Avr0rа and Brdz1, who have played over one million hands in different rooms, analyzed 14 options on the A-Game channel. We translated it for English-speakers. The list goes from the industry newcomer TON Poker to flagship rooms like PokerStars and GG. They highlighted the pros and cons of each room for an NL50 cash player and compiled a tier list based on them.
Disclaimer:
It is important to understand that it is impossible to make an objective review in principle (the weight of negative and positive factors will be different for everyone). Brdz1 and I tried to reason from the point of view of a cash player, approximately NL50, who plays professionally or strives to (plays for win, not for fun). For an amateur player or a tournament reg, the tier list would be different.
Chico (TigerGaming, BetOnline)
Avr0ra: You can play Chico Network rooms from almost anywhere. They are famous for the fact that you can play with Americans there. At one time, I advised Brdz1 to play in Chico when PokersStars exited Russia because I knew many people who really started playing NL10 in Chico and reached NL1k. The path of a player from the lowest limits to the highest in Chico rooms, at least before, existed and worked.
Since then, there have been about three rake increases at Chico, and the conditions have gotten worse. However, the room is actively advertised at major sporting events in America, for example, I saw an ad during the Tyson Fury fight.
Brdz1: Chico will always remain in my heart, even though the conditions are constantly getting worse. I think five years ago it was one of the best rooms of all time. There was a very good selection there, there was a relatively small rake, you could play with Americans, with anyone, deposits and withdrawals in crypto. Everything is very good, there are no pools there. I won the jackpot on Chico, they let me withdraw, that is, I didn’t see any problems with cashouts either.
I think Chico is still a playable room. It's clear that it's not a frontrunner and the conditions leave much to be desired, but people still play there, our friends play there. And it seems to me that no matter how much rake they raise, when a VIP is sitting at the table pouring 300bb/100, it would be fair to say that the room is playable.
Avr0ra: But they are giving warnings for table selecting! As far as I know, you were given one? Chico has a neutral-negative attitude towards professional players. They can limit the number of tables played, they can simply disable some stakes too. There was a case: one of our friends won so much at NL1k that they simply removed this limit for him, he was not in the lobby. I was allowed to play a maximum of two tables... There is a fight with professional players. Therefore, I would rather put Chico in the B-tier, what about you?
Brdz1: I think it's A tier because a lot of time can pass from registration to when they give a ban for good results. Problems only start at the top of the top.
Avr0ra: What did they do to you?
Brdz1: I had an almost double-digit win rate there. I was very good at selecting tables, and at some point, they took away that ability.
Avr0ra: This is very serious! To be honest, I wouldn't fill the S-tier, so it seems to me that Chico is a B-tier room.
Brdz1: Let's go to A tier.
Avr0ra: Ok, Brdz1 has been playing these limits longer, excluding the jackpot, he has a real double-digit win rate. In today's reality, Chico is a good platform.
888poker
Avr0ra: This is the room of my youth! Thanks to 888 I moved up from NL200 to NL5k. I played with Forhayley and Trueteller. 10 years ago it was a top room with many fans from Arabic countries and Australia. But times have changed: they were all banned from playing long ago, high limits were removed altogether, the rake was raised harshly, and there were many bots, especially at NL50-NL200.
By the way, Chico fights bots quite well. At some point, there were a lot of bots, but they were banned with confiscation. They are trying to fight them, but at NL50-NL200 you will meet them. So that you understand, bots are not some kind of machines, they are just an operator who uses tips from a pre-thought-out strategy that was invented by a company specializing in bots.
Back to 888: the bot situation is very bad. Most of the fans left because of the bans, only Canadians and Brits remain. There is almost no rakeback, it is difficult to get. Bans with confiscation (often for nothing), and support only via live chat.
Pros? Probably only the remaining rare VIPs from the UK and Canada.
Brdz1: 888 has always been an unremarkable room for me, I've only heard bad things. Our friend was banned there and he couldn't withdraw money for a long time.
Avr0ra: He managed to get it out in the end.
