2016 has been a good year so far for online poker rooms. The selection of sites has never been better for prospective players looking to find some juicy action on the felt online. In 2016 all poker sites accepting UK players are safer than ever with top-notch online security and plenty of reliable banking options available. Players have the choice of playing poker on desktop, mobile or tablet using the most up-to-date software. The sites we’ve listed here on our Top Ten Sites for 2016 all have top quality features and can be relied upon for simple transactions and satisfying poker games in a variety of formats.
To find the best site, players should make sure that they shop around for the best poker offers out there, including relevant promotions and new offers. Take a look at the options we’ve reviewed here to find the best online poker site for you to try this year!
888 Poker
888 Poker belongs to the 888 Casino brand, considered to be the biggest online casino site in the world. This poker room is always popular and reliable, with its vast array of admirable features; a wide choice of cash games, regularly changing promotions, stylish graphics and modern software. Players return to 888 for the multi-table platform that it offers and the no-download client which players will find incredibly handy. The 888 Poker site gets a decent number of casino customers drifting over for a game of hold’em, so competition is widely viewed as quite soft – good news for experienced players on the lookout for fish. On average, around 2000 players are online here at any time, but this number can rise much higher at popular peak hours.
Sky Poker
Owned by BSkyB (the corporation behind British Sky Television) this popular online poker site had its own TV presence until recently, whereby players could see their hands being played out live on the Sky Poker channel. Regardless of this, it is undoubtedly a reliable poker site with decent traffic and a generous welcome bonus for new players. It has a welcoming online poker school for new players, with its own Poker Ambassador, Neil Channing (poker novices can pick up some useful strategic lessons from his blog ‘Channing Chips In’). New depositors can collect a free £10 just for joining the site, as well as a generous match bonus. The software is speedy to install and simple to navigate.
Full Tilt
Full Tilt has had some bother in recent years with the aftermath of the unfortunate Black Friday incident in 2011. Being aligned with PokerStars has helped Full Tilt flourish, with many customers ranking their software as the best in the industry. A competitive sign-up bonus, lucrative VIP scheme and a range of different and exciting tournaments ensure that Full Tilt is the site of choice for a large percentage of the online poker community.Full Tilt averages around 1000 players at any time, a respectable number which yields fairly full tables at most times of the day. The Full Tilt site focuses mainly on attracting recreational poker players. New players to Full Tilt are welcomed with a 100% first deposit bonus of up to $600. Welcome freerolls allows them entry to any free poker tournaments for the first month of their membership. The Boomerang allows players to get a second shot at tournament success if they don’t cash on their first try.
Partypoker
One of the largest online poker sites out there, PartyPoker has been on the scene since 2001 – at one stage being the most popular site of its kind worldwide. It remains a top choice for millions of poker players, particularly for the recreational and casual market, creating a supply of fairly soft cash tables. Features are regally updated and modern, with changeable avatars, preferred seating options and resizable tables. PartyPoker averages over 1,000 online players at any time – a decent level of traffic. Soft tables aren’t hard to locate, thanks to the site’s popularity with casual players. New players are welcomed with £20 free when they make their initial deposit. Players can advance though Party Poker’s ten VIP levels, including Bronze, Silver, Gold and Palladium Loyalty Levels (collecting points to earn rewards). PartyPoker offers a selection of Limit and No Limit Texas Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Low, 7 Card Stud and “Fast-Fold Poker”. Tournaments are plentiful, with over $1.6 million worth of prizes to be claimed every week.
Titan Poker
Titan Poker is a member of the popular iPoker Network (currently the fourth largest poker network on the web) so as a result pools all of its online players. It can expect around 1,400 on average, and at peak times this rises to 2,500 or more. In reality, the Titan Poker site itself attracts far more players thanks to its high profile status amongst the online poker community. Titan has increased is prize pools significantly in recent years, increasing its player traffic by the bucketload. It’s noted for its secure software and great features.
Bet365
Bet365, being one of the largest gambling companies worldwide, has millions of regular customers thanks to its popular sportsbook, casino and poker sites. The latter is fairly extensive with a solid schedule of dozens of daily poker tournaments and a decent selection of games. Bet365 supports play at up to 16 tables simultaneously for players. Being part of the iPoker network, Bet365 receives a steady amount of daily traffic, around the 1,500 mark average. Players can claim their free €5 just for opening an account with bet365, as well as a 100% match bonus up to a maximum of €100. Newcomers will receive token for the €100 New Depositor Freeroll tournament every Wednesday. Bet365 offers its players the standard choice of Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7-Card Stud, 5-Card Draw and 5-Card Stud. Bet365 offers a wide variety of regular tournaments with buy-ins starting at €0.10, and with the Twister Sit & Gos players can win prize pools of up to 1,000 times their buy-in.
William Hill
William Hill is the world’s biggest bookmaker and has over 70 years’ experience in the gaming industry. It is also one of the top online poker sites in the world, giving away millions every month in their poker tournaments, with a new tournament kicking off every five minutes. Customer service is available 24/7 and a dedicated Poker Coach that teaches beginners how to play poker and understand the rules and the odds of the game. Buy-ins for tournaments are either fairly low so beginners are particularly welcome on the site. New depositors can avail of a £75 “giftbag” in prizes when they first deposit £20 and can get free tickets into the New Depositors Prize Freeroll. Software is reliable, and the site overall favours functionality over attractiveness – but not necessarily a bad thing.
PokerStars
PokerStars is undoubtedly world’s favourite poker site with a broad base of customers throughout Europe, and thanks to changing gambling laws, parts of the US too. A frankly massive site, it hosts numerous tournaments daily often with huge prize pools of up to a $1 million – so if it’s high paying competitions you’re after, them PokerStars is the place to go to. With an average number of 15,000 players online at any time (this number can rise to over 20,000 and higher at peak times) there’s no shortage of tables and the site always has widely varied levels of competition.
Tonybet Poker
Tonybet Poker began as the first Open Face Chinese Poker site and it now provides the full online poker experience with Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and OFC poker cash games, Sit & Gos, and MTT tournaments. Tonybet Poker has everything Hold’em and Omaha players are looking for in an online poker site.
PKR
This poker site is unique in the fact that it offers an entirely virtual, 3D poker experience, similar to a video game playing environment. Now owned by the MPN poker network, the level of traffic here has seriously improved and the quality of game selection, customer service and banking transactions are all excellent.