair.

Game Variety

We also consider game variety an essential criterion. How many variations of poker are available? Are there tournaments? What other card games does the site offer? The more options there are, the better.

Banking Options

The best sites to play online poker support lots of deposit and withdrawal methods. That is one of the most significant features of every legitimate poker room. We like to see a wide variety that includes credit and debit cards, electronic wallets, wire transfer services, and virtual currencies like Bitcoin.

These days, there’s no excuse for any business – especially a recreational website in a highly competitive industry – to limit your options.
But that’s just the beginning. For a website to secure a place on our exclusive list of top poker sites, it must enable safe, fast, and secure transactions.

Taking online safety seriously is the duty of every trustworthy online gambling platform, which is why our list of the top sites includes only platforms that have enabled the very highest levels of security.

Customer Support

Customer support agents should stay out of your way when things are going well. Nothing’s more annoying than a chatbot popup that destroys your concentration in the middle of a hand. But when something goes wrong, an approachable and well-informed customer service team is absolutely essential wherever you play online poker for money.

A team that can quickly, successfully, and professionally solve any of the player’s problems is imperative. The best sites provide thorough FAQs and other resource pages in addition to making agents available on a 24/7 basis through online chat, telephone, and email, at the very least. Reliable customer support is not optional.

888 Poker Logo
888 Poker

One of the only legitimate no-deposit bonuses left

Instant-play option with no download required

Great bonuses for new players

888poker is a joint venture between New York investment firm Avenue Capital and Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings, the parent company of 888casino, 888poker, 888sport, and a selection of bingo sites: 888bingo, 888ladies, Big Brother Bingo, Bingo Street, Posh Bingo, RedBus Bingo, Tasty Bingo, and Wink Bingo. 888’s Bingo app runs on the Facebook platform, where it is the only bingo app that allows users to bet and win real money.

Licensed by the state of New Jersey, 888poker is a legal platform for online poker games within New Jersey. 888 uses advanced technology to detect those who try to access the site from outside the state’s borders, and it does a good job of shutting them out. Even VPN services are not sufficient, in our tests, to allow gambling from outside the state. That’s understandable. 888poker risks fines and even losing its license if it allows individuals from outside New Jersey to gamble.

In addition to its 888-branded poker sites, 888 Holdings provides poker software to other companies through its business-to-business Dragonfish subsidiary. For example, the World Series of Poker operates licensed websites in Nevada and New Jersey. Their online poker rooms run 888poker software provided by Dragonfish. WSOP has also begun the licensing and approval paperwork for opening a site in Pennsylvania.

In Delaware, 888 Holdings provides the software for the state’s three licensed online poker sites, which are affiliated with the Delaware Park, Harrington, and Dover Downs racetracks.
Players at any of these licensed sites can test their poker skill against players at any of the others through a practice called player pooling.

User Experience

888poker has invested in an accessible, clear, aesthetically flawless look and feel for its worldwide network of poker sites. As one of the best free poker sites, this website provides all the features a poker player needs with very few distractions. The site radiates pure professionalism.

No matter what platform you prefer to play poker on, 888poker has got you covered. You can play at the website or you can download software for your desktop or laptop PC. Either way, the experience is identical. You can play poker via the browser on your smartphone or tablet if you like, because the site is coded according to responsive design principles so it works great on small touchscreens. But for the optimum experience, we recommend that you download the 888poker real money poker app, which is available for iOS and Android.

Bonuses and Promotions

888poker is one of the few online poker sites that offer a no-deposit bonus to new players.

The good news starts with a $20 welcome bonus. It’s basically a gift for creating an account at the site. The $20 consists of a $10 credit that you can use on games at 888casino, six $1 tournament tickets, and a $4 credit on your 888 bankroll.

Your first deposit earns you a 50% match bonus up to $500, and your second deposit is matched 50% up to $1,000.

At 888poker, you earn money even when you lose at online poker games. New players are automatically enrolled in the 888 Rewards loyalty program. You earn 2.5% of your wagers starting with your first hand. Once you hit $100 in monthly rake, you start receiving 10% back. Big spenders get a 35% rakeback. The higher you climb in the Rewards program, the more benefits you receive.

Game Variety

Poker games at 888poker include Texas hold’em, Omaha hi, Omaha hi-lo, and seven-card stud.

