5 Tips for finding the best poker websites

There has been an enormous growth in poker websites in the last couple of years and there are now literally hundreds of them to play at. But how do you select a good poker site? Here are 5 factors that you should consider when making your choice of where to play poker online.

1. Reputation It is usually best to stick with a site that has a good solid reputation, especially if you are a beginner and you've never played poker online before. Most of the big names have an excellent reputation and they have to be absolutely fair in order to maintain this.

2. Signup Bonuses We all love something for nothing and you will certainly get that when you sign up for poker online. Almost all of the sites will offer you some sort of bonus to sign up with them so you need to shop around and see who is offering the best deal. Of course there is nothing to stop you opening an account with several different sites if you want to.

3. Number of players. All of the major sites have many thousands of players online at any one time. You will never struggle to get a game, there should always be a seat available for you. However some of the smaller sites attract far fewer visitors and you may end up frustrated, waiting for the right playing opportunity to arise.

4. Software Most poker sites require you to download a piece of software (normally referred to as a "client") before you can play. Some of these are better than others, there's a big difference in the quality of graphics and ease of play between the clients available. You need to make sure you are playing on a site that you feel comfortable and enjoy playing at.

5. Statistics. One of the important aspects of playing poker online is the availability of statistics. Each site's poker client has a "lobby" area where you can view the tables and check out what's happening, some of them also have good statistics about the table so you can decide which one to play. While you are playing there are some sites which give statistics of each hand "in-running", this can also be a very useful feature.

So there you have it, now you know how to pick the best sites so go ahead and have fun!