Best Real Money Poker Sites California

Real-money prizes are rarely offered in live poker freerolls and players often receive entry into larger tournaments. Safety and Security at the Best Freeroll Poker Sites As always, safety is of the utmost importance while playing at online poker sites. The best online poker sites reviewed for real money, period. Fact-based ratings from actual play. Every site gets 5,000+ words from a 15-year player. All of the poker rooms we've told you about above are fine destinations for real-money online poker in California, and we can't really say that any one is the best. The most satisfying place to play for you personally will depend largely on your own preferences and the styles of poker you're most comfortable with. PokerSites.com categorizes the best poker sites online by: features, deposit methods, currency,country, games and software/network. Each real money site is rated out of 5, allowing you to easily make side-by-side comparisons, decide which to visit and then select the top sites offering the best poker online and overall gaming experience.

1. Best Real Money Poker Sites California Coast
2. Best Real Money Poker Sites California Map
3. Best Real Money Poker Sites California State

You’ll find no shortage of live poker cash games and tournaments in California. But these games are expensive between their multi-hundred dollar buy-ins and their flat-fee rake structure.

Why not make the switch to online poker? The buy-ins and rake are reasonable. There are more games and variants to choose from. And you can claim a deposit bonus, which no live cardroom offers.

All you need is an account with one of the best California poker sites online.

We strongly recommend you join one of the real money poker sites we endorse. We explain why, what we look for, and more in the next section.

Then, we’ll show you why you should consider switching to playing online poker in CA, including how it can save and make you more money compared to playing live.

If that sounds good to you, then let’s get started.

If you want to play real money poker online in California, your first step is to find a safe and reputable poker site to join. This isn’t a step you want to take alone. Here is why.

Poker is unique from most other gambling games in that you’re not playing against the house but other players like yourself. The site you join needs to have adequate traffic, otherwise, you won’t find a game to play.

This information is available online if you know where to look. And when it’s not, there are usually a few tells you can pick up in the online poker room’s lobby.

If you don’t know how to find this information, or how to interpret the clues, you might as well choose a poker site blindfolded. There’s really no difference if you insist on finding your own CA poker site to join.

On top of that, there’s other criteria you should consider, such as the poker room’s games, variants, stakes, rake, promotions, and more. It’s a lot to uncover.

That’s why we suggest you rely on us. We have decades of online poker experience. And we’ve researched and tested almost every online poker site in existence, so we know exactly which ones Californians should join.

Here’s what we look for in the best online poker sites for California.

• The poker site’s license and the commission that issued it
• The banking options you can use
• The withdrawal limits i.e. how much of your winnings can you withdraw each month?
• Can you claim a deposit bonus or participate in a VIP program, guaranteed tournaments, etc.?
• Are they trustworthy? What do other poker players think of them?

This covers the basics and tells us whether the poker room is safe, secure, trustworthy, and reliable enough to join.

But we’re not done yet.

We also need to make sure they’re a GREAT poker site, especially for poker players in California. Here’s what else we look at.

• What features does the room have? Do they have hand history players, four-color decks, odds calculators, quick play, etc.?
• Can you use a HUD?
• What kinds of tournaments can you play? Can you play guaranteed tournament? Satellites? Knockouts? Turbos? 6-max?
• What real money poker games and variants can you play?
• Do they allow multi-tabling? How many tables can you play at once?
• Is their rake reasonable?

We compare every site we review, take the top choices, and order them from best to worst. The result is a list of the top poker sites or, in this case, the best California poker sites.

We’re thorough in our research and testing, as you can see for yourself if you read our poker room reviews.

The goal is to save you all that time, money, and energy, then help you find a California-friendly online poker room as quickly as possible.

We think we achieved that. But you’ll only know for sure once you choose a CA poker site to join, create your account, and get some real money hands and tourneys under your belt.

Rake at California Poker Sites

One unique thing about playing live poker in California is how you pay rake. The rake is the money the poker room collects as their fee for hosting the game.

