The best way to learn to play or just practice the skills you have learned offline is to play online, you can find tournaments for as little as 10 cents (5p) going right up to some serious high roller levels! You also get some great bonus's and free rolls which means for not much you can get a lot more play compared to an offline club, but obviously not that atmosphere.

Below is a summary of two online poker rooms that I 100% recommend - If you have any problems with these at all let me know as I personally know the people at both of these so should be able to sort them out for you.

Pokerstars

Undoubtedly the largest site on the net, Pokerstars draws in huge amounts of players with their large tournaments and faultless, almost unbeatable software. They have been the industry leader for some time and there are no signs to show that this will end anytime soon.

Pokerstars Initial Deposit Bonus

Despite being the biggest site on the net, Pokerstars initial deposit bonus is below average. Players receive a 100% bonus on their first deposit up to a maximum of $50. To release the bonus you must accumulate 10 times the amount of FPPs. For example if you are eligible for the full $50 bonus you will have to collect 500 FPPs. You have six months in which to redeem the full bonus, after that it will expire and none of the remaining bonus can be released.

Pokerstars Promotions

Pokerstars more then makes up for the poor initial deposit bonus with their promotions. As they do not offer rake back, Pokerstars have a fantastic reward system for players. All you have to do is play poker, collect FPPs then enjoy spending them. Players are ranked from Bronze Star up to the famous Supernova Elite, depending on the amount of FPPs they have accumulated within the month and year. With each level comes more rewarding benefits for the player, including custom merchandise and monthly $100,000 tournaments.

Players can also spend their FPPs in the store. Players can buy numerous amounts of items such as computer monitors and a Porsche Cayman!

Pokerstars Ring Games

Pokerstars ring games are highly populated from micro stakes up to large stakes. Play at lower limits is, as you would expect, fairly poor. This is mainly because players at micro levels are normally new to poker, and as Pokerstars is the most popular card room they attract most of the new players. This means any solid micro player can take advantage of the amount of new players at the site and make a decent profit at the tables.

Play at higher limits is solid and is filled with professional players. Again, as Pokerstars is the biggest room on the net, most people believe it is the safest. Therefore the internets biggest players play on Pokerstars, which means high limits are filled with great players. Making a good amount of money at these tables consistently is therefore much harder to do than at other sites.

Pokerstars Tournaments

Pokerstars is well known for their lucrative guaranteed tournaments. The most popular is the Sunday Million. Thousands of players play this tournament each week in the hope they can hit it big at the final table. Players at the final table are playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, making this tournament a huge attraction. The buy-in is incredibly low at $215, but many players qualify for the tournament through satellites.

Pokerstars offers a huge range of tournaments, including Stud, Razz, and Horse etc. All tournaments get a respectable field so there is a tournament to suit any players bankroll and preference.

Pokerstars Software and Graphics

As mentioned before, Pokerstars software is second to none. It is extremely slick and smooth throughout and even the most computer illiterate individual will have no problem working their way around the software. Players can easily find a game of their choice from the lobby, by using the suitable tab and then narrowing down the results using the filter feature.

Once onto the felt, players can customize the table to exactly suit their needs. They can change the background to one of Pokerstars extensive collection or even buy one from the many websites which offer this service. Players can also buy custom card graphics or again choose from the available selection given by Pokerstars. Players can even change the theme of the lobby.

Players can multi-table up to 24 tables simultaneously. Although many players could not concentrate on this many tables, it is a great feature for those who play poker for a living and want to increase their win rate per hour. 

Another great feature is the ability to restrict the table limits of which you can play. You can choose the maximum limit you wish to be able to participate in, and then Pokerstars will block any attempt you make to try and play over this limit. This is extremely valuable for players who suffer from tilt and waste their bankroll playing limits higher then they should.

Players also have easy access to hand histories. You can access the hand histories for your current table using the link in the corner of the table. This allows you to go through the current session easily. Players can also get older hand histories from previous sessions sent to them via e-mail. This is a great option for players who use tracking software such as Poker Tracker, but are playing on somebody else’s computer for example.

Pokerstars Traffic

Pokerstars boasts huge traffic throughout all hours of the day. At peak hours you will find 22,500 cash game players online and a staggering 155,000 tournament players online, the highest amount in the industry by some distance.

Pokerstars Support

Although Pokerstars only offer e-mail support at this time, they often respond very quickly and always find an efficient solution to player problems within the first e-mail.

Bodog Poker

Summary

Bodog Poker, now referred to as Bodog Life Poker provides players with first class tournament action in a very slick setting. The Bodog Company has been in business since 1998 and has quickly grown into one of the top performing poker rooms online. The main attraction to this room is the ultra soft ring games and their weekly $100,000 tournament.

