Sure, theres a lot of poker rooms online, but lets face it. When it comes to finding the best competition, theres one factor that levels the playing field: volume. Small and intimate poker rooms might be nice when youre hanging out with friends, but if youre looking to make some money, you need to go to where the action is. The largest sites are home to thousands of players trying their luck and skill 24 hours a day, and its at these sites youre sure to find some opponents on your level. If youre looking to jump right in, these are the big daddies of online poker. PartyPoker.com Even when theres not a tournament going on, which is rare, Party Poker has more players online than other sites can only dream about. Low to high limit tournaments run around the clock in a variety of games including the standard Hold`em and Omaha tables, and regular contests offer prize pools in the millions of dollars. Party Poker didnt get to be the biggest by being slow; youre ready to go within minutes of downloading the software and making your first deposit. The sign-up bonus isnt too shabby either, with first time players offered 20 percent up to $200. New players are also given the opportunity to sit in a $5,000 free-roll tournament, a great boost to the bankroll of a sufficiently skilled player. PokerStars.com A force on the poker scene since 2000, Poker Stars has grown to claim the most tournament traffic of any online room in the world. Its satellite tournaments have produced two World Series of Poker champions, both of whom were just regular players on the site. Poker Stars is also home to the World Championship of Online Poker, the single largest tournament of its kind. As youd expect from a site this large, the variety of games is decent, but not spectacular. Weekly Texas Hold`em tournaments offer a guaranteed prize pool of at least $1 million, and the site offers no-rake micro-limit games. The sign-up bonus is a low fixed sum of $25, but that hasnt stopped thousands from making Poker Stars one of the busiest poker sites on the Net. UltimateBet.com With some of the best sign-up bonuses in the industry, its no wonder Ultimate Bet has quickly grown to take its place as one of the largest online poker rooms in the world. Just for signing up, all players get a shot at a $1 million free-roll tournament, where one winner will take home $500,000. The software is some of the best around, and it allows smart players to keep track of multiple games with ease. The program also adds a little touch of the neighborhood poker game, with a buddy system that lets you know when friends are online. Ultimate Bet offers an excellent variety of games, and while Hold`em captures most of the attention; the action is pretty well divided among the different games. PokerRoom.com Considered by many players to be one of the best online poker rooms on the Internet, Poker Room is without a doubt one of the biggest. The site offers players the opportunity to play everything from blackjack to slots, but as the name suggests, poker is what put it on the map. With a variety of Hold`em, Stud and Omaha tables packed to the gills, Poker Room offers decent sign-up bonuses and non-stop tournament action. Poker Room is rare in that theres no software to download; the user controls are Java-based and can be played on a PC or a Mac with no problems. |
