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Highest Rated Poker Sites

Finding the highest rated poker sites online can be tough. There's an abundance of information published on the web, but it can be hard to find the signal through the noise. Lots of people post reviews of poker sites on forums or websites, but many of the reviews are biased. It makes it equally difficult to find a high rated poker site when nearly all of them advertise the same bonuses or are part of the same poker network. This is where we come in. Our editors have reviewed and played at over thirty different poker rooms and have created a list of the highes rated poker rooms online. The poker sites you see listed below have an excellent track record with players, provide prompt payouts and excellent customer service. If your looking for a highly rated poker room, take one of the rooms below for a test drive.

Lists the Highest Rated Poker Sites

Rank	Poker Room	Bonus	Match	Code	Player Trafic	Room Review
1	BetOnline Poker	Instant	25%	N/A	6,000+	BetOnline Poker
2	Lock Poker	$750	150%	N/A	8,000+	Lock Poker
3	Bovada Poker	$1000	100%	N/A	10,000+	Bodog Poker
4	Cake Poker	$600	110%	N/A	8,000+	Cake Poker
5	Intertops Poker	$600	110%	N/A	8,000+	Intertops Poker
6	Juicy Stakes	$750	150%	N/A	8,000+	Juicy Stakes

How to Find the Highest Rated Poker Sites Online

Given this, reliable information is hard to come by. So we should learn how to find the top rated poker sites ourselves, without relying on incomplete or inaccurate information.

You'll find that top-rated poker sites share a set of common qualities. In my experience, these qualities break down into roughly four groups. The highest rated poker sites all:

1. Have a solid history and a good reputation
2. Regularly invest in the games
3. Take security and regulation very seriously
4. Market proactively to draw new players

If a poker site is lacking one or more of these qualities, chances are good that it isn't a top-rated site. And if you find a site that excels in all four, chances are good that you're on the right track.

The Highest Rated Poker Sites Have A Solid History

Would you buy a car from a company with no history at all? You'd probably hesitate, at least, before pulling the trigger on the purchase. And for a good reason: a history of happy customers is a testament to a company's excellence. No history, no certainty -- that's just how it is. This is as true in the automotive industry as it is in the poker industry.

Consider a site like 888 Poker. It has been around since 2002, servicing players and expanding its reach. The company that owns 888 Poker, 888 Holdings, has been operational since 1997. That is a solid history, and a pretty good indication that 888 deserves its top ratings.

Shady poker sites don't survive for over 9 years, nor do generic or mediocre poker sites. So when you see a room with a long and successful track record, like 888 Poker, you can be pretty sure it's doing things right.

High Rated Poker Sites Invest in the Games

As poker players, we intuitively know that it takes money to make money. This maxim is as true applied to us as it is applied to the sites we play on. Simply put, if a site doesn't invest in its games, its product will be sub-par.

Given this, it's not surprise that the highest rated poker sites invest heavily in product improvement. A few things great poker sites invest in:

1. Software improvements. The highest rated sites have the best poker software -- period.
2. Player incentives. The best sites take care of their players via guaranteed tournaments, VIP programs, and promotions.
3. Innovation. Truly awesome sites take some chances. For example, a site could spread a rare form of poker (like Pokerstars 8 Game Mix); or a site might be innovatative in terms of gameplay (PokerCam tables at 888 Poker); or a site might straight-up reinvent the way poker is played (Rush Poker at Full Tilt). In any case, the top-rated poker sites all give back to the game through innovation.

High Rated Poker Sites are Certified as Safe

The highest rated poker sites don't screw around with security. Safety is one of the top priorities for online players, and poker sites know this. So any smart poker room ensures that its customers receive fair treatment, and that its games are 100% fair.

888 Poker is a great example of a room committed to security; they have an independent gaming auditor (eCOGRA, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Technical Systems Testing) conduct a Random Number Generator analysis regularly. If eCOGRA were to ever discover any irregularities in the 888 Poker software, 888 would lose its certification.

888 has consistently passed eCOGRA tests, and proudly displays its fairness certification on the 888 homepage. It's just a reminder of why 888 Poker is one of the highest rated poker sites: they make a real commitment to safety, and back up their claims with forced accountability!

Games are Better at the Highest Rated Poker Sites

The best poker sites advertise heavily in order to draw casual players to the tables. Generally, this works pretty well. There is a noticeable difference in player skill between sites that advertise and sites that don't.

Consider Bodog Poker. Bodog isn't just a poker site -- it's an international entertainment brand. Bodog licenses its name to record labels (Bodog Music), television shows (BodogFight), and even video games (Scarface: The World Is Yours). The result of this is that many different people, some of whom wouldn't have ever thought of playing online poker, are exposed to the Bodog name on a daily basis.

When these people get the itch to play online poker, they think back to seeing Bodog's logo on television. They figure they'll be best off playing at a site run by a familiar company. So they sign up at Bodog Poker, fill up their accounts, and start donking around.

This has the effect of making the games at Bodog incredibly soft. Since it's not just grinders and professionals who find out about the site, Bodog's player pool becomes largely populated by newbies, making Bodog one of the fishiest poker sites online. And this is good for the game. Hence you'll see Bodog consistently named as one of the highest rated poker sites online.