Online Real Money Poker Sites
Las Vegas is the epicenter of land-based gambling, and that includes poker. Nearly every Las Vegas casino spreads cash games or hosts tournaments. You can find the largest poker games in the world in Vegas.
But there are also downsides to live casino poker, which we’ll talk about later. It’s because of these downsides that we recommend you play poker online, too. And to do that, you’ll need an account with one of the best Nevada poker sites.
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Think about the highest stakes poker cash games and the largest, most prestigious tournaments you can play in the United States. What state comes to mind?
So, if you want to play online poker in Nevada, your next step is to join a trusted poker room. You’ll save time and money, and you can rest assured knowing you’re playing poker at one of the safest poker sites online. Pick a real money poker site and create your account now. You won’t regret it. Things are changing fast for online poker. There are four states that have regulated games — Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania – plus legal, sweepstakes poker games in other areas. While the boom of 10 years ago is over, online poker for real money in the US is on the rise again. This is a detailed guide to legal poker sites in the United States.
Nevada, obviously.
There are many reasons to visit Vegas, and playing poker is certainly one of them. It’s a great experience. But are the live poker rooms the best options for poker players that live in Nevada? Maybe not, when you consider the advantages of playing real money poker online.
We’re going to talk about why we prefer to play poker tournaments online below, but we’ll also discuss a few reasons why you should consider playing live. We’ll cover some useful information, too.
By the time you’re done reading everything, you’ll know why you should consider playing poker online in Nevada if you’re not already, and you’ll know exactly which real money poker sites to join.
Let’s start this guide with a small section that explains how we choose the best Nevada poker sites to recommend to our readers.
How do we find the best Nevada poker sites?
It’s not an easy task. Before we recommend any online poker site, we ensure it’s a worthy replacement or addition to the live poker games you can play in Nevada. Otherwise, what’s the point of playing online?
Here’s what every NV poker site must have before we recommend them to you.
- Lots of cash games and tournaments
- Reasonable rake (the percentage and cap)
- Games other than Texas Hold’em (like Omaha, Stud, Razz, etc.)
- Several variants (turbo, heads-up, guarantees, etc.)
- A kickback program (cashback, rebates, etc.)
- Lots of features (four-color deck, hand re-player, odds calculator, note-taking capabilities, etc.)
- Lots of traffic so there are games for you to play whenever you like
We won’t recommend any online poker rooms for Nevada if they don’t tick these boxes.
The next step is to ensure that a site is legit. This means checking to see that they use encryption software, have a proper license, and a positive reputation.
We take the handful of Nevada sites that tick these boxes, and we rank them according to their strengths and weaknesses. This process is time consuming because we review and test everything ourselves.
And that’s how we find the best online poker sites for NV. It costs us a lot of time and money to do this, but it’s worth it if you end up at a top-rated poker website that you’re excited to use.
Playing Live at Nevada Poker Rooms
There are many reasons to play live poker in Nevada, specifically in cities like Reno and Las Vegas. Cash games and poker tournaments run daily. And you can get high stakes action that’s hard to find elsewhere.
But there are also frustrations that you might experience playing at the poker rooms in Las Vegas or elsewhere. Here are some of the biggest frustrations we have experienced or heard of.
When it comes to playing poker tournaments in Nevada, poker rooms only have so much square footage. This limits the number of games and events they can run which, in turn, limits how many people can play.
Most Nevada poker rooms have a waiting list for when their games are full. Get your name on the list, and they might call your name in 20 minutes… Or not at all.
Read some poker room reviews online and you’ll see that land-based poker waitlists can have over 100 players. If the games are good, and you’re down the list, there’s a strong possibility you won’t get to play.
Nevada poker sites have waitlists, too. But there are so many online poker rooms and tables to choose from that you never have to wait long to play, especially if you don’t mind moving up or down a level.
Cliques
Daniel Negreanu said on his blog that some games are political i.e. the other players will collectively decide if you can join their game.
The criteria they use includes your skillset, tendencies (do you play slow or fast), and if they know you.
If they don’t like you or you play excessively slow, then there are many live poker cash games you can’t join.
Check any real money US online poker room. There are dozens of poker tournaments under $50. Many of these tournaments have satellites, too.
You’ll struggle to find a live poker tournament in Nevada for less than $40 to $60. Factor in rebuys and add-ons and you can easily spend $200 for one lowkey poker tournament.
This isn’t too bad a price if you can play for over three hours. It’s better than what you’ll spend in the casino within the same amount of time. But if you bust within the first 30 to 60 minutes, you would have been better off playing slots or blackjack as far as entertainment goes.
The point, though, is that you’ll need a much larger bankroll to play live poker games in Nevada. This is frustrating for people who don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on poker.
Frequency and Availability
Top Real Money Poker Sites
Another gripe we have with live poker in Nevada is how often games run.
Many Nevada casinos run only a couple of tournaments a day. If you can’t make it to one, or show up too late, you’ll have to wait until several hours later. Or the next day.
You can always try to play at another casino or dedicated poker room, but it’s not easy to go from one place to another in Las Vegas.
You can try cash games, but these are hit and miss. Show up too early and no one will be around to play. Get there too late or during peak hours and you’ll end up on the waitlist.
You can call ahead, of course, and put your name on several waitlists. But you’ll have to wait to hear from one of the rooms to know where the game is. And you’ll still have to get there fast enough to keep your seat.
Anyway, those are some of the most frustrating things we’ve experienced or have heard about from others about playing live poker in Nevada.
