- Advantages of 888
- Free playunlimited play-money mode
- huge choiceall your favourite poker games
- $8 starting giftno deposit required
- $800 bonusinstead of $400 standard bonus
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- Licensed poker provider
- Secure and fair playing environment
- Technical security & data protection
- .Roger C.…I can always charge my free play-money account…
- .Damien G.…here I can cash out my winnings using PayPal quite easily…
Online Poker
Online poker has been a massive hit and certainly one of the best-known games over the recent years. While it all started with the so-called club poker that was played between friends or buddies in a home game format, the power of Internet made playing online possible. A chance to play poker from the comfort of your own home and meet millions of players worldwide took the game to a whole new level. Today, there are hundreds of poker rooms that offer a chance to compete against other players and play for either fun or real money. Which are the best ones? That is not an easy question to answer, but to start things off we will just say that there is way more to it than just PokerStars. As it was already mentioned, poker can be played for both fun and real cash. However, you aren’t required to put your own money at risk as there are a handful of so-called free bankroll sites that will sponsor you and help you make your very first steps in your poker career.
Click here for $8 free gift and start your poker adventure at 888poker today!
Free Online Poker Games
Our first recommendation for a poker room to play online at is 888 Poker. Why this one, instead of the world’s largest site of PokerStars? It’s quite simple actually, size isn’t everything and 888 is way more friendly to players who are just starting out. Firstly, you will benefit from $8 completely free, no strings attached, no hidden terms. Of course, in order to protect themselves, 888 will limit the use of these funds to poker only, but as that’s exactly what you are looking for, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Secondly, you will benefit from various extra bonuses. The first deposit bonus is a 100% match and you will get it immediately after funding you account with at least $10. The maximum bonus you may claim is $140 and it will be released gradually while you play and collect points.
There are even more ways to boost your bankroll at 888 Poker as a beginner player. When you deposit, you’ll also get an entry into the $100,000 First Depositors’ Challenge, which awards tickets for the largest weekly Poker Tournament of 888 – the 100k Sunday Challenge. It doesn’t even end here, as there is one $1,000 Depositors’ Freeroll token as well as seven $500 ones up for grabs. These are exclusive to beginner players, therefore the level of play and amount of entrants is low.
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- .many games, but confusing8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .mainly lengthy Freerolls6/10
- .100% up to $600 bonus6/10
- .Fast Fold poker9/10
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- .huge and well-organized game selection9/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .90 days of freerolls without deposit9/10
- .200% up to $2000 bonus10/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
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.Play now.Well-organized game selection with all the favourite variants, where you may find what you seek with fewer filter setting and much faster than at PokerStars. -
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- .many games, but confusing8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .mainly lengthy freerolls6/10
- .100% up to $600 bonus6/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
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- .all important games are available8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .$8 free no deposit10/10
- .100% up to $800 bonus8/10
- .Fast Fold & Webcam Poker10/10
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.Play now.You may play free games with both providers, but only 888poker will grant you free $8 starting capital to use in real-money games! -
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- .all important games are available8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .$8 free no deposit10/10
- .100% up to $800 bonus8/10
- .Fast Fold & Webcam Poker10/10
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- .huge and well-organized game selection9/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .90 days of freerolls without deposit9/10
- .200% up to $2000 bonus10/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
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.Play now.William Hill Poker grants you daily freerolls for 90 days after registration without deposit, but at 888 you may start real-money play with $8 free gift! -
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- .huge and well-organized game selection9/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .90 days of freerolls without deposit9/10
- .200% up to $2000 bonus10/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
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- .
- .many games, but confusing8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .mainly lengthy freerolls6/10
- .100% up to $600 bonus6/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
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.Play now.William Hill does not only present the largest bonus offer overviewed in the present comparison, but the provider actually gives you the huge 200% instead of the more common 100% bonus! -
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- .many games, but confusing8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .mainly lengthy freerolls6/10
- .100% up to $600 bonus6/10
- .Fast Fold Poker9/10
- .
