Real Money Online Poker Sites

The winning tips and strategy advice you need to get the most out of your online poker experience

Table of Contents

• Freerolls
• How to Play Poker
• Best Poker Sites
• Winning at Poker
• Free Poker Hands Guide
• Glossary
• Poker FAQ

Incredibly, ten years ago you'd have been hard pushed to find a good real money poker game online. Fast forward to 2018, however, and the choice of top online poker games is bewildering.

You can now play any variant - from real money Texas Hold'em to Pot Limit Omaha - at pretty much any stake you want, from mere cents to thousands of dollars, and you can play anytime you like, all from the comfort of your bedroom.

But which game do you choose, how can you make your money go further, and where should you even start when thinking of making your first poker deposit?

Let's take a look at some of the rules of the game first then get you up and running so you won't be wasting time on the virtual tables.

Online Poker: Getting to know the game

The most popular form of poker - both at online poker sites and in land-based casinos - is No Limit Texas Hold'em. It's popular for a reason - it's crazily simple to learn.

Dealing

Every player starts with two cards dealt face down. These are a player's 'hole cards' and they only get to see them. Then, five cards are dealt up in the middle of the table with a round of betting between each card. These five 'community' cards are shared by everyone at the table.

Flop, Turn, River

After an initial round of betting, three cards are dealt face up on the board, known as 'the flop', then another round of betting follows before a single 'turn' card is dealt face up on the board. After another round of betting, a final card, 'the river', is dealt up on the table. After one final round of betting, any players left in turn over their cards to see who has the best hand. The winning hand wins the pot, with players splitting the pot for having hands of equal value.

The object is to make the best five-card poker hand from any of the five cards on the board and the two in your hand. Rankings follow the classic poker hand rankings, with high card being the lowest winning hand and a royal flush the highest.

Texas Hold'em & Omaha - The Modern Players' Favorite

Poker online comes in many forms, but No Limit Texas Hold'em is the most popular. This means that there are no limits on the amounts you can bet. You can't be 'priced out' of a bet - if you want to bet everything in front of you, you can. Limit games are popular in the USA but don't offer as much excitement.

Omaha - especially in its Pot Limit format - is also a popular card game played online. Similar to Texas Hold'em, it has one key difference - instead of two hole cards, players are dealt four cards each, and this time, you MUST use two of your own cards plus three community cards in order to make the best five-card hand. Pre-flop and post-flop betting is similar but with Pot Limit you can only raise how much is in the pot at that time; there are no all-in scenarios as in No Limit Hold'em.

Pot Limit Omaha - or PLO - is most popular in online cash games, as the action is so furious, and those real money games are often where you can find lots of easy cash. PLO is much more difficult to master than its Hold'em cousin, and as such will attract some terrible players looking to see what all the fuss is about. Find a good poker website with juicy Omaha games, and you'll find easy money. Better still - let us do the hard work for you.

Finding the Best Online Poker Sites

Online poker is rising exponentially in popularity across the world, with players on laptops, mobiles, Macs and PCs from the wilds of Canada to the beaches of Australia and everywhere in between.

In 2018 you can play tournaments, cash games, Hold'em and Omaha, Draw Poker and Stud, qualify for big live events via small-buy in satellites, or play private 'home games' with pals on the Internet.

More people are playing online than ever before, but where do you even begin with choosing a real money online poker site to play on? For every popular site with full tables there's a site that struggles to get a single table going. For every site with trusted, audited software there's another disreputable site which you should avoid like the plague.

If you're getting into real money online poker, choosing the right room is the first and most important decision you'll ever make. Luckily we review and rank the very best Internet poker sites so that you can pick one of our top links and deposit funds without worry. Sign up now and you can even take advantage of a good real money deposit bonus where you can play poker in return for the site matching your deposit with real cash. The more poker you play, the better the chance you can 'play through' the deposit amount.

Finding top real money poker sites - what to look for:

• Safe and secure audited software
• Big player pools for fast action and bigger prizes
• Good deposit bonuses to attract players
• A wide range of poker games
• A good range of real money deposit options
• Fast cashouts to get your winnings quick

Winning at Online Poker

You're looking to play some real money card games online, Texas Hold'em is where you should start. But what are the best things to learn for the aspiring World Series of Poker winner? Let's have a look at some key tips to get you started.

Starting Hands

You'll only get two cards at the start of a hand, so make sure they're both strong. It's much easier to play a pot with a strong holding, particularly when you're starting out, as it negates any chances of getting into sticky situations. If you know you're beat even when holding a good hand, you shouldn't be in the hand - simple.

Even a new player can make a lot of money at the micro and small stakes games online by playing a tight, solid, ABC game. If it's a good hand and a good situation, play it. If you know you are beat and the other guy isn't going to fold, just muck your hand to fight another day.

So, what's a good starting hand?

Strong Hands

Obviously, high pairs like A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J and 10-10 are worth raising with, particularly in late position. A-K, A-Q and A-J, all suited, are more examples of strong hands you want to raise with pre-flop. They're also good hands for making Continuation Bets with, i.e. if you've raised pre-flop and have hit a flop that doesn't really help you (say, the three cards are all below yours) you may want to lead out with a bet to portray strength.

Medium Strength Hands

Next come the medium strength hands, like K-10, Q-10 and J-10, and medium pairs like 9-9, 8-8 and 7-7. They're all good raising hands, depending on position and the dynamic of your table, but can also be called with in an aggressive pre-flop betting round.

