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If you like to play poker, there are a number of websites that let you play online poker against real people from the convenience of your home. For US residents, several online poker providers let you enjoy the game without wagering real money.
However, not all online poker websites offer the same gameplay or experience. TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best online poker websites available today.
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There's little doubt that Online Poker has exploded in popularity across the U.S., and the world. This was especially true when online gambling was legal in the U.S.; however, due to recent legislation, residents of the United States are barred from participating in online poker games using actual currency. Still, there are several websites that allow people from the U.S. and any other country to play
online poker without wagering any real cash.
Playing online poker against real people can be a lot more fun than playing against a computer. Watching and learning how a human plays their poker hand is something that just can't be duplicated. Also, for those U.S. residents that like to visit legal casinos and poker rooms, you can work on your poker game from home and improve your skills without wagering real money against people who are more experienced.
Whatever your reasons, the good news is you have a variety of good online poker games to choose from. However, before hopping online to play your next game of Texas Hold'em, you should consider a number of factors that make some online poker websites good, and other online poker websites great:
• Website Functionality. Do you download gaming software? How good are the graphics? Is finding online assistance easy?
• Selection. How many games are offered at each website? Will they offer a wide selection of games or are you limited to only a few options for free play?
• Rules and Restrictions. Do rules and restrictions exist that limit the length of time you may play online poker for free?
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best online poker websites available today. We hope you find this information helpful in winning your next online poker game!
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Mansion Poker is the Cadillac of online poker websites. As a result of legal online poker restrictions for US residents, Mansion Poker offers an excellent "Playing for Fun" option that allows you to
participate in all of their available online poker games using virtual money. These
games are available instantly, for free, and without a time limit on your membership.
Residents outside the United States have no restrictions on any of the available online poker games using the actual currency of their country of residence. Mansion Poker offers the most common poker games that are played today, including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and Seven Card Stud. Mansion Poker was originally a stand-alone poker room launched back in 2005, but has recently
made the move to
the iPoker network to increase its player base and add game variety.
The sheer volume of online poker promotions and guaranteed tournaments have helped Mansion Poker attract a large and growing segment of the online poker community. This has resulted in constant action involving most forms and limits available at Mansion Poker's cash games.
If you have any issues or questions, the Mansion Poker customer support team can be accessed 24/7 via telephone, e-mail, fax, and live in-game chat. We were impressed with the level of support we received.
Mansion Poker sets the standard in online poker games. The combination of both virtual and actual money games, as well as the sheer volume of online poker information available on their website, combined with the advantages of being a part of the iPoker Network, makes Mansion Poker an excellent choice for fun, free poker play.
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The Poker Stars online poker free play section requires you download their software in order to participate but off 24/7 customer support should any problems or questions come up.
The Poker Stars poker room offers 11 of the most popular poker games: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low, 2-7 Triple Draw, 2-7 Single Draw, Badugi, Razz, 8-Game Mix and HORSE. You simply click on any game for a detailed description of the rules. For new players, the Poker Basics section is highly recommended.
Poker Stars web site is very crisp and easy to navigate. They offer excellent training and tips for both the new and experienced player. The Home Games feature allows you to set up and manage your own poker club where just you and your friends are invited to play. The downloads are free, safe and easy to install. There is a link to a Poker Stars blog site where you can share and
exchange information and read the latest professional poker tournament news.
Poker Stars is one of the best sites we found of those reviewed, especially for beginning and intermediate players. It earns one of our highest ratings.
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Poker View is one of the newest and perhaps most unique entries into the online poker playing market thus far. Launched in February 2011, it is a member of the Everleaf Gaming Network based in Malta. What makes this site so unique is that it offers the ability for players to see each other live via webcams at specially marked tables. There is no sound feature so players must still
utilize the chat feature found on most all of these types of sites. However, the ability to actually see the faces of the persons you are playing against versus animated avatar characters like other sites use, lends an increased feel of realism to the game.
The site does offer a free play option using practice chips. This allows the players to practice with pretend money prior to using actual, real money or, in the case of players from the United States; it is the only option available because of current U.S. laws against online gambling. The only downside is that the webcam tables are only available for real money play. The practice
chip tables still use animation.
Poker View is a no download site so you do not have to download any software onto your computer. As such, the graphics are not quite as robust and crisp as typical downloadable software packages.
Being such a new site, the number of participants playing online at any one time is much less then the other sites reviewed. However, this would certainly seem to be a temporary situation as Poker View matures and gains in popularity, both in the United States and globally.
The games currently offered are: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo and 7-Card Stud. Sit and Go and other tournament offerings are readily available. Poker View offers customer support through e-mail and a live chat option. Telephone support is not available.
Poker View is a new and exciting entry into the market. They earn high marks for their innovative use of technology and fun gameplay. Poker View isdefinitely an online poker game worth checking out.
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Everest Poker is a relatively new entity on the online poker-playing scene. Based on the island of Malta, it is reportedly one of the fastest growing sites in Europe. The site appears to be still in its growth stages as it offers only a few of the most popular poker games. Currently, the only games that are available are Texas Hold'em and Omaha but reportedly there are plans to
add 7-Card Stud very soon.
Everest offers a free play option for U.S. residents restricted by law from betting online. This option allows you to play any of the available games for as long as you'd like for absolutely no charge. Everest is actually one of the few sites that has profited from U.S. online gaming restrictions given its international focus and attracts new players from all corners of the globe.
The recent addition of high-stakes play has also attracted a new audience playing the $25/$50 blind Hold'em games.