888poker offers pot-limit and no-limit poker. Those who opt for the popular Texas hold’em online can choose between games with specific limits and “mixed” games, in which you alternate between hands with betting limits and hands without limits.

The site offers a variety of tournaments, including a unique type of competition called Sit & Go. A Sit & Go tournament has a fixed number of players – anywhere from two to 360.

Competitors race through a series of Turbo, Super Turbo, Bounty, Double or Nothing, and Knockout tournaments.

Banking Options

888poker’s banking options are adequate compared to the options at the best free online poker sites. You can make deposits via credit card, debit card, bank transfer, PayPal, Play+, and 7-11 PayNearMe. Withdrawal options are limited to bank transfer, PayPal, Play+, and cash withdrawals at the Caesars Atlantic City cashier’s cage. The company doesn’t support Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

Customer Support

Every reputable poker site needs to have quick and professional customer support. 888poker certainly doesn’t disappoint in this regard. If you need help or answers to questions, you can start with the comprehensive, detailed FAQ page. For more detailed and complicated problems that cannot be solved by consulting the FAQ, poker online players can submit a question to the site’s support team via a form found on the website. The website’s online chat and telephone support services have been temporarily discontinued due to the coronavirus pandemic.

pokerstars logo
PokerStars

Generous first deposit bonus

Available to players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Unbeatable selection of poker games and tournaments

Newly available to players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, PokerStars USA is the American version of the largest poker site in the world. We are prepared to confirm that it offers a huge number of cash games and tournaments on a 24/7 basis.

Founded in Costa Rica in 2000, PokerStars is one of the industry’s veteran online poker rooms, offering a thrilling and enticing experience to both rookies and the most experienced, best poker players.

User Experience

The website’s privately developed software is some of the best in the business. In addition to its great feel, stability, and aesthetic, it’s also fast and highly customizable – just the thing for players who like to engage in table games. Players will find game info, stats, and charts visible at all times. Another interesting feature: emotes that you can throw at other players. These include tissues and balls.

While playing poker online at PokerStars, you can make side-bets within the game if you like. You can also review a visual hand history.

Bonuses and Promotions

The PokerStars welcome bonus is a 100% match up to $600. You don’t have to deposit the full amount right away. The match applies to your first three deposits until you hit the $600 maximum.

Collecting the bonus funds is complicated, and it requires you to play PokerStars for real money. The site awards you five “redemption points” for every $1 you pay in rake or tournament fees. Every time you hit 180 points, the site releases $10 of the bonus. You have four months to collect the full $600. The money’s not free for poker online until you’ve traded in your redemption points.

Among the many promotions that captured our attention was “The Deal,” in which you can purchase a spin on a big-sweepstakes wheel with reward points you earn while playing poker. High-stakes games are scheduled every day under the High Roller Club banner.

The site supports a full schedule of tournaments as well, covering every game for high rollers and low rollers alike. The PokerStars USA website offers so many rewards and promotions that it’s almost like playing free poker online.

Game Variety

At PokerStars, you’ll find as many as 30 poker tournaments running at one time. Among the supported games are Texas hold’em, Omaha (Fusion and Showtime), five-card Omaha, seven-card stud, razz, horse & hose, eight-game, badugi, and 2-7 triple/single-draw. All the games can be played with no-limit, limit, and pot-limit options.

Banking Options

You can deposit $10 or more using Skrill, Neteller, Visa, and Mastercard to play poker games online at PokerStars. Withdrawal options include bank wire, Mastercard, Neteller, PayPal, Skrill, Visa, Web Money, Apple Pay, ecoPayz, and Much Better, to name a few.

Customer Support

PokerStars is currently licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and accepts players only from those two states. When you play poker at PokerStars, all of your opponents will be players from within your state.

Customer support on the PokerStars site is fast and reliable. You can get your questions answered through quick email support. The site’s knowledgeable, friendly staff will quickly give you all the answers even if you’re playing poker on your mobile device. We think PokerStars is one of the best NJ online poker sites even though it lacks live chat and phone options.

True Poker Logo
True Poker

Great customer support

Well-designed, easy-to-use lobby

Plentiful table customization options

True Poker was launched in 2001. It is licensed and regulated in the Netherlands Antilles and it’s the flagship website of the Winning Poker Network. The company’s strategy is based on serving American customers, although the site is not licensed to operate in any US state.

