Online poker sites are seemingly a dime a dozen. A search for “online poker sites” returns tens of thousands of results, with hundreds upon hundreds of poker rooms mixed in with review and news sites.
This obviously presents a bit of a dilemma for the aspiring online poker player. Learning how to play poker is tough enough, but learning how to pick the right online room to play poker at turns out to be quite a challenge as well.
We won’t pretend to tell you which room will be right for you specifically. At OPSR, we offer poker reviews based on broad qualities such as bonus value, software features and the like. However, those broad criteria might not align perfectly with what you’re looking for in an online poker room. In this article, we’ll attempt to correct that by describing some fundamental qualities of online poker rooms that you should consider before choosing a room. Armed with this list and your own research, the chore of choosing your online poker home should be no more difficult than folding rags in early position (and if you don’t know to fold rags in early position, or what rags are, you might want to do a bit more poker schooling before jumping into the online waters).
The two characteristics we’re going to cover are: Credibility, and Player Base. Let’s start with credibility. Judging the credibility of an online poker site is easier than it might sound. A great place to start is with your immediate and extended social circle. Where do they play? What have their experiences been like? Have they had any issues depositing or cashing out of the room? The license the room displays is also a solid clue to their credibility. No license = no credibility, but just because a room has a license doesn’t mean they’re a lock to be credible. Do a little reading on the various licensing agencies and you’ll soon be able to separate the cream from the trash.
Player base is simple enough – the larger the player base, the more likely a site is to be worth your time. While this isn’t an absolute rule, safe to say that a room with tens of thousands of customers is more trustworthy than a room with only dozens. To check the player base you can either visit a stat site or simply open the room’s software and see for yourself how busy the lobby is.