Best Money Poker Sites
888 Poker is one of the big players in the online poker world.
- The bottom line when playing poker is winning big, and the online poker room reviews above will help you select the sites that have the best payouts and sign on bonuses, both which make your chances of winning as good as can be. Get started now with one of the above sites from our poker site reviews, and play to win.
- For high volume grinders it’s not unusual to receive different types of tailored reload bonuses monthly from a top poker site. You can also find rake chases and rake races with weekly or monthly cash prizes from best poker sites like partypoker.
Poker bonuses are particularly lucrative for new players as they offer extra money to explore the games on a platform and see if the poker site you chose is exactly the best one for you.
They have been around for almost 20 years which gives them a stellar trust in my book.
888 Poker is especially suitable for new and amateur players.
Why?
Firstly, because they offer a no deposit bonus of up to $88 – this is unmatched in the industry. T&Cs apply.
Secondly, since they have a reputation for attracting just new and amateur players, it is easier not to lose your money, but rather win some while playing on 888 Poker.
In my 2020 case study of 888 poker I managed to turn $50 into $600, see screenshot below.
Hands: 20,699 Won: $600
888 Poker will offer you state of the art gameplay on practically any device you want to play on (PC, MAC, Android, iPhone, etc.).
The main drawback of 888 Poker is that they are quite strict on which players are allowed to play. US players are for example not allowed, but for you guys, we have Americas Cardroom.
You can now read my in-depth full review of 888 Poker or jump right into the action yourself.
Americas Cardroom is one heck of a cool poker site.
I will tell you why:
This poker site accepts US players playing poker with real money. And, if you are not a USA player, there is nothing to worry about. Americas Cardroom is open for players all over the world with no restrictions.
It has one of the absolute best first deposit bonus systems I’ve ever seen.
You will receive $2 to $6 free real money cash EVERY DAY for 20 consecutive days.
This means that even if you lose all your money the first day, you will receive a steady stream of real money for the next 20 days.
If you enjoy playing on your mobile device, you have great options, on both Android and iPhone through their web app.
I would say that for new players who can take advantage of the incredibly generous bonus, this is site is your best option.
In my 2020 case study of Americas Cardroom I managed to turn $25 to $430, see screenshot below.
For more information and thoughts about Americas Cardroom check out my in-depth review or go crazy and play there right now.
Unibet is one of the big poker players out there. They have been around since 1999 and that long history gives them a stellar trust in my book.
Their first player bonus package is really nice and offers you free cash in the form of tournament tickets, in addition to a nice €200 play-through bonus.
They support players from almost all over the world and you can play on any device, be it on your computer or mobile phone. That way you never miss out on poker when the urge sets in.
In my 2020 case study of Unibet poker, I managed to turn $50 to $515, by playing 20,707 micro cash hands.
For more information and thoughts about Unibet Poker check out my in-depth review or go crazy and play there right now.
Top 50 Best Online Poker Sites
# | NAME | HIGHLIGHTS (T&C Apply) | PLAY NOW |
1 | 888 Poker |
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2 | Americas Cardroom |
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3 | Unibet Poker |
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4 | GGPoker |
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5 | Party Poker |
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6 | 32Red Poker |
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7 | Winner Poker |
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8 | Vbet Poker |
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9 | Tiger Gaming |
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10 | TonyBet Poker |
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11 | Titan Poker |
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12 | Betsson Poker |
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13 | Sportsbetting Poker |
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14 | Pokerstars |
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15 | PokerKing |
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16 | Nordicbet Poker |
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17 | Full Tilt Poker |
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18 | bwin Poker |
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19 | Bovada Poker |
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20 | Bodog Poker |
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21 | Black Chip Poker |
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22 | Betsafe Poker |
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23 | BetOnline Poker |
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24 | BetKings Poker |
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25 | BetFair Poker |
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26 | BestPoker |
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27 | William Hill Poker |
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28 | bet365 Poker |
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29 | Betclic Poker |
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30 | Expekt Poker |
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31 | Intertops Poker |
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32 | RedStar Poker |
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33 | Ya Poker |
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34 | PAF Poker |
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35 | True Poker |
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36 | Sky Poker |
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37 | Ladbrokes Poker |
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38 | Guts Poker |
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39 | Grosvenor Poker |
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40 | Borgata Poker |
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41 | Natural 8 Poker |
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42 | Betcoin Poker |
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43 | NetBet Poker |
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44 | Coral Poker |
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45 | Global Poker |
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46 | GreySnow Poker |
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47 | Run It Once |
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48 | CoinPoker |
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49 | Ignition Poker |
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50 | Paddy Power |
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You’ll find no shortage of live poker cash games and tournaments in California. But these games are expensive between their multi-hundred dollar buy-ins and their flat-fee rake structure.
