Online Poker - Where to Play Online Poker - Play Poker Online Today

Online poker has quickly grown to be one of the most popular pasttimes for many people both young and old. Many poker sites are looking for new players, and although it may seem like online poker has faded into the background lately, it is still as popular as ever. Many players believe that we are getting closer to the regulation of online poker in the United States, which would be a huge step in the right direction. As of now there has been legislation passed in the USA to force banks to attempt to block online poker and gambling transactions.

Playing online poker is not a crime. The recent ruling in Pennsylvania has determined online poker to be a game of skill. It is just a matter of time before it is brought back to the US as a taxed and regulated game.

Best Places to Play Online Poker

Play Online Poker

When it comes to playing online poker, a player has many options to choose from. The market has grown to the point where there are now dozens of online poker rooms that all offer the same thing. However, it is important to take notice of a few key differences among online poker sites.

Below I have highlighted some of the current offers available at almost all poker rooms. It helps to read a little about each one before signing up. If you are new to poker you may want to read up on some poker strategy that relates to online poker. Understanding all of the basic concepts is vital if you want to be a winning poker player.

Poker Deposit Bonuses

Every single online poker site offers some type of bonus to new players making their first deposit. Usually players are required to enter a bonus code, marketing code, or referral code. This is almost always done at sign up and is used to determine which bonus a player will receive. Different bonus codes have different bonuses associated with them. For example, one poker bonus code may give you a 100% bonus up to $500 while another code will give you a $25 bonus on your first deposit. Choose your bonus code wisely as you only get a bonus on your first deposit at an online poker room. If you are an American poker player, check out this website's listing of usa online poker sites.

Check out more about the current poker bonuses available at our poker bonuses page.

Rakeback

For the more serious players out there, rakeback is a common choice. Although, I am still surprised at the small amount of players that know rakeback is out there.

In a nutshell rakeback is this. For every hand you play in there is a small "rake" taken out of thepot. This is how the poker room makes it's money. Some poker rooms allow informational poker sites a piece of this revenue in return for sending a real money player. The competitive poker sites began offering what they called rakeback to their players by sharing a percentage of their "revenue share" deal with the player. If you plan on playing a lot of online poker, then rakeback is a must have for you.

The poker rooms pay the poker sites to bring in players, and in return the poker sites pass some of the revenue that player generates back to the player. So as you can see the more you play poker, the more raked hands you are involved in, thus earning more rake. If you are the kind of player that plays cash games for hours each day then rakeback is most definitely the best choice for you.

Loyalty Programs

Last and least are the loyalty programs you find at all of the big name poker rooms. These are similar to the prize programs talked about above but not quite as sweet. Pretty much you accumulate points for your play at a given site, and you can redeem those points for cash, merchandise, tournament buy ins, etc.

In the grand scheme of things you can see how all of this works in harmony together. The poker rooms run their own loyalty programs, but they lack the time to manage something that doesn't return billions of dollars. So... they let their affiliates manage their own loyalty programs. Pretty smart move considering the affiliates pay for all the marketing, start up costs, and management. So in the end it ends up being a win-win on the business side because the poker rooms retain their players, and the affiliates get paid for sending players. Not to mention the players get a whole lot just for playing poker!

Read more about poker loyalty programs here.

Now that you have been schooled on the game, have a look around my site. Browse through the bonuses, reviews, prizes, rakeback deals, and loyalty programs before you make your decision. If you're going to put your money on the line, you may as well get a free iPod or poker chip set while you're at it.

Oh yea, and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter so I can notify you of any new promotions that come about.