In certain instances, we may earn revenue when a reader makes a purchase or completes a form through our pages or on a partner’s website. We adhere to a strict The best online poker sites in the UK offer both cash game action as well as huge poker tournament prize pools.
We take a deep dive into the world of UK online poker, so whether you have questions about bonuses, banking methods, game types, or anything else related to real money UK poker sites and offshore poker sites, we’ve got you covered.
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- Show Full Guide
How to Choose a UK Poker Site for Your Skill Level
When it comes to choosing which online poker UK sites to play at, one of the biggest factors is your overall skill level.
The most important items on the agenda will always be the player pools, bonuses, the poker software itself, and the specific poker games and tournaments on offer. We will expand on all of these topics lower in this section.
Player Pools and Tables
Many of the best online poker sites UK has to offer have dramatically different player pools. While some sites restrict their online poker to the UK and surrounding countries, other poker sites, especially the offshore ones, are open to players all around the world.
Generally speaking, the more restricted a player pool is, the softer your tables are going to be. This means that playing at geo-restricted sites can be positive for your bottom line. On the other hand, sites that are available to everyone usually have giant player pools which can offer bigger prize money up top and more illustrious titles. These international sites can also provide satellites to live events, trophies, hotel packages, and more.
Bonuses
When it comes to joining an online poker real money site, the level of bonuses is going to be paramount. Things like rakeback, deposit bonuses, loyalty programs, and invitational freerolls are huge if you plan on being a regular player using online poker sites. We will cover bonuses in depth later in this article.
Software
Poker software that is easy-to-use and customisable is paramount for the modern-day poker player. Fortunately, the majority of regulated online poker UK sites have a great selection of games, software that anyone can use, and rewards for real money players.
Games and Tournaments
When it comes to choosing the best poker sites, you have to make sure that they have the games and tournaments that you want to play. Whether it’s mixed games, small-stakes cash, large-field tournaments, or whatever else you’re looking for, you need to ensure that your new site has got you covered before making a deposit.
Licensing
The best online pokers sites in the UK will always hold a valid gaming licence from somewhere – either from the UK Gambling Commission or an offshore regulatory body like Malta Gaming Authority. Going offshore has a number of attractions, not least being higher welcome offers, less stringent KYC checks, and fewer restrictions. Indeed, the best poker sites not on GamStop allow you to bypass GamStop restrictions altogether, but it’s essential that you always gamble responsibly.
Best Online Poker Bonuses and Promotions
Like at the best UK online casinos, to keep players at the table and to keep them coming back for more, almost all of the top online poker sites have a ton of bonuses and promotions available for players of all skill levels. Whether you play seven days a week or once a month, there are plenty of benefits you can take advantage of when you join a new site.
Rake and Rakeback Explained
The rake is the amount the poker room or casino takes out of the pot or tournament fees. Generally, most online poker real money sites charge around 10% rake for a tournament, which is much lower than the average brick and mortar casino.
Furthermore, poker sites give players money back in the form of rakeback. Rakeback is defined as a percentage of the rake that’s given back to players as a reward. Poker sites generally award rakeback either as a flat percentage or in a fun format like a bonus wheel, which can award a range of percentages of your total rake accumulated over a certain period of time.
Welcome Bonuses
A welcome bonus is usually the largest offer at any online poker room because it’s meant to entice new players to make a sizable initial deposit and keep them playing. Most of the best online poker sites provide a 100% welcome bonus up to a four-figure sum, with some percentages being even higher.
Read the fine print though, as many of the welcome bonuses either expire quickly or require a substantial amount of playthrough before you can complete it and make the money eligible for withdrawal.
No Deposit Bonus
A no deposit bonus is one of the most sought-out bonuses in the game. This isn’t surprising since a no deposit bonus puts money into your account immediately, only requiring that you complete registration with the site.
These bonuses are usually small in nature but allow you to try the site before fully committing. I, personally, have had great success with no-deposit bonuses, having turned one £20 no-deposit bonus into a full bankroll and have profited over £20,000 on the website to date without putting a single penny down.
