Best High Stakes Poker Sites for May 2012
It’s amazing how far online poker has evolved since its humble beginnings in the late 1990s. Back when I started playing online poker, high stakes poker sites were any poker sites that had no-limit games bigger than $0.50/$1. Today’s high stakes poker sites offer limits that are thousands of times higher, with some no-limit cash games letting people buy in for as much as $100,000.
High stakes poker on the internet is not limited to cash games. There are also high stakes poker tournaments that offer prize pools of a million dollars or more. Granted, you won’t find these tournaments every day, but they do happen. Just log in to any poker site and check the tournament lobby for a list of upcoming events.
In any case, the popularity of online poker has created a great environment for high stakes poker players. Not only does the player traffic support high stakes poker games, but the industry has gotten good at processing large deposits and withdrawals. If you have that high stakes action in your blood, online poker is a great place to start.
You can find the best action at the following high stakes poker sites:
Carbon Poker
Carbon Poker gets our first pick as a high stakes poker site because it is currently the best option for USA players. There are several international poker sites with higher stakes listed below, but Carbon Poker is the best poker site if you live in the United States. It's a safe poker site with a lot of traffic and games at all levels.
Special Offer:
- 100% up to $600 Free Cash
- Use Carbon Poker Bonus Code: PWNETBONUS when registering.
888 Poker
888 Poker has everything it needs to be a great high stakes poker site: a strong reputation, lots of players and games at all stakes. The no-limit ring games go as high as $500/$1000, the fixed limit ring games go as high as $250/$500 and the tournaments go as high as $1000. 888 Poker is a popular poker site, so you’ll be able to find people to play with no matter how high you play.
Special Offer:
- 100% up to $400 Free Cash
- Use 888 Poker Bonus Code: Not Needed when registering.
PokerStars
PokerStars is known primarily for its tournaments, but it also hosts plenty of nosebleed high stakes games. The no-limit ring games go as high as $200/$400, the fixed limit games go up to $1000/$2000 and the tournaments go as high as $2000. As one of the biggest poker sites in the world, PokerStars manages to keep these high stakes games running on a regular basis.
Special Offer:
- 100% up to $600 Free Cash
- Use PokerStars Marketing Code: STARS600 when registering.
How to Pick High Stakes Poker Sites
Picking a high stakes poker site involves more than looking for the poker site with the biggest tables and then joining that poker site. There are three major things you should look for when choosing a high stakes poker site:
- The stakes offered
- The reputation of the poker site
- The number of players at the high stakes tables
Each of these three factors takes equal importance when choosing high stakes poker sites. The stakes offered is pretty self-explanatory. Not all online poker rooms host high stakes games. High limit tables are becoming increasingly common, but they are still not offered everywhere yet.
It can be pretty annoying to even figure out which poker rooms offer high stakes tables because 90% of poker rooms make you sign up for an account before you can even see the tables. If you don’t feel like signing up for accounts at a dozen poker sites just to see which ones have high stakes tables, check out any of the poker sites listed above.
The reputation of each poker site is just as important as the stakes offered. If you’re serious about playing high stakes poker, the last thing you want to do is play at a shady poker site. A lot of money is involved in high stakes poker, including large deposits and withdrawals. It is absolutely vital that you only play high stakes poker at reputable, big-name poker sites.
And finally, the number of players at the high stakes tables is an important consideration as well. There are plenty of poker sites out there that host high stakes tables, but those tables are ghost towns. If you want to actually see any action, you’re going to have to play at large poker sites that have lots of active players.
Deposits and Withdrawals at High Stakes Poker Sites
Traditional deposit methods like the credit card and Neteller don’t work very well for high stakes poker players. With deposits that can easily top $100,000, high stakes poker players have to look to other deposit methods. The most common method for large transactions is the bank wire. It’s the cheapest way to deposit because it comes with a flat fee instead of a percentage-based fee.
The same thing also goes for big withdrawals. Once again, the bank wire is the best method for large transactions. It’s fast, it goes straight to your bank account and you don’t have to worry about large transaction fees. If you don’t see the wire transfer option at your poker site, give customer support a call and have them help you set something up.
