Choosing The Right Online Poker Site

The online poker industry has grown consistently over a number of years and will continue to do so as per predictions made by specialists who have reviewed figures and statistics in regards to the popularity of poker both on and offline.

With a huge amount of demand for players to be able to get their poker fix from the comfort of their own home, online poker rooms seem to appear as if out of nowhere, offering players the latest industry leading signing up bonus or the best poker tournaments available online but are these online poker rooms really there to give you the gaming experience that you want or are they trying to suck you in to play within their grasp?

Selecting the right online poker room is vital for any poker player who is looking to take their wagering into the interactive world because careful poker room selection can improve a players chances of success will playing the game.

After speaking to a number of online poker players, it soon becomes apparent that the majority of the players within an online poker room have joined the site due to the recommendation of someone else or because of the standing that the poker room has within the industry.

The truth is, just because an online poker room is gracing a high position within the top ten online poker room listings or your friend plays there, it doesn't mean that the online poker room is the one for you.

There are a number of factors that you should look at before deciding on which online poker room that you are going to call your own, after all, careful selection can mean the difference between losing money and winning money.

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So what should you be looking for in an online poker room?

Well online poker room selection comes down to a number of things and these factors could alter depending on the level of poker player that you feel that you are.

An example of this would be that a novice poker player shouldn't be looking to head to an online poker room that is full of experienced and successful players, doing so is the quickest way that you will lose the funds that you place into your players account.

With that in mind, lets have a look at the other factors you should take into consideration before calling an online poker room home:

The software used by the online poker room

One of the most important factors that you should be looking at is the software that the online poker room is operating, is it easy to use and navigate?

If you find that the software on an online poker room is just to complex to get to grips with within a couple of minutes, the chances are that you aren't on the right poker room for you.

The best advice that could be given to any starting out online poker player is to always look to test a minimum of 3 online poker rooms that are found within different poker networks.

This means that you are sampling a minimum of 3 different types of software as well as giving yourself the chance to find the best online poker room for you, for many of you, the likes of PokerStars simply isn't going to be right for you.

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Volume of traffic going to the site

This could be considered to be the second most important factor, depending on your thoughts and preferences while playing poker online.

If you are someone who is looking to get into regular online poker action and don't want to have to wait for a ring game table or Sit and Go tournament to fill up, then selecting an online poker room such as Real Deal Poker which has low-traffic would be a bad choice, despite how easy the games are when the tables eventually fill up.

The best way to identify the volume of player traffic to an online poker room would be to look at the online figures that so many online poker rooms offer on their homepage.

Obviously, the higher the number of online players at any given point, the higher the volume of traffic.

Alternatively, if you are more about playing the action at a pace that is a little slower, finding an online poker room that offers a lower volume of traffic would be perfect as this would give you time to think about your play, brush up on your poker strategy and analyse any previous play that you have had within your session.

What does the online poker room offer in terms of game selection?

Online poker rooms are constantly trying to offer new variants of poker in order to attract players who have a preference for that form of poker but with the online poker industry been firmly in competition, it can sometimes be hard to know which online poker room to choose because so many offer the same game selection.

For an online poker room to be able to offer a variant of poker that other online poker rooms are unable to offer, they would have to become ahead of the competition and create a new variant of poker themselves, something that has been seen at Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt Poker have recently revealed a new variant of poker named 'Rush Poker', a game that offers a unique gaming experience to any player who is willing to take a step into the latest craze on the world's second largest online poker room.

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Does the poker rooms' customer service meet your requirements?

One of the smaller factors that people consider while looking at which online poker room is best for them has to be that of how the site offers customer service to its members and the level at which they deliver that service to you.

So many people overlook this factor and when it comes to the point that they are in need of assistance, they get a shock to find that the service from the poker room simply doesn't echo the quality of other factors.

If you feel that you are going to be a player who is going to be looking to get help from customer service on a regular basis, you need to be looking for an online poker room that offers a live chat service to enable you to get the outcome that you want at a quick response rate.

The online poker room that is currently dominating the rankings for their level of customer service is Titan Poker, an online poker room found within the iPoker network.

Do they offer a generous sign up bonus or promotion?

Online poker is a huge industry and with so many online poker rooms battling for your custom and attention, you will always find a huge variety of bonus and promotions that will be offered to online poker players.

Without offering these sorts of bonuses to new players just like you, online poker rooms would run the risk of losing your custom to a rival poker room, something that was realised by the world's biggest online poker room, PokerStars, after they increased their sign up deposit bonus from $50 up to $600 to fall into line with the industry norm.

The best advice we can offer is to shop around for the best bonus for you.

What you do have to remember is that since the days of bonus 'whoring', online poker rooms tend not to offer you the deposit match bonus funding instantly and instead offer it with a number of targets that you have to meet to be able to free up those funds.

If you are new to the online poker scene, you would be better looking for an online poker room that offers a percentage of your bonus funds straight into your playable account, giving you the additional boost that was intended at the time of depositing.

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What is the level of opponents like?

Choosing the right online poker room is about selecting the right online poker room for you and with this factor, you have to really consider your poker playing ability as well as the ability of players who will be seated around you at the online poker felts.

It wouldn't make sense for a new and inexperienced poker player to head to an online poker room that offers a huge number of poker professionals and experienced poker players because you are simply providing these such players with yet another victim to focus on while you are unable to hold your own.

The best thing that an online poker player could do, would be to find an online poker room with players who are either of an equal playing ability or worse because this will instantly offer you a higher winning possibility.

Obviously finding a poker room that offers worse players than you would mean that you would be able to increase your poker bankroll but finding an online poker room that offers a player level equal to that of yourself will also help to keep your game play to a higher level too.

It had been seen so many times before where players have headed to a new online poker room from the likes of Full Tilt Poker with the view that they will extort funding from the newer online poker players but instead their own game has suffered and they have in fact lost their funds, whereas a poker site such as Bodog Poker also accept US players but it is much easier to win there.

Remember be honest about your ability.

I know that admitting that you simply aren't the best online poker player in the world may well hurt your ego but it will increase your chances of finding the best online poker room for you.

Does the online poker room offer a rewards scheme?

For new and inexperienced poker players this shouldn't have too much of an influence on your decision as to whether an online poker room is right for you but if you are a player who is consistently playing poker at high stakes, you have to definitely consider this side of the poker room.

Online poker room rewards scheme tend to be based on a number of levels, with players having the chance to climb up the ladder of the scheme through generating a certain number of points which are acquired through the creation of rake while playing within a real money environment.

Some of the biggest online poker rooms offer schemes that can see players not only having the chance to win tournament entry into a number of large scale tournaments online but also the chance to win packages to head to one of the biggest live poker tournaments in the poker calendar simply because of the number of points they have generated at the online poker room.

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