It’s natural that we want to find “the best” of anything in this world, but how can you really determine the top-quality product from the mundane? Regardless of the item or service, every manufacturer is going to claim to be the number one, and online gambling is no different when it comes to the best poker sites. As a player, you’ve now got thousands of options, so how can you be sure to find the best poker sites in the world? We’ve had a look to find the determining factors in separating the elite from the best.
Security and Encryption
One of the most important factors before even signing up for an online poker site is to consider the security of the website. Does it have an SSL certificate? If not you must seriously consider whether you want to put your personal and financial information on such a website where the risk of it being stolen is so much higher. After which it’s important that you as the user set a good password, etc.
Traffic of Players
What came first, the prestige of the site or the traffic of the players? It’s another chicken and egg scenario. However you want to gauge it, poker sites with enough prestige usually have a good amount of players visiting the platform to make ample traffic. There’s nothing worse than signing up and depositing money into a poker website that has very few fellow users making for a very stale environment.
Customer Service
While nobody wants to have to talk to customer service about an issue with their account, it helps to know that there’s a decent department dealing with such problems if they arise. Before signing up for an online casino be sure to check out their respective customer service web pages. Do they have a chat service? An email address? A phone number? Can they help you in your first language? The best poker sites will have a rich variety of customer service avenues in English and potentially other languages.
Game Variety
While Texas Hold’em is the primary game played by all people stating they want to play online poker, it doesn’t harm to have a few other variations and derivatives available. The very best poker sites will offer other games like Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and sometimes Pineapple. Of course, if it’s a poker and casino platform there should be lots of other games by default.
Licensing and Legal Status
The best poker and online casino operators will be licensed by a relatively good authority. Some governments insist that any company trading within their borders must be licensed and regulated by their national gambling boards. The United Kingdom is one such country with those rules, while the US has similar legislation but with the devolved state governments allowed to implement their stances. India doesn’t have much regulation therefore many offshore sites licensed by places like Curacao and Malta can operate there – well, offshore sites conduct business everywhere, technically. A good rule of thumb is that if a vendor is licensed by the same government as the place you presiding in (while you play) it’s better for you.
Bonuses and Promotions
Any poker site worth its salt will offer an enticing welcome bonus to new customers, while also rewarding players that continue to use the site for their loyalty. Whether it’s free chips or other incentives, a good site won’t just hand out an initial carrot but will seek to build customer engagement. By comparison, bad poker sites will offer the world their welcome bonus and afterward offer no reason to stay on the site at all.
Furthermore, any bonus or promotion offered by a site needs to be transparent and simple to claim. The best poker sites state what they offer and deliver it. Unfortunately, there are far too many poor poker sites and online casinos that hide their bonuses and promotions by small print and excessive actions like needing to meet specific criteria, not originally presented in the same font size as the other information.
Event Calendar
The top poker sites, usually run by the most well-known brands hold online events for their users. These are typically specialized periods or rooms where players can qualify for later stages of a competition and potentially win enhanced prizes. Running such online tournaments is a necessity for users to stay engaged with the product.
Responsible Gaming Tools
A good poker site that cares about its customers, rather than just their money will implement responsible gaming features. These are becoming more and more commonplace within the gaming industry as problem gambling increases in key markets, especially in areas inflicted with Cost-of-Living issues. Whether it’s setting deposit or playtime limits, the best sites understand and act on their responsibilities to help customers.
Payment Methods
You wouldn’t think that online casinos would make it hard for you to give them money. Yet there are some notable differences between sites when it comes to making deposits and withdrawing funds. The elite poker sites will have a massive range of different banking and payment methods with very few restrictions on the minimum and maximum values of what you can deposit and withdraw. Some sites are known to have over 50 different methods, combining both cryptocurrencies and classic methods.
Multiple Device Compatibility
The best poker sites available should have no problem operating on a wide range of different browsers. Any online casino that prompts you to say yours isn’t compatible with the site should be avoided, as it’s simply not that hard for them to make it work. All of the top brands in this space also have launched applications for users to get the same poker experience on Apple and Android devices.
Peer Reviews
It’s important to do a bit of research before signing up for any poker site. While you can learn a lot about the site from the website –it’s important to use all the resources available. The online gambling community is pretty expansive and these days countless review sites are giving out unbiased assessments of poker sites. The best sites will be continually ranked high across all of the comparison and review platforms.
