Easiest Poker Sites in 2024

Which Online Poker Sites Have the Most Fish?

Seeking out the easiest poker games is just as important a skill as knowing the finer details of strategy. To put it simply, if you spend time seeking poker sites with a lot of ‘fish’, your profits will improve.

Best Poker Sites

This page covers finding the easiest online poker rooms in a lot of detail. This includes the relative difficulty of different poker formats – and how to spot fish at the tables. Here is an outline of how the topic is broken down:

• Amateur Players vs Pro Grinders: What makes some sites more difficult than others?
• Relative Poker Skills: Why you should avoid winning players, even if you have an edge against them.
• Poker Tools: HUDs and advice engine tools and how these give grinders a big edge.
• Cash Games, Tournaments or Sit N Goes: Which poker format attracts the most fish?
• Easy Poker Sites for US Players: A look at the options including the Bovada / Bodog ‘Recreational Player Model’.
• Easiest International Poker Sites: How the big brands available around the world compare in terms of fish.
• Finding Soft Games: Whichever poker site you play at, table selection is a way to boost your profits.
• Taking Notes: Not all fish are created equal. This section covers how to spot and exploit the tendencies of different opponents.

Our Top Rated & Best Poker Sites for Easy to Beat Games

What Makes Some Poker Sites More Difficult Than Others?

The single biggest factor making one poker site ‘easy’ and another ‘tough’ is the balance of amateur (or recreational) players to pro grinders.

Grinders are profitable players who spend hours in the games playing at multiple tables. They ‘grind out’ a profit from each game. While each table alone might not generate much profit, even at the lower buy-ins, a grinder might be making $8 / hour over 8 or more games. This adds up to a good hourly rate.

These grinders use poker tools to identify and exploit inexperienced opponents.

Let’s start by looking at two sites, one which is ‘grinder heavy’ and one which is not.

Grinder Heavy Site:

With 100 grinders and 100 recreational players at this site, you might think things are reasonably balanced. When you add the multi-tabling, things look grim. If each grinder plays an average of 6 games at once, and the recreational players stick to a single game. There are 600 seats filled with grinders for every 100 seats with amateurs. Those are hard odds to overcome for people who play poker recreationally.

Easier Poker Site:

Those rooms attached to sportsbooks or that ban tools are not so grinder heavy. Of course, profitable situations will still attract some pros. Let’s say the ratio is better here, with 50 grinders for every 100 recreational players. Those grinders now play an average of 3 tables each, giving a 150 / 100 ratio of experienced (winning) players to amateurs.

You might be able to beat some of these pro players.

Choosing a poker site which is not full of pro-grinders is the first step to allowing your bankroll to last long enough to have a shot!

Relative Poker Skills and Easy Poker Sites

Even if you have an edge against small stakes pro grinders, you should still try to avoid them. The reason is that these players are taking money from the games. They are also taking money from the occasional fish that comes to the table with little poker strategy knowledge.

Your hourly profits will never be as good if you choose a site filled with grinders. While for some players, beating the ‘regulars’ might be good for the ego – it will never be great for your bankroll!

The concept of a ‘fish’ in poker is a relative one. You might be the best $1 / $2 player in your local casino, a true shark. Head to the $10 / $20 tables online, and you instantly become the fish. Even someone who crushes those stakes would be a target in the huge games in ‘Bobbies Room’ at the Bellagio.

If you have skills from live poker games, then you’ll need to step down in stakes when playing online. There is a big skill gap, with experienced pros at the levels where equivalent buy-in live games are mostly full of fish. If you can beat $1 / $2 live, your relative skills might match with the 5c / 10c to 10c / 25c games online – depending on how easy the poker room you choose is.

How Poker Tools Increase the Edge of Pro Grinders

Pro grinders like to use software tools. These make playing at multiple tables easy by collecting statistics on opponents. Once you are aware of these tools, you’ll know that finding sites which ban or restrict them is a sure-fire way of making bigger profits.

Here are the types of tools you’ll find used against you:

• Heads Up Displays: These tools collect information on every hand played. They display these as a block of stats above each player. Information includes how tight / loose an opponent is, how often they raise and re-raise, whether they defend blinds, how often they see a showdown and much more. Hands from all sessions are recorded. HUDs will highlight loose / amateur players very quickly. Those players then become targets.
• Advice Engines: Some tools scan cards and offer odds advice. These allow people to avoid manually calculating odds or outs, making it easier to multi-table. While there are restrictions on tools which ‘play for you’, many pros employ these alternatives to simplify their decisions and avoid the kind of costly mistakes that amateurs are making.
• Database Services: There are 3^rdparty services which collect information on every hand played at some sites. For a subscription fee, pros get access to detailed histories and tendencies for millions of players. By looking up the people at their table, they can immediately spot the weaker players, and even get detailed information on their leaks.
• Table Selection Tools: Instead of manually searching through every table to find a soft game, tools can be bought which do this for you. These find the games with weak players, and automatically add pros to the waiting list – ready to jump in when a juicy game is found. This makes it (relatively) harder for recreational players to find great games.

