Most Trusted Real Money Poker Sites
State-regulated, legal online poker sites operate in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Delaware. West Virginia will eventually launch legal online poker as well.
Mobile Poker for Real Money for Canadians ⏩ List of TOP Mobile Poker Sites ✅ Get Free Poker Chips as Welcome Bonus ✅ January 2021 Safe Casino Sites ✅. This online poker casino lets you play poker online for real money. It’s consistently rated as one of the best online poker sites for US players. The reason why it’s rated as one of the best online. Real Money Poker Canada - Play with real money at the best Canadian online poker sites. Read our expert guides to which sites to play real money poker on.
The US online poker landscape includes operators like WSOP.com, 888poker, PokerStars, and partypoker. The platforms offered by these brands operate as US-only poker sites, not connected to any kind of international player pool.
Regulated US poker sites offer many of the same cash games and tournaments as their overseas counterparts, however.
The Best Online Poker Sites In The US
- WSOP.com (NV, NJ): 100% Deposit Match up to $1,000
- 888poker (NJ, DE): 100% Deposit Match up to $1,500, $20 No-Deposit Bonus
- PokerStars (MI, NJ, PA): 100% Deposit Match up to $600, $30 Free Play Bonus
- PartyPoker (BetMGM & Borgata Poker, NJ): 100% Deposit Match up to $600
WSOP.com
With a debut in 2013, The World Series of Poker became one of the first brands to launch a regulated online poker site in the US. WSOP.com went live in both Nevada (September 2013) and New Jersey (November 2013) within a couple of months of each other that year.
WSOP.com offers its New Jersey players the unique opportunity to compete in official World Series of Poker bracelet events each year. The 2018 WSOP yielded the first New Jersey player to win a bracelet in the nearly 50-year history of the event.
WSOP.com shares player liquidity between its Nevada and New Jersey platforms. The WSOP network also connects to the 888poker Delaware network player pool.
This interstate network functions as the only online poker network in the US with a shared player pool across multiple states. Only WSOP New Jersey and WSOP Nevada sites allow players to participate in WSOP bracelet events, however.
888poker
888poker debuted US platforms within weeks of each other in November 2013. 888poker Delaware marked the brand’s first foray into the US market, with 888poker New Jersey launching later that same month.
The WSOP.com network is powered by 888poker software, making WSOP and 888 partnered sites in some ways. The 888poker Delaware network includes skins offered by the state’s three casinos (Delaware Park, Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway), which all link to the same 888poker platform.
The 888poker Delaware network shares player liquidity with WSOP Nevada and New Jersey network. New Jersey entered into the first phase of this shared player pool agreement with WSOP Nevada in February 2014, in a compact known as the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA)
The MSIGA was expanded in September 2017, and now includes both WSOP platforms and Delaware’s 888poker network.
PokerStars
The world’s largest online poker operator exited the US market in April 2011 after a federal crackdown on unregulated online poker sites. After a five-year absence, PokerStars re-entered the US with the launch of PokerStars NJ in March 2016.
PokerStars NJ competes against both the WSOP/888 network and partypoker NJ in the New Jersey market. The platform operates as a New Jersey-only online poker site, not sharing any kind of player liquidity with the PokerStars family of international poker sites.
PokerStars debuted in a second US market in November 2019, with the launch of PokerStars PA. PokerStars PA functions as an in-state only poker client and operates as the only state-regulated online poker site available to Pennsylvania players.
The most recent addition to the PokerStars lineup is its online poker app in Michigan. PokerStars MI launched in January 2021.
New players at PokerStars can get a 100% deposit match bonus up to $600, as well as a $30 free play bonus after depositing at least $20.
Partypoker
Like PokerStars, partypoker was a major player in the original “poker-boom” era of online poker in the US. Partypoker voluntarily left the US market after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act in 2006, however.
The brand came back to American shores with the launch of partypoker NJ in November 2013. The partypoker NJ network shares player liquidity with a pair of other New Jersey online poker skins, BetMGM and Borgata Poker.
Partypoker rebranded this New Jersey online poker network as the partypoker US Network in January 2020. Along with this rebranding came an increase in major tournament series offered on the network.
The World Poker Tour cross promotes with the partypoker US network to bring WPT online events to New Jersey players. The welcome bonus on the partypoker US network includes a 100% deposit match up to $600.
Partypoker is approved in both Pennsylvania and Michigan and is expected to launch platforms in both states in 2021.