Marginal Hands

Finally, marginal hands like 2-2, 3-3, and A-9 are all decent hands for calling with pre-flop if in late position. You may disguise your hand by hitting trips (three of a kind) on the flop, then you can start to be aggressive.

The beauty of online poker is that no two tables are alike. If you have a particularly tight table you can mix things up by expanding your starting hand range to exploit weakness. For most beginners, however, a solid game with strong starting hands is sensible, if a little dull to start off with.

Position, Position, Position

Learn Pot Odds

Pot odds are one of those simple things that all players should be able to grasp, but very few bother to do. The basic idea behind pot odds is figuring out how much money the pot is offering you in relation to your chances of hitting the hand you want.

For example, let's say you hold a pair of fours at the start of a hand. To hit another 4, making a set, on the flop your odds would be around 7.5 to 1. You know this because there are only two other cards you need (2 out of 52), you hold two yourself, and the other players hold two apiece (we assume you don't know what they're holding). If you're not going to make more than 7.5 to 1 on your bet by playing, it's not worth playing; the 'pot odds' are not good enough for you to call.

So, if the pot had $25 in it, and you had to bet $5, your pot odds would be 5 to 1: not enough to make the call.

Let's say you make the call anyway, and the flop misses you entirely, coming J-K-2. Your chances of hitting that 4 just went up, as there are fewer cards to come out. However, the action gets a bit crazy post-flop and you're being offered around 10 to 1 on your money to make a call, knowing that your hand odds are about 9 to 1. Now you DO make the call.

Check Raising

Pot odds are one of those simple things that all players should be able to grasp, but very few bother to do. The basic idea behind pot odds is figuring out how much money the pot is offering you in relation to your chances of hitting the hand you want.

For example, let's say you hold a pair of fours at the start of a hand. To hit another 4, making a set, on the flop your odds would be around 7.5 to 1. You know this because there are only two other cards you need (2 out of 52), you hold two yourself, and the other players hold two apiece (we assume you don't know what they're holding). If you're not going to make more than 7.5 to 1 on your bet by playing, it's not worth playing; the \'pot odds\' are not good enough for you to call.

So, if the pot had $25 in it, and you had to bet $5, your pot odds would be 5 to 1: not enough to make the call.

Let's say you make the call anyway, and the flop misses you entirely, coming J-K-2. Your chances of hitting that 4 just went up, as there are fewer cards to come out. However, the action gets a bit crazy post-flop and you're being offered around 10 to 1 on your money to make a call, knowing that your hand odds are about 9 to 1. Now you DO make the call.

Multi Tabling is an Essential Art

Glossary Of Poker Terms

• Action - Player's turn to bet, raise, or fold
• All-in - Committing all your chips in a poker hand
• Backdoor - A draw requiring two connectors or same suited cards to complete
• Bad Beat - An unlucky loss against the odds
• Bankroll - Amount of money a player sets aside for poker
• Big blind - Mandatory bet before cards are dealt made by player two seats after button
• Boat - Full house
• Blind - Mandatory bet placed before cards are dealt
• Bluff - Bet or raise without the best hand in order to induce an opponent's fold
• Board - Shared or community cards
• Bubble - Player eliminated before the money in a tournament
• Burn - The card the dealer discards before dealing community cards
• Button- Seat where the dealer is sitting
• Buy-in - Amount of money required to enter a tournament
• Call - Bet the amount of another player's bet
• Check - Choosing not to bet but stay in the hand
• Continuation bet - A bet made post-flop by player who bet first pre-flop
• Drawing dead - When a player cannot win the hand, regardless of community cards to come
• Fish - An inexperienced or bad player
• Fifth street - The final community card, or river, dealt out
• Flop - The first three community cards dealt
• Flush - A hand consisting of five cards all the same suit
• Fold - Throwing away your hand
• Fourth Street - The turn card
• Full house - A hand consisting of three-of-a-kind plus a pair
• Freeroll - A tournament with no buy-in
• Freezeout - A game without a re-buy option
• Gutshot - uncompleted straight requiring one card
• Heads-up - A poker game between two players only
• Hole cards - The cards dealt face down to player
• Kicker - A highest unpaired card in a hand used to break ties
• Limp - To call the big blind preflop
• Loose - A reckless or aggressive player
• Monster - A very strong hand
• MTT - A multi-table Tournament
• Muck - To fold a hand without revealing hole cards
• Nuts - The best possible hand
• Offsuit - Hole cards of different suits
• Outs - The cards remaining in the pack that can complete a winning hand
• Overpair - Holding a pocket pair higher than any possible using community cards
• Play the board - Using all community cards to create hand
• Pocket pair - A pair in your starting hand
• Position - A player's turn in betting order
• Quads - Four of a kind
• Rags - Terrible opening hand, like 7-2 offsuit
• Rainbow - A flop consisting of cards of different suits
• Raise - To bet more than the previous bet
• Rake - A percentage of pot taken by cardroom
• River - The fifth and final community card
• Satellite - A tournament awarding entry into a larger tournament
• Set - Three of a kind including a pair in the hole
• Showdown - Two or more players revealing cards to decide a winning hand
• Side pot - Extra pots contested after a multiple all-in
• Sit and Go - A tournament that starts once all seats are filled. Normally single-table
• Small blind - A mandatory small bet by player after button before cards are dealt
• Straight - A hand consisting of connecting cards
• Split pot - An equally divided pot for tied hands
• Top pair - A pair including a hole card and the highest community card
• Trips - Three of a kind including only one hole card
• Turn - The fourth community card
• Under the gun - The first player to act before the flop