Why not make the switch to online poker? The buy-ins and rake are reasonable. There are more games and variants to choose from. And you can claim a deposit bonus, which no live cardroom offers.
All you need is an account with one of the best California poker sites online.
Rank | Poker Site | Exclusive Bonus | Get Started | |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 888poker | 100% Up To€400 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
We strongly recommend you join one of the real money poker sites we endorse. We explain why, what we look for, and more in the next section.
Then, we’ll show you why you should consider switching to playing online poker in CA, including how it can save and make you more money compared to playing live.
If that sounds good to you, then let’s get started.
If you want to play real money poker online in California, your first step is to find a safe and reputable poker site to join. This isn’t a step you want to take alone. Here is why.
Poker is unique from most other gambling games in that you’re not playing against the house but other players like yourself. The site you join needs to have adequate traffic, otherwise, you won’t find a game to play.
This information is available online if you know where to look. And when it’s not, there are usually a few tells you can pick up in the online poker room’s lobby.
If you don’t know how to find this information, or how to interpret the clues, you might as well choose a poker site blindfolded. There’s really no difference if you insist on finding your own CA poker site to join.
On top of that, there’s other criteria you should consider, such as the poker room’s games, variants, stakes, rake, promotions, and more. It’s a lot to uncover.
That’s why we suggest you rely on us. We have decades of online poker experience. And we’ve researched and tested almost every online poker site in existence, so we know exactly which ones Californians should join.
Here’s what we look for in the best online poker sites for California.
- The poker site’s license and the commission that issued it
- The banking options you can use
- The withdrawal limits i.e. how much of your winnings can you withdraw each month?
- Can you claim a deposit bonus or participate in a VIP program, guaranteed tournaments, etc.?
- Are they trustworthy? What do other poker players think of them?
This covers the basics and tells us whether the poker room is safe, secure, trustworthy, and reliable enough to join.
But we’re not done yet.
We also need to make sure they’re a GREAT poker site, especially for poker players in California. Here’s what else we look at.
- What features does the room have? Do they have hand history players, four-color decks, odds calculators, quick play, etc.?
- Can you use a HUD?
- What kinds of tournaments can you play? Can you play guaranteed tournament? Satellites? Knockouts? Turbos? 6-max?
- What real money poker games and variants can you play?
- Do they allow multi-tabling? How many tables can you play at once?
- Is their rake reasonable?
We compare every site we review, take the top choices, and order them from best to worst. The result is a list of the top poker sites or, in this case, the best California poker sites.
We’re thorough in our research and testing, as you can see for yourself if you read our poker room reviews.
The goal is to save you all that time, money, and energy, then help you find a California-friendly online poker room as quickly as possible.
We think we achieved that. But you’ll only know for sure once you choose a CA poker site to join, create your account, and get some real money hands and tourneys under your belt.
Rake at California Poker Sites
One unique thing about playing live poker in California is how you pay rake. The rake is the money the poker room collects as their fee for hosting the game.
Best No Money Poker Sites
Most poker rooms charge you a percentage of the pot and cap how much they can rake. For example, a poker room might take 10% of every pot up to $10.
Many cardrooms do not rake the pot if no one sees a flop. This is known as a “no flop, no drop” policy.
Best Real Money Poker Sites Australia
California flips all this on its head. Here’s how.
By law, California cardrooms cannot rake a percentage of the pot, so they charge a flat rate and/or charge an hourly fee instead.
For example, you might pay $10 every hour to play. Or you might as much as $7 (at $5/$10) plus whatever the room takes for their promotions, such as a bad beat jackpot. They also rake the pot even if no one sees a flop.
Now, let’s compare this to online poker.
One of the California online poker sites we like charges 5.5% rake for their highest limit games and even less for their micro stakes.
Best Play Money Poker Sites
If you play $5/$10, like our live example above, you’ll pay $0.01 for every $0.18 in the pot (5.5%). You’ll pay $1 to $5 max per hand depending on the number of players in the pot. That’s 70% less on the high side, just for playing online.
That’s not all the money you’ll save either. Here are the other ways you’ll save by choosing to play real money poker online instead of live.
- Not having to travel
- Not wasting time waiting for a game or seat to open
- Not playing at rooms without a no flop, no drop policy
- Choosing whether to play bad beat jackpot games
You’ll save money, but you can also make more money playing poker online because you can play more than one table at a time and you can participate in promotions like deposit bonuses and VIP programs.
The bottom line, you’ll increase your hourly rate and take-home pay. And all you have to do is choose to play games at the top CA poker websites instead of live.
This doesn’t just apply to cash games either. It applies to tournaments, too.
California is also known for their poker tournaments. They host some of the largest and most popular poker tournaments in the world.
