Best Online Poker Tournament Sites For Us Players
Below are the best poker sites for 2021 . Each poker site accepts all players (including USA), and allows you to play poker for real money.
- Best Online Poker Tournament Sites
- Online Poker Tournament Sites
- Best Online Poker Tournament Sites For Us Players 2021
- What's The Best Online Poker Site For Us Players
Jan 21, 2021 Usually, the best poker sites with the highest traffic are the more established brands like Bovada, JuicyStakes and partypoker. On these sites, you can easily find an open seat during peak hours, and there are plenty of tables to play at during the off time. Do Any US Poker Sites Accept PayPal? The Oddschecker Guide to Poker Bonuses is the most complete resource to find bonus offers to play online poker in 2020. We have reviewed all the bonus offers available on the sites approved by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) to give you a comprehensive view of all the best poker offers available in the UK right now.
Americans have a number of U.S. Real money pokersites to choose from on the internet, and in our opinion, Americas Cardroomis the best one for exciting tournament action. Ignition Poker isn't far behind, and BetOnline/SB Poker is a somewhat smaller, yet still respectable, third choice.
Our poker reviews are broken down into a few categories. You can find game specific information relating to real money games for Hold’em, Omaha and even Razz. Likewise, our guide offers players comparisons to some of the top ranked poker sites. You can find individual pages where we break down the software, game traffic, competition, compatibility, payment processing and more. Our reviews allow you to compare one room to the next and even include video reviews, which allow you to view the software before downloading.
If you would like more info on the poker sites, scroll down to read our poker site reviews. Each of the poker sites below:
- Accept all players (including Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians, and all others).
- Allow you to play online for real money (if you wish).
- Offer exclusive bonuses to players who use our 'referral codes'. By using the codes listed in the table above (or the yellow/blue links on the right) , you are guaranteed to receive the corresponding bonuses at each poker site. If you don't know what these 'bonuses' are, don't worry - we explain it on another page, which we link to later.
Rank | Poker Site | Bonus | Referral Code | Learn More |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 100% up to € / £ 400 | n/a - use link | www.888Poker.com | |
2. | Details at Bet365 | n/a - use link | www.Bet365.com | |
3. | 100% up to € / £ 350 | PPAL500 | www.PartyPoker.com | |
4. | 100% up to € / £ 100 | n/a - use links | www.Bet365.com |
Poker Site Reviews
If you would like to know a little more about the sites above before you make your decision, that is perfectly understandable. To read all-access, unbiased reviews of all of the major poker websites, head on over to our Poker Site Reviews section. The page lists 20+ reviews of poker sites, and also offers specific toplists such as the 'Easiest to Beat Poker Sites' and the 'Best Poker Bonuses' (that page is a great one to read if you would like to learn how poker bonuses work). We also have recently added video reviews of our ten favorite poker sites including our favourite poker sites for USA players. (like our special Party Poker bonus code). To read full reviews of our six favorite poker sites, click the links below. Or, check out all of our poker site reviews.
- 888 Poker Review - scored a 95.5% in our review.
- BetOnline Poker Review -( USA Players Accepted) scored a 92% in our review.
- Party Poker Review - scored a 91.2% in our review.
- Bwin Poker Review - scored a 88.8% in our review.
As you can see by the high (and tight) scores, the poker websites listed above are all great choices. If you already know about online poker and were just looking for a site to play at, you should have plenty of information now to help you make your decision. However, if you aren't quite ready to start playing yet because you are new to the concept of 'online poker', read on:
What Are 'Poker Sites'?
The first thing that new players need to understand is the concept of an 'online poker site'. If you have only played poker in a live casino before, playing online can initially seem like an entirely new experience. However, the thing that's funny is online poker is basically exactly the same as live poker - all that is different is the location.

In live poker, players fly or drive to a casino, and walk through the casino to find the poker room. In online poker, players browse the Internet to find a poker site, then download the software to open up the online poker 'lobby'.
In live poker, players sign up on a board to find the table they want, then buy chips. In online poker, players scroll through the lobby to find the table they want to play, then buy chips with a credit card, eCheck, or eWallet (online poker deposit information available here: Poker Depositing).
In live poker, players sit down at their table and a live dealer runs the game and deals the cards. In online poker, players double click a table to open it, then sit down. A virtual dealer runs the game and deals the cards.