Brdz1: Yes, but it's not what you expect from a poker room. I definitely wouldn't put 888 and Chico next to each other. The latter have good support, and I haven't encountered bots there.
Avr0ra: It's not allowed in many places.
Brdz1: Chico is accessible from everywhere. These rooms are like night and day. Another important thing is the cleanliness of the lobby, how pleasant it is to select. There are rooms where you can open 20 tables of one limit, no one punishes you for it. Chico has a very good system in this regard. But I admit that in the distant past there were very positive reviews about 888: Baron, Linus, and Stefan all played on 888.
Avr0ra: It can be added that the game is still fighting there. People win, you can table select. You are unlikely to beat bots, but you can try.
Let's sum it up. This is a D-tier room. 888poker from 10 years ago and now are completely different rooms. The situation is better in MTT: for some reason they fight bots here, but not in cash.
PokerBros
Avr0ra: We've talked about apps many times. The main advantage of apps for me is Australians. Those pensioners from Australia who were banned from playing online need to play somewhere, and they play in these clubs. True, you need to be able to find them.
There are many downsides. The main one is network marketing because every other club is already affiliated. The rake is huge, there is no security service, and there are a lot of bots. 888 does a bad job of fighting bots, Chico does an average job, and in club apps, no one fights anyone.
But I would put apps above 888. It is important to be able to choose the right club. If you learn to do this or play from poker funds specializing in club apps, you can rise from low limits to high stakes. I do not recommend playing on your own without any support. I would put it on the border of C and D-tier.
Brdz1: I have a different opinion. For me, clubs apps are A-tier, or maybe B-tier with a caveat. If you play on your own, it's a disaster: you don't know what clubs you'll find and what will happen to your bankroll. But no one does that now. You can go to GreenLine, they'll guide you, let you practice, and give you clubs, plus all financial transactions through them. Even if you get banned in one club, they'll create a new account, and you can continue playing. This is the poker path of 2024.
The high entry threshold is a problem. You need a good computer: 64 GB of RAM, and a good processor, so not everyone has this opportunity.
Avr0ra: In apps, it's not the player's skill that matters, but negotiating skills. You can shift this to the fund, but then you have to share the profit with it. In total, this is a B-tier with an asterisk. If you're ready to play only in open games, then apps are not for you. If you're ready for everything Brdz1 listed, then apps are the best option, maybe even an A-tier.
Brdz1: I have never had anyone get in through connections. Everyone plays in the same clubs. If you play regular limits, you don't need super connections.
Avr0ra: The rake in apps is huge, even taking into account the rakeback.
Winamax
Avr0ra: This room has got good amateurs from France, although they can't play with the rest of the world, which creates a unique market. Cash games are tough, the rake is high, but with active play, the effective rake [the final rake after all bonuses and rakeback] is acceptable, about the same as Chico. There are about the same number of bots.
Very close to Chico in all criteria, the player's path is a little more difficult due to fewer games at high limits. In today's reality, both Chico and Winamax are A-tier.
Brdz1: For me Winamax is worse than Chico. I played NL200-NL600, and at low stakes, the rake is much higher.
Avr0ra: The effective rake there is the same, taking into account the loyalty levels.
Brdz1: Maybe. But Winamax has less games. Chico might be the main room, but Winamax is not.
Avr0ra: For a NL50 player, it can. The problem is in the time zone: the amateur traffic is different. Americans play on Chico, and the French play on Winamax, but they play at a different time. Winamax is not as aggressive towards professionals as Chico and 888. One big minus of Winamax is the complicated registration.
Brdz1: You can come, say, to France and register, and then play from anywhere.
Avr0ra: Hypothetically possible, but you need to understand the process or pay a middleman. If you can figure it out, you probably won't get banned.
Brdz1: I would add that Winamax has high fees for withdrawals.
Avr0ra: These fees can be avoided, although it's not easy to figure out.
Ignition (Bovada)
Avr0ra: A network with Americans, similar to Winamax. I don't recommend playing, as it's the main room for bots that share cards. Although there are American fans, I'm not sure the game is even beatable. Pros: good traffic of American fans, about the same as on Chico.