- WSOP circuit events
- WTP tournaments such as the WPT Deep Stacks Championship
- Battle of the Bay
- California State Poker Championship
- Memorial Day Tournament Series
- Bay 101 Summer Open
- Commerce Hold’em Series
- A. Poker Open
- Gold Rush Poker Series
These are great live tournaments to play in. They can add a nice boost to your total live earnings column, especially since they routinely pay six and seven-figure prizes to the winner.
There’s also a little prestige and notoriety in doing well in these tournaments, which some poker players care about.
But do they offset the downsides?
- Buy-ins range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
- The rake is expensive. You should expect the cardroom to collect $15 to $20 for every $100 you pay to play.
- The bigger tournaments can take days to complete.
Now, these will apply to live tournaments. But you also have the fact that you can spend hours playing, bust the tournament, and walk away with nothing.
This will apply to online tournaments too, but they have advantages that California poker tournament players do not have.
Why CA Poker Tournament Players Should Play Online
If you want to play real money poker tournaments in California, we recommend you play online. Here are a few reasons why, relative to the points made in the last section.
- The largest tournament buy-ins online are between $215 to $600 (with a few rare exceptions).
- The prize pools still reach six and seven figures because online poker sites aren’t confined to California or a specific square footage. They can allow a larger number of players to play, which increases the prize pool without increasing the buy-in.
- You pay less rake. You’ll usually pay $9 to $10 for every $100 you pay to play.
- Most tournaments are done in a (long) day.
Now, we mentioned that you can play a tournament for hours only to bust and walk away with nothing. That’s possible in any tournament, online or live. But here’s why online poker tournaments are better.
Online poker rooms can run more tournaments since they’re not limited on space. This means you can play more tournaments. And most CA poker sites let you play more than one tournament at a time.
Since you can put in more volume (play more tournaments), you can get through your variance (losses) faster. This enables you to cash out and win more often. You don’t have to go weeks, months, or years without a score. You’ll cash out far more often than that.
There are many other benefits to playing poker tournaments online instead of live, too.
- You can earn VIP perks.
- You’ll have a larger variety of tournament games, variations, and stakes to choose from.
- You can satellite into larger poker tournaments for much less than you can online.
- You can buy into many tournaments for less than $20. Many of these have three- or four-figure prize pools/payouts.
While there’s more money, prestige, and notoriety to gain playing in California’s live poker tournaments, it also costs a lot of time and money to play these tourneys.
Online poker tournaments are a middle ground. You can still play in tournaments with large prize pools. But you won’t spend as much to play them. And you have the added benefit of multi-tabling, which will enable you to play, cash in, and win more tournaments than you ever could offline.
Can you join more than one CA poker site?
Yes. We highly recommend it. The traffic at each poker site fluctuates, both in terms of overall traffic and traffic to the specific game you want to play.
You’ll have better odds of finding a profitable game or tournament the more poker site accounts you have.
The most common is the deposit bonus. Make a deposit and the poker room will match a percentage of it up to so many dollars.
For example, if the poker room you join is offering a 100% match bonus up to $500, then they’ll give you $1 for every $1 you deposit. You can get as much as $500 free.
Poker rooms also offer VIP programs, rebates, tournament tickets, guaranteed tournaments, VIP exclusive freerolls, and more.
How big are the guaranteed poker tournaments?
It depends on the poker room.
A typical guaranteed tourney during a Sunday schedule is $100,000. That said, we’ve seen guarantees as high as $1 million.
You should take a two-pronged approach.
One, figure out what you want in a poker site — the games, variants, stakes, promotions, etc. Then, read the reviews for every site we recommend and choose the site that offers the closest to what you’re looking for.
Can I play on my smartphone?
Yes. Most poker sites offer mobile poker.
Some poker sites offer a native app. Others have a browser-based setup where you’ll play poker in your mobile web browser.
Which is better for CA poker players, online or live?
There are tons of variables to consider, too many to cover here. If we had to give a sweeping statement, it’d be the one below.
Best Real Money Poker Sites For Us Players
If you play medium stakes or higher, chances are you’re better off playing live. You can find games like $5/$10 or $10/$20 online, but you’ll probably find more consistent action offline. And depending on where you live in California, it might even make more sense to drive to Reno or Las Vegas.
For micro and small stakes players, as well as tournament players, we think there’s a lot of value in playing at online poker sites for all the reasons mentioned above.
Poker is popular in CA. You’ll find loads of live cash game action and poker tournaments. Many of these poker tournaments pay life-altering sums to the players who win them.
But live poker in California is far more expensive, less profitable, and less convenient compared to playing online.
There’s no reason you can’t play both formats, both live and online. But if we had to choose, we’d choose to play real money poker online.
If you see where we’re coming from and want to make the leap to playing poker online, then join one of the best California poker sites and create your account now.
Cash games and tournaments are running all day every day. Are you going to be part of the action?