In live poker, when you are done you go to the cage to cash out your chips. In online poker, when you are done you go to the 'Cashier' and can cash out via check, wire transfer, or eWallet. Everything really is the same!
Poker Room Toplists
One of the more unique sections of our site is our 'Online Poker Guide', where we have specific toplists that rank poker sites in special comparisons. For example, you could learn about the best 3D Poker Sites, or the best Mac Poker Sites. Here are the most visited toplists in our Online Poker Guide:
- USA Poker Sites - Learn about the best poker sites that accept American players.
- Texas Hold'em Poker Sites - Find the best online poker sites for playing No Limit Texas Hold'em.
- Poker Sites with Tournaments - Play at the best poker sites for multi table tournaments.
- Game Specific Poker Rankings - This is a group of toplists for all the major poker games - i.e. the 'Best Omaha Poker Sites', the 'Best Sit and Go Poker Sites', etc.
By now you should have plenty of information to help you choose the best poker site, so we are going to move on to our other poker related content. However if you dont find what you are looking for, check out this US Poker Sites listings and information about how rakeback works.
Poker Games
One of the larger sections on our websites is our poker rules guide, which lists the rules for over a dozen poker games. Some of the more popular pages in that section include the rules of Texas Hold'em and the rules of Omaha poker. If you would like to find more info about poker rules, a few other poker rules sites have even more variations than we do. If you would like to find out more about poker games this poker sites portal lists over 20 rules and variants e.g Omaha, HORSE, Stud, Texas Holdem, RAZZ and 7 Card Stud.
Poker Strategy
Once you know the rules of poker, and have chosen a poker website, your next step is to learn poker strategy. Using the proper strategies and tactics at the poker tables makes the difference between a winning player and a losing player, so this section of our poker site is probably the most important. Here are all of our poker strategy sections:
Best Online Poker Tournament Sites
- No Limit Hold'em Strategy - Learn strategy for the most popular poker game, NL Hold'em.
- Poker Tournament Strategy - We teach you how to go deep in MTTs at the biggest online poker sites.
- Heads Up Strategy - This page lists strategies for beating opponents 1 vs. 1.
- Omaha Poker Strategy - Omaha is an up and coming game, and we list the best Omaha strategies.
- Seven Card Stud Strategy - Although Seven Card Stud is an old poker game, the strategy is still useful.
- Sit and Go Strategy - Learn how to crush sit and go's and move up in stakes.
- General Strategy - This page lists general strategy pieces that didn't fit in the other categories.
We're planning on adding more strategy sections in the future, so make sure to check back often.
Video Strategy Guides
In addition to our poker strategy articles, we also have poker strategy videos. These videos are almost 100% focused on sit and go strategy. Our resident pro walks you through a sit and go while explaining his strategy, thoughts, and moves. By seeing a winning player go through the motions, you can help your game immensely.
Popular Online Poker Pages:
Here are some of the other most popular pages on PokerSite.org:
About PokerSite.org
PokerSite.org was launched in 2008, and has grown significantly since the early days. I'm Mike, and I own and operate the site on a daily basis. The main goal of PokerSite.org is to recommend the best poker sites, and I should disclose that the online poker sites do pay me for listing them on this site. However, I always do my best to stay unbiased and think of the players first.
I've been creating online poker websites for over four years now and I used to play online at poker sites like PokerStars and Bodog Poker, but now I don't have as much time to play online. I still play occasionally at live casinos near my home.
If you would like to learn more about myself and the PokerSite.org team, read our About Us page. Or, if you have questions or comments on the site, contact me.
Here I Compare the Options for Real-Money Online Poker Tournaments Available to US Players
Poker Tournaments For US Players
This article will not cover the regulated in-State sites – which (WSOP bracelets aside) are struggling to gain any real momentum.
Below you will find a site by site summary, using the most popular individual sites where a network is involved. After that I have gone through the US online tournaments by size (buy-in). At the end of this page you will find my overall recommendation.
US Online Poker Tournaments 2021 – The Contenders (Sites)
#1 – Bovada Poker Tournaments
There is no doubting that Bovada (who pool players with Ignition Poker / Bodog) are the biggest US room.
What many people do not know before they play there, is that the games are anonymous. Instead of playing with a nickname, you are assigned a new number for each tournament. This stops the tracking software which gives pro players an edge - leveling the playing field for casual players. Bovada proved the skeptics wrong, their 'recreational poker model' was a big factor in their growth.
