Best US Online Poker Sites: Where to Play Legal Real Money Poker
Best Real Money Online Poker Sites for US Players
The following best online poker sites for US players have been carefully reviewed by our experts at The Sports Geek to compile this comprehensive list available in the United States. Here’s a closer look at all five top-rated rooms that offer real money games.
- Ignition Casino – Best Online Poker Site for US Players
- BetOnline – High Variety of Poker Formats
- Bovada – Best Online Poker App for Real Money
- Sportsbetting.ag – Best Poker Site for Crypto Depositors
- Everygame – Generous Rakeback Program
1
Ignition Casino – Best Online Poker Site for US Players
2
BetOnline – High Variety of Poker Formats
3
Best Online Poker App for Real Money
4
Sportsbetting.ag – Best Poker Site for Crypto Depositors
5
Everygame – Generous Rakeback Program
Comparing the US Real Money Online Poker Sites
| Site | Bonus | Rollover | Min Deposit | Limits | Tournaments (Y/N) | DL Req’d | Visit Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BetOnline | 100% Match up to $1,000 | $5 in bonus funds for each $50 in rake | $50 | $.01/$.02 to $5/$10 | Y | N* | PLAY NOW |
| Bovada | 100% Match up to $500 | $5 in bonus funds for each $10 in rake | $20 | $.02/.05 to $10/$20 | Y | N* | PLAY NOW |
| Everygame | 200% match up to $1,000 | $5 in bonus funds for each $11.90 in tournament fees | $25 | ? | Y | N* | PLAY NOW |
| Ignition Poker | 100% up to $2,000** | $5 in bonus funds for each $10 in rake | $20 | $.02/.05 to $10/$20 | Y | N* | PLAY NOW |
| Sportsbetting.ag | 100% match up to $1,000 | $5 in bonus funds for each $50 in rake | $50 | $.01/$.02 to $5/$10 | Y | N* | PLAY NOW |
**Ignition Poker Bonus is split 50/50 between casino and poker room
How Do We Select the Best US Poker Sites?
We take a number of different factors into account when selecting the best online poker sites for US players. While we prioritize safety and security across all of our featured betting sites, the following criteria are tailored specifically to poker platforms:
How to Choose the Best Online Poker Room for You
While all the best online poker sites highlighted on this page are safe and reliable options, they all have specific strengths that will cater best to different players. When you are choosing where to play online poker for real money, consider the following criteria to help you make the right selection:
What Is Your Poker Budget?
What Is Your Banking Method of Choice?
What Level of Poker Experience Do You Have?
Online Poker for Real Money: Banking Options Available in the US
All the best online poker sites catered to US players have some things in common such as accepting major credit cards like VISA and Mastercard and accepting Bitcoin. Other than those occasional overlaps, real money online poker rooms don’t all have the same banking methods available.
It is important to review banking options, fees, and payout times at each online poker site before making a final decision on where to play. Here is a table of the many banking options available and which poker sites we recommend for each one:
| Banking Option | Poker Room | Deposit Availability | Withdrawal Availability (& Fees) | Payout Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VISA | Ignition Poker | ✔️ ($20 min, $1,500 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Mastercard | Bovada Poker | ✔️ ($20 min, $1,500 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| American Express | BetOnline | ✔️ ($25 min, $2,500 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Discover | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($25 min, $2,500 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $500,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Avalanche (AVAX) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Binance (BNB) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Cardano (ADA) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Ethereum (ETH) | BetOnline | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Litecoin (LTC) | BetOnline | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Polygon (MATIC) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Ripple (XRP) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Shiba Inu (SHIB) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Solana (SOL) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Stellar (XLM) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Tether (USDT) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| Tron (TRX) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| USD Coin (USDC) | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($20 min, $100,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | 48 Hours |
| MatchPay | Ignition Poker | ✔️ ($20 min, $1,000 max) | ✔️ (No Fee) | Instant |
| MoneyGram | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($100 min, $600 max) | ✔️ ($26-$51 Fee) | 5 Business Days |
| Wire Transfer | BetOnline | ✔️ ($500 min, $10,000 max) | ✔️ ($45+ Fee) | 15 Business Days |
| Lightning Bitcoin | Everygame | ✔️ ($5 min, $100 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Money Order | BetOnline | ✔️ ($300 min, $9,000 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Cashier’s Check | Sportsbetting.ag | ✔️ ($1000 min, $1,500 max) | 🚫 | N/A |
| Check by Courier | Everygame | 🚫 | ✔️ ($50 Fee) | 5 Business Days |
Online Poker Bonuses to Boost Your Pot
Bovada Claim This Welcome Bonus
Sign up and Bovada will match your first poker deposit by 100%, up to a maximum of $500. Once you have the bonus, you can release it in $5 increments for every $10 in rake over the first 30 days. Claim the bonus using this code: PWB500.