The poker room offers a very unique bonus giving players an instant cash offer to jump start their bankrolls in addition to a match bonus with both offers totalling $550. Players can expect frequent reload bonus, satellites to live events, and a weekly leaderboard which gives players the opportunity to play a Team Bodog Pro for a $1,000 prize pool. Bodog Poker is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and is one of the few remaining poker rooms for USA players.

Bodog Poker Bonus

Bodog Poker offers all new players a unique bonus program. It is broken down into two parts with a combined total of $550 in bonus dollars for you to start off with. The first part of the bonus is an instant cash offer. Once you make your initial deposit, Bodog will deposit 10% of that amount into your player account. This bonus can be used immediately but you will need to meet the play though requirements first before requesting a withdrawal.

The bonus will be cleared at a rate of 3 points for every $1 in bonus dollars. The second part to the bonus is the 100% match offer which gives you up to $500 in bonus dollars. This bonus also has a release requirement of 10x the amount awarded. This bonus will be deposited into your Bodog account in amounts equal to $10 once you have earned a minimum of 100 Bodog poker points. Points are awarded at a rate of 1pt for every $3 in rake generated and 3 points for every $1 in tournament fees plus an additional point for each hour you are playing on site.

Bodog Poker Promotions

Last but not least, the poker room released a new promotion earlier this year which allows players to redeem those poker points (which we all know linger in our accounts) for cash. Bodog’s cash back rewards program gives all players the chance to earn up to $2,500 back each and every month. This is not a bonus, so there is no clearing requirements attached but is in fact a real money offer.

Game Variety

The poker room supports the basic ring games with Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 5 Card Draw and Stud which is also available in the Hi Lo format. One of the attractions to this room is amount of action you will find at most hours of the day not to mention the very loose games available to you.

The majority of the players at Bodog will be found at the Holdem tables and although they don’t support ultra high stake games like some rooms, you will be able to play right up to the maximum blind which is $25/$50 NL. Stud and Draw games are the only variations which are less likely to have a number of tables running unless it’s during peak hours. The rake taken at Bodog is capped at $3 per pot at a fixed rate of 5%.

Tournaments

Bodog has done an excellent job in the tournament department and with their team of pro players, they are quickly gaining some much deserved attention. The poker room hosts more than $4,000,000 in guaranteed tournaments each month which does not include the weekly leaderboard competition. The biggest event in their weekly line-up is the Sunday $100,000 guaranteed. This tournament is becoming one of the more popular games online simply because of the huge overlay you will find week after week. That particular tournament alone can provide an overlay in excess of $30,000. Other special events include the Player’s Choice promo, which allows you to pick which tournament you want to enter in the poker circuit and recently they held their first ever Bodog Poker Open which gave away close to a million dollars in cash prizes.

Software

The software is proprietary and provides a fully functional design which is lightening fast and very simple to use. The Bodog platform was upgraded not too long ago and as such the company updated a few of their features in addition to implementing new ones. This has provided players with more user friendly options and enabled them to have further control over their game. The tables allow you to upload your own personal avatars, select from various background colours and detailed game statistics. You will also find cash game stats within the lobby and each of the active tables are highlighted in a different colour enabling quick game selection. The lobby statistics present the standard information such as viewed flop percentage; the number of hands dealt per hour and of course the average pot size at that table. The only negative we can speak of in terms of software is the limited number of games players can play when multi-tabling. Bodog will only support up to three games simultaneously.

Support

Ask any player about the quality of service from the Bodog support team and the overall response will be positive. The poker room has one of the most efficient support department’s online assisting players with everything from opening accounts to setting up deposit options. The Bodog support team can be reached through email or by using one of the toll free numbers located on their website.

Deposit and Withdrawals

Bodog provides services to USA players and has made sure that you will not only be able to fund your poker account, but also be able to withdrawal from it to. Withdrawals are generally processed within 48 hours and if you do have any difficulties opening up one of the accounts listed below or with the actual payment itself you can contact the Bodog support and they will help you with any issues you may have. Current payment options include; Credit cards, eWalleteXpress, Click2Pay, Money Transfer and Rapid Transfer.

Quick Summary

• Created in 1995

• Licensed by Kahnawake Gaming Commission

• Location: Antigua

• Most Popular Tournaments: Weekly $100,000 guaranteed with a $109 buy-in and qualifiers starting at $3

• Game Variety - Texas Holdem ( PL, FL, NL), Omaha ( PL, FL), Omaha Hi Lo ( PL, FL), Seven Card Stud ( FL), Seven Card Stud ( FL), 5 Card Draw (FL)