Are you looking for the best US legal online poker sites or a real money poker app? If the answer is yes, then you came to the right place. This is one of our many online poker reviews where you can find more about the best online poker options.

Without further ado, keep reading to discover how to play the best online poker for money and how to form an online poker strategy. So, let’s get started!

Contents

  • Poker Heat – The new FREE ONLINE POKER game brought to you by the creators of World Series of Poker (WSOP) poker app - Playtika Compete in intense poker games as you place your bets online in the.
  • Texas Holdem is a community game where players must gather the best combination of two of their own cards and 5 main community cards that spread on the table. While there are thousands of poker games apps that have been created for mobile platforms, we are likely to find numerous specifically Texas Holdem Poker variations for Android and iOS.
  • Replay Poker is one of the top rated free online poker sites. Whether you are new to poker or a pro our community provides a wide selection of low, medium, and high stakes tables to play Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, and more.
  • HOT Girl Casino Slot: Sexy Calendar Casino games. HOT Girl Casino Slot: Sexy Calendar Casino.

Best Legal Online Poker Sites

Even the best Texas Holdem players can get thrown by the differences with Omaha. This app is designed to help make that transition easier. You can check out the rank of hands and identify the winning combinations. There’s a practice mode where you play out a game to see it for yourself.

  1. WSOP
  2. PartyPoker
  3. PokerStars
  4. Pala Poker
  5. 888poker
  6. Global Poker

Is online poker legal? It's not always the same as legal online casinos and legal online sportsbooks. All new players who decide to explore the vast universe of real money poker sites should know that federally, online poker sites are illegal. However, on the individual level, online poker is legal in some of the states.

Some websites such as Global Poker (which is a sweepstakes poker site) are allowed in 49 out of 50 US states. Only Washington does not allow it. At the moment of writing our online poker reviews, only four states offer legal online poker websites in the United States. These are the following: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.

For more information about some of the available sites, make sure to consult our Global Poker review.


US Legal Online Poker: State by State

Is online poker legal in your state? If the answer is no, keep in mind that the situation can change pretty quickly. Unsurprisingly, Nevada was the leader of regulated online poker. Once the ice was broken, the domino-effect followed.

Best online texas holdem sites for real money

One by one, many states tried or are still trying to pass the legislation. As you can see, some of them even succeeded. The last one to recently pass online poker is West Virginia, and we expect more legal US poker sites to be launched in the future.

When it comes to future predictions, we believe that chances are pretty good for some of the states to overcome all the legal obstacles and finally launch real money poker sites so their residents become able to play legal online poker.

Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, New York are some of the states that’ll probably make some innovations when it comes to the possibilities of playing poker online. These are the states that have active supporters of online poker in the state senate.

What’s more, regulated real money poker sites in neighboring states can only have a positive effect on public opinion. Additionally, within the borders of the aforementioned states, you can find a considerable number of land-based casinos.

Many of them come with the best online poker rooms where you can play various variants of poker, including the most popular one - Texas Hold’em. In other words, these poker offline options make it easier to launch legal poker sites and eventually start to offer legal online poker.

States Where Legal Online Poker Seems Like a Distant Dream

From this point of view, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah are just some of the states where we can see a certain legislative hostility towards online gambling. Therefore, we don’t believe that we won’t be able to play Texas Hold’em online there for quite some time.

Sweepstakes Legal Online Poker - Play Poker Free No Matter Which State You’re In

As said before, Global Poker, a sweepstakes legal online poker site, can be accessed in all US states except for the state of Washington. This legal online poker platform was launched in 2106, and since then, many players use its services. The virtual currency gaming business model is what makes it unique.

Instead of playing for real money, players play poker free, using gold coins or sweeps cash. That’s why Global Poker often appears when players search for “play poker free” or “play poker online, free”.

To understand how sweepstakes poker works, let’s start with some poker basics and make sure to understand sweeps poker terminology clearly. There’s a difference between gold coins and sweeps cash, and there’s a reason for which “play poker online, free” is actually a bit of a misnomer here.

Gold Coins are the name for the virtual currency in Global Poker, and they are equivalent to what regular legal online poker sites usually call “play money”. In other words, you can’t cash them out, but you can use them to play Texas Hold’em online or participate in some of the available tournaments with other players. On the other hand, “$weeps cash” is a promotional, virtual currency that can be cashed out through PayPal.

To sum up, you can buy gold coins that don’t have any monetary value and can’t be cashed out. “$weeps cash” is obtained as free of charge once you buy Gold Coins. Because of this virtual currency online poker model, Global Poker is not quite considered an online gambling activity. Therefore, it’s allowed in almost all of the US.

Where Can I Play Legal Online Poker in the US?