In April 2011, True Poker – then part of the Yatahay Network – was one of many offshore gambling websites whose operators were indicted by the US Justice Department for illegally running poker games online for American customers. Domain names were seized and closed. Rather than giving up on the US market, Yatahay doubled down, launching the Winning Poker Network.

Today, True Poker serves customers in all US states except Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, and Washington.
If you try out your luck at this site, you’ll come across above-average site traffic and have a chance to test your skills against a variety of players from all around the world.

User Experience

The user experience at True Poker is pretty similar to what you’ll find at other top-rated online poker sites. One of the differences is that you can’t participate in anonymous gaming at True Poker. All player details can be seen from the tables.

Bonuses and Promotions

Bonuses and promotions at True Poker won’t disappoint you. The welcome bonus is a 100% match up to $1,000. Among the site’s other promotions is the Beast, which True Poker describes as “a progressive rake race.”

Game Variety

Variations on Texas hold’em are the site’s most popular games. You can also enjoy Omaha poker, Omaha hi-low, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-low, and 32-card draw, a curious variant of five-card draw that’s played at some online gambling sites. In 32-card draw, all the cards of ranks 2 through 6 are removed from the deck before play.

Banking Options

To start your gambling adventure, you’ll need to deposit some cash. Deposit methods at True Poker include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Ria Money Transfer, and wire transfer. Cryptocurrency deposits are also available, so you can use Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum as well as Storj, Golem, and Matchpool.

When it comes to withdrawals, your options include Bitcoin, altcoins, bank drafts, and wire transfers.

Customer Support

As one of the internet’s best online poker sites with real money, True Poker provides abundant customer support. You’ll find an extensive, well-organized FAQ page to be an effective first line of support. In addition to helping you troubleshoot problems, it’s packed with instructions about how to play the site’s games.
If you have payment questions, connectivity issues, or any other problems, you can reach out to the site’s friendly, helpful customer support team via live chat and email.

Nitrogen Sports Logo
Nitrogen Sports

Good sports betting and casino promotions

Allows anonymous online gambling

Well-designed user interface

Launched in 2012, Nitrogen Sports is based in Costa Rica. The site’s main focus is sports betting. This isn’t just another soccer bookmaker. You can bet on volleyball, darts, water polo, and badminton, just for starters. There are about 40 casino games, too.

We say Nitrogen belongs among the top online poker sites even though a recent visit found the site’s active poker tables included only Texas hold’em, crazy hold’em, Omaha, and hold’em six-plus.

The reason? Nitrogen Sports is a Bitcoin-only site.

The disadvantage is that you have to learn about cryptocurrency and set up an e-wallet.

The advantage? Anonymity. You can play poker for money at Nitrogen without ever providing your name, email address, or any other personal details. It takes just a few seconds to set up an account, and then you’re set.

Bitcoin arguably means that you’re not participating in illegal betting with an offshore gambling site. Bitcoin isn’t money, at least not in the traditional sense.

Anonymity means country restrictions don’t apply. Nitrogen accepts players from everywhere, without restriction.
Those are the benefits of online gambling sites that are entirely based on Bitcoin.

User Experience

Starting with the user interface, we have to say that Nitrogen Sports embodies a clever, modern, and high-tech style. It manages to mix a futuristic, interactive interface with a minimalist layout seamlessly. You can easily access all of the site’s key features from a single screen, including cashier, support, settings, personal account, promotions, and more. Nitrogen Sports features one of the most elegant, functional, and aesthetically perfect designs among all the gambling sites we have visited.

Bonuses and Promotions

While you can play the best online poker for money on Nitrogen Sports, you shouldn’t expect to receive many bonuses. Fans of welcome bonuses, brace yourselves: Nitrogen Sports doesn’t offer welcome or first-deposit bonuses.

Instead, the site runs a few interesting ongoing promotions that revolve around the sports betting part of the site. There’s a casino promotion too – a parlay jackpot that consists of multiple prize pools you can bet on.

For poker players, there’s a loyalty program called Nitro Rewards. It lets you earn benefits based on the rakes you contribute to as you play online poker.

