What You Should Know About Online Poker Rooms
by Henri Junttila

I'm sure you've noticed how many Texas Holdem online poker rooms there are out there. I've counted literally hundreds if you count the really tiny ones, but there are only about 20 texas holdem online poker rooms worth playing at.

So then, how do you tell the good online poker rooms from the bad? This is exactly the question I want to answer with this article. So many new players are being tricked to these new rooms which have no traffic and have horrible customer service.

Traffic - The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing a poker room to play at is traffic. How many players are there? You should usually see a lobby full of games, especially Texas Holdem. For example, if I go to the top 5 rooms I can see at least 5 Texas Holdem tables at limits ranging from $25 to $2000 buy-in. When You go higher than that the games usually become harder to find. So before you deposit, open the client of the poker room and look at the traffic, if it is very small you should probably avoid it.

Being able to choose between different variations of poker can be fun at times. I know I've enjoyed myself at the Omaha tables from time to time when I've gotten sick of playing Texas Holdem. And it is also a good sign of a respected poker room and by that I mean that they are having the games filled and not just spreading them. Many online poker rooms spread different games but no one is playing in them. That is usually a sign of weak traffic and you should proceed with caution.

Graphics - Are the graphics good? Does it run smoothly without crashing? Most of the Texas Holdem Online poker rooms reveal their flaws after about 15 minutes of playing. I can only play at about 5 poker rooms because most of them just drive me crazy. A few annoyings details are: weird layout, bad graphics, slow software, crashing, only allowing 3 tables at the same time and so on.

Rake - Rake can make a big difference to your bottom line if you're a winning poker player. Even if you're a poker player having fun while playing and tend to lose in the long-run (certainly nothing wrong with that), you will be losing faster because of a bigger rake, so look out for Texas Holdem online poker rooms taking way too much from the pot. How do you know when they're taking too much? Well, you can compare it to the industry standard which is around 5% per pot, usually they take $0.05 for every $1 put in the pot with a cap at $3. If the rake is over that then you should proceed with caution or at least ask someone who knows better if it is worth playing at that poker room.

Financial Security - This is very important for me when choosing an online holdem poker room, if my money isn't safe then what good does it do if I play there? If I win I want to be able to take my money out. Again, if you go to the online poker rooms with most traffic your money will often be as safe as they can be.

Deposit & Withdrawal - This is a non-issue if you go with the poker rooms with the most traffic. They offer what everyone else offers and you should be fine if you do not have special restrictions. Again, if you decide to go with a smaller poker room you should do some detective work and ask people what their experiences have been.

Bonus - Many players like to go hunting for bonuses and it doesn't hurt to get an extra $100 or $500 when you deposit some money onto a poker room. If you're unsure about which room to start playing in, you could compare the bonus offers and start at the room giving you the most money!

Many beginners lose money because they choose small unreliable Texas Holdem online poker rooms, I hope you've learned to stay away from those or at least study them before taking the plunge. Hope you enjoyed my tips :)


Before you select a poker site to play at, make sure you check out Henri Junttila's free reviews on different Texas Holdem Online Poker Rooms and his Texas Holdem Poker homepage.


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