There are now dozens of reliable and secure poker sites available for online play. Most poker sites do not have their own individual server that only their player’s use. For instance, DoylesRoom and Golden Palace Poker both use the same poker server and software (Tribeca Tables). If you have an account at both sites you will see the same players at the same tables. So the differences between game play and layout are found in the software used to run a poker room, not necessarily in the individual sites themselves. On this page we'll focus primarily on sites with unique software, or at least try to avoid reviewing more than one "skin" of the same software.
Full Tilt Poker
Full
Tilt Poker is one of the fastest growing online poker rooms. Founded
only in July 2004, Full Tilt Poker is currently the 3th largest poker
site worldwide with over 20,000 players during peak times. Besides
the software, you will be attracted to Full Tilt Poker by the quality
and number of pros that represent and play on the site. Few people
will ever have the opportunity to play or chat about golf with Tiger
Woods, but on Full Tilt Poker you have lots of opportunity to play
with and learn from the poker celebrities you see on TV.
Visit Full Tilt Poker
| Read our review
BoDog Poker
Bodog
Poker only launched in September of 2004, and yet their player volume
levels are already competitive. As far as I am concerned this is the
most critical aspect of a new online poker room: Do they have games
at every stakes level at all times of the day? The convenience and
speed of online poker is a huge selling point, and if the poker room
fails to deliver instant gratification it will inevitably fail. Bodog
Poker still needs to grow in terms of high-limit cash games, but their
guaranteed tournaments do cater effectively at every level, professional
poker players included. There are numerous other positives about this
poker room, which I intend to discuss, but the bottom line is that
of the many new potential poker destinations on the Internet, that
seem to spring up on a weekly basis, Bodog Poker appears the most
likely to survive and ultimately succeed.
Visit Bodog Poker
| Read our review
Poker Stars
Poker Stars is one of the oldest poker rooms on the net. Right from the beginning Poker Stars focused on tournaments and is now definitely number one on the Internet regarding tournaments. The room also hosts a huge number of satellites to different live tournaments and both the 2003 and the 2004 WSoP main event winners qualified trough Poker Stars.
But Poker Stars isn’t just about tournaments, there are plenty of cash games to choose from, including some juicy low and midlimit games. Unfortunately Poker Stars seldom offers any sign up bonuses to new players but further down I’ll explain how I managed to get one.
When it comes to famous players there are quite a few at Poker Stars, including Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem and Tom McEvoy.
Visit PokerStars | Read our review
Doyles Room
Doyles Room is endorsed by Doyle Brunson, and the fact that he is “behind” the poker room is a positive for a number of reasons. For one thing, it should lead to a lot of new players joining the room, especially with the release of Super System 2, which does its fair share of advertising on behalf of doylesroom.com.
Doyles Room is a very solid poker room, backed and endorsed by the grand old man of poker himself, “Texas Dolly”, and bristling with enough promotions and guaranteed purses to keep every level of poker player well satisfied. It’s an impressive site overall and well worth joining.
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Poker.com
Poker.com is a relatively new online poker room that has made a big impression since launching in May 2005. It is obviously a fantastic URL and that alone guarantees a steady influx of new players, but a catchy address alone would not be enough to sustain a successful operation. Player retention is the key and that requires excellent promotions, top-notch customer service and support, and software that is engaging, functional, and reliable. The good news for Poker.com is that they earn very high grades in all these departments.
Visit | Read our review