Best Low Stakes Online Poker Sites

Use our list of the best online poker sites to browse through all the bonuses available in 2020 and read the in-depth reviews of all the top poker rooms in the world to find the right room for you.

1. Best Low Stakes Online Poker Sites For Real
2. Best Low Stakes Online Poker Sites Real Money
3. Best Low Stakes Online Poker Sites Online

Poker is a game that deftly combines skill and luck, and distills it in a way that produces competitive formats. Visited by poker players from around the world, the best online poker sites today provide poker aficionados with tremendous opportunities to play many popular variants of the game, participate in online poker tournaments, and more. Find the best low limit gambling sites online. Plus we show you some of the best reasons for gambling for low stakes on the Internet.

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Few beginning online poker players dive directly in to high stakes poker games as they either not yet confident in their skills, do not feel like investing an adequate amount of money in the poker site or want to take the opportunity to learn how the poker site works before moving on to higher stakes. The best low stakes poker sites offer stakes as low as $0.01/$0.02 for all game types and varieties. The definition of what level stakes constitutes low stakes is often subjective. Many players view the cut off between low stakes and medium stakes at the $3.00/$6.00 level. For most online poker players, the high stakes level then begins when the stakes reach the $10.00/$20.00 level. In reality, the view of low stakes depends entirely on how much the player is willing to risk on an online poker game and the size of their bankroll.

Best Low Stakes Poker Sites - PokerStars

PokerStars offers a variety of low stakes poker games that start at $0.01/$0.02 and move up through $0.02/$0.04, $0.05/$0.10 and through to the $2.00 range. For low stakes tournament players, PokerStars also offers a great deal of multi table tournaments that begin about every 2 minutes. Lo buy in tournaments at PokerStars range from $1.00 to $5.00.

Best Low Stakes Poker Sites - Full Tilt Poker

Low stakes poker games at Full Tilt Poker start at $0.01/$0.02 and progress up through the higher limit games. Sit N Go games are available for all game varieties for as low as $1.00. For all game varieties available at Full Tilt Poker, 63 tournaments are available each week for $5.00. If you enjoy satellite tournaments, you can also access these tournaments for as low as $4.00.

Best Low Stakes Poker Sites - Absolute Poker

Absolute Poker offers low stakes games in Texas Holdem, Omaha, Razz and mixed games that start at $0.01/$0.02. However, stakes immediately progress up to the $0.05/$0.10 limit after micro stakes. Freeroll tournaments and $1.00 + $0.10 guaranteed tournaments are very popular at Absolute Poker and available throughout the day.

Why is Low Stakes Poker Popular?

One of the reasons that low stakes poker is popular is that the buy in for the poker game is kept within reason for most poker players. The idea of online poker progression is that a beginning player can start with low stakes poker games and, over a series of several years, progress to the point where they can play high stakes poker games while still risking the same relative percentage of their bankroll as they did with low stakes. For example, the best low stakes poker sites offer low deposit minimums such as $20.00. The logical starting point with a $20.00 bankroll is at the micro stakes games of $0.01/$0.02. This means that, even if they are having a particularly poor session, they still have an adequate bankroll from which to build back up.

One important thing to remember with cash game buy ins is that the minimum buy in is typically equal to 100 times the small blind at the best low stakes poker sites. In this way, the minimum buy in for a low stakes poker game is $1.00. The maximum buy in is, likewise, 100 times the big blind - for the micro stakes game, $2.00. With high stakes games, even participating in a game can require a very large bankroll. For example, while $5.00/$10.00 stakes might sound too high to a beginning poker player, the buy in for such a game would be $500.00 to $1,000.00. Many beginning poker players choose the best low stakes poker sites because higher stakes would completely consume or exceed their entire bankroll. This would mean that one mistake or strike of bad luck, and all of your money would be lost to a single hand.

Finding the Best Low Stakes Poker Sites

The best low stakes poker sites are usually easy to find as the vast majority of poker sites on the Internet will consist of many players with small bankrolls that prefer to stick to micro stakes games such as $0.01/$0.02 or $0.05/$0.10. The best low stakes poker sites cannot center their low stakes only on cash games, however. These sites should also offer a wide range of tournaments with low buy ins - even a large amount of freerolls. The best low stakes poker sites recognize that there are a great deal of beginning poker players on their site and develop their software and web site to both allow these players to compete and hone their skills along with way with training materials and resources.