Game Variety

Nitrogen Sports doesn’t offer a lot of games. You may find its distinctive version of three-card poker, which can be an interesting experience. You can choose between a single-player game and a multiplayer game, both marked in separate squares or tables. The site lets you know how many players are currently active in the game, the name of the particular poker room, and the betting time out.

Banking Options

Nitrogen Sports is one of the few online sportsbooks and casinos that rely exclusively on Bitcoin for deposits and cashouts. Many real money poker sites offer cryptocurrency as an option, but at Nitrogen, Bitcoin is front and center. That can be a little confusing when you start making bets in mBTC instead of dollars.

Customer Support

Nitrogen Sports offers two channels of communication with customer support. There’s no live chat or phone support. Instead, you must rely on a ticketing system or email. Keep in mind that sending an email could compromise your anonymity.

BetOnline Logo
BetOnline

Mobile casino

Lots of video poker options

Welcomes US players

BetOnline is a privately-held company with a gaming license from Panama. BetOnline’s poker room is probably the largest and certainly one of the best online poker sites for USA players.

The BetOnline website is not licensed in the US and it accepts players from every state. The company leaves it up to you to determine whether you may legally place bets at the site.

The US Department of Justice has seized the domains and other assets of similar operations in the past, and site members have sometimes lost all of their deposited funds and winnings. We recommend the site to poker players who like to gamble in more ways than one.

User Experience

BetOnline relies on many software developers for its gaming operations and online poker, USA-style. Chief among them is Betsoft Gaming. The casino games run as smoothly and look as good as the website.

Bonuses and Promotions

One of the best bonuses you’ll find at BetOnline is the $10,000 weekly cash-race Leaderboard, which gives you a chance to compete on an equal playing field for a share of $10,000 in prizes.
Bad Beat Jackpot is another tempting promotion. It allows you to win the jackpot if your hand of four deuces or better loses. The jackpot continues to grow after every hand, holding out the possibility of winning a substantial amount of money.

It is creative promotions like these that make BetOnline one of the best sites for online poker.

Game Variety

At BetOnline, you’ll find seven different casino-style poker games. There are more options if you’re a video poker fan. Video poker offerings include:

  • Aces and Faces
  • All American
  • Bonus Deluxe
  • Bonus Poker
  • Deuces Wild
  • Double Bonus
  • Double Jackpot
  • Five Draw Poker
  • Jacks or Better
  • Joker Poker

Banking Options

A site this polished and smooth deserves a thoroughly professional bank – and BetOnline has one. The website offers several banking options for making deposits and withdrawals. The variety is just what you’d expect from one of the internet’s best online poker sites. The website supports Bitcoin, wire transfers, Bitcoin Cash, bank checks, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, Skrill, Neteller, Visa, Mastercard, Book to Book, and money orders. That’s a lot of variety.

Customer Support

Members of the BetOnline customer service team are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help you out when you encounter problems playing poker. You can rely on live chat, phone, or email to contact agents if you come across an issue you cannot fix on your own. To be fair, the site’s FAQ page probably holds the answer to your question. But it’s best to contact the site’s customer support agents anyway. They are friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and supportive, as befits one of the country’s best online poker sites.

Bovada Logo
Bovada

Best customer support and prompt payouts

Stellar poker room

Easy-to-claim bonus

Bovada has a long history in the online gaming industry.

The story starts with a Canadian-Antiguan entrepreneur named Calvin Ayre. In 2000, Ayre launched an Antigua-based online gambling company called Bodog, which quickly made him a billionaire. Bodog launched Bovada in 2011 to serve up sports betting, casino games, and poker to US gamblers. Bovada was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Quebec,

Canada, until the commission revoked its license in 2016. At about the same time, Bovada sold its poker business to a company called Lynton Ltd, which operated it as Ignition Casino. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission also revoked Ignition’s license as a place to play poker online for money.

Bovada continued to offer sports betting and casino gaming to American customers at the same time Ignition, now identified as part of the “Bodog Network,” took over the company’s poker operations. In 2017, Bovada re-entered the American online poker market with Bovada Poker, a Bodog Network sister site that competed with Ignition.

