How To Choose Texas Holdem Online Poker Rooms

New Texas Holdem online poker rooms are born every minute. Okay, not every minute but too often, because most of them are failing miserably. There are actually only about 20 poker rooms that have acceptable traffic, the rest you should probably avoid.

Alright, what makes a good online poker room? I'll show you how to determine that by yourself if you follow my list of things to look for.

Traffic is an extremely important aspect to look for when you are selecting a Texas Holdem poker room to play at. What you want to look for is a lobby with tons of tables filled with players between the $25 to $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Games. If there are times when the room is completely dead, just avoid it.

Being able to choose between different variations of poker can be fun at times. I know I've enjoyed myself at the Omaha tables from time to time when I've gotten sick of playing Texas Holdem. And it is also a good sign of a respected poker room and by that I mean that they are having the games filled and not just spreading them. Many online poker rooms spread different games but no one is playing in them. That is usually a sign of weak traffic and you should proceed with caution.

The next one is more to keep your sanity than anything else. You know the frustration of playing somewhere where the software is just awful, it keeps crashing and doing weird things. Look out for these weird software flaws, test the software before depositing big amounts of money to a poker room.

Rake - Rake can make a big difference to your bottom line if you're a winning poker player. Even if you're a poker player having fun while playing and tend to lose in the long-run (certainly nothing wrong with that), you will be losing faster because of a bigger rake, so look out for Texas Holdem online poker rooms taking way too much from the pot. How do you know when they're taking too much? Well, you can compare it to the industry standard which is around 5% per pot, usually they take $0.05 for every $1 put in the pot with a cap at $3. If the rake is over that then you should proceed with caution or at least ask someone who knows better if it is worth playing at that poker room.

Banking - The biggest Texas Holdem online poker rooms keep your money safe, that's why I stick to the ones with traffic, they have a lot more to lose than the smaller online poker rooms. The big poker rooms like Pokerstars, Full Tilt and Party Poker will take care of your money. I have never had a money problem with the big poker sites. That's another reason to choose one with a lot of traffic!

Deposit & Withdrawal - Make sure you are able to withdraw with the same method that you deposited with. You do not want to find out that the deposit options are normal, but when you withdraw there is a whole new set of rules to play by.

Bonus - Many players like to go hunting for bonuses and it doesn't hurt to get an extra $100 or $500 when you deposit some money onto a poker room. If you're unsure about which room to start playing in, you could compare the bonus offers and start at the room giving you the most money!

That's all I have to say about Texas Holdem online poker rooms. I hope this article helps you choose the right one and avoid the mistakes I've done in my online poker career.