Deposit Bonus
These are going to be the most common bonuses offered to existing players. Generally, you will get a percentage of your deposit matched as a bonus, though you may need to fulfill some substantial wagering or playthrough requirements before the bonus can be fully taken advantage of.
Freerolls
If you do not want to deposit any money with either UK poker sites or offshore poker sites just yet, you can take full advantage of daily freerolls. A freeroll allows players to compete in real money poker tournaments without putting up a cent.
The payouts are generally on the smaller side and field sizes are enormous. On the plus side, the freerolls are generally full of very loose fish and can be a great way to start a bankroll.
Free Tournament Tickets
A free tournament ticket allows you to play a real money poker tournament for free as it covers your buy-in. The big difference between a freeroll and a free tournament ticket is that you’re playing a tournament that is full of players who mostly pay their way in and the prizes are much larger.
Generally, you receive free tournament tickets through promotions, newsletters, and VIP programs.
Loyalty Programs
Most of the best poker sites the UK has to offer include VIP loyalty programs, which offers you rewards based on your playing volume. You typically earn points for each poker tournament you register for and each cash game hand you play.
Most often, you will receive loyalty bonuses in the form of tournament tickets, cashback offers, higher rakeback percentages, exclusive freeroll entries, and larger deposit bonuses.
Software and Security: Are UK Poker Sites Fair?
When it comes to your money, safety and security matters most. Fortunately, all regulated poker sites in the UK and those regulated offshore are extremely trustworthy from both a poker and a financial point of view.
Safety is the number one priority when choosing the best online poker sites for real money. We only recommend operators that offer secure websites (i.e. SSL encryption) and fair games (explained later).
Games and Tournaments at the Best Poker Sites
Whenever you sit down and play on poker sites in the UK, you can play a large variety of poker games, ranging from cash games to a large number of tournament variants. Below, you’ll see how each game differs from one another.
Cash Games
Unlike tournaments, you’re allowed to enter and leave a cash game whenever you want. Cash games are played with money itself, rather than tournament chips.
In addition, you can add money to your stack up to the maximum table buy-in, though you’re not allowed to take a portion of your winnings off the table. It’s all or nothing.
Generally, you’ll want to buy in for around 100 times the big blind. For example, if you want to play a £2/£5 game, it’s highly recommended that you buy in for £500.
Fast-Fold Poker Games
Fast-fold poker games allow you to play in a pool of players and jump from one table to another as soon as you fold. This way, you get to play the maximum number of hands while eliminating typical down time between hands.
This form of poker can have different names, depending on which of the online poker sites you’re playing on.
Sit & Go Tournaments (SNGs)
Generally, SNGs take place on a single table, most often with nine or 10 players. The tournament will only start once everyone has registered and usually pays the top three players.
SNGs are wonderful if you don’t have time to play a full tournament and if you have a skill edge over your opponents.
SNGs can also be beneficial to your average poker player as you will get to use bubble strategy, ICM, and get to play heads-up far more often than if you play MTTs day in and day out. These skills will be vital when you find yourself in a life-changing spot.
Satellite Tournaments
Satellite tournaments award seats to tournaments with substantially higher buy-ins. Occasionally, you can win packages that include flights, hotels, and seats at live events.
A classic example of a typical satellite is an £11 tournament where roughly the top 10% of players earn a ticket to a £109 tournament.
Freeroll Tournaments
Freeroll tournaments are completely free to play and have guaranteed cash prizes, though the prize pool is generally on the smaller side.
Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs)
MTTs are the most popular and classic form of poker tournaments. They feature multiple tables and can be unlimited in size. The field eventually dwindles down to a final table after eliminations.
Online Poker Tournament Structures
Not all MTTs are alike and must be treated differently based on the type of tournament format. Usually around 12.5% to 15% of the field is paid, with the overall winner of the tournament receiving around 20% of the prize pool.
Freezeout Tournaments
Freezeouts allow you to enter a tournament just once. When you’re eliminated, you are not permitted to re-enter.
