Online Poker for Real Money: The Few US Poker Rooms, Their Rake and Their Bonuses
Most offshore casinos that take US players have no poker room at all. Of the casinos we checked, three run player-versus-player poker, a poker page on SportsBetting.ag’s domain describes a fourth, one more runs tournaments only, and Slots.lv, Cafe Casino, BUSR and XBet offer only poker you play against the house. We read each room’s own poker pages for its games, published rake, tournament guarantees and how its poker bonus is paid out.
The Short Answer
Ignition is our pick for online poker. It runs Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo with anonymous tables and Zone Poker, publishes its rake caps (the most you pay at a full no-limit table is $4), and showed $2 million in weekly guarantees. Ignition also paid our $2,400 Ethereum withdrawal in 41 minutes 20 seconds.
Bovada uses the same rake caps and anonymous tables and has its own $500 poker bonus. BetOnline has the widest game list, including 7 Card Stud and Six Plus Hold’em, but its poker pages mostly didn’t load for us. If you only want poker against the dealer, see our Texas Hold’em guide.
Every Poker Room We Found, Side by Side
Slots.lv, Cafe Casino, BUSR and XBet have no player-versus-player poker room; Cafe’s “Poker” menu leads to games you play against the dealer. MyBookie’s site didn’t load for our checks.
| Room | Games | Formats | Anonymous tables | Publishes rake | Poker welcome bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignition | Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo | Cash, Zone Poker, Sit & Go, Jackpot Sit & Go, tournaments | Yes | Yes, up to $4 a hand | 100% up to $1,000 (150% up to $1,500 with crypto) |
| Bovada | Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo | Cash, Zone Poker, Sit & Go, Jackpot Sit & Go, tournaments | Yes | Yes, up to $4 a hand | 100% up to $500 (code BPWB500) |
| BetOnline | Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, Six Plus Hold’em, Boost, Windfall | Cash, Sit ’n Go, tournaments, freerolls | Not stated | Not on the pages that loaded | 200% on a first deposit of $50+ (email POKERNEW) |
| SportsBetting.ag | Omaha Sit n Go named; others not listed | Cash, tournaments, bounty events, Bad Beat Jackpot tables | Not stated | Not found | 100% welcome bonus (terms not found) |
| BetUS | Not named on its page | Tournaments only; cash games listed as “upcoming” | Not stated | Not found | None listed |
The Best Online Poker Rooms
Three rooms with cash games and tournaments running, ordered by our scorecard. Each offer below is the room’s poker bonus, which is separate from its casino welcome bonus.
Ignition
- Lowest cashout
- $10Litecoin or Lightning
- Ways to get paid
- Crypto
- Other
- Published payout time
- Bitcoin approval: about 24 hours
- Limits
- $9,500 per Bitcoin or Litecoin payout
Ignition poker on mobileAnonymous tables, fast-fold Zone Poker and published rake. Ignition runs Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo in no-limit, pot-limit and fixed-limit. Its features page says incognito tables stop opponents tracking who you are, and Zone Poker moves you to a new table as soon as you fold. Tournament buy-ins run from $0.50 to $1,000, and its Jackpot Sit & Go pays up to 1,500 times the buy-in.
Getting paid: Ignition paid our $2,400 Ethereum withdrawal in 41 minutes 20 seconds and a Bitcoin withdrawal in 38 minutes.
Watch for: Ignition’s tournament page shows its Sunday major as both $200K and $220,000 guaranteed. You pick one welcome bonus at your first deposit, poker or casino, and can’t switch later.
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. Offers change, so check the terms on the casino site before you deposit.
BetOnline
- Lowest cashout
- $20Bitcoin, Litecoin and most coins
- Ways to get paid
- Crypto
- Wire
- Check
- Published payout time
- Crypto: within 24 hours
- Limits
- Litecoin $25,000 a week
The most poker variants we found. BetOnline’s poker pages list Texas Hold’em and Omaha in limit, pot-limit and no-limit, plus Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, Six Plus Hold’em, Boost Poker and Windfall Poker. It runs ring games, tournaments, Sit ’n Gos and freerolls, with a client for PC, iOS and Android.
Extras: its poker lobby also advertises a 4 of a Kind Challenge ($40 cash for quads made with both hole cards in Hold’em ring games); the page carries no dates, so check it is still running.
Watch for: Most of BetOnline’s poker pages didn’t load for us, so we couldn’t read its rake, bonus cap or how the bonus is released. The tournament promotions on its lobby were dated May and June with no year. We haven’t timed a BetOnline withdrawal.
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. Offers change, so check the terms on the casino site before you deposit.
Bovada
- Lowest cashout
- $10Litecoin, BCH, BSV or Lightning
- Ways to get paid
- Crypto
- Wire
- Check
- Other
- Published payout time
- Bitcoin approval: about 24 hours
- Limits
- Bitcoin $90,000 a week; Litecoin $180,000
The same tables and rake as Ignition, with a smaller bonus. Bovada runs Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo, Zone Poker and anonymous tables, which it says it was “among the first to introduce” to US players. Its smallest cash game is 2¢/5¢, tournaments start at $1, and its lobby showed a $200,000 Sunday guarantee and a $100,000 High Roller.
Who can play: Bovada’s poker lobby says residents of Delaware, Maryland, Nevada and New Jersey can’t sign up.