- .
- .all important games are available8/10
- .play-money mode for all games10/10
- .$8 free no deposit10/10
- .100% up to $800 bonus8/10
- .Fast Fold & Webcam Poker10/10
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.Play now.Each large poker room features well-developed and reputed software offering the much-preferred Fast Fold Poker, but 888 stands out with the unique Webcam tables.
Best Online Poker Rooms
While the term itself is quite relative and many will agree that it’s purely a question of taste, there are some poker rooms that are worth or even deserve to be pointed out. These stand out from the crowd by constantly being innovative and thinking outside the box. It’s really important to join such a room, as this is a really saturated industry, where poker sites are often just copies of others and do not offer anything that can’t be found elsewhere.
You should also be looking for poker rooms with great software. While this might seem like a secondary aspect, it’s actually quite important. As you move up through the stake levels and advance as a player, it’s likely that you’ll be looking to play on multiple tables. Then, poker software will be of significance.
The Largest Tournaments
Undoubtedly, the most prestigious and large poker events in the world are the World Series of Poker, also known as WSOP. They are held every year between May and July in Las Vegas. The $10,000 WSOP Main Event has established its status as the most important poker tournament in history and the largest challenge before poker pros. The prize pool of that Main Event will normally reach an eight-digit figure, where 2006 saw a colossal $82,512,162 given away. Another popular tournament series is the World Poker Tour, also known as WPT, inspired by the WSOP and featuring a similar structure. The WPT World Championship, its Main Event, is in fact the second largest poker tournament in the world after the WSOP Main Event. The largest event in Europe is definitely the European Poker Tour, also known as EPT, which includes events in some of the most beautiful European cities.
The Largest Prize Pools
A number of prestigious poker series and tournaments are held every year, their prize pools reaching huge amounts. Currently, poker legend Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari tops the ranking of largest tournament prize pools of all times. The former professional magician has gained three WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles, his poker cash winnings amounting to over $25 million. Daniel Negreanu takes up the second rank in the live tournament cash winnings list. The friendly Canadian of Romanian descent has six gold WSOP bracelets and 2 WPT victories. Recently, he topped the Player of the Year ranking, becoming the first player in history to win the WSOP POY prize twice.
The Largest Cash Game Pots
Definitely, it is much harder to find records with cash games than it is with multi table tournaments. The main reason is that cash games are held outside of public attention. That is also why we decided to find out and introduce to you one of the largest prize pots in cash games. The American poker player Tom Dwan holds the record of the largest prize pot won in TV history. In 2009, during the Fourth Season of Full Tilt Poker’s Million Dollar Cash Game TV show, ‘durrr’ (Dwan’s online nickname) and Phil Ivey generated a prize pot at the amount of $1,100,000. As far as online cash games go, Finland’s Patrik Antonius broke the largest online poker prize pot record which was $1,356,947.
Successful Players
We will need a lot of space if we plan to enlist all successful poker players and include a detailed description of each one. That is why we are to introduce the most famous poker players who have turned into legends. The World Series of Poker have been established as the most prestigious poker events, and that is why I am to start by mentioning Phil Hellmuth. He holds the WSOP-bracelet record by owning 13 gold pieces. He is followed by Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan each of whom has 10 of the trophies.
The Global Poker Index rankings are posted every week, sharing who the best world’s players are. On their website, you may see who moves up or down the ladder. Of course, no player can always be successful, and while some have long winning streaks, there are others who see the opposite development.
$100,000 Challenge
If the large tournaments, prizes and the winners discussed so far have inspired you to become a successful poker player, then 888poker will definitely help you to grow from an amateur to professional. That poker provider is extremely suitable for beginning players and is famous for its easy-to-get welcome bonuses. When you deposit for the first time with 888 Poker, you will receive 100% bonus up to $800, 7 tickets for $500 First Depositors’ Freeroll and an invitation to take part in the $100,000 First Depositors’ Challenge. When you register, even before you deposit, you will also receive $8 for free.
