Play Online Poker for Real Money Today

With online poker no longer do you need to travel for hours to play poker in a brick and mortar casino. You don’t have to pay the costs of traveling either, which includes gas and/or airfare, the hotel, food and other entertainment. It’s now possible to play real money poker from the comfort of your own home. Read on to learn more about how you can play poker online for real money today, and our recommendations for the best sites to have accounts at.

FAQs About Playing Real Money Poker Online

How Do I Start Playing Poker Online?

It’s not hard at all to start playing online poker for real money. The process will look something like this:

• Find a poker room. Determine what games you want to play, the stakes, banking options you can use, etc and read our reviews. Choose the site closest to what you’re looking for.
• Create an account. This is free and only takes a couple of minutes to do.
• Make a real money deposit. Most deposits are available within minutes of being approved.
• Play a real money poker game.

That’s it. Seriously. The time it takes you to create an account to playing your first real money game should be less than 30 minutes, 60 minutes tops. It’s up to you how long you take to review poker rooms, though (an important task).

Are Americans Allowed to Play Online Poker?

The answer isn’t black and white. It depends.

As a whole, yes, there isn’t anything illegal about playing online poker in the USA. However, the government has given each state the ability to make their own laws to determine what’s legal in their own state. What you’ll find is that there are 10-15 sites that do have laws banning online poker (gambling in general). Washington state is by far the worst, making it a felony.

Many poker sites now follow these laws, and as a result, do not allow players from these states to sign up. Even for a play money account. So if you live in one of these states, you will have fewer option for a place to play poker online. They do exist, though.

If you live in one of the other states you should be fine to play poker online. The challenge you face now is making a real money deposit, which in fact, is not legal for banks and credit unions to process in the USA.

How Do I Find a Real Money (US Accepting) Poker Site?

It’s not that hard actually.

One way is to read 4Flush.com. On our site you’ll find sites recommended for US players.

Another way is to visit each site. Many sites will list on their homepage whether or not they accept US players. You can also contact their support and ask them. You could also visit the sign-up page and look for “United States” in their Country drop down menu. If United States is not listed, it’s more than likely because they don’t accept American poker players.

How Do I Make a Deposit?

Simple, really. Making a deposit to a poker site is no different than making a purchase online.

Just visit the cashier, choose which method you’d like to use and you’ll be asked to fill in your details. In the case of a credit or debit card you’ll enter your card number, expiration date and security code. Then enter how much money you’d like to deposit, a bonus code (when applicable) and hit submit.

You should know within a few minutes if your deposit was approved. If so, the money should be available to play with immediately.

American players should keep in mind that declines do happen. So you’ll want to make sure the site you want to play at has a backup method or two that you can use, like an e-wallet or transfer service like Western Union.

What Poker Games Can I Play for Real Money?

Any game you want. Holdem, omaha, stud, draw, mixed, cash games, tournaments, sit n go’s and a variety of variations. Stakes range from .01 to $4k+ per hand/game. Take your pick.

Keep in mind that not every poker site will have the same selection of games and stakes. That’s one of the reasons why we review the sites for you. So that you can see which sites have the games you want to play before you go to the hassle of creating an account and making a deposit.

How Do I Cash Out My Money?

Withdrawing your funds is the reverse of making a deposit. Go to your cashier, choose how you’d like to receive your money, how much you want and hit submit.

A couple of things worth noting though:

• There are usually fewer options for withdrawals. American players are (usually) limited to checks, bank wires and money transfers.
• Only non-American players can request withdrawals back to their Visa/MasterCards.
• There may be fees.
• Withdrawals can take anywhere from hours to months. It depends on the poker site, the option and if you’re US or not.

Just like making a deposit, American players will face the most challenges, such as long delays and your checks being declined if your bank figures out that it’s from a poker site. This can result in having your account shut down (worst case scenario).

What are Poker Bonuses?

Poker bonuses are promotions from poker sites to encourage players to make real money deposits.

The most common bonus is the deposit bonus. When you make a deposit the poker site will match a percentage of your deposit up to so many dollars. For example, a common bonus is 100% up to $600. For every $1 that you deposit, the poker site will give you $1 free. The maximum you can earn is $600.

Now, this money isn’t entirely free. You will need to play real money games and pay rake. After paying so many dollars in rake, the room will release so much of your bonus into your account. It goes on like this until you’ve cleared the entire bonus, or until the promotion has expired, whichever comes first.

There are other types of bonuses too. Some rooms offer instant poker bonuses, which is usually a smaller amount like $10-$20, and this money is given to you once you create a real money account. In many cases you don’t even have to make a deposit.

Many rooms offer reload bonuses too. These are just like deposit bonuses except that the idea is to encourage existing players to deposit (and play) again.

The most important thing I can say about bonuses is to double check the terms and conditions before you sign-up. Make sure that you can earn the bonus in it’s entirety, fast enough, or else you risk earning very little, or nothing at all.