Poker Welcome Bonus 100% up to $500
Poker Tournaments Over $2 million in prizes
No rollover on unlocked funds You keep your funds as soon as they are released
$20 minimum deposit to activate bonus
You have 30 days to release bonus Any leftover bonus funds disappear if unreleased
Ignition Deposit Crypto for an Even Bigger Bonus
Ignition will match your first crypto deposit by 150%, up to a massive $3,000! This bonus is split 50/50 between Ignition Poker and Ignition Casino, giving you up to $1,500 for each. That makes this one of the biggest online poker bonuses available in the USA. The poker bonus is released in $5 increments for each $10 in rake.
Crypto Welcome Bonus 150% up to $3,000
Non-Crypto Welcome Bonus 100% up to $2,000
No rollover on released bonus funds You can cash them out immediately
$20 minimum deposit to activate bonus
You have 30 days to release bonus funds Any leftover bonus funds disappear if unreleased
Everygame Play Free-to-Enter Competitions for Great Rewards
When you enter Everygame’s monthly freeroll poker tournaments, you can win up to $100 in free bets in Everygame’s online sportsbook. This is perfect for poker players who also enjoy casual wagers on sports. The free bets must be used on wagers with odds of -200 or more, and you need to hit a 3x rollover to cash out the winnings.
Monthly Poker Freeroll Tournaments Up to $100 in free sports bets
Poker Welcome Bonus 200% up to $1,000
Low rollover requirements for sports winnings 3x
Easy to use winning funds in Everygame sportsbook
Can only use free bets on wagers with odds of -200 or more
Sportsbetting.ag Be a Winner With a Bad Beat
With Sportsbetting.ag, all players sat at a No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha table featuring a Bad Beat can claim some of the jackpot. A Bad Beat occurs when a minimum hand of Full House (Aces Full of Kings) is beaten by a higher hand, such as a Straight Flush. 20% of the jackpot goes to the player with the Bad Beat, and the rest is divvied up between the other players. No one leaves empty handed!
Bad Beat Jackpot Bonus Up to 20% of jackpot
Poker Welcome Bonus 100% up to $1,000
Everyone wins off a Bad Beat
No rollover to cash out jackpot winnings
Both players must use both hole cards to qualify
BetOnline Win Big Jackpots in This Exciting Poker Variation
This exciting new Jackpot Sit’N’Go variation of Open Face Chinese Poker involves splitting a 13-card hand into three winning rows. To add to the drama, BetOnline is offering jackpots of up to $4,000 for winning players, with up to a 500x multiplier!
Open Face Chinese Poker Jackpot Up to $4,000
Poker Welcome Bonus 100% up to $1,000
Unique variation of classic jackpot sit'n'go
Jackpot multipliers of 2x to 500x your buy-in
Not suitable for poker newbies
Ignition Extra Boost for Your Winning Hand
If you make a Royal Flush, you’ve already won the pot! But Ignition Casino will give an extra boost to your winnings when you play a Royal Flush, worth 50x the game’s big blind up to $200. Three players must be dealt into the hand to qualify for this win boost.