Pennsylvania is the last state where online poker had become legal when PokerStars was launched there at the end of 2019. Right now that’s also the only available option to play online poker for money in Pennsylvania.

If we don’t count Global Poker, which can be accessed in 49 states, all the other legal online poker sites come with pretty restricted access. For example, Pala Poker and PartyPoker are only available in the state of New Jersey.

However, they are not the only NJ poker sites one can access. WSOP, America's top legal online poker site, is available in the Garden State, and it’s also accessible to all Nevada online poker fans as well. Likewise, PokerStars NJ, available both independently and within the FOX Bet app

Claim the WSOP promo code in New Jersey and Nevada to get a $1,000 signup bonus!

Where Can I Play Poker Live?

Most of the land-based casinos across different states include special poker rooms where you can play live poker. Playing Texas Hold’em online is definitely the most popular option. After all, poker is an American thing, so it’s no wonder to see it available in the vast majority of mortar and bricks casinos.

In fact, instead of listing all the states where you can sit back, relax and try out your luck with live poker, it’s better to list all those where you can’t play poker online. It’ll be easier to remember this list:

  • Alaska
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • New Hampshire
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah

We must add that in Texas, private poker clubs aren’t forbidden. As long as no house makes a profit from the game, poker can be played in private places for fun.

US Online Poker Basics

When talking about the current status of legal US poker sites, there are two especially important laws that you should be aware of. Let’s take a look at these two federal laws that govern online poker in the country.

The Wire Act

The first one is the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act. As you can see, it passed long before online poker or even the internet existed. However, it prohibits certain types of betting businesses to operate via wired communications.

Holdem

In 2011, the US Department of Justice concluded that the scope of the act was limited to sporting events. Therefore, states, where online poker is now regulated, found that the bill didn’t apply to online poker nor other forms of gambling.

However, in 2019, the US Department of Justice reversed its opinion. The new opinion concludes that the Wire Act applies to all types of online gambling.

The UIGEA

The other relevant law is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) from 2006. This law made it illegal for US banks to proceed with transactions for offshore gambling companies. That’s how they were pushed out of the market.

History of US Legal Online Poker

Online casinos started to appear back in 1994. They were usually situated in Antigua or the Isle of Man. However, the vast majority of their users were US-based customers. Two years later, in 1996, online gambling was also brought to the North American market soil.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established just outside Montreal. They started issuing licenses, and pretty soon, it was possible to find hundreds of new online gambling websites.

Once again, two years later and again in Canada, the first-ever poker online website saw the light of day. Planet Poker was the favorite source of fun to thousands of Americans who were spending endless hours playing the first real-money online Texas Hold’em.

Over the next few years, thanks to technological advances, better online poker software was developed, while the number of websites kept increasing. These online poker operators also started to offer various tournaments and cash games and got a solid fan base all over the world.

The Industry Kept Growing & Then It Collapsed

Even though there were different interpretations of the law, especially of the famous Wire Act, the newly developed industry kept growing.

The year 2003 is especially important in the evolution of online poker. Using an account from Tennessee, Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker after participating in the event through an online satellite. In Chris Moneymaker's case, we guess, it's okay to say that name determines destiny.

This online poker strategy was live-streamed on ESPN. Suddenly, the whole nation knew about Chris's story. A good number of Americans were hoping to be the next. All of a sudden, poker was everywhere on TV. Live games were followed carefully, and commercial breaks had one purpose: promoting online poker for money and playing Texas Hold 'em online.

The great number of promoted sites were, in fact, offshore online poker sites. A lot of them disappeared from American browsers after Congress passed the above-mentioned UIGEA in 2006.

However, even though a lot of sites weren't accessible anymore, online poker couldn't be erased that easily. Some of the offshore gambling companies had found a way around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, but not for long.

Best offline texas holdem app

In 2011, some of the largest online poker operators, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet, were accused of violating UIGEA and money laundering. These websites were definitely excluded from the significant US online poker market, which seemed to come to an end at the time.

Legal Online Poker Sites Rise Again

Also in 2011, the DOJ released a legal opinion that the Federal Wire act exclusively applied only to one form of gambling: sports betting. A few states saw this as a possibility, paving the way to regulated online casinos and legal US poker sites.

In 2012, Delaware was the first state that managed to do just that. Then, in December 2013, Nevada followed the example of passing online poker legislation. A week later, the Garden State became the third to legalize online gambling, and plans for NJ poker sites were made.

The first-ever regulated US online poker site was launched in Nevada in April 2013. Delaware and NJ poker sites went live that same year, a few months later. In 2017, Pennsylvania became the fourth state to join this group. West Virginia is the fifth state where online poker was regulated in 2019. Probably, more states will try to do the same thing in the near future.

