 NOTE: This page has yet to be updated following the changes in United States law. Expect updates by April 2007. All online poker sites are not created equal. Where you choose to play can go a long way toward making online poker an enjoyable past time or not. We have graded most of the sites you have heard about and probably a few you have not in order to help you make some informed decisions about where to play. None of these sites are unplayable, and we actually encourage players to give them all a try with the exception of those with a "High Card" grade. Of course, your personal preferences may always lead you to disagree with us. The grades are based on the following criteria: - Look and feel of software
- Amount of games available
- Speed of play
- Quality of play
- Customer Service
- Speed of cash-outs
- Player perks - bonuses, player points, merchandise , etc.
Where available, household name pros that are associated with the sites are listed as well.
ROYAL FLUSH (No need to play anywhere else, unbeatable) None (Nobody's perfect, yet)
FOUR OF A KIND (Probably the best out there, but could still be beaten) 
I hear the Party Poker conspiracy theorists howling now. We will deal with them in a later article, but for now it is hard to argue with all the features and benefits Party Poker has to offer players. With the largest player base by far, you will always find a game at any limit at any time and they tend to be VERY soft. Cash-outs to Neteller are very fast (2-6 hours) and you can transfer money to friends. Party Poker continues to improve as they added 2- and 3-table sit-n-go tourneys and a Players Points program in recent months - two items Poker Stars had been offering players for awhile. The software runs well even though it is not the best-looking on the internet. Customer service leaves a bit to be desired although they do respond relatively quickly. Poker, Inc. makes Party Poker their home base and you should give it a try as well. Party Poker is the host of the Party Poker Million, a WPT event, and has many satellites for the event. Associated pros: Party Poker - Mike Sexton Read the full Party Poker review
PokerStars has gained in notoriety after sending two recent WSOP main event winners, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, to the event via their online satellites. PokerStars has earned the reputation as being THE site for tournaments and they, like Party Poker, have games going at all times and at all stakes. Thanks to the publicity, a lot more recreational players have showed up at PokerStars, making the games there quite a bit softer than they use to be. They offer frequent player points that can be used for merchandise or tournament buy-ins. Cash-outs are very quick and customer service is very good. PokerStars would make a fine home base, particularly if you want to consistently play tournaments against the some of the better players online. Associated pros: Lee Jones, Greg Raymer, Joseph Hachem, Evelyn Ng Read the full PokerStars review
Ultimate Bet is home to some of the tighter online players. The games don't seem to be nearly as profitable as Party Poker or the most of the other sites listed here. With that said, Ultimatebet makes a nice home base candidate with its generous reload bonuses and solid software. The graphics are simple, but the games move fast. Cash-outs are fast to Neteller (1 day). The mini-view feature is very nice and it makes playing multiple tables much easier - something Party Poker and Poker Stars could improve upon. Customer service has been good. If you have not settled on a home base, give Ultimatebet a try. Associated pros: Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, "Devilfish" Ulliott, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari
FULL HOUSE (A winner the majority of the time) 
Paradise Poker once held the title of largest online poker room, but Party Poker and Poker Stars have since surpassed it. The software look is simple and the speed is good. Like the other big three, you will not have a problem finding a game of your choice at any time day or night. Games are average in terms of strength. Paradise Poker remains a home base candidate, but the features that keeps it from joining the "Four of a Kind" ranks are the lack of a frequent player program and a very average bonus plan. Updated - I am not moving the site yet, but Paradise has started their own frequent player program in 2006 which will help them compete with Stars and Party. In addition, the games have become MUCH looser in the past year. If Paradise adds a monthly reload bonus, they will move up a tier. Associated pros: none
Full Tilt Poker is one of the newest online sites, but the amount of star power behind it almost guarantees that this site has legs and will attract players. I have played on Full Tilt since its inception and the amount of players has grown exponentially since the beginning. Two primary gripes regarding Full Tilt Poker - the lousy bonus plan which I discuss in Poker, Inc.'s Guide to Poker as a Second Income and the ultra tight players, which makes the bonus plan even worse. To Full Tilt's credit, they recently changed the bonus rules to make it a little easier to obtain, but it is still a chore. There are a few great things about the site - lightning fast payouts to Neteller and the chance to sit down with a pro and play at low-to-medium stakes being two. Full Tilt highlights in red any table where a pro is playing and they all use their real names with avatars that look similar to their real live faces, so you can quickly locate one and sit down and play. This site is really fun and I would not be surprised to see it move up to "home base candidate" in 1-2 years. Associated pros: Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Clonie Gowen, Andy Bloch, Paul Wolfe
