Online poker sites

CLICK HERE to read about how PKR could take you to the World Series of Poker 2007

There are so many online poker sites available on the net right now, but the quality varies greatly from site to site. To save you the headache of wading through any duds on your way to a table that suits your own personal needs and tastes, we've done our bit to save you some virtual leg work by putting together a selection of sites accompanied by our unbiased take on how they perform.

If you want to sign up for any of these sites, just click on the logo and you'll be taken to the site with a nice little signup bonus to get a headstart on your account, courtesy of Harlequin Poker


Here is one you probably have not even heard of yet and that’s exactly why it's high up our list right now. Here is a new site that has opened up in response to the huge poker boom spreading across Scandinavia where they are doing a lot of advertising. In other words the site is 90% new players from Finland who’s only poker experience comes from watching WPT final tables on late night TV. Translation: loads of fish! Another good point is that freerolls are open to players who have not deposited cash yet so you can get into the tournament and build a bankroll without putting in any money of your own. We don’t know how long this loophole will remain open but take advantage of it while you can! Plus the numbers are still low so tournaments that would have 2000 players if they were on a mainstream site may have just a couple of hundred, same pay in, same prizes, fewer opponents. Can’t be bad. The main down side is that the site is so new that there is very little compatible software out there.
Good Points	It's new! And it's advertising. That means lots of new inexperienced players and that means profit. Low numbers – but a well financed site that is growing fast. Get into those undersubscribed tournaments fast before the word gets out!
Bad Points	It's new! Your software will not work here yet. Low numbers - you may have to wait a while for the table you want to fill up.


CLICK HERE to check out our special feature on TITAN POKER - with Harlequin Exclusive bonuses! Titan Poker is a member of the iPoker network of sites and as such is similar in strengths, weaknesses, and just about everything else to Noble Poker and CD Poker (among others). There are not such a wide range of different games as on many sites but as we at Harlequin focus on Texas Holdem it suits our needs just fine. Both Limit and No Limit games start at just $0.02/$0.04 but on the down side there is not much high stakes action here with the highest Limit games being $50/$100 and the highest no-Limit games being just $25/$50. There is also a very good selection of low buy-in tournaments and sit-and-goes. There is not so much multi table action. Titan poker is just getting better all the time with some of the best promotions on the net, with Bad Beat Jackpots, Jackpot sit-and-go's and Best Band of the Day promotions being just a few examples. Numbers are still comparatively low but the percentage of new players is high. Table graphics are good, and another big plus is that the bonuses at Titan are not too difficult to clear, so you can amass the required number of points quite fast.
Good Points	Good interface - very user friendly Good promotional games Excellent bonus for Harlequin Poker members (CLICK HERE for details). Excellent customer service
Bad Points	Tournament games not good for European players, although this is getting better Not many high stakes games.
MEMBER REVIEWS	Nickname - smallblo Age - 19 Location - Finland Occupation - Paramedic student Favorite site(s) - club4aces, pacificpoker, titanpoker Quote - A good player can fold hands
IMPORTANT NOTE:	The main problem with Titan was always that tournament times were not geared towards European players. We just got notified that Titan has completely changed this -most likely as a response to US legislation which means fewer US players are allowed to play so they are having to shift their emphasis- all times on Titan are now GMT times rather than EST (Eastern Standard Time).


PKR takes a new approach in that it has become more of a computer game environment where you can create and customise your player. It’s a realistic 3D environment with various camera angles, there are facial gestures, chip tricks and more. You can even send them your photographs and they will put you own face on your avatar!!! The site is fairly new so numbers are not high but they are growing very fast. The software is very slick and looks great, it is CPU intensive though and definitely not suited to multi-tabling. Computer game players will love this. For Serious poker players it is a bit slow but on the other hand there is money to be made here as many players are here to PLAY, not necessarily to WIN.
NOTE:	Sign up by clicking the logo above or HERE and enter the promo code HARLEQUIN and you'll get a $25 signup bonus, courtesy of your friends at Harlequin Poker.
Good Points	Looks excellent - 3D-realistic poker rooms, great avatars. Poker meets the Sims Loose play - a tight player who can avoid being distracted by the other players laughing, clapping and doing chip tricks can make money at PKR
Bad Points	CPU intensive The games are slow


