Written by: getaxc56
With so many poker games and poker varieties available in the world of online poker, doing a full comparison of online poker sites and all of the differences would be nearly impossible. So for the purpose of this comparison we will be focusing on online poker tournaments and online poker tournament players but there will be general site information included.
It is undeniable that the game of poker has been growing exponentially since the launch of Paradise Poker in 1998. Since then, many other online poker sites have come, like PokerStars and 888.com, and some have gone, like Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet. And one, GGPoker, rose to the top as the biggest poker room in the world.
The question is, how does one choose amongst all of the online poker sites? Which one has better online poker games? Better cashback? A better field? Better design for playing online poker? That’s what we will look at among some of the major online poker sites currently available so you can make a judgment on your own.
The Rakeback:
One of the first things every poker player wants, whether they are a professional or casual poker player, is to earn more money. And while some of the more famous online poker rooms, like PokerStars, party poker or 888, offer player’s a first deposit bonus similar to GGPoker, 100% match bonus up to $600, the rakeback offered by these poker sites are significantly different.
By scouring the internet we can easily discover that, amongst online poker rooms, GGPoker is at the forefront when it comes to offering rakeback to the poker players, with a system that pays out from 15% up to 60%. The next best rakeback offer I was able to find was 888 giving between 2% and 36% with some of the rakeback being paid out in poker tournament tickets. Third of the most known poker sites is PokerStars offering between 15% and 25%, but only for the high stakes poker players or mid-stake poker grinders. PokerStars also offers monthly poker missions which, if you complete, can earn the player an extra $1,000 in poker rewards. Last on the list for poker rakeback is party poker. While party poker actually offers up to 55% rakeback, it is only eligible to new poker players and only on their fast forward poker tables – ‘fast forward’ is the party poker equivalent of ‘Rush & Cash’ on GGPoker or ‘zoom’ on PokerStars. After party poker no longer considers a poker player ‘new’, the system limits rakeback to 16% for online poker tournament players and 32% for cash game players with some occasional boosts to the poker rakeback.
Another huge point for GGPoker is the giveaways. Each month GGPoker offers millions of dollars in poker giveaways divided between daily leaderboards for the majority of their offered poker games, Sit & Go tournaments, Battle Royale online poker tournaments and more. In addition, GGPoker also has the GGCare and GGCheers promotions that rewards every poker player after a bad beat or a great ‘suck out’.
The Field:
Shortly after online poker came to the mainstream the site PokerScout began tracking the number of active poker players at each online poker rooms. When they first launched there were many questions as to how they arrived at their poker traffic numbers, it was accepted as the most reliable source for this data. And while ‘The field’ is something that really does not have that much of an impact when we discuss the bigger sites in online poker, according to the live poker traffic data on the site, GGPoker is currently, and has been for a while, the biggest online poker room in the world by a significant margin.
Schedule Diversity:
If you play poker casually and want to play a single tournament on the occasional Sunday afternoon, no problem! Every online poker site will offer a variety of possibilities from which to choose to play poker. However, if you want to play at any other time, then there are definitely better choices.
If you are looking for a variety, PokerStars and GGPoker will give you the most options all day every day to play poker. Almost every buy-in with a minimum of 1 regular, 1 turbo, 1 bounty and 1 hyper tournament is available every hour every day. These events are scheduled even during ‘’dead time’’ – that’s my term for 01:00 to 10:00 GMT – when other poker sites hardly run any poker tournaments. Furthermore, while every online site has its own special weekly poker games and tournaments, GGPoker offers the largest regular guaranteed poker prize pools of any online poker site with the GGMasters and GG MILLION$ tournaments.
Cash game poker tables at every buy-in range are also available all day and night, with the exception of some of the highest stakes, but only at GGPoker and PokerStars will you easily be able to find a poker game. On other sites you will find many poker tables available mostly between 13:00 and 21:00 GMT.
The Client:
With the exception of introducing a new poker variation, the rules of poker are static and every poker site does a good job of following them. When a new variation of poker is brought online, most poker sites adhere to the same set of rules. While most sites have slowed their introduction of poker games, one site that keeps pushing new ideas and moving forward with innovation is GGPoker and its online poker app.
You might think that I am a bit biased, and to be honest, you would be right, but keep reading and you will understand why I think GGPoker will please more poker players than any other online poker site.
Every online poker site has all of the basics covered and does a good job at it. From being able to choose the felt and table colors, picking your favorite background and, of course, choosing a picture for your avatar every online poker site is essentially the same.
Unlike the rest, GGPoker offers much more than just the basics. One innovation at GGPoker is raising the interactions among players to a new level. As a poker player, you have many options to choose from besides the basic text chat at the poker table. There are interactive actions – called ‘splashes’ at GGPoker – such as boxing knockout and throwing a water bucket on a player. There is also a huge catalog of basic emojis and unique ones with poker pros Daniel Negreanu, ‘Elky’ and Fedor Holz. In addition you can also send gifs or even share a short video of yourself at the table.
The Mobile App:
The mobile apps, while every poker site does offer this functionality, the biggest difference to me is the GGPoker app was easier on my eyes as well keeping most of the GGPoker client features.
The GGPoker mobile app supports 4 different tables that you can easily scroll side-to-side to view, it gives you in an easy to read format all of the basic information about the table such as: number of players remaining, next prize, next blind level and time remaining in the level. You can also easily change your chip count from the number of chips into the number of blinds – a feature only available on GG – and the app gives all players for free a smart HUD so you don’t feel outplayed if you do not own one.
The Conclusion:
That is my view of the big online poker sites. If you are a casual player that just wants to play the occasional tournament then it doesn’t really matter where you play on a Sunday afternoon as any site will probably have something you want to play, but if you care about the design, or the interactions, or the interface in addition to the many possible games and buy ins, GGPoker will definitely be the best choice.