FLUSHES (Sure feels good to get there, but watch out for the paired board)   
Prima Poker is a large network of online poker sites all using the Microgaming software and servers. Click here for a list of all Prima Poker sites. Specifically, we have played at The Gaming Club, Royal Vegas and 7 Sultans and essentially the play and mechanics of the sites are exactly the same. The big difference is in the bonus. The Gaming Club has a fantastic bonus initiative where new players can deposit as little as $20 and earn up to $300 in $20 increments. Another nice feature of the sites is the ability to view tables in "mini-mode" so that you can fit four tables at once on your computer screen without having them overlap - definitely appealing to the player who likes to play several tables at once. A fairly large site with soft games, but you can often find only one full game going at some stake levels. Poker, Inc. encourages you to pay The Gaming Club a visit. Associated pros: The Gaming Club - Mel Judah? (no mention of him on the website, but he appears in print ads); Royal Vegas - Lou Kreiger
Empire Poker was recently reunited with Party Poker parent company after a brief separation and the players at Empire are once again co-mingled with the Party fishes. The good news is that Empire is utilizing the same game software as Party so everything about the site remains familiar to Party Poker players. They do not offer reload bonuses to attract players as often. Cash outs are the fastest on the net since they still use the same cashier software as Party. Any current Party Poker players are encouraged to give Empire a try for the bonus at the least. Everything except the color scheme will feel like home. Associated Pros: Brad Daugherty
Poker Room has begun to amass a cult following of sorts. The room is not that large, but I hear from players that reside there that they would go no where else. The room is attractive with it's 3-D characters, but the software can be slow at times. The biggest feature that separates Poker Room from every other site on this list is your ability to play on-line without having to download the software on to your computer. A nice feature if you get stuck at your in-laws house for an extended weekend and can slip away to get on their computer. Poker Room is also the only site that is clearly trying to establish a poker community with player home pages and chat forums as well as the recently announced team tournaments. Games are pretty typical in strength as those elsewhere on the internet. Associated pros: none
STRAIGHTS (We like it, but there always seems to be three of the same suit on the board) 
Absolute Poker has many likable features - smooth, simple software, quick game play, and a great deposit bonus to name a few. Unfortunately, it is a relatively small card room and therefore you often can only find one or two games at your stake level of choice. Customer service is lacking - we received no response to our e-mails regarding a bonus dispute - and the tournaments are average at best. Not a bad mid-level poker room. We would suggest playing for the 35% bonus and WPT and WSOP satellites, but it's not worth a long-term stay. Updated - Absolute has been downgraded from a flush to a straight due to the overabundance of "bonus whores" that populate the site. Absolute is offering redeposit bonuses weekly and so many players play ultra-tight in an effort "not to lose", but earn enough raked hands to garner the bonus that making a sizable profit at the lower limits is too challenging compared to the sites above. Winning lots of little pots and losing big ones is not the right formula for growing your bankroll. Associated pros: Mark Seif
Bodog Poker is a relative newcomer to internet poker, but they are associated with a huge sportsbook/casino so the stable of ready players is full. With all the casino and sports bettors flooding into this room, the games are loose and soft. As with any games like this, you may experience some large swings in your bankroll, but with patience, you will come out on top as your large wins will more than offset a number of frustrating losses you may have. The software is stable and smooth. They are the only site that offers players with a bonus on EVERY deposit they make, not just the initial deposit. Associated pros: Josh Arieh, David Williams