Brdz1: I have nothing to add, I trust you completely.
iPoker (RedStar Poker)
Avr0ra: Another room similar to Chico, except with fewer amateurs and the rake is similar. Previously, the player's path was good (PusheeR rose from NL2 to high stakes, as did many others), but then there was a decline – only bots played, and there were no amateurs. Now there is a new heyday. They integrated crypto, there is traffic from the casino, and they do not compete with professionals.
There are amateurs, but there are also bots. Bots do not know the cards, but they play better than you (and better than me). They adapt to you: play well – they play according to GTO, play badly – they exploit. At NL50-NL200, try to play less with them. The site does try to fight bots, and there are professional players who win.
For NL50 players, it's better not to multi-room, find one platform. Start multi-rooming at least from NL100.
Brdz1: I agree that NL50 is the last limit where you can choose one platform, then you need to multi-room. The main problem with iPoker is anarchy in the lobby, there is also "buttoning" [a person plays his button and leaves without letting you play yours, this is fraud]. But there are fans. In general, I can’t say that the game is the most dishonest. A good average room. Nicedaybro plays huge amounts at NL50-NL100 in iPoker, he has almost no negative months – this indicates that the game is alive.
Avr0ra: I agree about anarchy. Buttoning is common. Chico will ban or warn you for that.
Brdz1: Lobby organization is an important parameter! When you can't sit down at the tables for 30 minutes – it's bad. This could have been fixed.
Avr0ra: In today's industry, this is B-tier.
Partypoker
Avr0ra: A hidden gem. One downside is that it's difficult to register and play. Very strict rules for different countries. You can play from Europe (not entirely) and Brazil. Those who got through, do not complain. Effective rake is lower than other rooms in the industry. They fight bots – no better than in Chico or Winamax, but it is also difficult for bots to register. The game is good, the rake is low. If possible, I recommend playing there. There is a guy on GipsyTeam who actively plays on partypoker, he will not be happy, but we have an honest review.
Brdz1: Even if you move to Alaska to play partypoker, you'll make 5 entries to Zoom200.
Avr0ra: That's the nonsense: there is a game at NL50-NL100. It's funny that there are probably not enough regs there. You can play for rakeback and select regular tables.
Brdz1: Management issues have led partypoker to where it is now. People used to win a lot at mid-stakes, high-stakes and Fast Forward!
Avr0ra : This is not management. The company is traded on the stock exchange, strictly regulated. They do not stop serving most countries of their own free will.
Brdz1: For me, this is not an excuse. I judge from the consumer's point of view: I'll go to another room – to Chico, for example.
Avr0ra: A casual player won't see Chico's advert in the UK, but he will see partypoker's. BetOnline doesn't have any problems with adverts either, casual players sign up for Chico, but BetOnline is more of a casino. What they offer, in terms of poker, can end at any moment.
Brdz1: This is rather a plus. I would prefer to play in a room that is connected to a casino: casino lovers are always a plus.
Avr0ra: This has its pros and cons.
WPT Global
Avr0ra: I'm a WPT Global hater. It's former PokerKing Asia, which, according to stories, stole money from my friends. I wouldn't recommend playing there. The high-stakes game is most likely not clean: team players, bots. Perhaps the room does not cooperate with them but does not actively fight them.
Maybe it should be placed above Ignition, but your money is not safe there. All high-stakes players have negative experiences there, and no one backs there.
There are fans from Asia, a cool non-standard format of the game with a big ante. Not such a huge rake. You can try, but at your own risk, do not keep a lot of money, do not play high limits. For me, this is D-tier. Maybe it is unfair and not entirely objective, what do you think?
Brdz1: I would leave some percentage that the rumors are a mistake and everything was not so in reality. But there is no smoke without fire.
Avr0ra: If the rumors are true, people have acted completely brazenly. Poker intuition tells me that something is fishy with this WPT.
CoinPoker
Avr0ra: High B-tier or low A-tier. Let's put it on B-tier.
Brdz1: I agree, I would also put it on B.