Most poker rooms charge you a percentage of the pot and cap how much they can rake. For example, a poker room might take 10% of every pot up to $10.

Many cardrooms do not rake the pot if no one sees a flop. This is known as a “no flop, no drop” policy.

California flips all this on its head. Here’s how.

By law, California cardrooms cannot rake a percentage of the pot, so they charge a flat rate and/or charge an hourly fee instead.

For example, you might pay $10 every hour to play. Or you might as much as $7 (at $5/$10) plus whatever the room takes for their promotions, such as a bad beat jackpot. They also rake the pot even if no one sees a flop.

Now, let’s compare this to online poker.

One of the California online poker sites we like charges 5.5% rake for their highest limit games and even less for their micro stakes.

If you play $5/$10, like our live example above, you’ll pay $0.01 for every $0.18 in the pot (5.5%). You’ll pay $1 to $5 max per hand depending on the number of players in the pot. That’s 70% less on the high side, just for playing online.

That’s not all the money you’ll save either. Here are the other ways you’ll save by choosing to play real money poker online instead of live.

• Not having to travel
• Not wasting time waiting for a game or seat to open
• Not playing at rooms without a no flop, no drop policy
• Choosing whether to play bad beat jackpot games

You’ll save money, but you can also make more money playing poker online because you can play more than one table at a time and you can participate in promotions like deposit bonuses and VIP programs.

The bottom line, you’ll increase your hourly rate and take-home pay. And all you have to do is choose to play games at the top CA poker websites instead of live.

This doesn’t just apply to cash games either. It applies to tournaments, too.

California is also known for their poker tournaments. They host some of the largest and most popular poker tournaments in the world.

• WSOP circuit events
• WTP tournaments such as the WPT Deep Stacks Championship
• Battle of the Bay
• California State Poker Championship
• Memorial Day Tournament Series
• Bay 101 Summer Open
• Commerce Hold’em Series
• A. Poker Open
• Gold Rush Poker Series

These are great live tournaments to play in. They can add a nice boost to your total live earnings column, especially since they routinely pay six and seven-figure prizes to the winner.

There’s also a little prestige and notoriety in doing well in these tournaments, which some poker players care about.

But do they offset the downsides?

• Buy-ins range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
• The rake is expensive. You should expect the cardroom to collect $15 to $20 for every $100 you pay to play.
• The bigger tournaments can take days to complete.

Now, these will apply to live tournaments. But you also have the fact that you can spend hours playing, bust the tournament, and walk away with nothing.

This will apply to online tournaments too, but they have advantages that California poker tournament players do not have.

If you want to play real money poker tournaments in California, we recommend you play online. Here are a few reasons why, relative to the points made in the last section.

Best Real Money Poker Sites California Coast

• The largest tournament buy-ins online are between $215 to $600 (with a few rare exceptions).
• The prize pools still reach six and seven figures because online poker sites aren’t confined to California or a specific square footage. They can allow a larger number of players to play, which increases the prize pool without increasing the buy-in.
• You pay less rake. You’ll usually pay $9 to $10 for every $100 you pay to play.
• Most tournaments are done in a (long) day.

Now, we mentioned that you can play a tournament for hours only to bust and walk away with nothing. That’s possible in any tournament, online or live. But here’s why online poker tournaments are better.

Online poker rooms can run more tournaments since they’re not limited on space. This means you can play more tournaments. And most CA poker sites let you play more than one tournament at a time.

Since you can put in more volume (play more tournaments), you can get through your variance (losses) faster. This enables you to cash out and win more often. You don’t have to go weeks, months, or years without a score. You’ll cash out far more often than that.

There are many other benefits to playing poker tournaments online instead of live, too.

• You can earn VIP perks.
• You’ll have a larger variety of tournament games, variations, and stakes to choose from.
• You can satellite into larger poker tournaments for much less than you can online.
• You can buy into many tournaments for less than $20. Many of these have three- or four-figure prize pools/payouts.