Bonuses At US Online Poker Sites
Deposit Match Bonuses
Online poker sites, along with other kinds of legal mobile gambling platforms, often offer a deposit match bonus as a welcome offer. A deposit match bonus matches a percentage of your first deposit with an equal amount of bonus funds, sometimes doubling the amount of your initial deposit.
All of the US-facing legal poker platforms have some kind of deposit match bonus in place. WSOP.com, for example, extends a 100% deposit match bonus up to $1,000 for new players.
Using this bonus, you’ll get a 100% match from WSOP on your first deposit at the site, up to a maximum of $1,000 in bonus funds. The WSOP.com deposit match, like virtually all bonuses of this kind, requires a certain amount of playthrough to unlock the bonus.
At WSOP.com, players accumulate Action Player Points (APPs) as they play on the site. You earn 2 APPs for every $1 in cash game rake or tournament fees contributed, and WSOP releases $5 of the bonus for every 50 APPs earned.
After making your first deposit, you have 90 days to earn APPs and try to unlock as much of the bonus as possible.
No-Deposit Bonuses
The most generous of offers extended by legal online gambling sites, no-deposit bonuses award free playing credits just for signing up at the platform. As the name suggests, this kind of bonus doesn’t require a deposit of any kind.
888poker offers such a bonus, with a $20 no-deposit promotions for new players. This no-deposit bonus is available at 888poker NJ, as well as the 888poker network of Delaware online poker skins (Delaware Park, Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway).
Online Poker Cash Games In The US
Regulated US poker sites offer cash games at a variety of stakes, and across multiple poker variants. The smallest of the micro stakes games play with $0.01/$0.02 blinds, and the ladder of cash game limits goes up from there.
PokerStars
PokerStars (Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) offers the biggest variety of different games in the cash game format. Aside from the classic No-Limit Hold’em offerings, PokerStars also runs cash games featuring Pot-Limit Omaha, Limit Hold’em, Stud, Razz, Badugi, 8-Game Mix, 2-7 Triple Draw, and several others.
No-Limit Hold’em cash games max out at $25/$50 as the highest stakes. Limit Hold’em and 8-Game Mix go all the way up to $100/$200 limits.
WSOP/888
The integrated WSOP/888 network of sites offered in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, feature No-Limit Hold’em cash games up to $100/$200 stakes. These are the highest limits regularly offered by a US-facing regulated poker site.
The WSOP/888 network also runs cash games featuring Omaha and Stud, as well as Limit Hold’em.
Partypoker
Similar to WSOP/888, partypoker NJ runs No-Limit Hold’em, Limit Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud cash games.
The No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha cash games go up to $25/$50 stakes. Limit Hold’em games are offered at up to $30/$60 limits.
The Best US Poker Tournaments
Special Tournament Series
All of the US regulated poker sites regularly run special tournament series.
At WSOP.com, for example, the cancellation of the 2020 World Series of Poker prompted the creation of the 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Event series. That series offered 31 bracelet events to US players in Nevada and New Jersey. WSOP Circuit online events also occasionally appear on the schedule, offering the chance to win WSOP Circuit Rings.
Partypoker players enjoy monthly special tournament series like the partypoker US Network Online Series. PokerStars players can enjoy the brand’s trademark Championship of Online Poker series, which runs twice per year on both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey versions of the PokerStars platform.
PokerStars Tournaments
Sunday marks the biggest day of the week for major regularly scheduled tournaments at PokerStars. The weekly slate includes the Sunday Warm-Up ($50 buy-in, $4,000 guaranteed) and Sunday High Roller ($500 buy-in, $8,000 guaranteed), which represent some of the most popular regular tournaments at the site.
WSOP/888 Tournaments
WSOP/888 offers several $10,000 guaranteed tournaments throughout each week, with buy-ins ranging from $55 to $100. Other big tournaments include the $25,000 Weekly Saturday ($250 buyin) and $50,000 Weekly Sunday ($500 buy-in).
Partypoker Tournaments
One of partypoker’s biggest weekly tournaments is offered every Sunday as part of the network’s regular weekly schedule. The Sunday $35k Tournament comes at a $215 buy-in and offers unlimited re-entry until the end of the late registration period.
Online Poker Player Pooling
WSOP Nevada, WSOP New Jersey, and the 888poker Delaware network (Delaware Park, Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway skins) all share the same player pool. Playing at any of these sites allows you to compete against a shared player pool across all of these platforms.
As such, this network of WSOP/888 platforms can draw from a larger overall player base versus its competitors. PokerStars NJ and PA can only allow players from within those respective states. Partypoker NJ is in the same situation.