PartyPoker's extensive advertising efforts have paid off, bringing a large number of players to their tables. They are one of the biggest (we can’t say they are biggest as other sites also claim this). These numbers mean that there is always a lot of games you can play any time of day. PartyPoker advertises more than any other site which means it has the highest numbers of new, inexperienced players. If you can pick your tables well - for instance if you use software like Poker Edge to select ‘weak’ tables - then there is so much action here that you will have a vast selection of tables full of relatively easy players. This makes PartyPoker our number 1 choice for anyone with table selection software.
Good Points	Loads of action Loads of fish (IF you know where to look). The high number of fish means this is where the sharks lurk also so you need table selection software to identify who is who to take advantage of this and not fall victim to it. (See reviews page for reviews of various programs that will help you work this to your advantage). (Occasional) good promotions. Even if you don’t want to play here you should register, deposit the minimum, build your balance to the point where you can withdraw it then forget about it. After a while you will start getting incentive emails from Party offering you free money to resume playing there.
Bad Points	Customer service is not great, probably because of the number of players. Party does not have a good range of freeroll tournaments. If you read the terms and conditions you will find that it is actually against their rules to play ‘professionally’ on their site!. They lack low stakes games, where other sites have sit and goes starting from as little as 50c Party has no games under $3


A comfortable interface combined with a good range of low stakes games makes Pacific Poker a good choice. This is a great site for anyone using PokerRNG software or any other poker software with manual input as the cards stay out on the table for long enough after the hand is over so you have no problem inputting your data. Customer service is good. A good range of tournaments including freerolls but expect to be playing against up to 2000+ other players.
Good Points	Comfortable interface Good for manual input of hands to poker software Good range of sit and goes starting from 50c. Large numbers so lots of fish (IF you know where to look – see comment in PartyPoker review(above)). Check out their global tab for micro satellites to large live events with VERY cheap buy ins - as little as 50c! But at $2.70 + 20c you can expect to be playing against 10 or less opponents if you pick the right time of day with 1 in 3 winning a seat to the next level!
Bad Points	Fees. While the fees for most of their sit and go's and tournaments are quite low the rake on their ring games is unusually high. Instead of the usual 5% up to $3 rake, the maximum rake is $4 (limit games of $3-$6 to $30-$60 and all no-limit and pot-limit games). Bad cash out policy. They really take their time with processing your cash outs!


Poker Stars continue to specialize in multi-table tournaments which are exceedingly popular. The flipside of this, of course, is that ring-game action is limited. The interface is nice and there is the feature of being able to upload an image that will then appear at your seat as an avatar of sorts. This gives a more personal feel but also makes it easier to remember people's poker style as you have a distinct picture to relate to each player (a good reason why not to upload a picture yourself!).
Good Points	Loads of tournaments. It’s a good place to develop your tournament skills (once you have done so, switch to any newish, less-known site to clean up against smaller numbers of opponents). Nice interface. As with many sites (not all), you can hover your cursor over your opponent's avatar and you will be told the player's location. If you are playing a lot of sit and go’s at a certain limit and find you often have more than one of the same adversaries in the same location then switch to a different game or site – they are almost certainly colluding. colluding = two players or more playing at the same table and communicating, often via voice call [Skype / Mesenger] giving them a distinct advantage over the remaining players at the table. Extremely common in sit and go tournaments with low numbers of players. EXTREMELY EXTREMELY common in 3 person sit and go’s, so if you are not the ones colluding then don’t play 3 player sit and go’s.
Bad Points	Lowest stakes for sit and go's are $3 + 40c (40c is a higher fee than on many sites). Not so much Ring game action. Not a lot of Freeroll tournaments (unless you live in Germany, for some reason).