While there’s more money, prestige, and notoriety to gain playing in California’s live poker tournaments, it also costs a lot of time and money to play these tourneys.

Online poker tournaments are a middle ground. You can still play in tournaments with large prize pools. But you won’t spend as much to play them. And you have the added benefit of multi-tabling, which will enable you to play, cash in, and win more tournaments than you ever could offline.

Yes. We highly recommend it. The traffic at each poker site fluctuates, both in terms of overall traffic and traffic to the specific game you want to play.

You’ll have better odds of finding a profitable game or tournament the more poker site accounts you have.

The most common is the deposit bonus. Make a deposit and the poker room will match a percentage of it up to so many dollars.

For example, if the poker room you join is offering a 100% match bonus up to $500, then they’ll give you $1 for every $1 you deposit. You can get as much as $500 free.

Poker rooms also offer VIP programs, rebates, tournament tickets, guaranteed tournaments, VIP exclusive freerolls, and more.

It depends on the poker room.

A typical guaranteed tourney during a Sunday schedule is $100,000. That said, we’ve seen guarantees as high as $1 million.

You should take a two-pronged approach.

One, figure out what you want in a poker site — the games, variants, stakes, promotions, etc. Then, read the reviews for every site we recommend and choose the site that offers the closest to what you’re looking for.

Yes. Most poker sites offer mobile poker.

Some poker sites offer a native app. Others have a browser-based setup where you’ll play poker in your mobile web browser.

There are tons of variables to consider, too many to cover here. If we had to give a sweeping statement, it’d be the one below.

If you play medium stakes or higher, chances are you’re better off playing live. You can find games like $5/$10 or $10/$20 online, but you’ll probably find more consistent action offline. And depending on where you live in California, it might even make more sense to drive to Reno or Las Vegas.

For micro and small stakes players, as well as tournament players, we think there’s a lot of value in playing at online poker sites for all the reasons mentioned above.

Poker is popular in CA. You’ll find loads of live cash game action and poker tournaments. Many of these poker tournaments pay life-altering sums to the players who win them.

But live poker in California is far more expensive, less profitable, and less convenient compared to playing online.

There’s no reason you can’t play both formats, both live and online. But if we had to choose, we’d choose to play real money poker online.

If you see where we’re coming from and want to make the leap to playing poker online, then join one of the best California poker sites and create your account now.

Cash games and tournaments are running all day every day. Are you going to be part of the action?

Important CA Notes

• CA residents can play at offshore poker rooms legally
• Despite several recent pushes, iPoker has not passed yet
• Tribal casinos offer plenty of live cardrooms
• Commercial casinos are still currently banned
• Prospects for legalization are excellent in coming years

“Reviewed by Chuck Humphrey – 50 year Gaming Law Practitioner”

California is one of the American states actively pursuing the legalization of online poker. Since 2010, a number of bills attempting to legalize the activity have been introduced in the state legislature, but none have been successful thus far.

The state, however, has finally moved forward – at least, in the discussion sense. The state has scheduled several hearings in the coming months. Even with these hearings, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done for a passage of a bill in the Golden State. Despite several bills in the legislature, there has yet to be a consensus on a bill that will satisfy California’s many gaming interests.

Future Outlook of Online Poker in California – Estimated date of legalization: 2019-2020

The following graph tracks our expected legislation of online poker in California on a state law level. It is currently already legal on a Federal level. This graph monitors the current rise or fall of expected legalization.

Recent Activity – A Work in Progress
Though California does not have any law in place that permits online poker at a website operated in California, California statutes do not expressly forbid online poker (see Penal Code Sec. 337a(a)(3) and (6), as well as 337j for more clarification), and it is still legal according to the US government’s 2011 Wire Act revision. But, under the given circumstances, it’s currently deemed illegal to own and/or operate an online poker site within the state. Despite the state not allowing for state-operated poker sites, the preamble to SB 1485 of 2010 stated the following about unregulated poker:

“Over 1.5 million Californians participate at offshore poker websites, sports betting and casino sites on more than 600 unregulated gambling Internet Web sites every week.”

