Nowadays, the only three steps that separate you from becoming a poker game player is a secure Internet access, willingness to start and a little bit of capital.
Truth be told, the popularity of online poker games today is massive, and it has been even strengthened during the covid pandemic as an increasing number of people wanted to fill out their spare time and make extra money.
In order to start playing online poker, you need to find the best trusted online poker site out of numerous available which you can find selected here.
Nevertheless, it can be a far more arduous task that it seems since along with the increase of players also came the increase of fraud cases and suspicious random websites springing up every day.
Therefore, how to determine if an online poker site of your choice can be trusted and how to choose the best one?
Reputable sites only
At the very first glance, choosing the best online poker site may seem overwhelming as there are so many options.
Nevertheless, you need to remember to consider only reputable and trustworthy sites. Most of the well-known online poker sites can be trusted, but there are a few which don’t demonstrate the integrity and transparency.
Choosing a reputable site, is crucial as your funds can be at risk once you make a hasty and not well-thought decision. In the best-case scenario, you may be just disappointed with the site itself or the service, but in the worst one – you can lose all your money.
Luckily, you don’t need to make a big effort to determine whether a given online poker site is reputable or not. There are just some key points that you should check before choosing the one and criteria that every decent online poker site should meet, such as:
- being licensed and regulated (SSL certificate),
- being audited by third party,
- providing secure financial transactions,
- disposing of positive reviews,
- having software tested.
SSL certificate
In order to check if the site is secure, you should verify whether it has purchased an SSL certificate that indicates that it conforms to the global regulations.
What is more, an SSL certificate is also proof of the site security. You can easily do this by simply checking the URL section and look for a green padlock logo that approves its secure status.
Positive reviews
Another crucial thing to check before choosing an online poker site is their reputation among users. Therefore, you should read reviews to determine what are the advantages and drawbacks of each online poker site.
Reviews provide you with valuable feedback from other players which can be far more useful than simply enlisted features of each online poker site. It can also prevent you from choosing fraudulent websites and, since real-time money is involved here, it is of utmost importance.
High-quality software
Once you make sure that the online poker site of your choice is reputable and trustworthy, it is about time to check the quality of the software that comes with it.
Truth be told, software used will have major impact on how much you will enjoy playing – top and high-quality software will make your poker playing carefree and fun, but poor software with defects can ruin the whole poker experience.
The biggest difficulty here is the fact that it is hard to tell whether software used is good for you without testing it first. Therefore, it is advisable to look for sites that offer free demo or free software testing.
Nevertheless, once you opt for such a solution, always devote significant amount of time for checking the software inside-out and compare different options ahead of you.
Once you check the software, remember that is should:
- be user-friendly and easy to navigate,
- be stable and secure,
- dispose of attractive graphics without any cluttered areas,
- have customizable options,
- provide you with useful features.
What is more, it is also advisable to keep up with changes and updates even once you have already chosen the right one and started playing. Nowadays the technology is in constant development and, consequently, new features and functionalities appear so it is beneficial for you to take advantage of them.
Look out for welcome bonuses
Although welcome bonuses can be alluring, you should be very careful with them and always check whether a given site can be trusted.
There are different types of bonuses depending on the site, but they always assist you in winning attractive rewards and incentivize your time on the website.
Welcome bonuses may be, for example:
- deposit bonus that will provide you with extra money once you bet for the first time,
- free credits that you may gamble for the opportunity to win real money,
- loyalty and VIP programs.
Nevertheless, you should never prioritize bonuses over the quality of websites and should always determine the secureness, stability and good reputation of a given online poker site instead of focusing on bonuses it provides you with.
Various payment methods
Another important feature that every decent poker site should have is accepting various payment methods. You may not want your gambling data to be shown on your monthly bank account statements or you may get interested in playing with digital currencies one day such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Once the online poker site of your choice provides you with various payment methods, you have high level of flexibility, freedom of choice and you can be sure that they care for your well-being as a customer.
Luckily, these days various payments methods are rather a normality than an exception, but it is always worth to check what payments options you have before you make your final decision.
Debit and credit cards, e-wallets, and wire transfers are rather a must than an option nowadays. They all provide you with a reliable platform for you to move your money quickly and without any risks, but if you need more options, check if the online poker site of your choice dispose of them as well.
As you can see, choosing the best online poker site is not a piece of cake. Since real-time money is involved here, your final choice should be well thought-out, and the decision should never be made hazily as you not only risk your funds, but also can deprive yourself of fun of the game.
Therefore, always check the reliability of the site, the secureness, the quality of software used and the stability of the platform, payment methods reviews of the online poker site of your choice and look out for fraudulent individuals who may try to take advantage of poker novices.