Quick Note	An outstanding bonus (which can add up to a free $1000!) has us intrigued. Let us know if you want this one to be next on our list for review. Click a banner to go check it out.
Okay, so we are a site dedicated to Texas Holdem but we thought we would mention this one anyway. They do not have your normal holdem game here but they do have a huge range of other games and a variation of holdem which is pretty good fun and the odds of winning are good. Casino Holdem is effectively Texas Holdem played heads-up against the dealer. You pay an ante and then bet as normal but the payouts come according to a sliding scale (so for instance a Royal Flush will pay you 100 to 1 and a flush will pay you 20 to 1). There are other features such as the AA bet whereby you can make a side bet that at least two Aces show in the first five cards dealt (your pocket cards + the flop). So if you want to take a break from the usual then have a go at EuroGrand Casino where you can play different games but still make use of your poker savvy. It really is worth a look to take advantage of the huge bonuses.
Good Points	Enormous bonuses Great customer support Huge range of games available
Bad Points	No standard Texas Holdem Irritating music (but you can just click on options > audio settings and switch it off)



Another site that's not so well known but we thought it was worth a mention here just for its bonuses which are among the best in the business. See our members area for a sign-up code that will give you a 200% first deposit bonus here! But Del Rio goes one better having various additional promotions which, for example, give you an extra 50% bonus every month on the first deposit of that month for ten months. PLUS use one of their preferred payment methods (like Netteller) and they add on a bonus just for that. With Netteller its an extra 10%, With Instant Wire transfer its an extra 15% on every deposit.
Good Points	Outstanding bonuses
Bad Points	Watch this space. We are still putting this one through its paces. If you have experiences with this site you want to share with us please email us your own review.


Absolute has grown dramatically since starting in 2003. They have high player numbers and a good selection of games. They've been advertising regularly on several cable channels that televise poker events, and they're currently offering a 100% matching bonus up to $750 along with frequent reload bonuses. The advertising helps to attract new players, and the many bonus offers are helping to retain players. The poker room looks pretty good but the software can be very resource-intensive. Each player can have a picture as their avatar, and chat appears at each player's chair in a speach bubble, as well as in the chat box. All of the popular games are offered. There are also several freerolls offered every day. You can find micro blinds No Limit and Pot Limit Hold 'Em games filled here (as low as .10/.25 NLHE and .5/.10 PLHE). Above $2/$4 on the ring games the fish quota is quite high.
Good Points	High numbers. Plenty of soft players but not so much in the low stakes where there are a lot of people just there to play out the required number of hands so they can get their bonuses. Good interface. Excellent bonuses .
Bad Points	The software is CPU intensive. Very low limit games are not good here.

The sites below this line are all currently under review. If there's a particular one that you would like reviewed, drop us an email and - if we get a lot of votes for any particular site - we'll push it higher up the priority list.


Quick Notes	25% first deposit bonus up to $250, 80% second deposit bonus up to $500 and third deposit bonus of 320% up to $320? By my calculations, even if you make the minimum deposits at each stage then that's $85 free money! Go with the maximum deposits at each stage and it's over a grand! Quite an incentive but what's the play like? Would you like us to find out? Drop us an email if you would. Click the banner above to go check it out.


Quick Notes	CD Poker is a good online poker room which stands out particularly in terms of software and promotions. They have a good range of promotions like Jackpot games and a good sign up bonus. The traffic is not very high, but this can be a good thing as your chances of tournament wins is higher. Keep an eye on this space for the upcoming review - in the meantime feel free to click the above banner to check it out for yourself.


Quick Notes	This is one we'll be looking at pretty soon, but in the meantime why not play a little FREE Blackjack - just click on the picture below. Play Free Blackjack!