Royal Flush Bonus Up to $200
Bad Beat Bonus Up to $1,000
Risk free reward for playing winning hand
No rollover requirements
Three players need to be dealt in to qualify
You must use both hole cards
Bovada Invite Friends and Win Rewards
Invite a friend to play Bovada Poker and win a 200% up to $200 reward, based on your friends first deposit. If your friend deposits with crypto, Bovada will throw in an extra $75 reward on top! Once you have your reward, you can release it in $1 installments for every $2 in rake.
Refer-a-Friend Bonus 200% up to $200
Refer-a-Friend Extra +$75 if your friend deposits crypto
Invite friend via email link to qualify
Friend needs to deposit minimum of $20
Low rollover on bonus rewards
Only new customers that have been referred via email If your friend joins via any other route, you can't claim
Features of the Best Online Poker Sites
Playing at different top online poker sites for real money provides unique experiences as each site has its own interface, promotions, and features. Here’s a rundown of some of the gameplay features that players should keep an eye out for:
Types of Poker Available at Online Poker Rooms
There are many different ways to play online poker for real money. These include different stakes, variants of poker, and game types. All of these options allow players to find the games they enjoy or make the most money with. Here are a few types of online poker cash games you can play below:
Cash Games
Cash games are the most common type of online poker. The amount that you buy-in for is displayed in your chip stack, and every bet made and pot won in these games is for real money. You can join and leave a poker online cash game at any time. Whatever you win or lose will be reflected in your account. Poker variants played as cash games include:
- Texas Hold’em Online (No-Limit, Pot-Limit, Fixed-Limit)
- Omaha (Pot-Limit)
- Omaha High/Low (Pot-Limit, Fixed-Limit)
- 7 Card Stud (Fixed Limit)
- 7 Card Stud High/Low (Fixed Limit)
Poker players can find no-limit Texas Hold’em and pot-limit Omaha games anywhere. If you are interested in playing 7 Card Stud, check out BetOnline for its large cash game selection.
Zone Poker
Zone Poker functions the same way as a cash game does, it just plays much faster. In a standard online poker cash game, when you fold your hand, you have to wait until the current hand is over to be dealt into a new one. This leads to a lot of down time and potential boredom.
This issue is resolved in Zone Poker. You play in a lobby full of other players in the game and stakes that you choose. And then each time you fold, you are immediately moved to a new table and a new hand is dealt. It’s a fun and addicting spin on classic poker online cash games and can be played in Texas Hold’em and Omaha at Ignition.
Multi-Table Tournaments
Unlike cash games where you can come and go as you please and each pot represents real money, tournaments have a set buy-in that gives you an entry with tournament chips. Blinds go up at pre-determined intervals to keep the game moving, and prizes are awarded based on how many players you outlast. Different types of multi-table tournaments include:
- Standard – Played for cash prizes
- Satellites – Played for a seat into a higher buy-in tournament
- Re-buy – Allows you to buy back in to the tournament while registration is open
- Bounty – Awards additional cash prizes for eliminating other players
- Freeroll – Free to play with real money prizes
Players interested in freeroll tournaments can play daily for entries at Everygame.
Sit N Go Tournaments
Sit and Go tournaments do just what their name suggests. Players interested in playing take a seat at a Sit N Go table. Once every seat has been filled, the tournament begins. In addition to standard Sit N Go’s, there are a number of variants to these as well:
- Turbo and Hyper Turbo – Played with faster blinds to make them finish faster
- Double-Up (6 players) and Triple-Up (9 players) – Played down to three players, with the remaining players winning double (or triple) their buy-in.
- Qualifiers – Similar to satellites, earning players a seat into a bigger tournament
- Jackpot – These hyper turbo Sit N Go’s are played three-handed. Once seated, the mystery winner-take-all prize the players will be playing for is revealed. This prize can range from 2x the buy-in amount all the way up to 1200x.
All of these exciting variants can be played at Bovada Poker.
Playing Online Poker on Mobile in the US
All of the top online poker sites that we recommend are optimized to be played on your computer, phone, or tablet. Most can be accessed via your smartphone’s web browser. but some do offer downloadable apps as well. We suggest trying your preferred poker site’s app out on your device to see if you prefer it over the on-site browser version of your favorite online poker cash games.