You won’t have these issues online, which is why we recommend you join the top poker sites in Nevada and play online instead. Or you can supplement your live play with online poker.
The one exception we’d make are for some of the poker tournaments you can play in Nevada. There’s not a real money NV poker website that can match what some of the largest poker tournaments bring to the table.
As we said earlier, we prefer to play poker online. But the one exception we make is to play in some of Nevada’s larger poker tournaments.
We’re not talking about the $50 tourney you can play at Treasure Island or Excalibur. We’re talking about huge and prestigious tournaments, such as the ones that are a part of the World Series of Poker.
Here’s why tournaments like these are so much fun to play.
- There are dozens of tournaments for you to choose from. The WSOP schedule has more than 100 different events you can play.
- You can play more than just Texas Hold’em. The World Series of Poker includes Omaha, Stud, and mixed game tourneys.
- The buy-ins vary so that everyone can find a limit they can afford or want to play. Players on a budget can play an event for $500. High rollers can play for $250,000.
- The WSOP is always adding new games and formats. There’s always a reason to come back and play next year.
- You can rub shoulders with your favorite pros. You might even bust one or get busted by one and have a great story to tell your friends and family.
- You can win hundreds of thousands of dollars if you run deep. Millions, even.
- Win a WSOP event and you’ll also get a bracelet.
- Play the WSOP Main Event and you’ll likely win at least $1 million for making the final table and north of $5 million for winning the event.
- You might become a slight public figure for winning a tournament, especially the Main Event. Your name will forever be immortalized on the pages of Wikipedia, too.
If you can’t put up the money for the event you want to play, many Nevada casinos and poker rooms host satellites. You can win a WSOP for a fraction of the street price.
There are many examples of players who have done this. The most famous is Chris Moneymaker. He won his seat online at PokerStars, and went on to win the 2003 Main Event.
The WSOP isn’t the only big tournament or series you can play in Nevada. There are many others. And they’ll share many of the same benefits that we listed above.
We don’t think poker tournaments is an either/or situation, especially if you’re playing in Nevada. Both formats offer plenty of benefits that are too difficult to ignore.
We highlighted some of the benefits to playing the larger and more popular live tournaments. Now, here are some of the benefits to playing online poker tournaments.
- You can play for smaller buy-ins. Many poker rooms have tournaments you can play for less than $5.
- You can satellite into the $50 to $200 tournaments for less than $20 at most poker rooms.
- Every Nevada poker website we recommend offers promotions like deposit bonuses and VIP programs. Deposit bonuses are pure profit for breakeven (or better) players.
- Online poker rooms offer tools and resources to help you play better. This includes hand re-players, odds calculators, hand histories (you can download), forums, and more. Many also allow you to use heads-up displays (HUDs).
- It’s easier and faster to switch poker rooms.
- Tournaments run ALL DAY online. These won’t have $50,000 or $1 million guarantees. But many of them will have $500 to $10,000 guarantees.
- You can play more than one tourney at a time. Many online poker sites for Nevada let you play an unlimited number of tables simultaneously. You can get through variance faster and overcome boredom.
As we said, there’s no right or wrong way to play poker tournaments in Nevada. There are tons you can play live if you can look past some of the frustrations we mentioned in the last section. And if you’re thinking about playing the WSOP, we recommend you do.
But don’t ignore online tournaments. There are benefits to playing online poker for real money that land-based poker rooms can’t match either, such as tools, software, and promotions.
This is definitely one of those situations where we recommend you do both, if possible.
When is the World Series of Poker?
The World Series of Poker usually starts in May and runs until July or August.
It depends on the year, the number of events, and how the WSOP plans to run the Main Event final table.
Yes.
All the Nevada poker sites we recommend offer real money poker.
Are Nevada poker sites safe?
The ones we recommend are, yes.
Poker For Real Money Sites
The best online poker sites for NV as per our list have been thoroughly vetted. They’re only there if they are safe and reputable sites.
How much money do you need to play poker in Vegas?
There are many variables. What are you going to play, cash games or MTTs? How much are you going to play? What stakes are you going to play? What variants? Where are you going to play?
At a bare minimum, you can find an MTT for around $40 to $50. If you buy in for the max at a cash game (which we recommend you do), you’ll need $200 to $400 depending on whether you play $1/$2 or $2/$4.
It goes up from there. You might need $100 or you might need several thousand.
Playing online can be much cheaper than playing live if you want it to be.
Usa Poker Online Real Money
The top Nevada poker sites typically run real money freerolls, so you can try to build a bankroll without spending anything. If you want to play with your own money, you can usually deposit as little as ten bucks. There are plenty of low stakes tournaments and cash games available online.
Play Poker Online for Real Money in NV
Nevada is THE gambling epicenter of the world. You can gamble on nearly everything here. That includes poker. You’ll find tons of live poker action in this state.
But there are pros and cons.
One upside is that you can play in huge, prestigious events like the World Series of Poker or high stakes cash games in Bobby’s Room. You can play with your favorite pros and potentially win millions of dollars.
But there are downsides, too. For example, many poker rooms have long waiting lists, run few tournaments, and have high buy-ins.
That’s why we recommend you supplement your live poker by playing online poker for real money. Join the top Nevada poker sites and you’ll have more games, variants, stakes, and promotions to choose from. You’ll also have access to tools that will help you play better.
So, if you want to play online poker in Nevada, your next step is to join a trusted poker room. You’ll save time and money, and you can rest assured knowing you’re playing poker at one of the safest poker sites online.
Pick a real money poker site and create your account now. You won’t regret it.