Online poker site reviews: rooms ranked on rake, traffic and software

Poker is the only casino product where you play against other people, so the room's cut and the quality of your opponents decide your win rate. We rank on both.

By CasinoTrust Editorial TeamUpdated August 31, 20268 min readFact-checked against the Ranking Protocol

A poker room does not play against you; it charges you for the seat. That changes what a review has to measure. The questions that matter are how much rake you pay per hand, whether there is a game running at your stake when you want to play, and whether the people in that game are worse than you. This page ranks the poker rooms on CasinoTrust by those criteria. It belongs to our casino online reviews hub and is mirrored by the poker comparison table.

How we rank online poker sites

The Ranking Protocol dimensions are re-weighted so that games & markets — for poker, meaning rake, traffic and game selection — carry the largest share. A room with immaculate software and no players is not a poker room. Bonuses are weighted low because poker deposit bonuses are released through rake: a "100% up to $600" offer is really a rakeback deal, and its value depends entirely on how fast you clear it.

Rake: the number that decides whether you can win

Most rooms take 5% of each cash-game pot up to a cap. At NL50 a $3 cap is standard; a $2 cap or a 4% rate is meaningfully better. Over 10,000 hands, a typical player pays 5–8 big blinds per 100 hands in rake at micro stakes — more than most winning players' win rates. That is why a 30% rakeback deal or a lower cap matters more than any sign-up bonus. Tournament fees run 8–12% of the buy-in; anything above 12% at low stakes is expensive. We record all of these per room and per stake rather than quoting the operator's headline.

Traffic: a game has to exist when you want it

We log tables running at four stake levels at 20:00 CET, 02:00 CET and 14:00 CET across a week. A room that is busy for European evenings and dead for American nights gets a lower traffic score than its peak numbers suggest. We also note the player pool's character: rooms attached to sportsbooks and casinos tend to have softer games because players arrive from other products; dedicated poker sites attract more regulars.

Key criteria compared

What to look for in an online poker room

• Rake table published per stake with the cap in plain numbers — not just "up to 5%"
• Player funds held in segregated accounts, stated in the terms and required by the licence
• An active bot and collusion policy with published enforcement or refunds
• Tables running at your stake in your time zone, checked on a weekday, not a Sunday
• Hand histories downloadable or at least viewable for every hand you play
• Rakeback, loyalty or leaderboard value you can calculate in advance
• Withdrawal limits high enough that a good tournament score leaves in one transfer

Red flags in online poker

• Rake or fee information that is missing from the site and only available by asking support
• Guarantees that are routinely cancelled or reduced when registration is short
• No statement on bots, HUDs or real-time assistance tools — it usually means no enforcement
• Anonymous tables with no hand history, which makes collusion impossible for players to detect
• Deposit bonuses that expire in 30 days at a clearance rate no low-stakes player can reach
• Forum threads about account closures after large tournament wins without a stated reason
• A network skin with no clear statement of which company actually holds your money

If you are new to online poker

Learn the rules and hand rankings from our how to play poker guide, then read the poker strategies article before you deposit — preflop ranges and position are worth more than any bonus. Start at the lowest stakes the room offers and keep at least 30 buy-ins for cash games or 100 for tournaments; the bankroll management guide explains why those numbers are not conservative. If you play tournaments, the free ICM calculator shows you what your chips are actually worth at a final table, which is where most recreational players give away the most equity. The poker hub collects everything in one place.

The ranked poker rooms in brief

bet365

bet365 Poker runs on a shared network client with stable software, a sensible tournament schedule and low-stakes cash games kept soft by a steady stream of sportsbook customers. Rake is standard rather than cheap, and the loyalty scheme is modest. Its tier-1 licences mean segregated funds and a real complaints route, which for a poker bankroll that sits on the site for months is worth a lot. Withdrawals are slower than crypto rooms but arrived inside the stated window every time in our tests. Read the full bet365 review.

Stake

Stake's poker product is newer than its casino and sportsbook, and traffic is concentrated at micro and low stakes with a crypto-native player pool that arrives from the casino side — which is to say, soft. Software is browser-based and simple; serious multi-tablers will miss desktop-client features. The upside is on-chain withdrawals in minutes and a rakeback-style loyalty programme. Traffic at NL200 and above is thin at most hours. Read the full Stake review.

Betsson

Betsson Poker is part of a long-running network with reliable software, a schedule built around European evenings and a player base drawn from the group's Nordic and Southern European casino brands. Games are softest in the evening at low stakes; mid-stakes traffic is limited. As a listed MGA-licensed operator with national licences, it offers the compliance standard of bet365 with a slightly smaller player pool. Rake and tournament fees are industry-standard. Read the full Betsson review.

1win

1win's poker room serves a predominantly recreational audience from emerging markets, and its low-stakes games reflect that. Software is adequate, the mobile client works, and deposits and payouts through local methods and crypto were quick in our tests. The room is held back by a Curaçao-only licence, limited transparency on fund segregation and a bonus structure that is generous on paper and strict in practice. Suitable for small bankrolls at micro stakes, not for storing a serious roll. Read the full 1win review.

1xBet

1xBet offers poker as one product among dozens, and it shows: the client is functional, traffic is thin outside peak hours, and most players arrive from the sportsbook. Games at micro stakes can be very soft for exactly that reason. Our trust score — the lowest in this ranking — reflects a Curaçao licence, a patchy regulatory history and payout times that depend heavily on method. Treat it as a place to play small and withdraw often. Read the full 1xBet review.