This is the biggest US poker room (only players from the US and selected Latin American countries can join). There is a solid regular schedule, with a ton of guarantees in the $1k to $5k range (buy-ins up to $22). While for the big 'headline events' America's Cardroom are ahead, for the 'bread and butter' tournaments, I rate Bovada as the number #1. The focus is 98% on No-Limit Holdem, with Omaha the minority game type
There are already some notable highlights for tournament fans. Note that the anonymous play model is still in use. You do not get a screen name at this site – instead when you play a tournament you are assigned a number, and cash games just use the seat numbers.
- $2 Million in Guarantees every week… that’s a lot of guarantees. This is not skewed by a couple of huge games either. When you see the listing you will quickly see that most of the tournaments have some kind of guaranteed prize pool.
- $100k Sunday Major… This always beats the guarantee, there are plenty of satellites too, entry costs $162.
- Mad Monday Tournaments:... This has been a very successful promo, a lot of extra tournaments, often with big guarantees spread each Monday. The total seems to vary (holiday weekends and seasonality affect this) though expect $300,000+ in extra games and again plenty of satellites.
Bovada were good for events and for satellites to live tournaments, for example ‘Vegas Weekends’ during the World Series. I hope to bring you news on this area soon.
With easy deposits, and plenty of poker variations to choose from, I do not see Bovada losing their number one spot any time soon. Check out their busy nightly tournament schedule, and find out how much more fun those anonymous games can be for yourself now at – though I do have a feeling that it will be one of (at least) the top contenders by the end of the year! Check out www.bovada.lv to see the latest deals and tournament events for yourself.
Online Poker Tournament Sites
#2 – Chico Network / BetOnline Poker
BetOnline has been looking after sports bettors from their HQ in Panama for the best part of a decade. Last year, they joined the Chico poker network, and have grown this part of their brand to become the 2nd largest US friendly poker site.
Guarantees are not yet at the level that you might expect (a lot of their players hit the cash game tables instead). Though they are already up to $250,000 a month in prize pools. If you like your tournaments with smaller fields and smaller buy-ins – then you will not find softer games than these at any US site. The secret is that a lot of the field are sports fans who have crossed over into the poker room – and not the experienced ‘pro grinders’ you might find elsewhere.
At the moment the BetOnline weekly flagship event has a guarantee of just $25,000. This does go up to $150k approximately once every month (usually on the last Sunday of the month) as part of a special promotion. BetOnline also recently introduced knockout bounty tournaments each day, these are entertaining (though lower buy-in) alternatives to the regular games.While it does not seem that the recent increase in players at Bet Online has fed through to an improved tournament schedule - there are still some good reasons to play here. The main one is that the fields are very soft, with a lot of players crossing over from the huge sportsbook part of the site.
You can check out the new bounty games, tournament leaderboard promos and date for the next $50k guaranteed over at www.betonline.ag
#3 – Winning Poker Network / America’s Cardroom
Since the last update to this page, America's Cardroom have improved their offering for tournament fans further. They regularly host events under the 'Online Super Series' name. There are bigger and smaller events, and some huge guaranteed prize pools. The most recent series ha guaranteed prizes of $4.5 million.
The Venom = ACR Poker's USA 'Sunday Million'
In 2021, ACR are guaranteeing $1,000,001 each week in a single million-and-one tournament. This is huge news for US tournament fans. If you prefer, you can hit the qualifier games and win your seat in one of the games. There continue until spring. In previous years, they did continue through the year, though were more spread out. If you want to see $1 million+ prize pools for US players continue, then do make sure that you support these events.
The video below gives you an intro to the Million Dollar Sundays, you can find the qualifiers and details over at www.americascardroom.eu
Even though this is only the 3rd largest player pool, the focus on tournaments makes the schedule here the busiest - especially when there is an event like the OSS coming up. Some of the bigger tournaments have relatively high entry prices, though there are plenty of satellite qualifiers running to give smaller bankroll players a shot at the big money. These can be entered for just $1.
Best Online Poker Tournament Sites For Us Players 2021
In addition to this headline event, there is a 'Super Saturday' lineup, which itself has $750,000 in guarantees. There are also live tournament qualifiers. In addition to the qualifiers via regular tournaments, you can win big event entries via the Jackpot Poker (lottery SNGs). This year saw a lot of WSOP Main Event seats awarded in this way.