Rebuy Tournaments
Rebuys are exactly the opposite of a freezeout. You are permitted to re-enter the tournament as much as you want (unless there is a limit) as long as late registration is still open.
Turbo
Turbos mean that the blinds go up quicker than your average tournament. An online turbo generally has five or six-minute levels.
Hyper
A hyper, or hyper turbo, tournament is one step above a turbo, with the blinds going up super-fast. An online hyper usually has three-minute levels.
Knockout
A knockout (KO) tournament means that you earn a bounty for each opponent you eliminate. While regular KO (or bounty) tournaments have flat bounties for each player you eliminate, progressive knockouts (PKOs) are completely different.
In PKOs, when you eliminate a player, half their bounty goes into your pocket while the other half goes on your head, making your bounty progressively bigger. When you encounter players with very large bounties and you have more chips than them, you must alter your strategy dramatically to give yourself a chance to win big.
Mystery Bounty
Mystery bounties are a rather new form of poker that is taking the poker world by storm. A certain percentage of money is taken out of the prize pool and put into a mystery bounty pool.
When the tournament reaches the “in the money” stage or at a certain predetermined level, the bounties are then activated. When you eliminate a player, you get to open an envelope that can range from a very small amount to several times your buy-in, sometimes even more than first-place money.
Popular Games at UK Poker Sites
One of the best parts about poker is that it comes in all different game formats. There are dozens of varieties of poker, most of which are highlighted at the annual World Series of Poker.
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular and competitive poker variant in the world. And, of course, it is the most available tournament style on the market.
Players are dealt two cards and compete against one another to make the best five-card hand using their holdings plus five community cards. There’s a lot more complexity to the game than meets the eye though, so you may want to read up on how to play Texas Hold’em before you begin.
Omaha
Omaha, especially PLO, is the second-most popular poker game on the planet right now. Players are dealt four cards and may only use two of them plus exactly three of the five community cards to make the best five-card hand.
Although similar on the face of it to Texas Hold’em, this is a very different beast so we advise you to brush up on the best Omaha strategies to adopt.
Five-Card Draw
Back in the day, five-card draw poker was the most popular form of poker in the world and is the basis of video poker, making the game one of the first games players generally learn.
Five-card draw is still popular with the older generation and is much more popular at home games than in casino or tournament form.
In classic form, players are dealt five cards and a round of betting takes place. They then discard their unwanted cards and receive replacements. A second and final round of betting takes place before players turn over their cards.
Seven-Card Stud
Seven-card stud, while dwindling in popularity, is still one of the larger games and a foundation of any mixed-games event.
Players are first dealt two cards face down and one card face up. After the initial betting round, another card is dealt and betting commences once again. This process repeats until the player has four cards face-up and is dealt their seventh and final card face down.
The goal of the game is to make the best five-card hand. The game is exclusively played with limits, so there are set amounts that players may bet on each street.
Razz
Razz is exactly the same as seven-card stud, though the aim of the game is to make the worst possible five-card hand. Razz is a lowball game, meaning that an A-5 wheel is the best possible hand.
Payment and Withdrawal Methods at Online Poker Sites
Now that you’ve made the decision to play online poker for real money in the UK, you need to know all the different ways to fund your account. You also need to know how to withdraw money after you hit it big!
Just like at the fastest withdrawal casinos, the time it takes for online poker sites to pay your winnings very much depends on which payment method you use. Let’s take a look.
Understanding Online Poker in the UK
Online poker for real money, and poker in general, is becoming overwhelmingly popular in the UK and for good reason. With fantastic game availability, relaxed tax regulations, and a soft player field, online poker in the UK is currently peaking.
Popularity of Online Poker in the UK
Despite the UK being smaller in population than many other countries around the world, players in the UK generally make up roughly 3% of the world’s player pool on the most popular poker sites.
With the UK having fully embraced gambling for a long time, there are virtually no hoops to jump through, which makes playing poker in the UK easier than virtually any other country.
