Choosing the right poker room for beginners as the basis for a successful career

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Poker University explains why newcomers to tournament and cash poker should be especially careful when choosing a poker room. Most novice players do not think about how important it is to choose the right poker room to start their careers. Most often, a beginner perceives poker as entertainment, a way to spend leisure time and, perhaps, with a successful combination of circumstances, earn some money. Many believe that the result depends solely on their own decisions at the table. At the same time, they rarely think about how much external factors influence the formation of a successful career.

This mistake is made not only by beginners, but also by many reg players, streamers and experienced players. It would seem that they could convey to the audience the importance of choosing rooms. But most of them have long become professionals and simply do not feel how much the modern realities of online poker have changed. As a result, the launch pads for new players are the largest poker rooms that actively invest in advertising and attract the audience with bonuses and promotions. If earlier PokerStars was considered the main flagship of the industry, today online leadership has passed to the Asian network GG, which has seized the palm from him. These poker rooms are not suitable for beginners. 

Underestimating the importance of choosing a poker room at the start of your career can greatly slow down the player's development.

In practice, it is the competent choice of a site that becomes the easiest and fastest way to increase your profit and create a basis for growth. This factor plays a much more important role at the initial stage than even the quality of the beginner's game itself. After all, the right environment allows not only to earn, but also to progress faster in understanding the strategy and psychology of poker.

1. The main criteria for choosing a room for novice players

Field Strength

While the player's skills are only being formed, it is more profitable for him to choose the most "soft" fields. This refers to tables where more amateurs and little prepared opponents play. In such an environment, it is easier to accumulate experience, while reducing variance and increasing the chances of a positive result. The most suitable formulations are more common in smaller and less popular rooms, where competition is lower than in large poker networks.

The weak field is formed primarily due to the small number of regular professional players in the room. Amateurs are found everywhere, but it is the concentration of strong opponents (or those who actively strive to become them) that determines the quality of the field. In large rooms, even at the lowest limits, there are a lot of trained players. This is due to the fact that almost all backing funds have training programs starting with microlimits. For funds, variance is not a critical factor: they work with large samples of tens and hundreds of players, which eliminates the variability of results. At the same time, it is more difficult for funds to support players in small rooms, so they almost never go there. As a result, the bulk of microlimit reg players is concentrated in the largest networks.

API (Average Field Size). The average size of tournaments in different rooms can vary significantly. The fewer participants, the higher the probability of taking a place in the prize zone, where the payout ratio to the buy-in turns out to be more significant. In such tournaments, the variance is lower, and the player's development schedule is smoother.

This is a particularly important factor for novice players. The "race" for large prize pools in the final places acts as a strong temptation, but in reality it often leads down the wrong path, on which many get stuck.

A much more correct strategy is to choose tournaments with low API and a weak composition of participants. This approach allows you to ensure stable growth and development, gain experience in the late stages of the game and form a bankroll. It makes sense to connect tournaments with large fields only when you can already comfortably play 7–8 tables at the same time, and only in addition to small rooms. In addition, the "main events" are regularly held in the smallest rooms, where worthy tournaments in structure and prize money are also formed.

Ability to use game statistics

Some poker rooms restrict the use of statistics programs, such as Holdem Manager or Hand2Note, or offer their own simplified solutions. For example, GGPoker has built-in statistics, but it cannot replace full-fledged software. Such measures are aimed at reducing the advantage of reg players using statistics during the game over amateurs. At serious limits, this is justified, and in general, such a policy deserves support.

However, for novice players, the lack of full-fledged statistics becomes a serious obstacle. Statistical programs are important not only as a source of added value at the table, but above all as a learning tool. They allow you to quickly develop poker thinking, analyze your own actions and form a base of hands for further detailed analysis. All this significantly accelerates the progress in understanding the game.

Tournament Structure

The format of the tournament directly affects the mathematical expected value and ROI (Return on Investment). The results are influenced by such factors as the availability of rewards for knocking out players (bounty), the growth rate of blinds and their structure, the distribution of the prize fund, the possibility of re-entry and the presence of satellite.

1. Tournaments with a smooth structure — slow growth of blinds — are less dispersive and allow players to realize the strategy more consistently. In contrast, turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments require excellent knowledge of push-fold strategy and often force highly dispersive decisions.
2. Bounty tournaments are attractive because part of the prize pool can be earned even before entering the prize zone, knocking out opponents. The possibility of re-entry often plays against beginners, as experienced reg players are ready to make several entries, increasing their edge.
3. The presence of satellites, on the contrary, has a positive effect on the composition of the field: thanks to the qualifying tournaments, more amateurs and players get into the main event without serious preparation.

Nevertheless, even the most structurally advantageous tournaments in large rooms will be less promising for novice players than standard tournaments in small rooms. For those who only form a bankroll and pass the stage of microlimits, it is the weak fields and low competition that remain the decisive factor.