Watch for: Bovada’s rake page says the maximum is $4 in its text and $3 in its page description. Its download requirements still list Flash Player, so use the browser version if the client won’t install. We haven’t timed a Bovada withdrawal.
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. Offers change, so check the terms on the casino site before you deposit.
What You Pay: Ignition’s and Bovada’s Rake Caps
Rake is the room’s cut of each cash-game pot. Ignition and Bovada publish the same structure: $0.01 for every $0.20 in the pot, which is 5%, up to a cap that depends on the stakes and the number of players.
| Table | Most you pay per hand |
|---|---|
| Heads-up (2 players), any stakes | $1.00 |
| No-limit and pot-limit up to $0.10/$0.25 | $0.50 (2 players), $1.00 (3-4), $2.00 (5+) |
| No-limit and pot-limit above $0.10/$0.25, up to $10/$20 | $1.00 (2), $2.00 (3), $3.00 (4-5), $4.00 (6) |
| Fixed-limit up to $1/$2 | $0.10 at $0.05/$0.10, rising to $1.00 at $1/$2 |
| Fixed-limit above $1/$2, up to $30/$60 | $1.00 (2-3 players), $2.00 (4-5), $3.00 (6+) |
So at a six-handed $0.50/$1 no-limit table, a $30 pot is raked $1.50, and any pot of $80 or more stops at the $4 cap. Short-handed tables are cheaper: heads-up, the rake never goes past $1.
Tournament Guarantees
| Room | Guarantees shown | Buy-ins |
|---|---|---|
| Ignition | $200K Sunday, 4 PM ET, $150 + $12 (also shown as $220,000); $2M in weekly guarantees | $0.50 to $1,000; Jackpot Sit & Go up to 1,500× |
| Bovada | $200,000 Sunday; $100,000 High Roller; $2M in weekly guarantees | From $1; Jackpot Sit & Go up to 1,000× |
| BetUS | Weekly Main Event $5,000 ($22); daily $750 ($6) and $2,000 ($11) events | $6 to $22, plus a free weekly freeroll |
| SportsBetting.ag | “$130K every weekend” across a series (not called guaranteed) | Not listed |
Guarantees change week to week, so treat these as a snapshot. BetOnline’s lobby advertised a weekly $10,000 guaranteed series and a $25,000 event dated May 30, with no year on any of its promotions, so we left them out.
A Jackpot Sit & Go is a three-player hyper turbo with a randomly drawn prize pool, up to 1,500 times the buy-in at Ignition and 1,000 times at Bovada. Treat the headline multiple as a lottery on top of a very short game.
How a Poker Bonus Is Paid Out
A poker bonus isn’t added to your balance up front. It sits in a pending account and is released in small pieces as you pay rake or tournament fees, within a time limit.
- Bovada: $5 is released for every 150 Rewards Points, and you earn 15 points for each $1 of rake or tournament fees. That is $5 back for every $10 you pay, so the full $500 needs $1,000 in rake or fees within 30 days.
- Ignition: $1 is released for every 30 Ignition Miles earned at the poker tables within 30 days; Miles are credited when you leave a cash table or finish a tournament. Once released, the money has no further rollover.
- BetOnline: its lobby says the 200% bonus is claimed by email after a $50 deposit, but the terms page didn’t load for us, so check the release rate with support first.
If you play low stakes, you may not earn the whole bonus in 30 days. Pick the bonus size you can realistically clear, not the biggest number.
Anonymous Tables, Networks and Software Rules
Bovada says its anonymous tables mean “no username to track you,” so other players can’t follow you between tables. Ignition describes the same feature as incognito play.
Ignition’s and Bovada’s house rules both refer to a “PWL network” and ban playing at more than one of its operators at the same time. Neither page names the other operators. We didn’t find a published policy on tracking software (HUDs) at any room; BetUS says bots and real-time advice tools are banned.
Online Poker Questions
Which online poker site is best for US players?
Ignition is our pick: anonymous tables, Zone Poker, a published rake cap of $4 a hand, $2 million in weekly guarantees, and it paid our $2,400 Ethereum withdrawal in 41 minutes 20 seconds.
Which casinos have a real poker room?
Of the casinos we checked, Ignition, Bovada and BetOnline run player-versus-player poker, a poker page on SportsBetting.ag’s domain describes cash games and tournaments, and BetUS runs tournaments only. Slots.lv, Cafe Casino, BUSR and XBet have only poker games played against the house.
How much rake do Ignition and Bovada take?
$0.01 for every $0.20 in the pot (5%), capped by stakes and players. At a six-handed no-limit table above $0.10/$0.25 the cap is $4; heads-up it is $1.
How does a poker welcome bonus work?
It is released in pieces as you pay rake or fees. At Bovada, $5 comes back for every 150 Rewards Points, which works out to $5 for every $10 of rake; Ignition releases $1 for every 30 Ignition Miles. Both give you 30 days.
What are anonymous poker tables?
Tables where other players can’t see your username, so they can’t track your play across sessions. Ignition and Bovada both use them.
Can I play poker on my phone?
Yes. Ignition and Bovada offer mobile poker in the browser, and BetOnline says its poker app is available on iOS, PC and Android.
Play Within a Limit
Poker rewards patience, but a bad run can last for weeks. Keep your poker money separate, play stakes where a buy-in is a small part of it, and move down when you lose. Support: call or text 1-800-MY-RESET for free, confidential help through the National Problem Gambling Helpline, or visit NCPGambling.org.