Real Money Texas Holdem

Finding a Quality Poker Room

While we could just tell you, “Sportsbook Poker and Players Only are the best out there in terms of Texas Holdem for real money,” our goal at MyPokerBasics is not to really sell you on any particular website. We do mention both of those sites a good bit, but that’s because of the quality of play that you’ll experience when you’re playing there. Instead, we’d rather you make the choice for yourself based on a number of criteria, starting with things like security, payout schedules, and deposit bonuses.

One thing that may be more important than all of those things combined, however, is seeing that a website belongs to a reputable gaming authority. It’s easy to think, “Well, there’s some kind of fancy logo on this website so they must be legitimate.” Stop; put yourself in a cyber-criminal’s shoes for a moment. If you were going to make a fake website and try to lure unsuspecting gamblers into making deposits, wouldn’t you post some phony logos on your home page too?

Checking Poker Room Certifications

The sad truth to the matter is that you can never take anything you see on the web at face value. For example, you’ve probably heard of Ultimate Bet…that’s the website where all the professionals hang out to play for serious money. One of our website programmers can easily make their way over to Ultimate Bet, copy every single bit of script on their website, and have a perfect clone out there in cyberspace in a matter of about forty-five minutes. Within another couple of hours, we could have every single link working perfectly and emulate the exact poker experience at UB…except you’d be on a fraudulent website.

Of course, we aren’t saying any of this just to scare you; we simply want you to protect yourself (any your identity/credit) any time that you log into an online poker room or casino. The only way to do that is to physically verify each poker room’s online certification to ensure that it is valid…a task that shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two once you know what you’re looking for. Ultimate Bet, for example, is certified by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and you can verify that information by going directly to the tribal website from an internet browser. Once you see that an online poker room is in good standing, it means that their odds are fair, they pay out money quickly, and they have a reputable standing within the gambling world.

Validating Customer Service

Ensuring that an online poker room is certified does not mean that it’s in your best option to play there though, because there’s still several other aspects that you have to stop and consider. There are still items like pot rakes, processing times, security, and customer service to consider…and that’s before you even look at the graphics or the quality of play. The gaming authority only verifies that the casino is legitimate, but can’t you name plenty of legitimate businesses that we shouldn’t be spending money at?

The easiest way to find out some of these things is to pick up the phone and call the online poker room directly. Do not be afraid to ask some tough questions and if you do not like the answers, then hang up the phone. Any customer service representative at a casino should be able to tell you about every aspect of online play available if they’re advertising Texas Holdem for real money, so make sure that you get the exact answers that you’re looking for.

For example, we tried out a newer poker site the other week called Poker 770, and since we had never heard of them before, we spent almost twenty minutes asking about every aspect of the betting experience. Finally we ran out of questions, so there was nothing left to do but to deposit some money and try the website out. Overall the play was pretty good; not the best we’ve seen but certainly nowhere near the worst either.

The Overall Experience

Another big aspect of playing Texas Holdem for real money is the amount of actual players; be wary of websites that only have a handful of people using their services. A lot of the time you’ll hear that the website is just new or that you’re visiting during a slow time of the day, but quality websites that have pleasant experiences usually have upwards of 1,000 players online twenty-four hours per day. Heck, at Sportsbook Poker that number is probably closer to 10,000 at any given time.

The first thing that you should look for in any online poker room that advertises Texas Holdem for real money is the amount of players inside the lobby. A low number doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a bad place to play, but if there’s only a few hundred online then be prepared for some pretty strong opposition at almost any table. Also pay close attention to the online poker room’s graphics and the amount of detail that went into the design of each table; if it looks generic or boring then it’s probably not the place for you.

The last thing to consider when you want to play Texas Holdem for real money is the bonuses and incentives that the various poker rooms offer. We mentioned earlier that we thought Sportsbook Poker and Players Only are the best; a big part of that is their newcomer welcome bonus and the VIP packages that they have put together. They’re currently the most generous poker rooms around when it comes to giving back to the players in the form of merchandise, free tournament entries, and bonus cash, so for now that puts them on the top of our list. Next month it may be a promotion at UB or even someone we’ve never heard of before…which is why the blog at MyPokerBasics is updated almost every single day. If you be sure to keep your eye out for any online poker rooms that we’ve missed, we will promise to keep you updated on all of your online poker needs whenever we find them.

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