Legal Status and Regulations
There are two major pieces of legislation that have allowed online poker in the UK to flourish. The first was the Gambling Act of 2005, which essentially solidified the gambling freedoms that players were entitled to at the time.
The second piece of legislation was the 2014 Gambling Bill, which reintroduced licences for offshore gambling sites to operate and offer services in the United Kingdom. There was no previous legislation, so from that point on, the UK imposed a point-of-consumption tax on offshore operators.
Licensing and Compliance
Poker players are allowed to play on whatever online poker platform they choose, so long as they offer services to the UK.
All licensed poker and gambling operators must comply with the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). According to these rules, gambling companies must assess the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing in their business. However, few, if any, online poker sites actually operate out of the United Kingdom.
Taxation and Financial Regulations
The United Kingdom is one of the most poker-friendly countries in the world. Currently, gambling and poker winnings are untaxed, meaning that you get to keep 100% of what you earn.
Playing Offshore
Thanks to the UK’s relaxed gaming regulations, players can choose to play on the sites of their choosing, so long as the sites themselves allow players from the UK. Therefore you’re free to sign up and play at the best non-UK licensed casinos if you wish to do so.
UK citizens don’t have to deal with the legal ambiguities and country restrictions that are found in virtually every other country on Earth. Players also don’t need VPNs to play on offshore poker sites and are totally free to do so.
Online Poker vs Live Poker
There are an incredible number of differences between both online poker and live poker, though each have their own huge benefits.
Pros and Cons of Online Poker
Pros 
- Able to play multiple games at once.
- Tournaments are much more affordable than live poker.
- Games are usually available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Lower rake, rakeback bonuses, and other promotions.
Cons 
- Unable to make live tells.
- Minimal interaction with other players.
- Easier to make accidental actions.
Playing Online Poker for Real Money: Strategy and Tips
Now that you have deposited some money and are ready to start playing poker for real money, you should start off by figuring out if you want to take poker seriously or play strictly for fun.
If you are interested in becoming a professional poker player, you’re going to need to have a solid structure and make poker a major part of your life. If you just want to blow off some steam and play some casual poker, that’s okay too, just do so responsibly.
Top Tips for Playing at Online Poker Sites
- Take Advantage of Bonuses – You’re going to be playing for money, so why not maximise your profits? Take advantage and make the most of welcome bonuses, no-deposit bonuses, and huge rakeback offers. Know what you’re getting into before you start playing and read all the fine print.
- Choose a Trustworthy Website – Only play on reputable sites, stay away from unlicensed third party sites.
- Practice Bankroll Management – If you’re going to play and play often, you should have an absolute minimum of 100 of your biggest buy-ins. For example, if you want to play £33 tournaments as your maximum buy-in level, you should have a pure minimum of £3,300 in your poker bankroll.
- Study – Invest in your poker education. Dedicate about 5-10 hours a week to studying, getting better, and learning about poker theory. There are plenty of coaching websites, free YouTube videos, and fantastic books out on the market.
Strategies for Different Skill Levels
Smart online poker players develop their strategies as they gain more experience at the tables. Just as you shouldn’t run before you can walk, it’s counterproductive to adopt an advanced stratgy when you’re relatively new to the game.
Here’s a brief guide to the recommended approaches to online poker according to different skill levels.
Beginner / Low Stakes – Minimise bluffing, play ABC poker, learn as much as you can about the game. Intermediate / Mid-Stakes – Dedicate a significant amount of time to studying, think in terms of ranges, find educated bluffing opportunities, be very aggressive. Expert / High Stakes – Have millions of hands of experience before jumping into high stakes. Spend a great deal fine-tuning your own strategy, be profitable for a large amount of time, plug leaks, have a significantly higher life roll.
Key Online Poker Terms You Need to Know
Before starting to play poker, you should know some basic terminology in order to not give away that you’re a new player. We have written a full guide of poker terms and slang that we recommend you take a look at.
For now, here are some of the most essential terms you need to know.
