All new players who decide to explore the vast universe of real money poker sites should know that federally, online poker sites are illegal. However, on the individual level, online poker is legal in some of the states. Some websites such as Global Poker (which is a sweepstakes poker site) are allowed in 49 out of 50 US states. We review the best legit poker sites so you can safely choose where to play real money poker online. Our top pick for March 2021 is Intertops Poker. When you join one of the top USA real money.

Playing Online Poker for Real Money

There have been significant shifts in the world of online poker since it started almost 20 years ago. Most significant has been the shift in game preferences. Poker started with fixed limit betting, with no-limit hold’em now dominating. There have been booms and busts, with the big poker brandsleaving the US, some after the legal changes in 2006, others after 2011. Some sites have recently returned to regulated states providing US players with the opportunity to play real money poker in USA. Globally, real money online poker remains as popular as ever.

Real money poker sites offer four distinct formats online.

• Cash Games: This is the traditional poker format where the chips in front of you have a real monetary value.
• Tournaments: This format gives each player a stack of chips for a fixed buy-in. Prizes are awarded for the player that last longest (with most for the winner). To ensure the action is fast enough, betting levels increase as the tournament progresses.
• Sit N Goes:Small tournaments, often just a single table, with 2 or 3 places paid. Sit N Goes with random prize pools and 3 players (known as lottery Sit N Goes) are a popular sub-format.
• Fast Fold Poker:This system takes you to a new hand the moment you fold. It works by placing players into pools. Fast Fold poker can be used for either tournaments or cash games.

These broad categories only scratch the surface of the diversity of online poker games. The game formats (Pot Limit Omaha and PLO8 are popular), table sizes, bet sizes and buy-ins have wide-ranges. Interesting variants like rebuys, turbo games, knockout tournaments and satellites to live eventsmake things more diverse still.

If you are new to real money internet poker, you can deposit a small amount and play at the micro-stakes. With cash game buy-ins starting at $2 for a full stack and tournaments starting at less than this, there is plenty of opportunity to get familiar with the games without a big outlay. At the other end of the spectrum, you can sit with many thousands of dollars in high-stakes poker games.

Online poker rocks - we all know that - but if you want more thrills, more bang for your poker buck, you need to be playing legal poker real money games.

There is nothing that quite matches the excitement of playing at legal US real money poker sites in 2021: you can take advantage of lots of great bonuses, improve your game against the best, and win seats to major live tournaments.

But where do you begin? And how can you be sure your hard-earned American dollars are totally safe. That's where we come in: at LegalPoker.com we hunt out the best legit poker rooms for US Texas Hold'em players:

Is Real Money Poker Online Legal

• The biggest US poker sites with lots of fish
• Lots of US banking methods and fast cash-outs
• A great welcome bonus when you sign up