Long gone are the days where you would need to visit a poker room or organize a poker game among friends to be able to play poker for real money. What if instead of a few select people to draw upon, with only a few thousand dollars of total bankroll to wager, you had the whole world to play with, with literally billions of dollars in play at all times? Now we're talking.
There are literally hundreds of online poker sites to choose from, and where you play does matter, and matters a lot actually. It would be an understatement to say that not all online poker sites are created equally. There are two types of poker sites, the stand alone sites and the poker networks. Stand alone sites tend to have better players due to their exclusive focus on poker, while the networks are a conglomeration of many smaller sites which cater a lot more to casual poker players.
An example of a well run stand alone poker site would be Poker Stars, which is world famous and also the world's largest poker site these days. Party Poker is another famously good example. There are also some lesser known poker sites like Everest Poker that are well worth a look as well. These sites are all excellent choices, while on the other hand there are plenty of standalone poker sites that you definitely want to avoid.
There are also a lot of different poker networks out there, some great ones, and some ones that aren't so great. Some of the top poker networks include the iPoker Network, the Ongame Network, the Microgaming Network, the Merge Network, the Entraction Network, the IPN/Boss Media Network, the Revolution/Cake Poker Network, the Everleaf Network, and the Yatahay/Winning Poker Network. Within each network resides an assortment of different poker rooms who have all teamed up to pool their players together and share common tables. So instead of a bunch of very small rooms, most of which would be in fact too small to bother with, we now can play on sites with many players, providing us with the amount of action we need.
Within each poker network, there are many choices, as there are many choices among stand alone poker sites as well, and as always, choices do matter. Which are the biggest online poker operators? What are the best poker sites to play?
Best poker standalone sites and networks:
- PokerStars
- Full Tilt Poker
- Bovada Poker
- iPoker Network
- PartyPoker
- Ongame Network
- Microgaming Network
- Merge Network
- IPN / Boss Media Network
- Everest Poker
- Cake / Revolution Poker Network
- Everleaf Network
- Yatahay / Winning Poker Network
Take some time and read more about each network and standalone site to decide which will best suit your needs. Some may offer better and more profitable games while other better promotions and more lucrative VIP rewards.