You now know the dangers out there at the online poker tables. The good news is that there are still some easy sites and soft games. The next section flips things around, showing you what to look for in a site to have the best chance of easy games.

What Type of Poker Site Has the Easiest Games?

Poker rooms can be divided into three distinct types.

• Big Names: This covers the likes of 888 and Party Poker. These rooms are huge brands, which are known by poker pros and recreational players alike. As you will see below, there are big differences in the skill levels at these sites. What makes them distinct is that many non-players have heard of them – and will tend to look to them when first giving online poker a try.
• Sports Betting Brands: Many sports betting brands (both US and international) offer poker rooms. Their primary client base is there to bet. With millions of bettors, these brands profit by keeping them around – offering casino games and poker as alternatives. These can be big poker rooms and have a lot of new players at the tables.
• Poker Only Brands: If a poker room is unknown by new players, it needs to have a good marketing channel to have a chance of being soft. Brands which are only known by experienced players, especially those that offer ‘rakeback’ deals, tend to attract a lot of multi-tabling pros. The ratio of grinders to amateurs can be terrible at some smaller rooms.

Once you have established that your room has a way of attracting new players, it is time to check out more details. Questions to ask include:

Does this room incentivize multi-tabling? Rakeback schemes are a red flag here, though some loyalty schemes are profitable enough to encourage ‘nits’ to sit in 10 games at once. If a room restricts multi-tabling, then you will know the pro / amateur ratio will be much better.

Does this room restrict of ban poker tools? Without their tools, grinders find it more difficult to multi-table.

Does this poker site have a source of new / amateur players? Sports betting brands are number one on this list, along with some big casino brands. You should also consider sites like 888, who have big marketing budgets to attract new players (for example their World Series of Poker sponsorship).

Does this site have beginner tables? Tables which only new players can sit at are a great sign. This means that the poker room is aware of protecting new players – at least until they have a chance to build experience in online play. These rooms (and sometimes tournaments) are typically open for 30 days.

Easy Poker Sites for US Players

Now that you know what to look for in terms of finding a soft site, here is a look at the major US-facing gambling site with poker rooms. These are compared to the risks of running into multi-tabling pros, and their efforts to promote soft games.

Bovada / Ignition / Bodog: I have grouped these sites together, as they share a network, pooling players together on a common back-end. This is regarded as the softest poker network for a number of reasons:

• Sports Betting Traffic: Bovada and the Canadian Bodog are huge sports betting brands. These attract huge numbers of bettors, many of whom find their way to the poker tables.
• Multi-Tabling Restrictions: You can only play 4 cash game tables or sit n goes at once on this network. This tilts the balance of pros to amateurs to a better ratio than some sites.
• Tools Restrictions: No tracking services operate here. This is due to the lack of screen names (you play anonymously – starting fresh each time you sit down). HUDs are likewise restricted, and other types of tools are banned.
• No Rakeback: There is a point collection scheme at this network, though the most popular incentive for multi-table grinders is not used.

SportsBetting Poker / BetOnline: These sites are the main properties on the ‘Chico Poker Network’. This is available internationally, as well as to all 50 states. This is a smaller network, though is growing.

The main factor keeping the Chico poker network games soft is having a ton of sports betting traffic. There are incentives which appeal to recreational players including a bad-beat jackpot and high-hand bonus. Players can multi-table, though the incentives for doing this are not as big as on alternate US networks. On the negative side, pro tools can be used here.

Black Chip Poker / America’s Cardroom: These sites are part of the ‘Winning Poker Network’. This is a mid-sized network, which has expanded in the tournament area in recent years. They are the only US poker network to offer regular $1 million guaranteed events.

There are some concerns about the number of grinders at this network. Not only is rakeback available, there are incentives for high-volume players on top of that. These include progressive leader board contests (for both cash games and sit n goes), and other bonuses. You can still find soft games at these sites – though the number of pro grinders is noticeably higher than at other US networks.

While there are other US poker sites, these are extremely small in comparison to those mentioned above. They include the Horizon Poker Network (Intertops Poker) and the once large and now tiny Merge Network.

Easy Poker Sites for International Players

There is a lot more choice for international players. This includes some huge brand names, as well as lot of smaller networks.

PokerStars / Full Tilt Poker: These sites share a common player pool and are the biggest site worldwide by a large margin. While the big brand name attracts a lot of new players – there are some concerns when it comes to finding easy poker games.

