I've been playing online for real money since Party Poker only had 3,500 players in the room on a busy night.
I get a lot of questions from friends or fellow players asking about which rooms I play, and why.

The truth is, for as much as all poker rooms are alike, they are all different. Even the online ones.

If you download any poker room, you will be able to play Texas Holdem. There will be multi-tournaments that start at different times throughout the day. There will be "fun" tables, where you play with "play" chips. There will be real money tables, single table tournaments that start as soon as the table fills with real players, and everyone will get some sort of bonus whenthey maketheir first chip purchase.

Those things are pretty much standard. But, some things change drastically from room to room. For instance, some rooms let you play at more than one table at a time. That's something the better players look for because it allows them to get in more hands of poker per hour. So they can make more.

Each room sets their own "limits", so while one online poker room may offer penny ante poker, or nickel and dime games, other rooms start their limits at $1/$2. And the same goes for limits on the high end. If you are a high-roller, not every room offers active tables at limits like $1,000 buy-in no limit.

Each room has it's own look and feel as well. Some let you choose a character that "is you", and you control their actions at the table. Other rooms give you an empty chair. Some let you insert your own pictures, and that is your icon at the table.

Different rooms also have different bonuses, and policies for cashing out those bonuses. Some rooms require you to spend a certain amount of time at the tables playing, other a certain number of hands.

In order to help you choose the room that's right for you, we're sharing our experiences at some of the top online poker rooms. You can, without having to dig through the poker room's website, see which room offers the features, the table selection, the games, and the player rewards that interest you most.