Training Example: Upswing Poker – Review the Data, Give Your Score & Compare to the Real AI Evaluation

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[H4] Poker Site Reviews

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Read our detailed poker site reviews to find out what the top rated poker sites are in terms of bonuses, rakeback, tournaments, cash-games, traffic, freerolls & more.

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Learn the basics of poker - from poker hand rankings and pushbot charts to advanced poker concepts with our professional poker guides from some of the sharpest players and coaches in the poker industry. We also have a comprehensive poker glossary for your reference.

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[H4] Poker Events, News & Promotions

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Features

[H3] Poker Bad Beat Jackpots

The Poker.com guide to poker bad-beat jackpots – including mechanics, triggers, qualifying hands – and where to play for $100,000+ jackpots!

[H3] Pro Tips to Win Satellite Tournaments – With Dara O’ Kearney

Dara O' Kearney, poker pro, and author of "Satellite Poker Strategy" and "PKO Poker Strategy" gives expert tips and advice for players hoping to win WSOP seats via satellites

[H3] 9 Reasons You’re Struggling to Beat The Small Stakes

Poker Crusher and Poker Author Nathan "Blackrain79" Williams identifies key adjustments players need make in order to beat small-stakes poker in 2020.

Poker Bad Beat Jackpots

Pro Tips to Win Satellite Tournaments - With Dara O' Kearney

9 Reasons You’re Struggling to Beat The Small Stakes

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[H4] All Time Global Poker Money List

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View the top 100 live tournament players in Global ▷

[H4] Poker News

The latest news, views & gossip from the poker world

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DNegs, PartyPoker’s Rob Yong & More on The Orbit ep 4

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Poker Sites Combat Real-Time Assistance & Cheating in Online Poker

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Unibet Launches €120 Refer A Friend Program offering FREE Bonus Cash

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Venetian Announces First Vegas Live MTT Series Since Covid

[H4] Poker Strategy & Tips

Expert poker advice to improve your poker game - covering SNG's, Cash Games & Tournaments

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Nash Equilibrium Pushbot And Call Charts for Poker Tournaments

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Poker is a Game of Chips that Uses Cards & Live Poker Tournament Advice – with Chris “Fox” Wallace

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Tracking Your Poker Progress is ESSENTIAL To Improve Your Game

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Multi-Way Pots – Adjustments You should Make To Improve Your Results

More Poker Strategy & Tips

[H4] Popular Pages

Find out about Poker Rakeback, Bitcoin poker, the history of Poker & more

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USA Poker Legislation Federal and State Law

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? Poker Podcasts

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Poker Rakeback & The History of Rakeback

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The History of Poker

[H4] Bitcoin Poker

Everything you need to know to play online-poker with cryptocurrency (BTC, Ethereum etc)

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Best Bitcoin Poker Sites 2020

[IMG: A Bitcoin Poker Guide - How to Get Started]

A Bitcoin Poker Guide - How to Get Started

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Bitcoin / USD / mBTC Converter & Blinds Calculator

Best Bitcoin Poker Sites

[H4] Pro-Player Profiles & Career Earnings

Pro Poker Player profiles, Bios, Quotes and information

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Phil Ivey

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Vanessa Selbst

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Kristen Bicknell

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Richard Yong

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Phil Hellmuth

[H4] International Poker Tours

The Global Poker Circuit: Tournament information & Results

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Triton Poker

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Aussie Millions

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Irish Poker Open

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World Poker Tour

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WSOP Europe

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World Series of Poker History & WSOP Winners

[H4] Poker Frequently Asked Questions

"Blinds" are shorthand for “blind bets,” these are the compulsory bets which must be made by two players in a poker hand before any cards are dealt. In Texas hold'em, blinds replace the “ante.”
The Button is the name for the player in the seat before the small and big-blinds, who acts as the dealer in the current hand. The button moves around the table clockwise after each hand of poker. More poker terms are explained in our poker glossary.

A lot of online poker rooms offer "freerolls" which are free-to-enter poker tournaments with real prizes.. They generally pay out 10-15% of the field in cash, tournament tickets and other goodies. The Poker.com freeroll tracker page lists upcoming freerolls from the top poker rooms worldwide, updated every 5 minutes. If you live in the USA, Australia or New-Zealand, check out the $10,000 in monthly freerolls running at Ignition Poker.