It was in 2017 that Bodog was purchased, along with Ignition and all of the Bodog websites, by Pai Wang Luo of Hong Kong. Pai Wang Luo now operates Ignition, Bodog.eu, Bodog.com, and Bovada – all candidates for best online poker room in various parts of the world. The company also operated Bodog sites in East Asia and India until those sites were abruptly shut down at the end of September 2020. A Pai Wang Luo statement attributes the closures to laws within local markets. Enforcement of similarly restrictive laws already on the books in America could put the company’s US-facing sites in jeopardy.

User Experience

The first thing to notice about Bovada’s user interface is that it’s top-notch. The site’s menus and pages are well laid-out, making navigation effortless to both newbies and veterans. Bovada will without a doubt be a competitive choice for anyone from the United States who wants to play real money online poker.

Bonuses and Promotions

One of the features that players appreciate most is Bovada’s poker welcome bonus. You get a 100% match on your initial deposit up to $500. There’s a casino welcome bonus too, which can earn you up to $3,000 thanks to a generous 100% match on your first three deposits.
And that’s not all. If you want to earn substantial cashback amounts on all poker, casino, and sportsbook action, be sure to check out the promotions page on the Bovada website.

Game Variety

Bovada offers a meager selection of poker games: Texas hold’em online, Omaha poker, and Omaha hi-lo. There’s a good selection of tournaments, however, and it’s easy to find games with no-limit, pot-limit, and other variations.

Banking Options

Bovada accepts a good variety of methods for deposits, including credit cards, wire transfer, and money transfer services such as MoneyGram. Cashouts can be processed by check and wire transfer. The turnaround time for deposits is generally less than one hour. Withdrawals can take up to two weeks.

Customer Support

Bovada’s customer support agents are available around the clock. You can reach them via a contact form, telephone, or live chat, so it’s easy to get help whenever you play online poker for real money in the USA. Each of the support team members is highly knowledgeable and willing to assist, which adds to the legitimacy of this site.

Ignition Casino Logo
Ignition Casino

Exclusively for US players

Anonymous tables

Many payment options

Like Bovada, Ignition Casino is owned by Hong Kong-based Pai Wang Luo. The inviting site setup and enthralling poker games have what it takes to attract every poker player.
But not everyone can play poker at Ignition. If you’re in New Jersey, Nevada, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, or Missouri, you may not register or play at this site. In fact, you probably can’t even visit the site. Pai Wang Luo’s web developers are adept at performing location screening to restrict access to the company’s online poker sites.

User Experience

One of the first things you’ll notice when logging into the Ignition Casino website is that the poker lobby is very well laid-out. You’ll have no trouble navigating from section to section within the casino. You can even filter the poker rooms depending on the type of features you prefer.

Ignition Casino’s online poker rooms have a variety of customization options. Just visit the “Settings” section of your account and you’ll find tons of options. You can even change the screen background and the appearance of the cards. Some would say Ignition is the best poker site just because of all the customization options. We wouldn’t go that far, but we do appreciate the options.

Bonuses and Promotions

Ignition Casino offers a welcome offer for newcomers. The bonus starts with a 100% match on your first deposit and grows to a maximum of $1,000. That’s a nice, generous bonus.

But that’s just the beginning. From here on, things start to get a little complicated. Under the Ignition rewards scheme, you earn points every time you play casino games or play online poker for real money. The points are called Ignition Miles, and you can cash them in for bonus funds whenever you like.

The lowest level is the Steel level, where 2,500 Ignition Miles earn you $1 and a cashback bonus of 6% of your weekly net losses. Keep playing and you will eventually rise through the Chrome, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium, and Diamond levels. At each level you earn more rewards.

Game Variety

Ignition Casino offers just three poker games: Texas hold’em, Omaha Hi, and Omaha hi-lo. That’s a disappointing selection, especially since in other ways Ignition is easily one of the best online poker sites on the internet. You can choose a no-limit, pot-limit, or fixed-limit game, and you can choose how big a table you want to sit at. That’s about it.
Zone Poker offers a bit of variety. When you enable it, you are moved to a random new table immediately after you fold your hand at your current table. It’s a fun and unusual quick-change.

Banking Options

You can make deposits at Ignition Casino with a credit card; the site accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. As one of the best online poker sites for California players, Ignition Casino offers a couple of cryptocurrencies too. So if you’ve got an eWallet full of Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, you’re in luck. All of these options give you an opportunity to fund your account instantly.