Avr0ra: Pros: you can play from anywhere and the payments in crypto. Cons: few fans, no security, bots, little play. It won't be possible to make it a main room even at NL50. Few super VIPs. The rake is less than average. The game is fair, it can be beaten, there are bots, but they don't know the cards. In 2024, if bots don't know the cards, but just play fair, then you can still live.
RNG-paranoids might have it easier on CoinPoker because it has a decentralized RNG. In short: the RNG is honest in all poker rooms, they can scam in other places – with commissions, bots that share cards, and other bots that simply play very well on adjustments to the field.
Brdz1: Crypto is the future of the poker industry, card deposits have proven their insolvency.
Avr0ra: I disagree with you. The main VIPs are often people over 50 or over 60. Some John from Great Britain wants to pour a mug of beer, deposit from a card to partypoker, sit, and play cards, he will not deal with crypto. The sites should work with cards until the very end.
Brdz1: Yes, but as practice shows, it is not always possible. CoinPoker is a standard B-tier. It is not suitable to be the number one room.
TON Poker
Avr0ra: They are trying. There is amateur traffic. According to rumors, the largest bot farm approached them, offered them their services for a percentage, and TON Poker refused.
Brdz1: This is a great victory.
Avr0ra: Bots will of course continue to play, but at least they are not officially allowed to do so.
There is no security service. What, except conscience, prevents you from creating 4 accounts and sitting down to play? Probably, they will ban you sooner or later, but considering that the withdrawal is instant, such a person will take some money. The rake is huge! All affiliates are singing like a nightingale because they themselves get a lot of money from this.
You can win there, the traffic of amateurs is big. The support works and listens to the players' opinions. Sooner or later I will try to play high-stakes there.
Brdz1: I can't say much, but I express my respect: they are trying to make the room better. It's not like that everywhere now, but a hard worker at NL50 can still choose 5-7 rooms better than TON Poker.
Avr0ra: If you look at the selection in TON Poker, I believe that you can have a better expectation than in Chico.
PokerStars
Avr0ra: S-tier. Yes, there are many minuses, but the effective rake is almost the lowest in the industry, something around 5-6 bb/100. Good amateur traffic. Professionals are not strangled too harshly. Not such an S-tier as before, the support works much worse. Friends write that they can figure out a simple case for a month.
Brdz1: I would put it in the S-tier.
Avr0ra: By industry standards, they do a pretty good job of fighting bots. They do exist, of course, but there are fewer of them on average. This is the only room where I won't put bots in the minus, because it's really easy to breathe at NL50, although there are almost no games above NL200.
Brdz1: PokerStars is a real poker story. When you open the client, you touch the stories of Isildur and Negreanu. 15 years ago, PokerStars together with Full Tilt collected 300k online and competed with each other, and the fact that we still put it in the S-tier is an indicator of huge reliability, especially considering how much has changed. PokerStars was the standard in the fight against scripters, and banned software.
Avr0ra: Stars have really lost ground in the last five years, but everything is relative. Maybe for a recreational player, I would put GG higher, but for a NL50 hard worker who still believes in the poker dream, PokerStars is an S-tier.
Brdz1: Despite all the minuses, it's an S-tier. I fondly remember the time when SupermegoPro and I played at NL100, reg-wars with Alexeyka. Everyone has fond memories of PokerStars.
Winning Poker Network (PokerKing)
Avr0ra: Many minuses, but also many pluses. Americans, you can play from anywhere, the game is fair, low effective rake. WPN has good conditions at higher limits (NL500-NL1000), at NL50 the rake is high, but still lower than the industry average. Professionals are strangled, but not to death. If you select hard, and open a bunch of empty tables, then sooner or later you will be banned for a script, even if you don't have one.
Brdz1: Like me!
Avr0ra: Yeah, they don't like it. But overall, if you're just sitting there, keeping a low profile...
Brdz1: ...you don't really win...
Avr0ra: Even if you win, there are many top winners there. If you change tables a couple of times during a gaming session, you probably won't get banned, and by today's standards, that's already a result.