Yes- poker sites have been quick to embrace BTC for deposits and withdrawals because it cuts down on bank/transaction fees for their customers, as well as offering privacy benefits. In fact some sites (such as Ignition Poker) ONLY accept cryptocurrency. Getting started is as simple as registering on a crypto exchange, buying Bitcoin and transferring it to your poker site wallet. Read our BTC Poker Guide

Rakeback is a refund to players of a significant portion of the money taken by poker rooms in 'rake' from cash-pots on cash-games and from tournament fees in Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs) and Sit and Go tournaments (SNGs). Rakeback deals vary, depending mostly on the stakes played, and volume (of hands/tournaments) a player puts in over a week/month. More rake taken by poker room generally equates to more rakeback for a player who has a good rakeback deal. See our Poker Rakeback Offers page for more details.

Video poker is a simple affair - with the player battling against the computer in a draw poker game. Some of the top poker rooms we recommend have casino games on offer - including video poker (and a number of variants to keep things interesting, including deuces wild, jacks wild). See our Video Poker page to see what's hot in video poker.

That is a tricky question to answer. Cash game winnings online and live are difficult to track, as is profitability. Tournament wins on the other hand are well documented, and we have compiled a "global money list", ranking players based on their tracked tournament winnings. Currently in 2020, the player with the most recorded live tournament cashes is Bryn Kenney with over $56,000,000 in tracked tournament cashes. View the top 100 global poker players by tournament earnings.

Poker legislation in the United States differs from state to state. Poker is legal to play in many states, and there is talk of regulation in many more. Our USA poker guide dives in to the ins and outs of playing poker in the USA on a state by state level. USA Poker Guide

Yes- you can analyse your own plays and those of your opponents using equity calculators, tracking software and poker solvers. We have reviewed a number of essential pro poker tools on our poker tools and apps page.