Promotions and bonuses

Each poker room develops its own loyalty programs: accumulation of points, cashback or participation in promotions. Our website contains information about all the current bonuses of the rooms, as well as additional privileges for players who have registered through our platform.

Thus, our site has one of the best loyalty programs in the Russian-speaking segment: novice players receive free training in addition to their game.

It is especially valuable that such bonuses are more often available in small rooms. Large networks concentrate on their own marketing and rarely offer additional promotions through affiliate resources. As a result, playing in small rooms allows not only to increase the financial return due to the weak composition and more favorable conditions, but also to gain access to system training, which makes them even more attractive for novice players.

Read more about this in the article: "How to work on a poker game, part 1". 

2. The impact of average AFS tournaments on beginner progress

The system of prize distribution in poker tournaments is designed in such a way that the highest payouts are received by players who reach the final table, and the maximum amounts fall on the top 3. At the same time, the largest guarantees — the so-called "kilopolyans" with several thousand participants — look especially attractive for beginners. In pursuit of big prizes, novice players focus on such tournaments, where impressive payouts are provided for the first three places.

However, this is a strategic mistake. In long tournaments with a huge number of participants, beginners usually do not have the patience or experience to consistently pass to the final stages. Mistakes at the the long run are inevitable, and each of them significantly reduces the likelihood of reaching the final table.

Consistent failures cause negative emotions and lead to various forms of tilt, which further worsens the results and attitude towards the game. Even if a beginner reaches the late stages, in most cases he receives only insignificant payments. For comparison, in a tournament with a low AFS, you can play about 400 hands and take first place. In the "kilo field" for the same number of hands played, you can only get to the end of the first hundred, where the prize money is comparable to the minimum entry into the money.

This factor is adamant even with an impeccable game: variance rarely allows you to pass 700–1000 tournament hands without losing a key pot or without colliding with a cooler. That is why it is especially important for a beginner to be in the late stages of tournaments, at the pre-final and final tables as often as possible, and to accumulate experience of victories. Let the winnings be small, but they will give an incentive for development and allow you to gradually increase your bankroll. The optimal strategy in the first stages is to choose tournaments with AFS up to 1000 participants, and even better — up to 500. This creates conditions for gaining real gaming experience and first successes, which form the foundation for further progress.

3. The best poker rooms for beginners in 2025 

For players starting a career in poker or stuck on microlimits, there are two main paths that have a high probability of success. The second way is more effective, but requires more attention to management and settings.

The first way is to play in parallel in several small poker rooms to form a full-fledged game session.

TigerGaming is a poker room of the Chico network, popular among players from the United States and Canada. In 2020, the tournament grid was updated: there were more events with large prize money, and regular promotions were held for MTT fans. According to the results of fund research, the Chico network occupies one of the leading places in terms of the number of weak players and is considered a profitable platform to start in tournament and cash poker. Cash to players in this room can receive additional rake-back through our website if you make a registration from us. The downside is the limited schedule of tournaments — they begin at about 19:00 Moscow time. Therefore, it is better to consider TigerGaming as an additional room in combination with other small platforms.

PokerDom is a Russian room with a very weak field, where there are almost no professionals from abroad. At the same time, the share of players with elements of ludomania is noticeably higher than average. In terms of efficiency for beginners, PokerDom shares the first place with the Chico network, offering a high ROI and good conditions for starting. Excellent structures in tournaments and internal statistics. The only disadvantage is a complete ban on the use of third-party statistics. 

RedStar is one of the good rooms for starting a career. The tournament grid does not differ in a large number of events, but it is optimally suited for microlimits. At the middle limits, the quality of the composition began to deteriorate, but the microlimits remain very profitable. The main advantage is a convenient AFS: a small number of participants allows you to show a stable result and gain experience faster in the late stages of tournaments. The RedStar loyalty program gives from 20% to 35% rakeback, depending on the player's status. When registering through our website, a maximum rakeback of 35% is available immediately and permanently, when requested through the manager. An additional advantage is the ability to freely use Holdem Manager and Hand2Note edge. And also a cool bonus of 25 euros at the first deposit and registration through our website. Read more on the poker room page. 

JackPoker is a small Brazilian room, in many ways similar to PokerDom, but focused on its regional audience. Weak field is provided. Good reg players do not come to play such registers. 

In addition to the above, you can pay attention to other small sites that are collected on our website in the poker rooms section under the "best" tab. There's also a country filter to see exactly which rooms are allowed in your area. 

4. Separately about freerolls

Many poker rooms regularly hold freeroll tournaments without an entrance fee. Their prizes can be both real money and tournament tickets for participation in more expensive events.

For players with limited bankroll, participation in freerolls becomes a good opportunity to form start-up capital and acquire the first skills of the tournament game. 

Although the prize money here is relatively small, it is such tournaments that help to make the first steps in a career without the risk of losses. Our website has a separate section that contains up-to-date information about freerolls in different rooms. The player can also independently monitor such events inside the poker room used.

5. Useful tips for beginners in tournament and cash poker

6. Frequently Asked Questions for Beginners