With such activity, it’s no surprise online poker legalization in California has been the subject of a perpetual list of bills – which is promising. A brief history of the bills introduced so far leading up to the present situation is given below.

The reason legalization has not occurred in California is a lack of consensus within the Indian tribes that control significant interests in land casino gambling. Work is being made towards a resolution of this issue, but there are also differing views between the Indian tribes and other interest groups.

An illustration of this lack of cohesiveness is the dissolution of the California Online Poker Association (COPA). COPA was formed in 2010 with members from 31 Indian tribes and 20 prominent card rooms and horse tracks. The objective was to push for legalization of online poker in California. For over a year, it gave hope to millions of online poker enthusiasts. Senator Wright introduced SB 1485 in the California senate in March 2010. A hearing set for June 29, 2010 was canceled by the author and the bill died when the senate session expired. Senator Correa introduced SB 40 and Senator Wright introduced SB 45 in December 2010. Both bills died in January 2012.

Senator Wright introduced an online poker bill for the third time in February 2012, SB 1463, but died without any hearing. In October 2012, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, two of the strongest member groups, left COPA. A Los Angeles Times report[A] stated that Ryan Hightower, the spokesman for COPA, announced that the organization had disbanded because of, “insufficient progress within the legislature toward the passage of an online poker bill.” Senator Wright again introduced his online poker bill, SB 51[D], in December 2012. 2012 was a lost year for online poker legislation in the state, though it did garner plenty of momentum for legalization of online gambling.

In 2013, the state gathered even more steam, with California tribes banding together to draft a bill that was introduced that year[B]. The tribal bill was never fully introduced, but there were other bills that did get introduced in the state legislature. Senator Correa introduced bill SB 678[E] in February 2013. Both were not passed and new proposed bills SB 1366 by Senator Correa and AB 2291 by Assemblyman Jones-Sawyer, were introduced on February 21, 2014 that would regulate online poker if passed. Both these bills were shelved on August 5, 2014, but a new bill was introduced in December 2014 by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, AB 9.

All of these efforts died in the state legislature, a familiar theme for those who have been following online poker in the state since the Department of Justice reversed their decision on the Wire Act[C]. The debates surround bad actor clauses, the inclusion of interstate compacts, tax rates, and which entities in the Golden State would be allowed to offer online gaming.

There were high hopes for passage within 2015 after Gatto’s bill was introduced the year before, along with another bill from Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer. In 2014, he introduced SB 678 with State Senator Lou Correa, who also worked with him on his 2015 introduction of AB 167[F]. Mike Gatto pulled his bill in July 2015, saying he would not move forward because “there was no consensus” on the issue just yet. Jones-Sawyer’s AB 167 was condemned to the same fate.

Although AB 431[G], a bill introduced by Assemblyman Adam Gray, did get to the Assembly Floor despite opposition – the bill offers no specifics on online poker regulations and is only two pages long. It’s noteworthy it made it the floor, but this was nothing more than a placeholder with no chance of passage.

In short, almost all potential bills through 2015 have been withdrawn or had no shot of passage. Bad actor clauses and tax rates remain a hotly debated topic, but there has been some compromise there. There was heavy division among the coalitions about giving California racetracks the ability to apply for licenses if online poker was legalized, but most of those discussions have been resolved in 2016. With the budget finalized on July 24, 2015[H], the door was shut on the chances of iPoker passing in 2015.

In February 2016, California Assemblymen Adam Gray and Reggie Jones-Sawyer introduced AB 2863 – a bill to legalize online poker. This bill received a hearing on April 27, 2016 and it passed the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee by a 18-0 vote. AB 2863 would give the horse racing industry up to $60 million a year and in return they cannot own or operate any state online poker websites; a move in the right direction and well received. On June 22, 2016, the state’s Assembly Appropriates Committee passed the bill. It then went to the full Assembly but did not receive a vote and was shelved. This legislation would require a $12.5 million license fee from potential poker website operators, charge a tax rate ranging from 8.847%-15% depending on the amount of revenue generated, and would not allow PokerStars to enter the market until 2021.