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We take a detailed look at the evolution and current state of play for online gambling and online poker at both a federal and state level in the USA.
[H2] 1998-2001
[H3] Online Poker is Born & The Wire Act
Online Poker can be traced back to January 1998 with the first real money hand being dealt at Planet Poker, a poker site founded by Canadian Randy Blumer. In the same year Yahoo Games launched Texas Hold’em games for play money which was a very popular portal and instrumental in introducing this new poker variant to the mass market.
As Texas Hold’em began to take hold in casinos and the embryonic online poker market, it was the Paradise Poker launch in late 1999 which brought a more serious brand and game quality to the marketplace, and making them the number one poker site after one day of operations.
Considering this was a nascent industry it is not surprising the legal landscape was not developed and very unclear. Certainly the early brands were operating legally in jurisdictions like Costa Rica or Antigua, but the interpretation became less obvious when asking questions like:
‘Where did the bet actually take place?’ or
‘Is it legal for the player to participate in online poker or not?’, and
‘Is it legal in my state or is this a federal law?’.
Although certain powers may disagree, let’s also be aware that the laws of the United States are not global, and do not reach beyond their own borders (although their influence certainly does). This is also important to remember when looking at the legality of online poker.
During the days of Planet Poker and Paradise Poker, the brands operated on legal opinions which primarily considered the Federal Wire Act of 1961(or Interstate Act), which specifically refers to sporting events or contests in its language and refers to a wire communication facility, which was aimed at bookies in wire rooms connected with organized crime syndicates (obviously well before the internet was even conceived). Calling poker a sport seemed like a stretch and at the time there was also the strong belief that poker being a skill game should not be lumped in with betting games.
[H2] 2002
[H3] Mastercard Case – An Online Casino Joyride Tests Wire Act
It was on November 20, 2002 the Federal Wire Act as it relates to poker (and casino) was finally tested in a significant U.S. court and it was positive news for the industry. The United States Court of Appeals,Fifth Circuit decided that some defending online casinos (offering casino and poker) were not liable to repay some disgruntled gamblers since they were not illegal under the definition of the Wire Act (18 U.S.C. § 1084), which the judge opined clearly does not prohibit non-sports internet gambling. This was very positive news for the industry indeed.
[H2] 2006
[H3] UIEGA – Finally a Federal Bill Slips Through the Cracks
For most of the early years of online poker it seemed a U.S. federal bill was introduced, only to die each year as sessions adjourned. This all changed in September 14, 2006 when the senate passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in a hurriedly fashion and without any traditional discussion or vote. It was an amendment to an unrelated legislation (the Port SAFE Act) pushed through the senate floor on the last day before the session closed for the summer. The language of the Act focused on payments, essentially placing liability on financial institutions and banks and forcing them to proactively restrict all transactions that could be gambling related. Although the act mostly yielded to pre-existing laws to determine legality of the game in question, it did target online poker by stating that any game subject to chance is gambling. In addition, it clarified that betting takes place where the user is located and not on the remote server (an argument sometimes made by operators).
UIEGA whipped the industry into a frenzy, forcing most operators (in particular the publicly traded ones) to exit the U.S. before the October 13, 2006 deadline. Brands such as Party Poker, Paradise Poker, and 888 all exited and saw their player liquidities plummet.
[H2] 2007
[H3] DOJ Launches Attack on European Institutions
Looking to strike while the iron was hot, the Department of Justice subpoenaed several investment banks including HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort, all having transacted with various publicly traded companies (all UK listed). The DOJ also engaged in a far reaching fishing expedition which was widely panned in Europe considering that US authorities were well out of their jurisdiction and ultimately had no authority to enforce their laws across the Atlantic.
[H2] 2007-2010
[H3] Public Brands Settle with DOJ
Shortly thereafter, the pressure continued to yield dividends, culminating in a series of ‘mi culpa’ non-prosecution agreements (corporate settlement pleas) starting first with Party Poker in April 2009 in the amount of $105 million and later settled with Sportingbet (owner of Paradise Poker) in September 2010 for $33 million. Besides the cash grab, US authorities were able to claim admission of illegal gambling, bank fraud, wire fraud… but the reality is these were non-consequential pleas designed to give the impression underlying laws were successfully enforced.
[H2] 2008
[H3] Party Poker Founding Shareholder Pleads Guilty
The DOJ pressure did yield results, starting with the stunning plea by Party Poker founding shareholder and software chief, Anurag Dikshit in December 2008.. Mr. Dikshit flew to a courtroom in Manhattan from India to plead guilty to wire charges and agree to a whopping $300 million cash settlement. It is widely believed that Mr. Dikshit caved in to intense pressure, and was highly criticised by industry veterans. For example, key founders Ruth and Russ Parasol never considered any admission of guilt and certainly not to wire charges which was the foundation of their legal opinion since day one.
[H2] 2007-2010
[H3] Poker Stars & Full Tilt Reign Supreme – European brands challenged
While European based brands were dealing with settlements for pre UIGEA activity, this left the privately owned brands of Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker, and Ultimate Bet to fight it out in the less competitive landscape. Poker Stars and Full Tilt were the leading brands in the USA from 2007-2010, and surprisingly were allowed to continue .net advertising on the major networks despite the new federal law. Payments were an issue, but these companies miscoded the required 7995 credit card code and claimed poker deposits were jewelry and golf ball purchases.
While Poker Stars had the best of two worlds, leveraging their American player pool to attract European and global players, European plcs had a very frustrating time competing, while also positioning for the early stages of regulation. Party Poker (with 10% global share) was the European leader during this time, with iPoker and Ongame networks claiming 2nd and 3rd spot for European based liquidity.
Although there is no public data for the private companies during this time it is widely known that Poker Stars benefited greatly with the lack of serious competitors in USA (except Full Tilt)
[H2] 2011
[H3] Black Friday – The unfair advantage comes to an end
