Choosing the best poker site to play cash games at is difficult. Each site will have their pros and cons. You’ll need to figure out what you need in a cash game site and then find a site that meets those needs. Below, we’ve outlined some of the qualities that we look for when choosing a site. Hopefully they will help you too.
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Cash Game Traffic
Traffic is going to be one of the most important things to consider when choosing a cash game site. The best sites are going to have 10, 15 or 20 thousand players at any given time. This much traffic will mean that there will be plenty of games running. Remember to make sure that a fraction of that traffic is going to the games you prefer to play.
Another benefit to traffic (especially at larger sites) is that more tables will be open, giving you the opportunity to table select. This will be important as you move up in stakes and are having to deal with regs.
Poker Rakeback Deals
Rakeback is definitely important to consider when choosing a cash game site. Especially as you move up in limits.
Let’s put this into perspective. If you rake $10 a day and receive 30% rakeback, you can earn $3 of that $10 back — daily. This adds up to about $100 a month. This can be a nice way to earn some extra cash or keep your bankroll afloat if you’re still learning how to play.
Now, remember that bigger isn’t always better. In other words, don’t sign up to a site just because you can get 35% rakeback. In some cases, you might actually make more money on a smaller deal. Confused? Let me explain.
What you want to check for first is how the site calculates their rake. There are 3 different methods used. Each one will affect how much rakeback you ultimately earn.
- Dealt: This means as long as you will earn rakeback as long as you were dealt in the hand. The amount of rake taken will be divided up amongst all the participants.
- Contributed: You will earn rakeback as long as you were involved in the hand (didn’t fold preflop). The rake is divided amongst everyone that didn’t fold preflop.
- Weighted Contributed: You will rakeback based on the exact amount you put into the pot.
Hopefully you can see why it’s important to consider this before considering the size of the deal itself. A 35% deal might be fine if you’re a nit and playing at a site that uses the dealt method. However, a 33% deal might be better if you’re loose and the site uses a contributed method.
Clearing Poker Bonuses
Poker bonuses are also important. It’s not so much the size you want to look at, although bigger is always nice. What I suggest you look at are the clearing requirements that you need to fulfill to earn your bonus.
The clearing requirements will be different for each site. What you should look at is whether you can complete the bonus or not at the stakes you play. And for some sites, can you complete the bonus in its entirety? Some poker sites release the bonus in one lump sum and if you can’t finish the requirements, you won’t earn anything.
Last, I would look at how the site treats rakeback deals in addition to their deposit bonuses. Some sites will discount your bonus since you’re being paid rakeback. I wouldn’t let this sway your decision too much though since the bonus is short term.
Poker Ring Game Table Features
There are certain features that I look for when choosing a site to play cash games. They aren’t required to play or anything, but I do find them handy.
One of the features I like the most is the auto top off. This feature will keep your stack at a certain number of big blinds or at the table max — whichever you prefer. Some of the better cash game sites will allow you to set it up so that once it drops below xx or xxx number of big blinds, more is added. This will prove to be even more beneficial if you happen to play multiple tables.
Another feature that is important to me is a hand history replayer. I feel that it’s beneficial to be able to review hands or spots that you might’ve missed or not seen from start to finish.
If you happen to multi table, you’ll want to make sure the site you play at supports playing multiple tables as well as the number of tables you’d like to play. Ideally, they will have the option to set up layouts and cascade and/or tile tables.
Cash Game Competition
Competition is something you might want to consider when choosing a site. There are a couple of ways you can go with pros and cons to each.
One option is to go to a lower trafficked site. There will be fewer grinders and often times the smaller sites will have better rakeback deals and deposit bonuses. The downside is that if you want volume, it’ll be harder to achieve.
The other option is to go with a higher trafficked site. You will see more regs/grinders, but there should be enough traffic to have plenty of tables running. So you’ll be able to table select. The downside is that the rakeback (if available) is (often) a lower percentage and the promotional offers aren’t (always) nearly as good as smaller sites.