Best POKER rooms online
Poker Rooms
These days, there is no shortage of online poker rooms (both Lithuanian and foreign). There are many poker rooms offering different deals. The internet is full of places offering various formats, bonuses, promotions, and rakeback systems. How to choose the best poker rooms? In this article, we will discuss this and provide examples of the best poker rooms both in Lithuania and abroad.
Online Poker – Formats
First of all, the choice of an online poker room can be strongly influenced by the availability of the desired format. The best poker rooms are always those that offer the desired format. For those who want to play Texas Hold ‘Em No Limit Cash or MTT, there will usually be no problem finding a suitable poker room, as these formats are the most popular. MTT and Cash offers can be found in almost all rooms (sometimes, perhaps, there may be very small places that only offer Cash). Finding offers for Sit N’ Go, Spin N’ Go, and other online poker formats can be a bit more difficult.
There is usually no shortage of Sit N’ Go offers, but there are many different versions of this format, so each may lack a field. For example, the once very popular HUSNG before Spin N’ Go now does not receive enough attention for profitable play in many rooms. The format itself has not changed (although the rake and rakeback structures have likely changed), but the popularity of this format has significantly declined, so newer rooms often have a much smaller range of limits or worse rake structures.
Other Sit N’ Go formats have also suffered over time – their popularity has significantly declined. In many rooms, the highest buy-ins will be heavily cut, or the offers of tournaments with different numbers of people will be reduced. The best poker rooms, of course, will have a slightly wider field, but it will still usually be a relatively small number of players. When looking for rooms suitable for the Sit N’ Go format, it is always worth checking not only the offer but also the field. The structures can be very good, but often rarer formats may need to be played in several rooms at once due to very small fields.
Other Poker Formats
Spin N’ Go is in a unique situation in online poker. This format, in one sense, is very popular and offered in many rooms. Unfortunately, the profitability of this format depends quite heavily on many factors – multiplier structures, rake and rakeback, field strength, and so on. For example, the multiplier structure in the Winamax room determines a high chipEV requirement for profitable play (if we compare this room with Pokerstars), but the former offers rakeback, and the latter does not. Again, the fields in the Winamax room are usually much better than in Pokerstars, so deciding which room to play in can be difficult.
The profitability of Spin N’ Go depends on many factors, so it is always worth carefully analyzing and calculating at least the rakeback and multiplier structures. Only later, after evaluating that it is worth playing this format in the room, should you analyze the average field strength and try your hand.
Online Poker – Texas Hold ‘Em and Other Game Variants
Besides the differences between the most popular poker formats, there are different versions of the game itself. The two most popular are Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Hold ‘Em. Of course, there are poker versions like 7 Card Stud, Razz, Short Deck, and many others, but finding these (except for Short Deck) in rooms is much more difficult.
The rarest poker versions (7 Card Stud, Razz, etc.) will usually only be found in the largest and best poker rooms (for example, Pokerstars). These games are rarely offered by rooms because the number of players is simply insufficient. If you are looking for a rarer poker variant, it is best to just check the largest rooms and not bother with the smaller ones.
The situation with Omaha Hold ‘Em poker in the online market is a bit more interesting. Omaha Hold ‘Em Pot Limit is the second most popular version of the game, so it will be possible to find offers of this version in many rooms. Unfortunately, the second most popular does not mean that this game is popular. Rooms usually offer either high-roller level games or low buy-in Cash tables.
Pot Limit Omaha Cash game tables are often available in many larger rooms, but the maximum blinds will often be heavily restricted. Finding a suitable Cash game limit can be difficult because, as mentioned earlier, there will usually be a lot of variation (either very low limits or very high).
Pot Limit Omaha tournaments are quite popular in live games but less popular online. Of course, this does not mean that it is impossible to find such tournaments for play. Unfortunately, the field and daily tournaments will usually not be enough for serious, profitable play, so you may need to mix formats and poker rooms.
Online Poker – Rakeback Offers for Poker Veterans
Many long-time regs remember the legendary Pokerstars “Supernova” and other titles and the rakeback times associated with them. Unfortunately, those times are gone, and different rakeback offers are now available in many rooms.
Rakeback is important for all formats, but it becomes increasingly important the greater the variation of that format. Rakeback is essentially a way to get money that is not directly dependent on variation, so this money can often smooth out monthly profit fluctuations. Of course, it is possible to play in rooms where there are no rakeback offers (or they are very poor, like, for example, PokerStars), but then the player takes on all the variation themselves.