If you don’t use cryptocurrency, your only withdrawal option is to request a paper check, which will be delivered to you by courier. The minimum withdrawal is $100 for that service. If you’ve got Bitcoin, you can make withdrawals as small as $10 and the funds will be credited to you immediately. Ignition lets you withdraw $9,500 every three days to your eWallet or $3,000 every seven days by check. We generally expect more options from US poker sites.

Customer Support

If you’re struck by a pressing question while playing poker at Ignition, you can turn to the FAQ page, which is packed full of useful and interesting information. If that doesn’t satisfy your curiosity, or if you have a pressing concern about using the website, we recommend reaching out to the customer support team via live chat.

The team is very helpful and prompt with responses. You can also reach out via email. You can expect a response within about 24 hours. These options are on par with what you’ll find at all of the best online free poker sites.

Intertops Logo
Intertops Poker

Wide tournament selection

High-quality games

Good for low-stakes players

Intertops has a long, colorful history that begins with a German bookmaker named Detlef Train. Frustrated by Germany’s government monopoly on betting, Train moved to London and opened a shop that let Germans place bets by telephone – the gambling world’s first example of an offshore business to serve customers in a jurisdiction where the bet would be illegal.

Competitors opened UK betting sites to serve customers in Europe and North America. Anticipating a government crackdown, Train moved the operation to Austria in 1992. Accompanying him was a college student named Simon Noble, head of the company’s nascent internet project. Noble became CEO in 1995, and in 1996 Intertops.com, perhaps the first of the world’s online gaming sites, accepted its first wager, a $50 UK soccer bet from a Finnish gambler.

Intertops added casino games and poker gradually over the years, working with different poker providers and networks. The poker room currently holds a gambling license from Curacao.
If you’re located in Maryland, New Jersey, Washington, New York, Kentucky, Missouri or Louisiana, you won’t be able to create an account at Intertops. Otherwise, it’s a great spot, especially for low-stakes players seeking a website where they can play legal online poker in the US.

User Experience

You can download poker software from Intertops to your Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android device of choice. If you’d rather not make a download, that’s fine – an instant-play option lets you access all the same games and features in your browser.

Intertops poker games come from the Horizon Poker Network, which has been in existence since 2006. The games work quickly and smoothly, but frankly the whole site looks like it’s stuck in 2006. Some players may like the retro look and feel, and the appearance certainly doesn’t diminish the thrill of playing, but we expect more from one of the best online poker sites for US players.

Bonuses and Promotions

Intertops’ welcome bonus takes some explaining. It’s a 200% matching bonus up to $1,000, which seems quite generous. But you don’t get the bonus funds right away. Instead, you earn it $5 at a time as you earn points by entering tournaments and playing games.

In addition, Poker provides a selection of ongoing rewards. The site’s Loyalty Levels program is especially good. You earn points – Intertops calls them “Frequent Player Points” – as you play poker. The more points you have, the higher you rise in the program. And the higher you rise, the more cash awards you win. It’s a great way to win more while playing some of the internet’s best online poker games.

Game Variety

At Intertops Poker you can enjoy three poker games: Texas hold’em, Omaha hi, and Omaha hi-lo. No-limit, pot-limit, and fixed-limit games and tournaments are available for Texas hold’em, while all of the site’s Omaha games are played in pot-limit mode. Buy-ins range from $0.02 to $10.

Banking Options

You can make deposits at Intertops using a credit or debit card, an eWallet like Neteller or Skrill, wire transfer, paysafecard, or Cash Direct. The site also supports a limited number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

As one of the best online poker sites for US players and real money, Intertops supports withdrawals with cryptocurrencies, paper checks, wire transfers, Skrill, and Money Global.

Customer Support

One of the customer support options at Intertops Poker is an FAQ page that answers a few of the more common questions. You’re more likely to get satisfaction from the professionals on the customer support team. They’re available on a 24/7 basis via telephone and live chat. The company even maintains toll-free telephone numbers in North America. If your need is less pressing, you can always send a question via email.

This wide variety of support options confirms our selection of Intertops Poker as one of the best online poker sites for real money.