The security service works poorly. However, support exists, and maybe you will even solve some problems. It used to be really bad with bots and now it has become better, but the bots do not want to give up WPN – this is one of the main feeders for them. However, you can win, this is not Ignition.
The owner of the network is a nice guy, a big poker fan, so he treats professionals well, but in my opinion, he is not a very good businessman. When nanonoko (Randy Lew) was hired for security, I thought he would restore order, and make the American room great again, but no. Mr. Lew just sat down on his salary and did nothing.
The room is incomprehensible to me, it's somewhat similar to apps. 5 pluses, what else do you need?! But there are also minuses. WPN has everything to become an S-tier, both for amateurs and professionals, but it seems like no one cares.
GG Network
Brdz1: This is an iron S-tier, and I'll explain why.
Avr0ra: S-tier? No, I disagree here.
Brdz1: Okay, go ahead.
Avr0ra: There will be hate, but this is the low end of the A, the top of the B tier.
GG's management has stated many times that their room is not for professionals, but for amateurs. But by today's industry standards, professionals are not so harshly suppressed. Yes, everyone is scared of bans for bumhunting, but in reality, almost no one has been banned.
The effective rake is the highest in the industry. At NL50 it is about one and a half times higher than at Stars, but if you are young, energetic, can play for leaderboards, and play a long time, then you can play for rakeback. Without it, with moderate selection, you will have results from about 0 to -1 bb/100. You can't select strongly, but moderately – you can.
The path of a player from low to high limits can be passed. The game is fighting. Amateurs from different countries play, you need to adapt to everyone, it's interesting and cool!
If you want to become a professional, you will have to work hard on both theory and practice – you can't play small sessions on GG. If you start to gain too much, then the rakeback can be made smaller, they can even give a warning for bumhunting, but I know many examples of those who played only on GG and rose to high levels.
The situation with bots is slightly worse than on PokerStars, because they press harder on GG. They fight bots, they are banned periodically, not only thanks to the security service, but also to the players who find them. The fact that bots have high win rates before rakeback indicates that the game is fighting.
Brdz1: So you have a rake of 10 bb/100. What win rate do you need to play with to beat the game?
Avr0ra: Still, you are given the opportunity to reduce the rake. If you play on leaderboards, it is reduced, say, to 7bb/100. They tell you: either sit and grind the rake properly, or we are not happy with you.
There are promotions and they attract fans. GG is the only platform that works with the Asian market. The Asian market is the locomotive of online poker.
Brdz1: GG's downsides are well known, let's leave aside the story with the funds.
Avr0ra: To be fair, everything could have been done much better from the start, and the community is partly to blame.
Brdz1: I agree. GGpoker has by far the best poker software that you can actually enjoy playing with, and that's a big deal. If you look at the tier list, it might seem like GG and partypoker are close, but the difference is species-specific. The number of online players at GG is the same as all the other rooms combined.
Avr0ra: Multiplied by 2.
Brdz1: GG is the flagship room of the industry by a huge margin, which defines online poker. It creates competition. If it were not there, PokerStars would not give bonuses like they do now.
Avr0ra: I don't quite agree with what you said about the software. It's important for an amateur, but for a hard worker, the number of hands per hour is important. On GG, this indicator is not very good. It's important to say that the support works, maybe not super effectively, but problems are being solved. On the same Ignition, there is no support as such.
Brdz1: It seems to me that it turned out objectively about GG.
Avr0ra: We'll probably get hated.
Brdz1: Very controversial room.
Avr0ra: GG's image is supposedly worse than it actually is. Of course, when everyone plays at zero or minus, and professional players are forced to play for rakeback, it's bad for the industry, in my opinion. But who am I? And that's why GG is not S-tier, but B-tier.
Avr0ra: Phew, done shooting. Anyway, I hope this video will be useful to those who are choosing where to play. Two hours of airtime!
Brdz1: I hope there are no hard feelings from the rooms. This is user experience. It is good for the owners to get feedback from players who have played millions of hands in their rooms. If I owned a business, I would want to be given feedback.
Avr0ra: Don't sue us, please.
