Poker Sites for Beginners

Things to Look For When Joining a Poker Site as a Beginner

Here are a few questions that new poker players should be asking of potential sites before they choose their online poker home.

What Tools Do They Provide to New Players?

While every new poker player likes to think that they're a natural, the truth is that just about everyone not named Phil Ivey could use a little help at the poker tables.  Online poker rooms are increasingly catering to this need by offering players tools such as odds calculators, hand analyzers and other add-ons that can accelerate the pace of a player's poker development.  Players who choose rooms without these tools can still succeed, but poker is already hard enough as it is. Look for rooms willing to give you a little bit of extra help when you're first getting started.

How Solid is Their Reputation?

An hour or so spent with Google could be the most profitable hour of a new poker player's career.  While you won't be able to find out every issue that every player has ever had with a given poker room in that time, you will be able to get a general sense of the room's reputation.  No online poker room is going to have a complete lack of complaints - after all, someone has to lose for someone to win - but a quick survey of reputable poker communities and news sites will allow you to at least avoid a grave misstep when choosing your first online poker room.

How Easy are Deposits and Withdrawals?

You want to play online poker, not spend hours sending documents back and forth to poker room support trying to get your deposit or withdrawal processed.  Frustration with banking is one of the primary reasons players grow disillusioned with a poker room (and online poker in general), so it's worth some of your time to explore the banking policies of a given room before you sign up.  Look for rooms that offer mainstream payment options like PayPal or Skrill, and take some time to ask support about cashout speed, fees and any other fine print that might gum up the works.

How Responsive is Their Customer Service?

Customer service is absolutely the canary in the coal mine for online poker rooms.  Rooms with slow or apparently incompetent customer service are almost certainly skimping on other aspects of their operation and should be avoided at all costs.  Rooms with quality customer service aren't always perfect, but you at least can be assured that any problems you do encounter will be resolved efficiently and with proper communication - a nice feature when you're trusting a company with your bankroll.

Best Overall Online Poker Site for Beginning Players

While a number of top rooms are competitive for this title, the winner in our estimation is 888 Poker.  Plenty of other online poker rooms are beginner-friendly, but 888 is almost exclusively focused on cultivating a player base built on those new to poker.  Whether it's webcam tables, a VIP program that rewards casual players or a strong community for players, 888 has what beginning players are looking for - and it shows in the room's steady growth over the last decade.

Best Online Poker Site for Beginners From the United States

With overall winner 888 Poker closed to US action, we would rate this as a close contest between Bovada Poker and Lock Poker.  Bovada has earned a solid reputation is a short amount of time and boasts a feature that beginning players may really appreciate:  Anonymous tables, meaning no one knows your screen name.  Bovada has also taken a hard line against data collection sites, making it difficult for professional players to use the tools they rely on at Bovada Poker - a situation that's ideal for beginning online poker players looking to test the waters without having to fear encounters with too many sharks.

Top Online Poker Site for Beginning Players From the UK

UK players new to poker and looking for a trusted local name will find much to like about bet365 Poker.  The room offers new players a software addon called "Poker Pal" that helps demystify the basic math behind poker and assists players in their overall acclimation to the online poker experience.  Bet365 also offers beginners access to tables exclusively reserved for new players, a nice feature that few online rooms can match.

Best Online Poker Site for Beginning Players From Canada

888 Poker wins not only the top overall rating in this category, but also the regional rating for Canada.  888 would be a strong contender in any context, but the room's recent push into the Canadian market solidifies its position as the top online poker site for Canadians.  The software, game selection and top-notch support specifically trained to deal with the unique issues facing Canadian poker players all combined to push 888 clearly ahead of competing rooms.