Top Online Poker Rooms for US Poker Players
RELATED ARTICLES
When you walk into a live poker room, your goal is always to select the table with the highest potential for profit. If you’re choosing which online poker room to play at, you should have a similar goal. We rank the best online poker rooms for American players with a focus on identifying the rooms where you have the best chance to not only enjoy playing poker, but to make some money while doing so.
When ranking these rooms, we’re considering the following criteria: softness of games, value of promotions, rakeback and cashout ease. The following rooms made our top list: Bodog Poker, Carbon Poker, Cake Poker, Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Ultimate Bet / Absolute Poker.
#6: Carbon Poker
The flagship room of the Merge Poker Network, Carbon has a lot going for it. The cash games are relatively soft and the tournament lobby has much weaker competition than you would find at a room like PokerStars. Their promotions are generally the most generous of any major room and can amount to hundreds, if not thousand in dollars of extra value monthly.
Biggest plus: Carbon offers 30% rakeback, and it’s paid daily, directly into your account. On the downside, Carbon cashouts, while reliable, are a little slower than the average cashout for the high-ranked rooms. Also, Carbon has a smaller traffic base than, say, Full Tilt, so you won’t get steady action at higher-stakes games.
#5: PokerStars
The giant of online poker does have a lot to offer players. The lobby is stuffed with games, so you never have to worry about finding the game and the limit you want. The tournament lobby is insanely active as well, with daily tournaments for the most obscure formats alongside hundreds of holdem tournaments a day. Cashouts are fast and available via a few methods.
Promotions at Stars aren’t as frequent as at some other rooms, but they do offer an excellent VIP points program that allows you to accumulate credit as you play toward a variety of merchandise and the like.
So why so low on the chart? A couple of reasons. First, PokerStars doesn’t offer rakeback, and that’s a huge minus. Second, games at PokerStars are filled with strong players, regulars who crowd the table and make it tough for other players to make a profit.
#4: Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt and PokerStars basically have the same pros: a very busy lobby with a wide variety of games, a strong slate of tournament offerings and reliable, quick cashouts. FTP goes a step beyond, however, and offers 27% rakeback, a massive advantage over PokerStars.
FTP also has a generally more aggressive promotional approach, with more frequent deposit bonuses and special promos that add more value for the player.
Downside: FTP has notoriously tough cash games stuffed with regulars even at the lower limits. The tournament lobby is also generally tough, and doesn’t offer much in the way of overlays or added value.
#3: Bodog Poker
Bodog was left for dead by many a few years ago, but their poker room has continued to grow and provide excellent opportunities for profit to players. The highlight of the room is very weak competition at low to mid stakes cash games and a tournament schedule that regularly includes some of the weakest fields and most generous overlays available online.
Bodog’s cashouts have improved dramatically over the last year and now boast one of the top turnaround times in the industry.
Bodog does not offer rakeback publicly, but PTP does have an exclusive Private VIP offer. Get more info on that deal here. Downsides: lack of game selection at mid limits and a weak SNG lobby mean you can’t always find the game you want.
–>Get Info On Our Private VIP Deal For BodogPoker
#2: Ultimate Bet / Absolute Poker
Home to tournament superstar Phil Hellmuth, these two rooms form the CEREUS poker network and are a very attractive option for poker players. The tournament and cash lobbies are both fairly active at low to medium stakes, although not quite as active as PokerStars. Cashouts are lightening-fast, with turnaround times that are generally quicker than any other room.
The network offers frequent promotions and has a very generous VIP program. You can also get 30% rakeback that’s paid directly into your account.
Game selection is a bit of an issue at mid to higher stakes, but the majority of players should find that UB and Absolute offer a compelling alternative to the major online poker rooms.
#1 Cake Poker
The general consensus among players who aggressively seek out value is that Cake Poker is the place to be in online poker at the moment. The cash games are untapped, the tournaments have frequent overlays and very weak competition, and the regular promotions give players tons of value on a regular basis.
The room also offers 30% rakeback to players when you sign up through a rakeback provider like PTP.
Cashouts aren’t as quick as UB, but Cake hasn’t been plagued by the check delays that some other rooms have experienced during the last few months. All in all, the softness of the games, the value added by promos and rakeback along with reasonable quick cashouts make Cake Poker the number one choice available currently for online poker players in the US.
Curious about other rooms that offer rakeback? View our complete list of offers.
Sign Up For Exclusive Rakeback Offers From PTP