The main problem is that the high volume of games attracts a lot of pro players. They can play 12+ tables at a time – which skews the ratio of pros to amateurs in favour of the grinders. Even the smallest stakes games have pros from lower GDP counties. On the plus side, the lower buy-in tournaments are very soft at PokerStars. HUDs are allowed here, though advice-engine software and table selection tools are restricted.

Party Poker: This was the original online poker brand, and still ranks highly in terms of traffic. Their big brand name is well-known among people who have never played poker – which ensures a steady flow of new players into the games. Tools are allowed here, and cashback promotions do incentivise higher volume of play. The ratio of fish to pros is better than at a lot of big sites.

888 Poker: This gambling giant has a lot of cross-over traffic from their casino brand. The games are softer than at many sites, thanks to promotions which encourage amateurs and discourage pros. You will need to be careful with table / game selection, though compared to other sites, there are plenty of fish in the games.

iPoker Network Sites: This network is made up of many sports betting brands, which share a common back end to allow their betting clients to try out poker. You’ll find brands like BetFair, Bet365 and William Hill share this network. While the cross-over traffic does keep new players coming to the games, the range of events and promos for amateurs has declined in the last couple of years.

There are many other networks to consider. MicroGaming provide a common back end for a lot of brands, though rakeback deals tend to make these games more pro-heavy. Unibet is another sports betting brand which has a poker room. This has unique software and some very soft games.

Which Games are Easiest – Cash, Tournaments or Sit N Goes?

Some poker players specialise in a single game format – while others like to try all 3. When is comes to finding easy games, which format is the best?

• Cash Games: Games where you play for real money are considered the most skilled by many players. These include the ‘fast-fold’ formats such as Zoom Poker and SNAP. There are plenty of fish at the lowest ($10 and under) buy-ins, though the mid to high stakes can be very profitable for grinders.
• Tournaments: This is where you will find the most recreational players and the lowest levels of strategy knowledge. In $20 and under buy-ins, the fields are mostly amateur. Head to the $100+ tournaments on major sites, and you will find pros dominating. With the chance of a big score for a small buy-in, tournaments are where you will find a ton of action.
• Sit N Goes: Standard 1-table games are still a source of profit, though above the $10 level you will find most people understand the unique strategy. The softest form of Sit N Goes are the ‘Lottery’ games, which have random jackpot prizes. These games attract gamblers, though the hyper turbo speed of them does not give you much time to assert your strategic edge.

Once You Find an Easy Poker Site – Find the Softest Tables

As you gain experience playing online poker, you will find that table selection is a vital skill. Even the softest sites have their winning regulars. To make profit, you need to avoid situations where you are sitting down with too many of them.

Table selection starts with the list of games in the lobby of your poker site. You will see the average pot size, and the number of players seeing every flop. If both are on the big side, you might have found a wild game! Conversely, tables with only a couple of players seeing the flop and smaller average pot sizes can be those filled with regulars.

Before you jump into a seat, check the action for yourself. It could well be that just one super-loose fish is driving the action. If a seat is open to the immediate left of this player (so you act after them), this could be a big source of profit.

Table selection also applies to Sit N Goes. If you look at the lobby of a 1-table tournament and see 4 or 5 players you know to be multi-tabling regulars, then it might not be profitable to join. By waiting 15 minutes for those regs to get their games going, you might well find games where the ratio of amateurs is much better.

Remember that table selection is not ‘one and done’. You should reassess your games every 20 minutes or so, and make sure that there are no easier games to join instead. While this might not seem as interesting as the strategy side, it will make a big difference to your profits.

Tagging Easy and Difficult Opponents

Once you have found a soft online poker site and mastered the basics of table selection, it is time to get tagging your opponents.

Many sites allow you to colour-code players. I recommend picking one colour for known regulars right away. This will allow you to spot them as soon as you look at a table. If there are several sitting down, you have an easy decision to move on.

You should also colour code the bad players. Taking notes on any exploitable tendencies will be a big help next time they are in your game. Try to be specific with comments, including how they bet in certain situations. While one-liners like ‘calling station’ have a little value, knowing the types of situation they call in will be worth even more.

Wrapping Up: Benefits of Finding the Easiest Poker Sites

Willingness to find the easiest poker sites – and the best tables on them – can easily be the difference between making or losing money.

Key to finding a soft site is to think about the ratio of pro-grinders to amateurs at the tables. Multi-tabling gives the grinders a big numerical advantage at many sites. You either need to see a source of new players (for example a sports betting brand) or restrictions on tools or the ability to multi-table.

Once you find a source of soft games, you can extend your advantage. Tagging regulars (and fish!), plus actively choosing the easiest games will make a huge difference to your bankroll in the long run.