Historically, Party Poker has always been the site where the easy money was at. During the poker boom, it became the world's largest poker room but lost that status after the site was closed to US players. These days Party Poker is only the second largest site when it comes to the number of players, but is probably still top dog when it comes to finding lots of easy games.
At peak hours, you'll find approximately 70,000 real-money players online at PartyPoker, 60,000 of them in tournaments and 10,000 in cash games.
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Double Hold'em
PartyPoker uses some of the fastest software in the industry, allowing for more hands to be played in less time. New players can find their way around easily, and more seasoned players can tweak the settings such as table size and visual alerts to create their optimal multi-tabeling setup.
PartyPoker offers frequent player-specific reload bonuses.
Support for datamining on PartyPoker is limited; you can only get hand history data for hands you took part in. The PartyPoker-tables do support the use of HUDs.
The VIP-program at PartyPoker is divided into 5 levels. At the highest level, you can earn bonuses worth up to $75,000, which translates into a 50% discount on rake paid at the tables.
Weekly $200K guaranteed tournament, quarterly $1M guaranteed tournaments.
888 Poker is part of the 888.com group, which also operates the world's largest online casino. So it's no surprise you'll find plenty of people looking to gamble in the poker room. The site used to be known as Pacific Poker and their software was notoriously buggy but after the rebranding to 888 Poker and their last update, called "Poker 6", the site is now up there with the best.
During peak-hours, you can find some 8,000 real-money players at 888 Poker; 6,000 of them playing tournaments and about 2,000 on the cash tables.
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
When still branded Pacific Poker, the 888 software was notoriously bad. However, with the re-branding came a new poker client which works like a charm. The lobby has a special section for new players and quick-seat options for advanced players who want to get into the game as soon as possible.
Roughly every month, 888 Poker offers reload bonuses for 100% up to $200.
888 Poker works with hand history trackers and HUDs, however, there are known bugs and other issues which require a fair bit of tweeking before tracking and HUDs work smoothly.
888 Poker allows you to convert poker points into cash at any time you like. Depending on your VIP-level, this translates into a discount on rake paid from 2% to 36%. VIP-players also get access to a monthly $10K freeroll.
Weekly $100K guaranteed tournament, qualifiers for the WPT, WSOP and other live events
“Texas hold'em meets The Sims”, is how WPT Magazine described PKR.com. With stunning videogame-quality graphics and audio, the site tries its best to bring the thrill of live poker to the online game. This draws a lot of casual players to the site, who seem to lose themself in the fun of it and forget they're playing for real money.
7,000 real money players can be found at PKR.com during peak hours. About 5,800 players are involved in tournaments while 1,200 gamble at the cash tables.
Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo
PKR uses unique 3D-software which allows you to fully customize your avatar. Full of audio and animation, the games play in graphically rich environments. While a lot of fun, this does lead to a somewhat slower gamespeed and requires a lot more computer resourves than the average poker client. Playing multiple tables at once might take some time getting used to.
PKR offers 3 to 5 reload bonuses a year, varying from 100% up to $100 to $600
PKR handhistories can be imported into tracking software. However, the 3D-tables do not support the use of HUDs.
Club PKR offers extra reload bonuses to frequent players. The program is divided into six levels, each with their own freerolls. Depending on your level, you can buy all sorts of gadgets from the PKR store.
Monthly $100K guaranteed PKR Masters tournament, Weekly $10K guaranteed Sunday Grand Prix, $15K Sunday open
DownloadLadbrokes Poker is run by one of the U.K.'s largest bookmakers and remains one of Europe's biggest independent poker sites. Having never allowed players from the U.S, Ladbrokes remains unaffected by any American laws. The site is mostly populated by gamblers from the U.K. and Nordic countries.
Ladbrokes Poker has about 7,000 real money players online during peak hours, of which 1,200 are playing cash games while some 5,800 players can be found fighting it out in tournaments.
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 5 Card Stud, Razz, 5 Card Draw
While Ladbrokes Poker is not connected to the Microgaming network, it does use the same software. The site doesn't offer the most pleasing visuals but the software is incredibly fast. It doesn't have many bells and whistles and is pretty simple to use, even for novice players. A unique feature is the "anonymous tables", allowing you to play without your screenname being shown.
Ladbrokes offers about 10 reload bonuses a year, normally around 20% up to $100
Ladbrokes supports hand history tracking software and HUDs. However, they also offer "anonymous" tables where players don't show their nickname. This limits the use of tracking hand histories to the current session.
The Ladbrokes Poker Club offers 3 monthly freerolls for the three different levels, with a maximum prizepool of $1,750 for the Gold-level. There is also a VIP-club for the most frequent players, offering a 30% discount on rake paid, VIP-freerolls and qualifiers into live events.
Quarterly EUR 500K Guaranteed tournament, monthly EUR 200K Guaranteed tournament, weekly EUR 100K Guaranteed tournament, qualifiers into European live events
DownloadPaddy Power Poker is owned by bookmaker Paddy Power and mainly targets players from Ireland and the UK. However, being part of the iPoker Network, you will find players from all over the world at the tables. Many of the other sites on the network are affiliated to casinos and bookmakers, so there is plenty of serious gambling at the tables.
Sharing players with the rest of the iPoker Network, Paddy Power Poker has about 7,000 cash game players and 30,000 tournaments players online during peak hours, all competing for real money.
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, 5 Card Stud
As part of the iPoker-network, Paddy Power Poker uses the Playtech-engine. The visuals look a bit outdated but the games are fast and stable. The lobby has great filters, allowing you to find the right games fast, and there are a number of handy options to make multitabling go smoothly.
Paddy Power Poker is known to give insanely huge reload bonuses, the biggest having been 100% up to $10K. However, even at medium stakes, these bonuses clear slowly.
You can use tracking software and HUDs on Paddy Power Poker, however, you need to do quite a bit of configuring to get it to work, and there are still known bugs.
Paddy Power Poker runs a "C*A*S*H Army" VIP-program, divided into 10 levels. Depending on your VIP-level, you get an entry into weekly $300, $500 and $1,000 freerolls and cash bonuses from $50 to $800. Paddy Points can also be exchanged for cash bonuses and tournament entries.
Weekly $200K guaranteed tournament, weekly $25K guaranteed tournament, qualifiers into the Irish Poker Open and other Ireland-based live tournaments
Download