Like all good things, the glory days came to a dramatic conclusion on April 15, 2011, a day poker players remember vividly as Black Friday, whereby the U.S. government indicted Poker Stars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker founders criminally for bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. If this weren’t enough, a tidy $3 billion in penalties to boot. The charges were very much focused on payments and fraud, especially considering the miscoding of credit cards, and the co-operation of a US based bank in Utah.
DOJ Says the Wire Act Covers Sports Only Giving NJ the Green Light
On September 20, 2011 the DOJ was asked to opine on the legality of New York and Illinois state lottery sales via the internet as it related to the Wire Act, as the states did not want to violate this federal law. The opinion of the DOJ memorandum was that the Wire Act relates only to Sporting Events or Contests, and thus lotteries would not violate it. More importantly, online poker had finally broken free of the Wire Act millstone, and this opinion was exactly what New Jersey needed in order to move forward with their online licensing plans.
[H2] 2012
[H3] PokerStars Corporate Settlement & Mark Scheinberg Clear
Soon after taking control of the Poker Stars and Full Tilt .com domains, the DOJ soon realized that Full Tilt was quickly spiralling out of control, having failed to ring fence their player’s deposits as per the regulatory requirement, it was looking more like a classic ponzi scheme.
This turned out to be a very fortunate circumstance for Poker Stars as they were able to save the day by having all corporate charges dismissed by forfeiting $547 million relating to their misdeeds in the US, and even more important for all parties involved, Poker Stars agreed to pay $184 million to reimburse all player funds that Full Tilt management stole from their player deposit reserves.
With shrewd negotiations Poker Stars as a company received a clean bill of health including a green light for their eventual re-entry into the U.S. market, and Mark Scheinberg, the founder’s son was cleared of any wrongdoing (unlike his father who remained indicted on personal criminal charges)
[H2] 2012
In August 2012 a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled on a case where Lawrence DiCristina had been offering Texas Hold’em games in a warehouse, and Judge Jack Weinstein declared that Texas Hold’em is a game of skill, which was a major ruling for the game of poker. However in 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case and therefore conveniently avoided the issue altogether.
[H2] 2012-2020
[H3] Plea Deals, Jail, and Wrist Slaps
It has been almost ten years since Black Friday and only two individuals representing poker brand operations have served jail time, including Brent Beckley who did 10 months in prison and Scott Tom, the Absolute head who did only one week in jail, and both were key figures in the very shady operations of Absolute Poker.
Many of the heavier sentences were placed on individuals acting as payment processors (third parties who miscode the credit cards), with Ira Rubin being sentenced to three years (by far the steepest penalty of any individual in the indictment). Ray Bitar, the CEO of Full Tilt, was spared prison time due to his heart condition and frail health (which seemed to recover nicely at this moment in time). Many, however, have effectively received ‘wrist slaps’ and have agreed to charges focusing on the Illegal Gambling Business Act, UIEGA, and bank fraud.
At the time of writing, the last man standing is Isai Scheinberg, the founder of Poker Stars, who awaits sentencing in Manhattan scheduled for sometime in the summer of 2020. He has been holed up in the luxury Sofitel hotel in Manhattan, as the only guest along with his wife, complaining about the lack of services at the hotel since it has effectively shut down due to the covid-19 virus (He wants to be transported to California). His fate is very likely to be a hefty fine in the billions of dollars, and a wrist slap with no jail time.
[H2] 2019
[H3] DOJ Wire Act Reversal Met With Challenges
In January 2019, the Department of Justice changed their mind and wrote an opinion stating that they now believe the Wire Act covers non-sports related gaming which would include online poker. This opinion was met with much suspicion by the industry and widely seen as being influenced by lobbyists for the brick and mortar casino industry.
It also infuriated New Jersey online gaming regulators prompting NJ Attorney General Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to fight the ruling in the First District Federal Court of Appeals. Understandable, considering the DOJ flip flop essentially makes their operations illegal (Since most operators are sharing liquidity across states now).
The New Hampshire lotteries also didn’t take kindly to the DOJ opinion, taking them to District court in June 2019, and winning with Judge Paul Barbadoro concluding that the Wire Act does not cover all forms of online gambling (including poker).
It seems unlikely the courts will side with DOJ, and it is highly unlikely that regulated states will bow down to this desperate attempt to reverse their own previous legal interpretation of a poorly written outdated federal law. It seems they are more content prosecuting more classic crimes like bank fraud and relying on state law violations which triggers the Illegal Gambling Business Act.
[H2] Regulated Online Poker – The New Era
[H3] New Jersey Leads the Charge
Having watched Atlantic City’s fortunes crumble over several decades, Senator Raymond Lesniak who initially pushed his co-sponsored A2578 bill (and after failing previous two years), and introduced the bill to the house Feb 16th 2012 with the support of sponsors John Burzichelli, Vincent Prieto, and Ruben Ramos Jr. The bill then passed the house floor December 17th with 48 to 25 in favour. The bill was quickly passed days later on December 20, 2012 by New Jersey senators 33 to 3 in favour of licensing online poker and casino, and signed by Governor Chris Christie the same day.
The bill gave new hope for Atlantic City’s fledgling casinos, giving all licensed casinos the right to offer online poker and online casinos subject to a 15% tax on gross gaming revenue (compared with 8% for land based casinos). Certain conditions were required, including the fact the state constitution required all websites to be physically located in Atlantic City. In addition, restrictions to control underage gambling and the use of geo-location technology to identify if a customer crosses state lines. The idea was that preventing interstate play kept the federal bills at bay, even though the DOJ had previously given the all clear re. The Wire Act.
All that was needed was for casinos to launch their games, but with one major problem. The primitive nature of online gambling in the U.S. meant that European operators were a decade ahead in their technologies, software, marketing, and operations. For this reason, Atlantic City casinos quickly partnered with jubilant European brands that wanted a chance to enter the American market.
In November 2013 Atlantic City casinos and respective partners launched their online brands as follows::
Borgata & Party Poker
Borgata Casino
Borgata Poker
NJ.Party Poker
Caesars & 888
Caesars Casino
Harrahs Casino
WSOP
888
Tropicana & Virgin
Tropicana Casino
Virgin Casino
Trump Plaza & Betfair
Betfair
Trump Taj Mahal & Ultimate Gaming
UCasino
Golden Nugget
Golden Nugget Casino
Golden Nugget Poker
[H3] Liquidity Sharing Commences
In May 2018, WSOP began combining their New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada player pools in a cross state liquidity sh

