UK Poker Gambling Sites

It’s hard not to be jealous of poker players in the UK. Here in the States, online poker has suffered numerous setbacks thanks to overzealous lawmakers. The UK, on the other hand, has a fully legal and regulated online poker industry. Our friends in the UK can choose from dozens of high quality, high traffic poker sites.

The best UK poker sites do not earn the title “best” easily. Competition is stiff in the UK and there are many places all competing to earn that title. But after years of fighting one another for the top spot, several poker sites have emerged as the best places in the UK:

Rank Gambling Site Exclusive Bonus Get Started
#1
BetOnline Poker
100% Up To $1,000 Visit Site BetOnline Poker
#2
Bovada Poker
100% Up To $500 Visit Site Bovada Poker
#3
SB Poker
100% Up To $1,000 Visit Site SB Poker
#4
Ignition Poker
100% Up To $1,000 Visit Site Ignition Poker

Choosing a Poker Site

Gambling legislation in the UK makes it easy to find real money poker rooms that are safe. As long as you stick with any of the licensed, big-name sites in the UK, you don’t have to worry much about sorting through the good and the bad. Poker sites that are licensed to do business in the UK are subject to the law of the land and are generally going to take great care of your money.

So instead of just feeling lucky to find a trustworthy poker site (like we do here in the US), you can actually choose sites that offer the exact experience you want. The best UK poker sites provide hundreds of cash game tables and tournaments around the clock. They reward new players with big signup bonuses. They also employ software that works well and keeps the games moving at a quick pace.

The best all-around sites in the UK do not have any major flaws. They get all the important things right. Their differences are related mostly to minor, aesthetic things such as software design, VIP programs and tournament structure.

In my experience, cash game players tend to congregate at sites that use fast, simple software. Simple software makes it easier to multi-table and see what’s going on. The tables aren’t cluttered with 3D avatars and new hands move at a brisk clip.

Other poker sites are known more for their tournaments. They push the tournament angle by hosting large tournaments frequently, rewarding players for participating and sending players to major land-based tournaments. Some of these sites also include tournament-specific features for final table deal making.

What I recommend is to take a look at each of our recommended sites from above. They’re all great places to play, but they all take a different approach to online poker. It’s free to download the software and create an account. Do that, check out the software and give it a shot. If you don’t like that site, that’s OK. It takes about 5 minutes to move on to the next one.

Currencies Used at UK Poker Sites

Most UK poker sites offer a number of currencies. US dollars, Euros and the British Pound are all fairly common. Out of these currencies, you’re most likely to see the USD and Euro actually in use at the table. The reason for this is because the majority of sites that serve the UK also serve Europe and Canada.

When it comes to just depositing and withdrawing, you can use dozens of currencies. Poker sites can process those transactions and hold your account balance in whatever currency you use locally. There are two different ways poker sites handle all those different currencies.

One method is that when you go to play at the tables, your currency is converted to the table currency for the length of your session. When you leave the table, the currency is converted once again to whatever currency you deposited with originally.

In the other method, your deposits are converted to US Dollars or Euros at the time of deposit. Your account balance is held in that currency until you withdraw. Current exchange rates are used at the time of deposit and time of withdrawal.

My personal favorite is when currencies are exchanged right there at the table (method one). That way, your money spends less time in its “converted state” or whatever you want to call it. This exposes you to less exchange risk and makes it a little easier to keep track of what your account balance is in your primary currency.

Deposit and Withdrawal Methods

One of the big benefits of legal online poker in the UK is that you can choose from dozens of deposit and withdrawal methods. All of the big name financial services in the UK can be used to transfer money to and from poker sites. Best of all, almost all deposits and cashouts are processed on the same day.

Here are some of the most popular deposit methods:

  • Credit card
  • Neteller
  • PayPal
  • Skrill
  • Instant bank transfer
  • Click2Pay
  • Ukash
  • Paysafecard
  • Entropay
  • Bank wire
  • Cheque