Online poker rooms usually form rakebacks through complex point collection systems, so the maximum (and maximum achievable) rakeback may not be clear at first glance. In most cases, rakeback systems calculate points based on the rake dollar or euro paid, so, of course, it will always be easier for high-limit players to achieve the highest level of rakeback.
Rakeback systems usually have their validity period. This can vary greatly between rooms, so to maintain the desired rakeback in some rooms, you may need to grind more strictly and maintain volume. For example, Party Poker system is based on a weekly point system, so you need to maintain game volume every week.
In many online poker rooms, rakeback systems are based on monthly or even longer-term results. For example, Unibet calculates quarters, Winamax months (and the whole year for the highest level of rakeback), and so on. In many rooms, it is harder to achieve high rakeback than to maintain it.
What Do the Best Poker Rooms Look Like? Criteria for the Best Rooms
Although we offer and constantly update lists of the best poker rooms at the poker school, it will always be useful for online poker beginners to have selection criteria. The supply of online poker rooms is constantly increasing, but sometimes it is not worth playing in new rooms.
How to find a good room? This is a question often asked by poker players. The three most important criteria for any poker player are the offer of formats, bonus and promotion offers, and the field.
- The offer of formats, of course, will be the most important factor, especially if you play less commonly offered formats.
Spin N Go games are a great example. While this format is attractive to both professionals and recreational players, many rooms do not offer this format. Some rooms offer very poor profitability conditions, which automatically significantly reduces the playing opportunities for any regular Spin N Go player.
Meanwhile, in rooms with a lot of recreational players, a regular player will feel like a fish in water. The more recreational players (preferably at different times of the day), the higher the average profitability of the room. If the room had not only the most recreational players but also good bonuses and promotions, then it would always be worth playing there.
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Online poker for real money – legality in Lithuania
Many poker players are well aware of the Lithuanian gambling law, which restricts the activities of many online poker rooms. Therefore, poker for money in Lithuania is not so easily accessible. However, this ban applies only to rooms, not to the players themselves, so once access is obtained, it is legal to play in them.
Bypassing blocks is easy. Usually, it is enough to change the DNS or install a VPN. For the first option, we have written a detailed guide at Poker School, which will help you bypass the gambling ban in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, almost all poker professionals will have to do this, as the best poker rooms are usually foreign.
Of course, recently enacted laws in Lithuania severely restrict payment and deposit options in poker rooms without a gambling license. Many poker players who want to play poker for real money online will have to open electronic wallets such as Skrill or Revolut.
Finally, these restrictions do not apply to absolutely all rooms. There are quite a few online poker rooms available in Lithuania. However, you will need to use a block bypass method to play in the largest rooms in the world, as almost all of them do not have a gambling license and permission to organize games in Lithuania. Of course, such rooms are still as reliable as online poker rooms with permits in Lithuania. In other countries, Lithuanians have other gambling options: for example, Lithuanians in Sweden have access to online poker in major rooms without trying to bypass the gambling ban, as in this country, most poker rooms are licensed to operate.
Another important factor, though less so for many regular players, is the poker format itself. As mentioned earlier, games like 7 Card Stud and Razz can be almost impossible to find in online poker rooms. Pot Limit Omaha with a sufficient field and good offers can be found, but usually, you will have to choose the largest online poker rooms. Smaller ones will simply lack the field for regular play.
Legal poker rooms for Lithuanians
Legal poker rooms in Lithuania differ from other foreign-owned rooms mainly in that they have specific permits to organize gambling games in Lithuania. Rooms like BetSafe and Unibet can simply offer gambling in Lithuania and meet licensing requirements.
Of course, a newcomer to online poker might wonder – are rooms without a permit to organize gambling in Lithuania reliable? In almost all cases, the answer to this question is yes. More attention should be paid to rooms that do not have a gambling license anywhere, are very little known, or offer too good bonus or promotion systems. There are rooms, such as Americas Cardroom, that exploit loopholes (or otherwise “play around”) the laws, but at the same time, are reliable rooms. Of course, little-known rooms that bypass the laws need to be analyzed very carefully.
Finally, at Poker School, we recommend several foreign online poker rooms. These rooms are reliable and provide good conditions for players. To join them, you may need to use a gambling block bypass by changing the DNS.
Is the poker room blocked? There is an easy solution!
Have you encountered the problem of not being able to open a poker room due to blocking? Read this short article (with video explanation) and you will be able to use all poker rooms without any restrictions! It will take about 5 minutes to solve this problem, which all Lithuanian users face when trying to open poker rooms registered abroad.
Our team has not only prepared a ranking of the best poker rooms but also a ranking of the best online casinos, and a ranking of the best online betting companies.