[H1] Online Poker Tournaments Database

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Our poker tournaments database makes it easy to find upcoming poker tournaments across the top online poker sites.
Whether you're looking for micro-stakes tournaments, satellites, freerolls or high-stakes online poker tournaments - the Poker.com tournaments database has got you covered. Use our tournament finder to view upcoming poker tournaments for the next 24 hours.

[H2] Poker Tournaments Frequently Asked Questions

Online poker tournaments are a good way to build a poker bankroll. If you manage a deep run in a sizable tournament you will get a great return on your original investment.
All poker tournaments, both online and live, work on a 'last man standing' basis, i.e. it will continue until there is only one player left, with that player having gathered all the chips in the tournament.

Some tournaments have a stated 'Guaranteed' prize pool.  This indicates a multi-tabled tournament with a guaranteed prize pool. If no prize pool is stated then the total number of player buy-ins will determine the prize pool.

While most online poker tournaments are the same, there can be slight variations from tournament to tournament. Make sure you understand the guidelines for the tournament you decide to enter before you play.

In cash tournaments players buy-in for a nominated amount and play down to the last person. There will be an advertised pay out structure, where the winning player earns the largest proportion of the prize pool. Lesser prizes may be awarded for 2nd, 3rd etc. How many other places get paid will depend on the total number of buy-ins to the tournament. Generally poker sites pay 15-20% of the field - so a tournament with 100 players would pay ~ 15 to 20 players, with most of the prize money allocated to the top spots.

Satellite tournaments are a way to win your way into a higher buy-in tournament. In these tournaments the prize pool goes to buying tickets for the higher buy-in tournament and the ticket(s) are then distributed to the winning players instead of cash.

Freeroll tournaments are tournaments that are free to enter. Some are just for fun, some will be satellite games to a higher buy-in tournament and some may even be for cash.

In a regular tournament, players will be moved from a table once it has less than 5 players on it. In a shoot-out tournament this doesn't happen. Each table continues play until there is one player left on the table. Those table winners are merged onto a new table and the process repeats until there is only one table left and those players play until there is one winner.

These tournaments are becoming more popular in the cut and thrust world of online poker. As the name suggests you only have two moves in these types of tournaments. Go all in, or fold.

These tournaments are run like a cash tournament but anyone who eliminates a player also receives the losing players 'bounty'. This bounty is a cash amount which each player buys as an 'add on' when they first buy into the tournament.

All tournaments will get down to a heads up (or 1 on 1) battle at some stage but there are tournaments where players only play heads up in a knock-out format. These tournaments will normally feature 32, 64 or 128 players and at the end of each match, one player moves into the next round, while the other is eliminated.

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