Low Stakes Poker Strategy

Low stakes poker strategy focuses on making good poker decisions rather than trying to win as much money as possible to advance. The best low stakes poker sites will offer a great deal of low stakes site traffic so you have no shortage of choices when selecting your game. Use low stakes poker as a way to learn the finer points of the game and break some bad habits - particularly in psychological poker play. For example, you might fold a pocket consisting of Ace, Nine when facing both a big raise and poor position but then see a flop with three Nines. This can be painful to bear. However, based on good poker strategy, you still made a good decision. Poor poker players will see this as a sign and not fold a single hand for the rest of the hand. Good poker players will see this as a bit of bad luck and forget about it right away.

You should also never forget that the ultimate idea of low stakes poker is progression. If you play proper tight poker will you are still learning but never progress to higher limits, your hourly earning rate will likely be just below minimum wage. If you are playing casually at the best low stakes poker sites, this might seem alright. However, you should always be looking towards using the low stakes to learn the game and build a bankroll to eventually advance to higher stakes play. A solid low stakes poker strategy is to use a tight aggressive approach where you play about 30% of the hands that you are dealt and play them forcefully - with a strong pre flop raise.

Enjoy Online Poker at Low Limit with this Detailed Guide

You don’t need to be a high roller to enjoy online poker. In fact, there are more cash games and tournaments available at the lowest stakes than big buy-in games. This guide takes you through everything you know to get the best from low limit poker sites – including a strategy overview for the different game formats.

Here is what you will find below:

Online Poker Rooms Spreading Low Limit Poker

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What Counts as Low Limit Poker?

In a live casino, the smallest stakes poker games are $1 / $2 – with a buy-in of $200. When you go online, you’ll find the games start a lot lower than this. Almost every online poker site will have games with 1c / 2c blinds. Your maximum buy-in for these is $2, though you do not always need a full stack. As you can imagine, play is loose and wild at these levels – making the games easy to beat.

If the penny games are too small for you, there are always options to play ‘bigger’. Cash games have buy-ins at $5, $10, $25, $50 and up from there to the high stakes. You’ll find that the standard of play dramatically improves at 10c / 25c blinds and above. This is the smallest level that multi-tabling grinders use to generate an income.

Tournaments start with buy-ins at 50c to $1. Those games often attract large fields of recreational players. To win in those games you’ll need to survive a lot of bad beats. Low limit tournaments are available anywhere between $2 and $10. Above this level you will find players who sit in a lot of games and have a decent level of strategy knowledge.

For the purposes of this guide to small buy-in tournament poker rooms, I’ll cover deposits between $10 and $50.

Pros and Cons of Low Limit Poker Sites

Getting started with online poker is easy, even with the smallest bankrolls. While there are a lot of benefits to starting small, there are also some drawbacks. Here is what to look out for:

Pros:

• Easy to beat games: With so many opponents having no concept of poker strategy, you should be able to turn a profit.
• Big Choice: Not only can you enjoy all the formats at low-limits, there will be a big choice of tables – meaning you can find plenty of profitable situations.
• Bonuses and Incentives: Poker rooms offer welcome bonuses for the smallest deposits (as well as bigger ones). Look out for extras like tournament entries and beginner-only tables.

Cons:

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• Frustrating Beats: The nature of players at the smallest stakes means you will inevitably get bad-beats. Opponents with any 2 cards sometimes get lucky and crack your aces. Keep in mind that solid play will get you the money over time!
• Big Tournament Fields: Low-Limit tournaments tend to attract huge fields. While this increases the prize pool, it also means you’ll need to play for many hours to have a shot at reaching the final table.
• Loyalty Tiers Harder to Climb: Poker site loyalty schemes require you to collect points from real money games. At the lowest stakes these can accumulate slowly.

Low Limit Poker Cash Games

Cash games describes the poker format where the chips in front of you have a real monetary value. If you win a $10 pot, then your bankroll increases by exactly this amount. There are 4 main formats for these games at almost every poker site:

• Full Ring: These games are 9 or 10 handed.
• 6-Max: Six players this time, with 4-max also spread at some sites
• Heads-up: You can play cash games against a single opponent
• Fast-Fold: This format includes names like Zone Poker or Zoom. You go to a new hand as soon as you fold, with players from a large pool.

All poker sites have a huge choice of games at these limits. They are characterized by loose, passive play, with a lot of players seeing each flop. With only small amounts of money at stake, players are reluctant to fold. If someone connects with the flop even slightly, or has a draw, you can expect them to call bets all the way to the river.

Strategy for beating these games is simple. You’ll get an immediate edge on the field simply by playing fewer hands. By folding more often, you will have a card strength advantage when you do get pots. Avoiding the ‘passive’ (limping and calling) style – and playing your good hands aggressively will win you the money. Add to this awareness of playing in position – and your edge will be magnified.