Which State is Next?

Is online poker legal in California or New York? This is one of the frequently asked questions that people search for in the USA. They also search for different terms of poker terminology that sound unfamiliar to them. However, that’s another question that we could discuss on some other occasion.

Let’s get back to our question of legal online poker sites and the possible new markets in the USA. Michigan has made significant efforts to legalize online gambling, particularly online poker, while California, New York, and Massachusetts also seem to be moving in the right direction.

Real Money Poker App: How to Find the Best Poker App

Free

It doesn’t matter if you are a Pennsylvania online poker fan or a regular visitor of NJ poker sites, the good news is that you can play poker whenever you want, anywhere within the borders of one or the other state.

Many of the best online poker websites have launched a dedicated real money poker app that you can easily download and install on your device. The best poker apps are available for both iOS and Android operating systems.

In order to find the best poker app, make sure you visit one of the websites we listed at the beginning of our review.

Also, before you replace your poker offline adventure with the one that can be found on the internet, make sure to read some of the online poker reviews and get to know the poker terminology used by the players worldwide. After a brief introduction to the poker basics, it’s time to create your own online poker strategy and join one of the legal online poker communities!

We certainly won't be keeping our cards close to the vest with today's awesome list of the best Texas hold 'em apps for the iPhone. If you are a fan of Texas hold’em poker then you are going to have a great time with the apps on this list. So, push all of your chips into the middle, go all-in and check out these awesome Texas hold’em apps.

26 Dec 2020, by Cherry Mae Torrevillas

Poker Heat ( from the same team that gave you WSOP Texas Holdem Poker) – the new FREE ONLINE POKER game brought to you by the creators of World Series of Poker - Playtika.

Put your Texas poker strategy to the test & place your best bet like a true VIP Texas poker player! Move up the ranks of TEN poker leagues to reach the top and claim jackpots of MILLIONS of chips!! Enjoy the best Vegas Casino Poker online while you compete in live poker games vs other VIP players from Las Vegas and all over the world.

  • Prepare - New Poker Rings are Coming
  • League-based competition
  • Compete against friends and players from around the world
  • Win Daily Bonuses and Free Perks
  • Exciting Content
Poker Friends ® app review: play on private tables to pit yourself against your nearest and dearest-2020

Climb aboard The Riverboat Gambler and enjoy some of the hottest casino games around! You will be shocked at the practicality of your experience. 1000s of people saying that they are becoming more proficient at the live money games by their time spent practicing with Riverboat Gambler.

  • Games Include Blackjack. Crazy 4 Poker, High Flush, Pai Gow (tiles), Pai Gow Poker, Asia Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, Texas Hold’em and many more!
  • These games were designed & developed by an ardent casino player who plays 3-4 times every week.
  • Each game includes detailed instructions and rules as well as descriptions of the possible poker hands and the related payouts.
  • Already a player? You're going to love being able to 'sit at the table' and practice your technique.

To finish off today's list of best poker apps for iPhone we have World Series of Poker - WSOP Texas Holdem Free Casino, which provides you with free chips every four hours so that you can keep playing on a continuous basis. This app is compatible with all of your iOS devices and you can even play on your desktop computer via Facebook. When you connect with your Facebook account you will also be granted $15,000 in additional chips completely free of charge, so what are you waiting for! World Series of Poker app review

  • Receive free chips every four hours
  • Play with your friends online via Facebook
  • Link with your Facebook account for free chips
  • Play anonymously in Guess Mode
  • Enjoy tournaments and varied game modes
World Series of Poker app review: enjoy the action no matter where you are

Zynga is one of the world’s most popular poker games and communities. There are numerous tables or tournaments to play in, around the clock. Upon joining, you get a welcome stack of chips and you can also earn more free chips each day. If you desire, there are in-app purchases for more chips. This app provides a realistic playing experience throughout a variety of options like 5 player or 9 player tables, tournaments and more. This diehard poker community is welcoming and challenging at the same time. Make new friends, rivals or respected peers.