America's Cardroom Logo
Americas Cardroom

Welcomes US players

Great for beginners and high rollers

Full schedule of tournaments

Since 2001, Americas Cardroom has earned an undeniable reputation as a stable, reliable online poker site for American players, including both beginners and high rollers. The site serves poker enthusiasts and professional players in every part of the United States, except those who are located in the states of Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, or Washington.

Like True Poker, Americas Cardroom is a Costa Rica-based member of the Winning Poker Network. We think Americas Cardroom’s flawless execution and focus on American players make this popular card-playing site one of the best online poker sites for US players, and Reddit users agree.

User Experience

When you start playing poker at Americas Cardroom, you’ll need to provide some basic information about yourself – an email address for starters, and a valid payment method. Americas Cardroom offers lots of cash games, multi-table tournaments, and sit-n-goes with steady traffic and plenty of options for players at any skill level.

The site has a reputation as the toughest US-friendly network at higher stakes, and it runs the highest-stakes games of any US-facing site. If you’re looking to sharpen your skills at the poker tables, you’ll find this one of the best sites for online poker.

Bonuses and Promotions

The Americas Cardroom welcome bonus is a 100% match up to $1,000 – or a 200% match up to $1,000 if you make your deposit with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. The bonus funds are released to you incrementally – $1 for every 27.5 benefit points you earn by playing poker at the site. The points accumulate slowly but consistently as you pay entrance fees for tournaments and contribute to the site’s rake, hand by hand.

The site also offers a wide variety of tournaments, including progressive jackpots with pots of $1 million or more.

Game Variety

As one of the top online gaming sites on the internet, Americas Cardroom offers a range of poker tournaments and games. Unlike many online poker sites, which are primarily casinos or sportsbooks, Americas Cardroom is a poker website through and through.

The site offers a simple selection of poker games with a lot of different types of poker to play. Among the poker games you’ll find here are Texas hold’em, Omaha hi, Omaha hi-lo, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-lo, and 32-card draw.

There are 11 types of poker tournaments at Americas Cardroom, each and every one contributing to its reputation as one of the best online poker sites for real money. These tournaments can be played on your computer or mobile phone.

Banking Options

Americas Cardroom supports plenty of options when it comes to banking. These include credit and debit cards, player-to-player transfers, popular eWallets, and more than 65 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Blackcoin, Starcoin, Gamecredits, and Monero.

Customer Support

The easiest way to get in touch with the Americas Cardroom tech-support staff is to send an email message. There’s a form on the support page that allows you to send a message without launching your email client. If your need is more urgent, you can reach the team via telephone or the 24/7 live chat function.

FAQ

What poker site can I play for real money?

All of the sites we have covered here allow you to play poker for real money. Sites within the United States are limited to players within specific states, while sites outside the country usually welcome players from any state.

Where's the best place to play poker online?

The best sites are those that are vetted and recommended by expert reviewers within the poker community. To pick a top poker room, we recommend looking into our table of recommended sites and making your choice from among the reputable options we have listed. There’s where you’ll find the top website and the best poker app for you.

Is it legal to play poker online in the US?

Many states don’t have specific laws against online gambling, but in some states such as Washington, online gambling is a serious crime. In 2019, the Department of Justice made public its opinion that international gambling sites, including poker websites, that cater to Americans are violating the law. Over the years, the Justice Department has taken action against some of these sites.

What is the best online poker site for beginners?

We think every poker site we’ve reviewed here is worth visiting, but some of them could be too complicated for rookies. If you’re new to the world of online poker rooms, we recommend Ignition Casino and Bovada.

What is the biggest online poker site?

Among the poker sites we’ve reviewed, BetOnline seems to be not only one of the best, but probably the biggest as well. It offers players a very wide selection of games and it supports a huge number of players from the United States and around the world. As one of the best poker sites we’ve seen, it offers an outstanding desktop experience as well as exceptionally good poker apps for mobile devices.

Are online poker games rigged?

Online poker games aren’t rigged. Most sites are licensed – if not in the United States, then in the countries where they are located. It would be a huge risk for a poker site to cheat, as word would get out and soon the site would be out of business and the owners would face fines and jail time if the cheating could be proven.
Besides, online poker games count on random number generators to shuffle and deal cards. At all of the best online poker sites, the RNGs are inspected and certified by third parties so you know the games are fair.