And if you do plan on playing on your phone or tablet often, don’t forget to give Bovada Poker a chance. Out of all the poker sites we have reviewed, we found Bovada’s mobile experience to be the most satisfying. Download Bovada’s poker app today and try it out for yourself.
Bovada Mobile Poker
The Legality of Online Poker in the US
Long-time poker players remember the date April 15, 2011 as “Black Friday.”This was the day that the United States temporarily shut down Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker as part of a federal indictment of these sites. These charges were specific to the founders of these three poker rooms, and no major legal action has been taken against poker sites operating offshore since.
On August 12, 2012, a federal judge in New York ruled that poker is not gambling under federal law, due to it being a skill game. Nevada became the first U.S. state to regulate and offer online poker within its state borders on April 30, 2013.
There are now five states that have legally regulated online poker within their state lines: Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The first four states on that list share an inter-state player pool, while Pennsylvania residents can only play against each other.
While these state-regulated online poker options are better than nothing, they suffer from issues including small player pools and outdated poker software. Luckily, offshore poker sites like Ignition Poker, Bovada Poker, BetOnline, Sportsbetting.ag and Everygame are not subject to state-based regulations. They are all regulated and licensed in countries offshore that allow them to legally open their digital poker rooms to US players, and they do so without many of the pitfalls that players playing at state-regulated poker rooms have to deal with.
US Online Poker Sites to Avoid
Safety and security online are extremely important. Poker players in the United States should stick to our recommended online poker sites that we have highlighted here. Unfortunately, many less trustworthy sites out there exist with shady business practices or are outright scams. Here are some US online poker sites that you should avoid:
- History of erratic payouts or no payouts at all
- Has banned winning players in the past without cause
- Charges fees on withdraws and exorbitant rake at tables
- Operates illegally without a license
- High hidden fees on Bitcoin withdrawals
- Little to no player traffic
- Documented issues with bots programmed to play optimally
- Reports of players being banned and having money confiscated without good cause
- History of DDOS attacks affecting site performance
How to Sign up for Online Poker Sites in the US
Joining any of the best online poker sites for US players listed on this page is a fairly easy and straightforward process. Follow the steps outlined in this section and you’ll be playing on the digital felt in no time.
-
First, select one of the reputable online poker rooms we have highlighted that caters to your preferences. Ensure that it offers banking options, bonuses, game selection and stakes that match what you are looking for in an online poker room.
-
Once you’ve chosen a poker room, click on the “Sign Up” or “Join Now” button to begin the registration process. You can also download the poker app (if available) for a more optimized experience, or just stick to the online version if you prefer.
-
You’ll be prompted to enter your personal information, including your name, email address, and date of birth after beginning the sign-up process. Provide all of the information required accurately to complete the registration process.
-
After you have finished registering, go to the cashier section to make a deposit using your preferred payment method. Familiarize yourself with the deposit options available and choose the one that works best for you.
-
When making your first deposit on your selected online poker site, you will have the option to claim a welcome bonus. Be sure to understand the terms and conditions of your welcome offer before finalizing your deposit.
-
Now that your account has been funded, you are officially ready to start playing online poker for real money. Make your way to the lobby to select the game type and stakes you want to play to take your seat at the digital table.
-
Prior to making your first withdrawal, you will need to confirm your identity by sending the proper documentation to your poker site’s security department. It is best to complete this process in advance so that your first withdrawal can be expedited when you are ready to collect your online poker cash.
Online Poker News and Blogs
Responsible Gambling at Online Poker Rooms
Online poker should always be enjoyed responsibly. Setting reasonable limits on the amount of money that you play with and always playing within your means will help you keep the game fun. If you or someone you know is struggling with control and showing signs of problem gambling, there are resources available 24/7 that can help. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for assistance if you need it at any of the following sites:
Get Exclusive Access to Winning Sports Betting Picks for Free
Click on the button below to get free picks delivered to your email daily...
Get Picks Today!