The regular schedule is growing, though not too packed at the moment. Again the focus is on the lower ($10 and under) end of the buy-ins. If you want to play several tournaments starting at around the same time, then you will need to mix and match those sites. A nice addition to their welcome bonus is up to $50 in 'Tournament Bucks' which are awarded semi-randomly using cards. These are a free extra and can be used to buy into any tournament with the equivalent value.
Find out when the next OSS (Online Super Series) and / or $1 million guaranteed event is on over at www.americascardroom.com
#4 – Merge Network / Carbon Poker
Carbon are now out of the picture. This is a shame as this was an excellent site not too long ago.
#5 - Other Networks
There are some smaller networks, the closest to being in contention is the Equity Poker Network. As of 2021, they are not big enough to make the list of recommendations for poker tournaments though. As I mentioned in the intro the Horizon poker network (Intertops Poker) is making some slow headway. While I am optimistic over time, it does not look like this network will cross the point where there are enough player numbers to run bigger tournaments this year!
US Online Poker Tournaments – By Buy-In Ranges
Most of us are reasonably fixed with the buy-ins we are comfortable playing. If you know what band you are looking for, here are my thoughts on how the different sites match up.
Biggest US Online Poker Tournaments 2021
Here we are talking about the Sunday Majors and special one-off events where you have a chance of winning enough money to really make a difference.
America’s Cardroom has the biggest buy-in, and by a long way with their regular $1,000,000 guaranteed. There are sub-qualifiers for this (the majority of the seats are won this way). This event happens every 3 months or so, and has already rewarded several players with 6-figure prizes. Keep an eye on America's Cardroom for the next running. More recently, there was a run of 5 Million guaranteed tournaments, which are well served by satellite qualifiers (ensuring big fields).
Bovada Poker have a weekly $100,000 guaranteed (and Mad Mondays often feature bigger games too), ACR has $50,000 (boosted around once per month to $100,000) and BetOnline chase the pack with a $25,000 guarantee. Intertops can not really be said to have a Sunday Major just yet - their bigger buy-in tournaments are still more like Multi-table Sit N Goes.
Million Dollar Sundays: As discussed above in the ACR section, from now until early March, we have a $1 million gtd tournament every Sunday at ACR. See www.americascardroom.eu for more.

Mid-Range US Poker Tournaments – the $22 to $55 Range
Players who were used to grinding this range before the big international sites left will really need to have accounts at several offshore sites to make up the volume of games needed. You’ll find 1 or 2 each evening at each site (though if you include $11 rebuys this does go up). The downside is that you will often be facing less than 100 opponents. It feels like the main sites have a plateau at $33, with the bigger games reserved for the weekend and special events.
Bovada is your best bet here by a long way – though I am hopeful the increasing number of players on the WPN network will see some expansion in this buy-in range for BetOnline in the near future. At the weekends you will find some bigger tournaments in this range at ACR too.
What's The Best Online Poker Site For Us Players
Small Buy-in US Online Poker Tournaments – The $11 and Under Range
Once you get to the $11 and under games, you’ll have enough opportunities that you can afford to be a little selective. Since the 150 to 250 player games at the $3 , $5 and $10 level are common, my preference is to go for those sites where your average opponents are likely to be the least experienced.
Betting giant BetOnline fits the bill for me here too. They have been building their sports betting brand for many years, and you are more likely to find an average person that enjoys the occasional poker game here, compared to other sites which have more ‘small stakes pros’. The software is pretty basic, then again, I’ll swap flashy graphics for a better chance of making the final table any day of the week.
Best Site for US Poker Tournaments – Mark’s Overall Choice
This is a genuinely tough one, all of the sites have their positive aspects.
If I had to pick one and only one place to play, then it would be America's Cardroom. The reason is that this site really appears to want to move forward with their tournament schedule. There are regular events (the Online Super Series + the $1 million guaranteed games), monthly leader board contests and plenty of action every night at the lower end of the buy-in spectrum... I'm happy that Ignition have now come into the picture to provide ACR with some stiff competition, though as of 2021, ACR are still my strong top recommendation.
Check out www.americascardroom.eu for yourself now!
Here are my reviews of the leading US facing sites in 2021
SNG Tournaments For US Players (compares the Sit N Goes at the US biggest sites)
Don't forget to bookmark this page now - I'll update on the US scene as soon as any news comes in - especially with one-off tournaments or special promotions.