  • One of the most popular poker apps in the world
  • Make new friends or rivals, Large community
  • Realistic poker playing experiences
  • Tournaments or tables, Custom playing options
  • Free chips to start, In-app purchases for additional chips
Best iPhone Apps for PokerBest iPad Apps For Poker Enthusiasts

Join other poker players from around the world with this exciting poker game. Create your own profile page, join in weekly or daily tournaments, get free chips daily, play with friends, chat with other people, get rewards by playing and more. If you are new to poker, there’s a feature to learn how to play the game. The app has a smooth, attractive interface. You do not need to register to play this game. If you are impatient or suffering from some bad beats, then you can buy more chips through the many in-app purchase options. Texas Poker app review

  • Register and create your own profile or play as a guest without registering
  • Learn how to play poker, Unlock achievements
  • Get free chips daily, Play in tournaments
  • Play with friends, Chat with other players
  • In-app purchases for more chips
Texas Poker app review: allowing you to play with real people

The VIP poker Texas holdem app has been in the Appstore almost 9 years and has consistently been one of the best available. Choose a table with 5-9 seats and compete against players from all over the world. This is a free Texas holdem app but you can earn or buy chips as you go along, however, comments in iTunes are positive with the app being more than generous with the chips. Many players just earn the bonus chips. There’s a chat feature too which makes the game more sociable.

  • Free to play
  • Daily bonus chips
  • No need to create an account
  • Different play speeds to suit you

If you’ve seen this popular poker game on TV and wanted to learn more about it, then here’s your chance. This is a tremendous teaching tool for those of you wanting to learn how to play Texas hold’em. You play virtual hands and receive feedback based on your play. Let’s face it, some of us learn best by making mistakes and learning from them. Win in-app currency to get additional hand packs for play and coaching. Game scenarios are crafted by world professionals to teach you valuable and realistic lessons. Play for free, win more hand packs or skip ahead by purchasing more hand packs with the in-app purchases.

  • Learn how to play Texas hold’em
  • Play for free or earn coins for more hand packs
  • Realistic game playing scenarios
  • World professionals at your fingertips
  • In-app purchases for additional hand packs

With casinos from all over the world in this free Texas holdem app, and with the added benefit that you can play offline with no need for an internet connection, this poker world offline poker app deserves its inclusion on our list. Offering 30 hours of play, and many tournaments in more than 60 cities, this app stands out as fun and entertaining.

  • Casinos in 60+ cities all over the world
  • Daily bonuses of free chips
  • Great HD graphics
  • Offline play

If you are looking to play Texas holdem poker anytime and anywhere, then here’s the app for you. This poker app can be played offline to meet your Texas holdem needs. There are various levels of play to encourage beginners and aid in their development. The computer opponents are intriguing with stunning high definition graphics. The gameplay is slick and fast so that you can get those cards without any glitches or delays. With smooth animations and realistic sounds, this app is one you should seriously consider. Shoot for that inside straight with this iPhone Texas holdem poker app. There are in-app purchases for additional chips if desired.

  • Play offline anywhere or at anytime
  • Great for beginners
  • Stunning HD graphics, Realistic sounds
  • Smooth gameplay, Fast deals
  • In-app purchases for more chips

Here’s a great tool to help you count cards and become a better poker player. The calculations are lighting fast with a high degree of accuracy. The interface is easy to use and is optimized for the latest iDevices. There’s a hand strength feature, Pot odds, Odds calculator, Expected Value, Post flop analysis, a chip counting tool and more. From pre to post flops, this app will aid you greatly in determining what move you should make based on the odds and calculations. Download it now and watch how your poker playing improves.

Best Online Texas Holdem App
  • Odds calculator with many other features
  • Hand strength tool to see how strong your hand is
  • Pot odds calculator to determine best pot odds
  • Odd calculator to reconstruct other hands
  • Post flop analysis, Chip counter

This highly addicting and fun poker game is now available on the iOS for all to play. Play against other people from around the world and learn how to become one of the best poker players around. The app features free chips, various games like Texas hold’em or Omaha, weekly tournaments to try and win, gifts, awards and more. You need a Facebook account to register for this app. As you win and progress through tournaments, your player ratings will rise. The app has a stylish interface, friendly atmosphere and in-app purchases to acquire more coins.

  • Fun game with a friendly atmosphere
  • Weekly tournaments to compete in against others
  • Various games like Omaha and Texas hold’em
  • Free chips, Requires Facebook to register
  • In-app purchases to obtain more coins

Best Free Texas Holdem Sites

This Texas hold’em iPhone app is integrated with Facebook for quick registration and to share with others. You can get free daily gifts and more chip bonuses in addition to the large amount of chips you get when first signing up. There are 100’s of tables, 5 to 9 person tables, wonderful graphics, a variety of tournaments, Live in-game chat, plenty of virtual gifts, simple interface, smooth gameplay, personalized profile, a poker buddy list, and the chance to unlock special prizes. There are in-app purchases to quickly get more chips and go all in if you desire.

Best Offline Texas Holdem App

  • Smooth gameplay, Sweet graphics, Simple interface
  • 100’s of tables, 5 to 9 person tables
  • Free bonus chips when signing up, Need Facebook
  • Unlock special prizes, Variety of tournaments
  • In-app purchases for additional chips