Poker Champs is an up and coming site that is only a year or so old. I am impressed with the number of games they have available at any time. Being associated with the great Gus Hansen will do that I guess. Poker Champs offers players a rake return based on the amount they play which is a fabulous feature and were the site bigger and older, this feature alone might make it a "home base candidate". The graphics are very simple and clean, but the software seems very slow at times. Perhaps over time, this will improve. Similar to The Gaming Club, Poker Champs allows you to view up to four tables at once - a feature I would love to see Party Poker and Poker Stars adopt. Games at Poker Champs are pretty tough at this time, but that will change as more publicity gets out and the site attracts more recreational players. Poker Champs is definitely worth keeping your eyes on. Updated - I am dropping Poker Champs down a notch, since their player base has really not grown much since I originally posted them. Most the players are tight so profitability is lower than some of the looser sites. Associated pros: Gus Hansen
True Poker is a fun site to play. It is a fairly small room, so games over $2/$4 are not that plentiful, but it is the one site that makes the effort to create play as true to real-life poker rooms as possible. Starting with players having to buy chips before going to the tables, players are surrounded by 3-D graphics and a real-life visual perspective at the table (which takes a little getting use to). The games are a bit passive and tight, so while not hard to beat, they often are not terribly profitable. Live customer service is better than most. If you play primarily $1/$2 or $2/$4 then give True Poker a try. Stakes higher than that will be harder to find on a consistent basis. Associated pros: none
TRIPS (This set looks good, but doesn't hold up as much as we would like)   
The Cryptologic sites - Interpoker, Poker Plex, Caribbean Sun Poker, Total Bet Poker, William Hill Poker and a few others not accessible to U.S. players - are a staple of the Common Man Bonus Plan because of their monthly bonuses and soft players, but those are the best things going for them. Payouts to Neteller are slower than most other sites (2 business days). The software is average and the customer service is poor at most of the sites (William Hill's has been good). Updated - While we are not downgrading these sites at this time, it should be noted that the Cryptologic sites, with the notable exception of William Hill, have changed the way there raked hands formula is calculated, making their bonuses much more difficult to achieve at lower stakes. Players who normally play at $1/$2 fixed limits will need to move up to $2/4 or higher to avoid spending inordinate amounts of time playing before receiving the monthly bonus. William Hill still pays by the hour (up to 5 hours) at any stakes $1/$2 FL or higher and is the easiest bonus to earn online. Associated pros: Interpoker - Kathy Liebert, Juha Helppi, Robert Varkonyi
Planet Poker is a small card room. Not a whole lot going on here. They offer a 25% deposit bonus and players tend to be weak, but not a whole lot of games going and I find their tournament interface very unwieldy. Associated pros: Roy Cooke
Platinum Poker is a mid-sized card room that is also linked with Doyle's Room, another site using the same software. The games are very soft and we find the multi-table tournaments very winnable, often times with only a 100 or so players and money added to the prize pool. The graphics are bland and the software is average in speed. Site does offer a frequent player point program. Associated pros: Doyle's Room - Doyle Brunson
Jet Set Poker is a small card room with decent support. Unfortunately, you can't always find a game at the stakes you want to play. They have some neat features in the software but it is slow. Decent deposit bonus and frequent player points program. Associated pros: Robert Thompson, former WSOP tournament supervisor and current Bravo! Celebrity Poker Tournament director
TWO PAIR (Will win a fair amount, but lets you down just when you get comfortable) 
Pacific Poker is a fast growing site connected with the huge online casino, Casino-On-Net. Their software is one of the worst of all the poker rooms. You can not keep notes on players, play more than one table, and it is SLOW. The bonus is decent, but is hard to work off because of the wager requirements. With that said, the reason the site does not rank lower is because it is growing rapidly and the games are SOFT. There is money to be made here, if you can take all the downsides. Associated pros: none
HIGH CARD (Forget about it, we are not even putting a link here for you) Pokertropolis - There are accusations on the web that this site uses poker-bots (computer players) at their tables. I played here and found that the bots must not be that good, but with so many options available on the internet, why waste your time? The site is unexciting and the bonus is average at best. Poker World - This site is terribly small and offers a bonus that takes way too long to earn. The software is decent, but too many times you will not find a game at the stakes at which you wish to play. Sporting Bet Poker - This is absolutely the worst internet card room I have ever played. The software is atrocious, constantly kicking players out of rooms and is slower than a live casino card room. The room has a decent bonus ($100 for 500 raked hands) but the site's definition of a raked hand and the slowness of the software, makes achieving that goal a painstaking chore (I gave mine up). The players are soft with nearly 6-8 seeing EVERY flop, which means you will win some large pots, but will get your premium hands cracked time and time again. 
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