Low limit cash games are high-variance. With so many opponents calling bets with marginal holdings, there is always the risk someone will ‘catch up’. Keep in mind that this style of play will lose them money over the long-run. As long as you stick to solid ‘ABC Poker’, you will profit over time.

Small Buy-in Poker Tournaments

The smallest buy-in poker tournaments are free. Known as ‘freerolls’, these games are used as promotions or loyalty rewards. At the bigger sites, you’ll be battling with 1000’s of opponents for some real money prizes. Fields in these are a mix of people who simply don’t care (going all in every hand), and players with little idea of poker strategy. Getting to the money is tough, as you’ll have to survive spots where opponents playing any two cards hit unlikely flops!

While there is a jump in the number of players who take the game seriously once you get to tournaments with real money buy-ins, the standard is still poor. Loose, wild players in the early stages create a dilemma. Playing against them is risky, as you never know what hand they might turn up with. At the same time, if you don’t take their chips, you’ll have to fight for them in pots with better players during the later stages.

Again, simple, solid ‘ABC Poker’ will win over time. Play better hands (on average) than your opponents – and play them aggressively from position. You need to build a stack, as the profit from tournaments comes from those times you hit the final table. Playing overly tight to get into the money is not a profitable strategy over time.

There are a lot of tournament formats to choose from at the lower limits. These include rebuys, turbo games and tournaments where each player has a bounty – awarded to whichever player knocks them out. I recommend checking out satellite qualifiers. These start from just a few dollars, and have prizes of tickets to bigger buy-in tournaments.

What Other Low-Limit Poker Games are Available?

Sit N Goes are a great way to build your small deposit into a bigger bankroll. The most popular format is a 1-table tournament. 3 players get paid, with the winner getting 50% of the prize pool. Strategy for these is different to a multi-table tournament. You’ll need to stay tight earl – and learn the math for the all-in or fold strategy when only one or two players need to be eliminated before the cash.

Lottery Sit N Goes are a fast and enjoyable variation. These games allow low-limit players to win big prizes. The key feature is random prize pools, which are decided after the game starts. The exact format varies from site to site, though 3 handed and super-fast blinds is the common theme. It is possible to win 10,000x your buy-in via these games.

It is not just Texas Hold’em that can be enjoyed for a small buy-in. Omaha poker variations are rising in popularity. These games have 4 hole-cards instead of 2. You can play ‘Pot Limit Omaha’, Omaha Hi-lo or even exotic 5 and 6 card variations. Blinds start at just 1c / 2c – making these games accessible to even the smallest bankrolls.

Depositing at Low-Limit Poker Sites

If you are only depositing small amounts, you will not want to pay fees (which could take up a large percentage of your bankroll). In general, the smallest amount you can deposit is between $10 and $20. This will depend on the site, and the method you choose to deposit with. I recommend you check the bonus terms before you make a payment. You might find that adding a small amount to your deposit gets you extra benefits like tournament entries or matched welcome deals.

US players can deposit with Visa or MasterCard credit cards, prepaid Visa cards, Bitcoin or money transfers (for example MoneyGram). If you are outside the US, there are many more options available. These include PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, local bank transfers and virtual visa cards.

The guide to small deposit poker sites here at GambleOnline.co has details of these options.

Which Low Limit Poker Sites are Legitimate / Safe?

Every player likes to make sure that the poker room they deposit at is safe before parting with money. Fortunately, there are a lot of options out there with rooms which have been running for many years – and looking after players fairly and responsibly.

Poker rooms have a big interest in maintaining their reputation for fairness. Once this has gone, the poker playing community will soon move elsewhere. You will find reviews of the biggest and best brands here. For US players, I recommend you check out Bovada Poker or BetOnline – both sites have been running for years and are known for fast pay-outs.

Best Low Stakes Online Poker Sites Real Money

International players have a huge choice. This includes many rooms which were around since the beginning of online poker and have remained scandal-free throughout. Party Poker, 888 Poker and Bet365 all have big brand respect – and welcome low-limit players to their rooms.

Wrapping Up: Is Low-Limit Poker Right for You?

Enjoying online poker does not need a huge bankroll. Games start with blinds at penny-levels, and tournaments at less than $1. The low standard of play, and lack of strategy knowledge of your opponents at these levels means you should be able to beat the games. Keep in mind that the loose / passive style (and many opponents seeing each flop) can be frustrating – especially when a bad player gets lucky and hits that miracle river.

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With solid, aggressive play, and a view to the long term – you could be moving up to the bigger buy-ins before you know it!