Your chosen poker site can literally make the difference between being a break even and a big winner. As everyone knows, the games are not getting easier to beat. Therefore, we need to seek out the weakest competition available to us to maximize our win-rate.
I have done the work for you and found the best short stack friendly poker sites available. Every site that I recommend has a good reputation and really good customer service.
How These Sites Were Chosen
The two main criteria I used in building my recommended list are the softness of the site and the traffic. I also tried to include a mix of options to cover as many people in the world as possible. I divided them up into tiers as follows:
- Tier 1 – Softest games
- Tier 2 – Moderately soft games
- Tier 3 – Tough games above
micros
My advice is to choose a tier 1 site if at all possible. If none are available in your locale, choose one of the tier 2 sites. I recommend playing on a tier 3 site if it is the only option available to you. It won’t be a huge problem at 25NL and below, but tier 3 sites definitely get really tough at 50NL and above.
Tier 1 Sites
Network– Bodog
Bovada is my favorite place to play as a short stacker. The minimum buy-in is 30bb and there is no rathole timer. In other words, you can leave a table and then immediately rejoin again at 30bb.
Eligible Countries- Bovada only allows players Latin American countries and the USA with the following state restrictions: New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Network– Bodog
This is where I choose to play most of my volume, Ignition is the sister site to Bovada with a shared player pool. If you already have a Bovada account, you can sign up here for a fresh bonus.
Eligible Countries- Australia and the US with the following state restrictions: New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
Network– Bodog
Bodog also shares it’s player pool with Bovada and Ignition and caters to Canadian players.
Eligible Countries -Only for Canada (excluding Quebec) and LATAM countries – Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.
Network– GG
Natural8 mostly caters to Asian countries. However, it’s worth looking into to see if you can join since the games are really soft. If you can’t sign up here, try BetKings which is also on the GG network.
Restricted Countries- Costa Rica, Gibraltar, Malta, Turkey, USA or any other US territory.
Network– Bodog
The Asian Bodog skin. “Bodog88” is a fairly new skin that promises to make the bodog network games even better.
Eligible Countries– China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Global Poker
Network– Independent
An American poker site built on the “sweepstakes” model. No HUDs allowed= very soft games. The only downside is that there is a 2-hour rathole timer.
Eligible Countries– United States only.
Tier 2 Sites
Network– Chico
If you prefer a site that allows for a full Hold’em Manager or PokerTracker HUD, then BetOnline is a good option. Just keep in mind that the games are not as soft as the tier one sites.
UPDATE 2021: The Chico network has raised the min buy-in to 100bb. I am waiting a bit to see if this is permanent before removing them from this page.
Restricted Countries– Australia, France, Malta, and Panama
Network– Chico
SBP shares its player pool with BetOnline.
If you already have an account on BetOnline, you can sign up here to get a fresh bonus.
UPDATE 2021: The Chico network has raised the min buy-in to 100bb. I am waiting a bit to see if this is permanent before removing them from this page.
Restricted Countries– Australia, France, Malta, and Panama
Network– Ipoker
The flagship site on the Ipoker network, one of the largest and oldest poker networks around. Sign up and get 35% rakeback.
Country Restrictions– Belgium, Canada, China/Hong Kong, Cuba, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Greenland, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey and USA
Tier 3 Sites
Network– Winning
Outside of the microstakes, I don’t recommend playing on ACR. However, players who like big rewards and promotions prefer this type of site. Just keep in mind that it’s one of the the toughest places to win in the world.
Country Restrictions– Sweden, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, Washington State
Network– Winning
On the same network as ACR, you can sign up here to get a fresh bonus. Also, if you have VIP through ACR, I recommend opting for the 27% rakeback deal on BCP instead. It’s a much better deal unless you play a ton of volume.
Country Restrictions– Sweden, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, Washington State
Network- Cassava
A high traffic site but definitely not soft. However, it appears that they are the only option in some countries.
Country Restrictions– Australia, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cuba, Denmark, France, Greenland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, USA, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay.