About Us – How We Rank Online Poker Sites

Best Poker Sites compares real money poker sites for US players so you can pick a room based on traffic, game selection and payout speed instead of guesswork. We don't operate a poker site or hold player funds — our job is research, comparison and plain explanation of what each brand actually offers.

Why We Built This Site

Online poker in the US is fragmented. Some brands operate offshore and accept US players outside state-regulated frameworks, others hold licences tied to specific states, and the rules, minimum ages and payment options differ depending on where a player is located. That patchwork makes it easy to end up on a site that's slow to pay, thin on traffic at your stakes, or unclear about its terms. We built this site to lay out the differences plainly, so recreational players, regular grinders and anyone switching rooms can compare before they deposit.

What We Actually Compare

Every room on this site — including Coinpoker, Bovada, Stake, Ignition, Americas Card Room, Black Chip Poker, Ya Poker, BC Poker, Betonline and Jack Poker — is assessed against the same set of criteria, so ratings are comparable across the board rather than one-off impressions.

Traffic and liquidity — how much action there typically is at common stakes across cash games, MTTs and Sit & Gos
Game variety — No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, fast-fold formats, Spin & Go-style games and mixed games where offered
Rake and rakeback — the rake structure and any loyalty or rakeback scheme that offsets it
Bonuses and clearing terms — the size of a welcome offer measured against its playthrough requirements and time limits
Payments — deposit and withdrawal methods available to US players and typical cash-out speed
Software and mobile play — client stability, HUD/tracking policy, and iOS/Android app quality
Support and account security — how verification and customer support are handled

How Bonuses Are Presented

A welcome offer is only useful if you can actually clear it. Where a site advertises a deposit match — for example Bovada's 100% Bonus up to $500 or Americas Card Room's 100% Deposit Bonus up to $2,000 — we try to note the material conditions that come with it, such as playthrough requirements, eligible game types and time limits, alongside the headline number rather than in a footnote you'd miss. Bonus terms change, so always check the operator's own terms page before you deposit.

Licensing, Regulation and Who Can Play

The US has no single federal online poker licence. Legality depends on the state a player is physically in, and some of the brands we cover are licensed and regulated within specific US states, while others operate under offshore or international licences and accept US players from states where regulated options aren't available. We note licensing status where it's verifiable, but we don't claim a regulatory status for a brand unless it's been confirmed. It's the player's responsibility to check that real money poker is legal in their state and that they meet the applicable age requirement — most regulated states set the minimum at 21, though a small number allow 18. This site is intended for adults of legal gambling age only.

How We Score and Rank

Ratings on this site are editorial judgements built from the criteria above, not customer review scores and not a reflection of how much commission an operator pays. We do not test-play or deposit funds ourselves; our assessments come from researching each operator's published terms, software, banking options and public track record. Commission from affiliate partnerships is how Best Poker Sites stays free to use, and it plays no part in how a site is ranked — a room with no affiliate relationship at all would be scored the same way. If you spot something on this page that looks out of date, our Contact Us page is open for corrections.

Beyond US-Facing Rooms

Some readers land here from outside the US or are researching options for players in other markets. We also cover non-Gamstop casinos for UK players as a separate resource — it's a different regulatory picture and a different audience, so we keep that comparison on its own page rather than folding it into our US poker rankings.

Playing Within Your Limits

Poker involves real risk of losing money, and no amount of skill or bankroll management removes that risk entirely. We don't present any site on this page as a way to make money reliably, and we'd rather you walked away from a session than chased a loss you couldn't afford. If poker stops feeling like entertainment, our Responsible Gambling page has tools and resources, and support is available around the clock through 1-800-GAMBLER.

A Note on Commercial Relationships

Best Poker Sites earns a commission when readers sign up with a poker site through links on this page — this is how the site funds its research and stays free. That relationship never decides where a brand sits in our rankings, and we say so plainly rather than burying it in fine print. Full terms of use for this site are set out in our Terms and Conditions.