- Big Blind – The set amount for the required bet for the player that sits two players to the left of the dealer button. In cash games, the big blind determines the stakes of the game.
- Blinds – Blinds are forced bets that take place for the two players seated left to the dealer button before every hand. Blinds force the action and force players to be involved. If there were no blinds, the only hand that would mathematically make sense to play would be pocket aces.
- Bluff – Betting with the intention of making a stronger hand fold.
- Bounty – A prize collected for knocking a player out of a tournament.
- Bubble – The stage in a tournament just before making the money or the final table.
- Cash Game – A poker format where players play with chips directly representing their cash amount. Players can sit down or leave at any time.
- Drawing Dead – When we have 0% equity in a hand and there are still cards left to come. This is when it’s impossible to win the hand.
- Fish – A derogatory term to describe a player who is not good at poker. Usually a less-experienced, recreational, and/or weak player.
- Flop – The first three community cards dealt after the preflop betting round.
- Kicker – The unpaired side card in a player’s hand that’s often used to break ties when the kicker is used in a five-card hand.
Example: AK vs AJ on a AT632 board gives the AK the win with a pair of aces, king kicker. - Pot-Limit – A type of poker where the maximum bet is the size of the pot. This style of betting is typical with Omaha variants.
- Slowroll – Often frowned upon, a slowroll usually occurs when we are all in and our opponent takes a long time to call with the nuts or the effective nuts, thinking that they are being funny.
Poker Hands
It is essential you know the hierarchy of poker hands back to front, in order to recognise the strength of your hand as well as what your opponent(s) may potentially have.
Here are the standard poker hand rankings from strongest to weakest, but be aware that some variants may stray from this.
| Poker Hand | Description | Example |
| Royal Flush | A straight from 10 to ace with all cards of a matching suit | 10♦ J♦ Q♦ K♦ A♦ |
| Straight Flush | A straight with cards of a matching suit | 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ |
| Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same value | A♦ A♥ A♠ A♣ X |
| Full House | One pair and one set | K♦ K♥ 4♦ 4♠ 4♣ |
| Flush | Any five cards of the same suit | 5♣ 9♣ 10♣ K♣ J♣ |
| Straight | Five cards in sequential order, but without matching suits | 2♣ 3♦ 4♥ 5♥ 6♠ |
| Three of a Kind (or a Set or Trips) | Three cards of the same value | A♦ A♥ A♠ X X |
| Two Pair | A pair plus another different pair | A♠ A♥ 6♣ 6♠ X |
| Pair (or Two of a Kind) | Two cards of the same value | J♣ J♠ X X X |
| High Card | A hand with no other value than that of its highest card | K♣ J♠ 2♣ 8♥ 6♠ |
How We Test and Review Poker Websites
150+ Gambling Platforms Reviewed
1,100+ Games Software Tested
200+ Monthly Hours of Research
375+ Promotions Verified
Playing online poker is becoming more popular by the day and you need to choose a reputable site that best matches your needs.
We here at Techopedia have an in-house review process that’s analyzed by our poker experts that covers each and every aspect of the most popular online poker sites in the world.
In particular we look at:
- Rakeback and other bonuses
- Game selection
- Player pool size
- Reputation and safety
- Payment methods
To find out more, take a look at our detailed guide on how we test gambling platforms and poker sites featured on Techopedia.
Conclusion
Now that you know all about the best online poker sites in the UK, you’re ready to play poker for real money. The UK is one of the most poker-friendly locations in the world, so you’ll be able to play at your leisure on the website of your choosing. Go out there, have fun, and play responsibly!
FAQs
Is online poker legal in the UK?
Do online players pay taxes on their winnings in the UK?
How do poker sites make money?
Is online poker safe?
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Can online poker sites cheat?
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References
- https://www.pokerscout.com/uk/ (Poker Scout)
- https://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/ (Gamblers Anonymous)
- https://www.ncpgambling.org/ (NCPG)
- https://www.gamblingtherapy.org/ (Gambling Therapy)
