The Most Popular Online Poker Sites

There are several advantages to choosing to play at the popular poker sites over the smaller networks. In most cases, players will receive bigger promotions, better bonuses and an overall better experience by choosing a one of the big poker sites. The popular poker rooms have made their way to the top by offering their players the best of the best when it comes to game selection and tournaments. The big sites generally host tournaments in the millions of dollars, offer EPT, WPT and of course WSOP qualifiers and satellites in addition to top of the line security.  These same poker rooms thrive on customer support and ease in deposits/withdrawals. If you want to play poker online, we strongly recommend you try the popular poker sites first as listed below.

How We Rank the Popular Poker Sites
Below is a run down of how we rank the popular poker sites. Of course, the sites above are massive when it comes to the player base. In fact, you can login at any hour of the day and find well over 30,000 players online. In some instances, the volume of players reaches as high as 200,000, which is an incredible feat to say the least.

Game Selection - Obviously the better the game selection, the better your experience. The big poker sites listed on this page provide Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, Draw, and Mixed Games including Razz HORSE and in some cases unique variants, such as Triple Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw, HOSE and 8 Game to name a few. These same sites will cater to all of their players regardless of limits, which is why it's not uncommon to find games running at the micro levels of $0.0/1-$0.02 up to $200/$400 NL. The popular poker sites have the ability to offer the whole package to their players, and do so on an entirely different level than their competitors.  The same big poker rooms you see above are also some of the highest staked poker sites online.

Traffic - The popular poker rooms have boatloads of players, even during off peak hours. According to PokerScout, which tracks the traffic across more than 50 different poker rooms, Pokerstars has more than 34,000 real money cash players at any time during the day. Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker fall close behind with 15,000+ and 10,000+ respectively.

Tournaments - Another major benefit to choosing a popular poker room over one of the small sites is of course the tournament line-up. The big poker sites are unmatched when it comes to the volume of guarantees, freeze outs and even WSOP qualifiers. In fact, the smallest regular Sunday tournament is Bodog Poker's $100,000 guarantee, which is also the largest overlay. The large poker rooms offer weekly main events, such as the Pokerstars Sunday Million $1.5 million dollar guaranteed tournament. In addition to the big money tournaments, these same sites send thousands of players to live events across the globe. You can pretty much guarantee that a satellite is up for grabs for any land-based tournament at one of the popular poker rooms.

VIP Rewards - Another contributing factor to our "most popular poker sites" rankings is the VIP poker rewards programs each site has to offer.  When comparing the VIP poker rewards from the sites above to some of the small poker rooms it is pretty clear to see where you will receive more value. The five poker rooms above offer cash back rewards, bigger bonuses, and even trips to play in live events alongside their team of pros. The VIP programs are arguably the best in the industry, which speaks volumes to the poker room's dedication to their players.

Security - Security is the groundwork for any of the popular poker sites above. None of these sites take collusion or cheating lightly and include a zero tolerance policy. Furthermore, players can expect complete privacy and protection when it comes to personal information.