Finding Your Best Online Poker Site for Tournaments
Each of the tables on this page rank the best online poker sites for tournament players. The scores for each site are calculated using:
- Average Net Cost. Net Cost is equal to the fees charged by the site, minus the site's equivalent rakeback. Since the fees vary by buy-in, and rakeback rewards typically increase with your volume of play, each site's score is based on the average net cost for a range of different volumes of play.
- Average Ranking. We have further ranked each site for 6 different categories of player (based on volume of play). Each site's score is based on the site's average ranking across all 6 categories.
Do not be confused by the use of the word "freerolls" in the table titles - these are not rankings of the best sites for poker freerolls. The Low and High Priority tables simply include the value of freerolls in the calculation of the rankings. However, these tables still use the Net Cost calculation (fees minus rakeback); the freerolls simply increase the equivalent rakeback value. Thus, a site might offer amazing freerolls, but if their other rewards are poor, or they charge high fees, they may not rank very well since these rankings are for tournament players who also play freerolls, not for players who exclusively play freerolls.
We also make logical assumptions on which freerolls you will play (based on your volume of play). That is, if you're generating thousands of dollars a year in tournament fees, we assume you are not going to waste your time grinding freerolls worth a few pennies. With each player category, we only include freerolls with a minimum value that increases for each category. So if you're a high volume player who ignores the worthless freerolls, but plays every high value freeroll you qualify for, then the "High Priority" table is the correct one for you (because our calculations automatically exclude the low value freerolls).
These tables answer these commonly asked questions:
- What is the best online poker site for tournaments (excluding freerolls)?
- What is the best online poker site for tournament players who occasionally play freerolls?
- What is the best online poker site for tournament players who also grind freerolls?
Although these questions are better than the more generic "What's the best online poker site for tournament players?", they're still not the right question!
For tournament players, these tables address the second factor, your commitment to playing freerolls? Since freerolls can have a significant impact on your equivalent rakeback, this is an important question, especially for lower volume players (many of whom can earn over 100% rakeback with the right poker site!).
So Where Should You Play MTTs Online?
The next question is "What is the best online poker site for tournaments with (no / low / high) commitment to playing freerolls for my volume of play?". That is, how much rake (or fees) do you typically pay per year? Since most online poker sites give higher rakeback rewards for higher volume players, your volume of play has a huge impact on which online poker site is best for you. This is why we have broken down each of these ranking tables into an additional 18 tournament ranking tables (6 different player categories for each level of commitment to freerolls):
- Casual (<$100/year in tournament fees)
- Enthusiast ($100 - $1,000/year in tournament fees)
- Amateur ($1,000 - $5,000/year in tournament fees)
- Semi-Pro ($5,000 - $25,000/year in tournament fees)
- Professional ($25,000 - $100,000/year in tournament fees)
- Hardcore Pro (>$100,000/year in tournament fees)
To view these more specific rankings, simply click the table title or "More Info" button in the appropriate table above.