The site offers a good set of tutorials and a rules and strategy section that is helpful to players of all levels of experience and abilities. The site is very attractive and is laid out rather simply; making it easy to navigate and find information you are looking for. Their customer support options are not quite as extensive as other sites reviewed. The best way appears to contact
them through e-mail. They offer a live chat feature but it is only available from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time. Only VIP Club members can contact them by phone.
For its ease of use, especially in the free play section, Everest earns a higher rating. We would have liked to have seem more game options to compete with those providers higher ranked.
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888 Poker has been around since 2002 making it one of the older, more established online gaming sites. Formerly known as Pacific Poker they changed their name several years back to be more inline with their parent company, online gaming giant, 888 Holdings, Inc.
Since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, 888 Poker has completely lost its U.S. player base. However, it remains very popular in Europe with over 2,000 game cash players and 8,000 tournament players online during peak hours.
The website is loaded with colorful, crisp graphics and offers players a wide variety of poker games as well as casino and sports betting. However, you cannot participate in any of these activities if you are a U.S. resident. Residents of Canada and most other countries will find the site and activities plentiful once the free download is complete. The site offers all of the major
poker games, including Texas Hold'em, Omaha and Seven Card Stud and other variations of those same games. The site features personal avatars, including some from Marvel Comics.
They offer excellent customer support via either live chat, e-mail or 24/7 telephone. They also have a presence on Facebook in which by participating you can earn bonus points.
The site features information on rules and strategies for all of the various games available. This includes advice from their experts as well as access to a blog site where you can exchange, ask and share information with a community of poker players.
Unfortunately, there were no options to play any games with play money that U.S. residents could participate in. For that reason we must give it a much lower rating. However, if you live in another country, give it a good look.
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At one time, Party Poker was the largest online poker playing site in the world. Started in 2001 by an investment group which included a former adult film star, it quickly grew taking advantage of the surge in internet capabilities, faster web browser platforms and communication and the spike in the gambling industry. However, they departed the U.S. market in 2006 while maintaining
a large market share in Asia and Europe.
Due to current laws, U.S. residents can only play games utilizing "play money". You must download software and set up an account even though you cannot open a deposit account. We found the download fast and simple but the account setup was somewhat frustrating because pop-ups kept coming up warning that U.S. players could not make a deposit but still must set up an account.
It asked for a country code but gave no clue of what numeric code that might be.
Once logged in, the site is a bit too full of text and information. The free play poker games offered are: Limit Hold'em; No Limit Hold'em; Pot Limit Hold'em; Limit Double Hold'em, No Limit Double Hold'em; Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha and 7 Card Stud.
The overall appearance of their web site is nice with easy to navigate topic headings and graphics. They offer a good variety of informational topics for the beginner, intermediate and master player regarding how to play the various games, strategies and tips to improve your play.
Through no fault of its own, many of the better games and features are not available to non money players in the U.S. The play money options are lacking and for that reason so is their overall rating here.
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Full Tilt Poker offers a variety of the most common poker games online. Since online gambling is currently illegal in the U.S., only permanent residents of other countries can play their online poker games using actual money.
However, residents of the United States can still take advantage of some of the free online games utilizing "play money". The site offers a free download of software in which to participate in these games.
Full Tilt offers eight varieties of online poker games: Texas Hold'em; Omaha Hi; Omaha Hi Lo; Razz; Stud Hi; Stud Hi/Lo; Draw Poker; and a Mixed Games option which allows to you play a variety of games without ever having to change tables.
Their site is pretty basic without too much information available. They tout their team of professional poker players as advisors but there does not seem to be an abundance of advice or information for either the experienced or novice player readily available on their site, although there are a basic rules and a small tips section available.
We were less impressed with Full Tilt and their offerings. If you are looking to play poker online Full Tilt Poker is probably not worth your time.
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Online Poker in the News
G-poker reports that Groupe Bernard Tapie , the investor that failed last week in negotiations to purchase Full Tilt Poker, announced it?s interested in creating a new online poker site with the money it had budgeted for Full Tilt.
Publ.Date : Fri, 04 May 2012 09:30:00 -0700
(http://link.reuters.com/xeq28s) SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 (Reuters) - To prime itself for theU.S. debut of legal online poker, MGM Resorts International,owner of such Las Vegas Strip monuments as the MGM ...
Publ.Date : Mon, 14 May 2012 04:00:02 -0700
This is continued from How to Budget Online Poker Part One. That article covered the first two important tips: Know Your Poker Game and Know Your Money Limit. This continues from there with the topic of Know Your Table Limit and details why you should budget your online poker.
Publ.Date : Sat, 12 May 2012 11:57:00 -0700
This is continued from How to Avoid Scams in Online Poker Rooms Part One
Publ.Date : Tue, 08 May 2012 11:01:00 -0700
Playing Texas Hold'em or other forms of poker online has become very popular. You can easily find several places offering you a chance to play poker online, but there are scams you should be aware of. Most of these online poker scams can be avoided or recognized, before they can personally affect you. It is a good idea for all new or beginner poker players to be aware of them. The following are ...
Publ.Date : Tue, 08 May 2012 10:52:00 -0700
When you play poker online you need to be aware of possible cheaters. You will find that most of the reputable online poker rooms have multiple precautions set up to prevent this from happening in the first place. This does not mean it is 100% safe to play poker online or possible to avoid cheaters all together, but it does mean that the possibilities of it happening to you is less than you ...
Publ.Date : Tue, 08 May 2012 10:39:00 -0700
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