Wide Variety of Poker Game Types
Another greatly important factor, when trying to find an online poker room is what game types are offered there. While most of the time the real question is whether the ones you want to play are offered, variety cannot do any harm. You never know if you won’t want to try out other poker types. All the best poker rooms will offer the most popular ones, such as No Limit Hold’em, and Omaha as Cash Games and Tournaments, but this will rarely be the case for game types such as 5 Card Draw or Razz Poker. Often, there will be tables offered for all these and more games types, but with one serious flaw – small or non-existent traffic for them. Player traffic is yet another important aspect to check.
Exceptional and Innovative Poker Software
As we previously mentioned, there are quite a few software providers that offer great software for those who are looking to multi table or take online poker seriously, but this isn’t what we will be discussing in this section. Even though most players have rated Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars as the two sites with the best software, there is another site that has impressed the world with their innovation and outstanding effort to improve poker playing experience and make it more entertaining. The site in question is PKR Poker and they offer fully functional 3D online poker experience.
888 Poker has also been working hard on the entertainment side of online poker. Their latest development, PokerCam, allows users to show their emotions directly to the table via a WebCam. This can be done by playing at certain tables that feature the PokerCam symbol.
Put PKR Poker’s unique 3D atmosphere to the test here for free!
Start Your Poker Career & Win Real Money Without Making a Real Money Deposit
While this might sound as being too good to be true, it’s real and, even better, it is legal. You can receive free money to play online poker. All winnings will be yours to keep and the only requirement for this money will be that it has to be used for poker play. Of course, you’ll have to start at Micro Limits with a small bankroll, but every beginning is hard and poker is not an exception.
All this sounds great, but where can one get this free poker money we are talking about? Well, the only thing you have to do will be the easy and free poker download of the software you will play on and then, register your account. There are only a couple of rooms willing to give you such free credits, so don’t waste this chance and use them wisely. You won’t believe how many people have actually built serious bankrolls from offers just like this one.
Our first and main offer for free cash is 888 Poker. It was already mentioned earlier that they offer $8 without deposit. You are free to use this money in any poker game, but I would strongly suggest you not use it in a single tournament or to play at stakes that are too high for you, such as $0.05/$0.10 Cash Games. It will only need one bad beat or unlucky hand and you are back to being broke. Instead, use it for smaller games, such as $1 tournaments or at $0.01/$0.02 Cash Tables. If you happen to lose this one, don’t take it too hard, though. Check our Free Money for Poker Play page at PokerBankroll.com. There’s a fair bit of these kinds of offers, all of them free of charge.
There is also another alternative if the 888 offer has already been used. It’s a poker room on the iPoker Network – William Hill poker. They offer a relatively friendly environment for beginner type poker players, by running some high-value promotions as well as plenty of freeroll tournaments. Although there is no free gift for new customers who download and register at the room, they will get access to free SnG’s for three months. There are daily newbies events that will help you build your skill and your bankroll from scratch. Then, you will receive the 200% first deposit bonus, which will triple your funds up to $2,000.
Free Poker Training & Coaching
Poker is a game of skill and one where constant adjustments are required. It’s also a game that has evolved in terms of skill set and general quality of players. Games were so much easier back in the 2008, for example. A winning micro stakes player in today’s games would be able to beat small stakes easily in 2008.
Before you start to dream about buying that new car with your poker winnings, we have to warn you in advance. Unless you are prepared to work really, really hard on your game and analyse the hands you’ve played, you won’t get any further than dreaming. It’s not all that negative, though. Constant effort and hard work get rewarded. You are likely to have a question about working hard on your game and how to actually become a better player. Right, we have this covered thoroughly in our Poker Training section. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a beginner looking to jump into micro stakes action or an experienced mid- to high stakes regular. You will surely benefit from visiting this section in both cases.
Learn the game of poker inside-out at Pokerstrategy and receive $10 free poker money!