Both partypoker and PokerStars are expected to launch Michigan platforms sometime in 2021. Michigan lawmakers passed an online poker bill in December, setting the stage for its online poker sites to potentially join interstate player pool agreements.
None of the regulated online poker sites in the US share a player pool with any network outside of the US.
Sweepstakes Poker In The US
Global Poker
Sweepstakes gaming sites offer a legal alternative for players in states without regulated online poker sites. Sweepstakes poker sites don’t offer real-money games in the traditional format, but players can participate in poker games and win cash prizes.
Global Poker functions as the biggest US-facing sweepstakes poker site, operating in 49 US states, most of Canada, and Washington DC. Global Poker offers poker games under a sweepstakes gaming model.
The sweepstakes model allows players to participate in both play money and sweepstakes poker games at Global Poker. The play money games use credits called “Gold Coins” as currency, and Gold Coins are available for purchase.
Gold Coins purchases award “Sweeps Coins” as a gift, and the Sweeps Coins can be used in the sweepstakes games and redeemed for cash prizes. Sweeps Coins can’t be directly purchased and only come through Gold Coins purchases, mail-in offers, or social media promotions.
Visit: Global Poker
Legal US Online Poker Sites Versus Illegal Sites
Many different platforms might offer online poker to US players, but only state-regulated gambling sites are operating legally on US shores.
All legal US poker sites are approved, licensed, and regulated by state government gaming agencies. New Jersey’s legal poker sites, for example, fall under the regulation of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
The DGE operates as the regulatory agency in charge of overseeing New Jersey’s entire legal casino industry. With this in mind, playing at one of the state’s regulated poker sites offers the same level of security as playing in a live poker room at an Atlantic City casino.
Your money and personal information are safe at a state-regulated online poker site, just as it would be inside some of the world’s top-rated casinos in New Jersey. Playing at an offshore poker site cannot guarantee that same level of safety.
How Do I Know That Legal Online Poker Sites Are Fair In The US?
Who Regulates Legal Online Poker Sites In The US?
State-level government agencies regulate legal online poker sites in Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
In Nevada, for example, the Nevada Gaming Control Board oversees the state’s legal gambling industry. By extension, the agency also regulates WSOP Nevada, which is held to the same standard of auditing and transparency as Nevada’s live poker rooms.
Why Should I Trust Legal US Online Poker Rooms?
State-regulated poker rooms in the US are operated by some of the world’s biggest and most reputable gaming brands. WSOP, 888poker, PokerStars, and partypoker stand on reputations as the longest-running and most recognizable names in poker.
All of these companies operate their US-facing online poker rooms with a vested interest in player trust and safety.
Is My Money Safe At A Legal Online Poker Room?
Taking a look at the deposit and withdrawal options at a legal online poker site shows a list of some of the biggest and most trusted banks and payment processors in the world.
Your deposits and cashouts at a platform like WSOP.com are backed and secured by these companies with the highest level of encryption available. WSOP.com, and all of the brands operating regulated online poker in the US, share the goal of protecting both player and house funds.
US Legal Online Poker Rooms FAQ
State-regulated online poker sites offer the full gamut of game selection. This includes cash games, tournaments, and sit & gos. No-Limit Hold’em is the most popular game on US-facing sites, but you can also find poker variants like Omaha, Stud, Limit Hold’em, and mixed games.
21 or older. In all states with legal online poker, you must be at least 21 to deposit, play poker, and cash out. This age applies to Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. It will also apply to Michigan and West Virginia when regulated poker sites launch in those states.
Playing on 888poker’s Delaware network or WSOP.com (Nevada and New Jersey) puts you in a combined player pool among all of those sites.
If you’re in Nevada and you log in to WSOP.com, for example, your playing against all players logged in at WSOP NJ and 888 Delaware. This means you could be playing against players in New Jersey while sitting in Nevada.
Yes. Players are responsible for paying the appropriate federal and state taxes on poker winnings. State tax rates and laws vary from state to state. The federal tax on poker wins of $5,000 or more starts at 24%.
What Is The Best Poker Site For Real Money
No. DraftKings offers both online sports betting and casino gaming in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan, but those platforms don’t include online poker at this time.
Most Trusted Real Money Poker Sites For Real
Online poker presents classic player vs. player poker in an online format and falls under the category of a skill game.
Video poker offers a single-player slot-machine-style game on a video terminal and isn’t classified as a skill game. Video poker machines are required to pay back a certain percentage of played credits by law and pits the player against the house.