Can You Really Play Poker Online for Free?

Competition between online poker sites is intense, in fact it is so intense that they will all allow you to play for free and if you are lucky enough you can not only play poker online for free, but you can even finish up being paid to play on a particular site!

In the past there have been a number of sites who have charged a weekly or monthly fee to their customers to use their software but these have either all fallen by the wayside or have so few players on their tables that they are not worth playing on. Why have they failed? Because the better sites allow you to play free.

Of course these poker sites still make a profit from their customers by taking a small percentage of the pot in cash games or a percentage of the tournament entry fee, known as rake, but even with this small charge it is still possible to play poker at no cost.

How to play poker for free

One way sites that offer customers the ability to play poker online for free to attract new players is to offer them a cash bonus, which coupled with being able to play poker online for free makes playing there an enticing option indeed. The most common bonus is a first deposit or sign-up bonus which comes into force when a new customer makes their first deposit. This bonus means not only will they be able to play online poker for free but they could actually be paid to do just that. Imagine being able to be paid cold, hard cash whilst you play poker for free. Sounds great doesn't it?

The way these bonuses that allow you to play poker for free work is by awarding points each time you contribute to the rake. When a player has earned a specific amount of points whilst they play poker they will be rewarded with part of the cash bonus, the more you play poker for free the more bonus you will earn.

Play poker free of charge

Many poker players try to draw comparisons between online and live poker, but to be honest as a money making exercise you should only really play for free rather than the ludicrous charges levied by casinos. Whilst these charges do not really have an effect on high stakes games, the majority of us play micro or low stakes and benefit massively from being able to play online for free. Try to go to your local casino and play poker free of charge and you will be laughed at, however most online sites will use the fact you can play poker for free as a scheme to get you to play. When you start to include bonuses and VIP schemes into the mix then being able to play for free becomes a real possibility and money saved is as good as money won.

Play poker online for free and watch your hourly rate begin to soar due to the lower costs incurred.