Play Las Vegas Online Poker Rooms For Real Money In 2024
Back in the day, there was nothing quite like ponying up at a proper Las Vegas poker table and stacking your chips on the felts. However, these days, the best poker rooms in Vegas aren’t actually in Vegas at all. Instead, the vast majority of US players enjoy Las Vegas online poker at any number of legitimate, reputable websites, no matter where they are in the USA.
Ironically – and as will all other forms of Vegas online gambling – the most trusted online Vegas poker rooms aren’t even based in America. Instead, these sites are headquartered offshore and operate in the international market, making them safe and legal for most USA residents. To learn more, we deal you in so you can play your online poker hand without getting sent up the river (card)!
How We Rate The Best Online Las Vegas Poker Sites
Before you sign up with any Vegas online poker room, you need to understand that not every site is a good deal. In fact, most Vegas-style poker websites are actually very bad deals and are – in the long run – guaranteed to flop.
That’s why you need to make sure you only play poker online with the best of the best. But while we could just point you to the top online poker sites and call it a day, that’s not our style.
We’ve been playing Vegas online poker, Vegas online sports betting sites, and Vegas online casinos for over 20 years, and in that time, we’ve learned – through plenty of royal flushes and plenty more royal pains in the butt – what it takes for any online gambling site to be a truly legitimate operator.
Remember, we play at every site we recommend, and the sites featured in our online Vegas poker reviews boast all the following features:
- Legally headquartered in an established, reputable offshore gambling jurisdiction
- Legally able to accept USA online poker players at 18+ or 21+
- Operates behind advanced SSL/TLS encryption for cutting-edge cybersecurity
- US-friendly online bet funding options rated for reliable transactions and UIGEA compliance
- Support for traditional banking methods – credit, debit, bank wire, money order, etc.
- Support for state-of-the-art banking methods – Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, etc.
- Best Vegas poker bonuses for all new + returning members
- Enhanced Vegas poker promos for Bitcoin/crypto depositors
- All withdrawals guaranteed + same-day payouts with BTC/altcoins
- 24/7 online poker cash games + multi-table and multi-hand support
- Online poker Sit-N-Go events + Zone Poker events around the clock
- Daily online poker tournaments + major events w/ six-figure final pots
- Play on desktop, laptop, or mobile – no downloads required
- Attentive customer service available via live chat, email, telephone
- Other markets available including Vegas online casinos, Vegas online sportsbooks + more
Types Of Las Vegas Poker Online
Generally speaking, no matter which Internet-based Vegas poker room you choose, you’re going to get the same four kinds of online poker markets: cash games, Zone Poker, Sit-N-Gos, and tournament poker.
While most players participate in each variety at one time or another, you’re likely to gravitate toward a single style over the course of your online poker career. To help you get started, here’s what each one has to offer:
Cash Poker Games
Cash poker is just what it sounds like: You pick an online poker table, pay your ante/blind, and play your hand. Vegas poker cash games are one-and-done, and if you want to play again, you simply join a different table.
Typically, cash table games of this sort have the smallest payouts, but they also have the shortest playtimes. This is the favored poker style for casual Vegas gamblers, and most regulars play the majority of their games this way.
Zone Poker
Zone Poker is a type of poker play where games are extremely short and to-the-point. In fact, Zone Poker is even faster to play than online poker at cash tables, as you can move between games the second you fold, automatically.
Don’t like your hand? Just punch out, and you’re immediately dealt in at a new table. This kind of rapid online poker isn’t for beginners, but once you understand the basic poker hands and poker rankings, you’re sure to be in the zone!
Sit N Go Poker Tournaments
Sit-N-Go poker is a kind of online poker where you can play for bigger pots without the time commitment required for large poker tourneys. Most sites have new Sit-N-Go events starting every 10-15 minutes or so.
Depending on the number of players or final pot size, Sit-N-Go games can last between 30 minutes and two hours. If you’re interested in playing online poker in a tournament format but want to start slow, these small, fast tournaments are the way to go.
Vegas Poker Tournaments
For the best online card sharps, online poker tournaments are the main event. Every reputable Vegas poker room has its own tournament poker schedule, making it easy to keep track of the different events coming down the pipe.
But if you think these things are easy money, you better get off the pipe! The biggest online poker tournaments feature thousands of players and take several days to conclude, with winners pocketing six-figure and seven-figure payouts!
Online Vegas Poker Games
Now that you know all the different ways to play poker at the best Vegas poker rooms online, you’ll need to know exactly what poker games you can expect when you ante up.
Fortunately, all the top venues keep things extremely simple, as they limit their offerings to the most widely played and beloved poker classics: Texas Holdem, Omaha, and Omaha Hi-Lo.
While you can get more insight into how each game works using any online poker guide to develop your best poker strategy, we outline each game’s basics below.
This should be enough to help you get started, and remember: All these game types use the exact same poker scoring and card rank systems, and each variety has limit, pot limit, and no limit options.
Vegas holdem poker is the most popular online Vegas card game (even more so than Vegas online blackjack), and it’s the most common version of the pastime everywhere in the world. The premise is simple:
Players are dealt two cards, and the betting commences. The dealer then flips the first three community cards on the table (called the “flop”), and bets are placed again. The fourth community card – or “turn” card – is dealt, and more bets are placed. The game concludes after the fifth card – aka the “river” card – is flipped.
Hands can be made with any combination of hole cards and community cards, and you are not required to play your hole cards. Highest hand wins.
Vegas Omaha is a variant of Texas Hold’em, and it’s nearly identical to its more prevalent sibling. However, there are some key differences. The biggest difference, though, is that players get four hole cards instead of two.
The betting and community cards are dealt following the same structure in Omaha as they do in Holdem: bet, flop, bet, turn, bet, river, end. Omaha is recommended over Texas Hold’Em for beginners, as the extra pocket cards give players more chances to build better hands.
Hands are made using three community cards and any two of the player’s four hole cards. Highest hand wins.
The third of the “Big Three” Vegas poker games is Omaha Hi-Lo, and it plays identically to Omaha poker as described above. However, Hi-Lo requires a bit of an expanded online poker strategy, because as the name implies, both the best poker hand and the worst poker hand win.
Omaha Hi-Lo is also called “Omaha 8 or Better” (aka “Omaha 8”), as the threshold for making your low hand is the eight card. In other words, the low hand must be assembled from five cards (three hole, two community) with no card having a value greater than eight.
In Omaha Hi-Lo, it is possible – though rare – for one player to win both sides. High hand and low hand split the pot.