Texas Hold’em is incredibly popular online, and there are hundreds of Texas Hold’em sites available for you to choose from if you want to try playing online poker. However, if you’re new to the world of online gambling, all the different options might feel overwhelming more than comforting. If you’re interested in Texas Hold’em sites, this guide should help you get a handle on what your options are and what Texas Hold’em site is right for you! If you would like to get straight into the action we have listed the top 10 poker sites below.

Best Poker Sites for Players in United States

Networked Texas Hold’em Sites

These days, the vast majority of Texas Hold’em sites belong to a poker network. In this arrangement, many smaller poker sites band together to share tables and players, giving their players access to a larger player pool and a wider variety of games and competition. For instance, the Cereus Poker Network is made up of both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, with players from both sites competing against each other at the same time. Other large networks include iPoker, Ongame, Microgaming and Entraction. Some poker networks have several dozen sites, while others (like Cereus) contain as few as two sites.

Often, there are significant advantages to playing at a networked Texas Hold’em site. With a smaller player base at each individual site, you’ll be able to have a closer relationship with the poker room manager and customer support staff, which makes dealing with problems and technical issues much easier. This also means that bonuses and other promotions will tend to be bigger; since you’re an important member of a small site, these sites are likely to want to keep you happy rather than risk losing your business.

Independent Texas Hold’em Sites

A few poker sites have still decided to go it on their own. These tend to be the largest and most famous poker sites, like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker.

There are definitely advantages to playing at such large sites. Other smaller sites and networks can’t compete with the number of players that are on these Texas Hold’em sites, meaning that there are usually thousands of tables running, and the opportunities to play in satellites to play in major live events are greater than at their smaller competitors.

On the other hand, large independent sites can’t give you the kind of personal treatment you’ll get at a smaller site. In addition, these sites won’t need your business to the same degree as a smaller site; this means that the promotional offers and bonus opportunities aren’t always as great here as they are with smaller Texas Hold’em sites.

USA Texas Hold’em Sites

While some Texas Hold’em sites have stopped taking business from US poker players, online poker is not illegal in most of the United States, and there are still many Texas Hold’em Sites that are friendly to US players. For instance, the sites on the Cereus Poker Network (Absolute Poker and UB.com) are happy to take the business of American poker players. In addition, several of the major independent sites still cater to the USA market.

Other National and Local Texas Hold’em Sites

In recent years, one of the emerging trends in online gambling has been regulation and licensing by national and local governments. This means that in some countries and locations, Texas Hold’em sites are available that are exclusive to players in those areas. For instance, players in France have their own poker sites where they may play with only other French players; a similar situation also exists in Italy. Several Canadian provinces have started similar programs, and there have been movements to create such sites in some USA states as well (though none yet exist).

Are Poker Sites Safe to Play on?

The first thing to look for when trying to figure out if a poker website is legitimate and safe is looking at the number of people who are playing at the site on a daily basis. If 5 million people are using the poker website, chances are it is a pretty safe bet. Be careful of websites that are extremely new or do not have many people playing, as these may be less safe. This is, of course, not a guarantee but it is something to watch out for.

Another thing to do is to search for poker forums and other poker websites like this one to see what people are saying about the online poker room. You can find tons of independent reviews out there on sites and forums where people discuss the pros and cons of different websites as well as blacklisting sites that are not safe to play on. Spend a little bit of time poking around on the internet and looking into whether the company is a viable option or whether you should steer clear and find some other place. In fact, the reviews on our site are by among the most extensive on the internet. Take a look at our detailed texas holdem site reviews to help better determine whether an online poker room is safe or not.

Another thing to look for is whether or not a poker site has big name pros as brand ambassadors and spokespeople and also, whether or not they do a lot of advertising via television and other mainstream media. If a website is sponsoring big tournaments and running television ads during poker events and things like that, chances are good that you are dealing with a large, reputable, and safe company. People do not like to have their names associated with frauds or scams, so endorsements by pros is a very good thing. This is one of the reasons why Full Tilt Poker are so successful, as they are backed by some of the biggest names in poker.

Finally, you should do a little digging into the company that owns the poker site. Can you find out information on the holding company who operate the poker room? Are they a publicly traded company? Being a publicly traded company is almost a guarantee that they are legitimate and that your money is safe.

Overall, finding a safe and legal poker site to play at is easy as there are tons of legitimate options available to choose from. We recommend to stick with the masses and choose big sites with lots of players and long standing industry reputations. To find the best online poker sites for 2011, simply go to the homepage of our site, where we’ve handpicked the top 10 sites for you to choose from.