AB 1677, a bill to legalize and regulate online poker in California, was introduced on February 17, 2017 by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer. It’s pretty much the same bill as the previous year, and unfortunately, it didn’t make any headway.

Nevertheless, the future is still relatively bright long-term for online poker legalization in California. Though those who follow the situation must be getting sick of the same arguments and divisions between different coalitions, there is still a ton of interest going forward.

PrivateTable.com, Santa Ysabel Tribe

Santa Ysabel Interactive launched an online poker site in June 2014, despite California not yet regulating the activity. The site was located at PrivateTable.com, but appears to have shut down around May 1, 2015, which took residents of California who are 18 or older. As one would expect they were being sued by the state of California and there is no real money play.

The Tribe has stated that they support any efforts in the State to pass online gambling related legislation, but are relying on the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), along with their tribal sovereignty to state that they are within their rights. The site was scheduled to be available for real-money play in November of 2014, but nothing came to fruition. The Tribe has closed their only land-based casino after amassing a debt of $50 million.

Some speculate that this may speed up the process of a bill passing, but I think PrivateTable.com was more of sideshow. The barriers and issues that have stopped something from passing so far still remain the same.

Current Gambling Laws in California

In order to appreciate why California has been unable to pass laws permitting regulated online gambling, one has to understand the history and rights of Native Indians with respect to gambling.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the inherent right of Indian tribes to offer gaming on federally recognized tribal lands. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA)[I] through which tribal governments could conduct gaming as a means of promoting economic development and self-sufficiency. Under the IGRA Indian tribes (referred to as “nations”) had to negotiate with U.S. states concerning scope of gambling and level of regulation. But it was made clear that Indian nations would be the sole owners and primary beneficiaries of Indian gaming. Because compacts have to be made with states and because the tribal gaming is subject to Federal oversight, the process has never been totally smooth.

California has one of the largest and most powerful Native Indian lobbies. It also has a history of antagonism between the Indians and the settlers. According to the California Nations Indians Gaming Association (CNIGA), there are 61 tribes that have signed compacts with California. The compacts allow for the operation of video slot machines and casino banked card games in a competition free environment subject to the tribal casinos paying a share of the revenue to the state. CNIGA[J] has stated that the California Indian tribes feel they have been forced into accepting unfavorable terms in these compacts and are therefore now wary of every move that is being made with respect to online gambling. Because of the contributions they make to the Democrats and Republicans alike, the Indian tribes have sufficient backing in the legislature and are able to stall undesirable bills.

For the state in general, most gambling statutes are covered in Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code. Chapter 4 covers horse racing. Chapter 5 is The Gambling Control Act[K]. Clause 19801 (a) prohibits commercially operated lotteries, banked or a percentage games, and gambling machines, and strictly regulates pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing. Therefore, the forms of gambling permitted apart from the native tribal casinos are poker in card rooms, the California lottery and betting on horse races. The operators conducting such activities are required to obtain a license.

Section 330 of the California Penal Code[L] provides a partial list of the prohibited games and the penalties for violation. The section reads, “Every person who deals, plays, or carries on, opens, or causes to be opened, or who conducts, either as owner or employee, whether for hire or not, any game of faro, monte, roulette, lansquenet, rouge et noire, rondo, tan, fan-tan, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one, hokey-pokey, or any banking or percentage game played with cards, dice, or any device, for money, checks, credit, or other representative of value, and every person who plays or bets at or against any of those prohibited games, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable by a fine not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”

History of Gambling in California

Land Based Poker in California

Gambling in California[M] report by Dunstan provides the background of gambling in the state. Poker has been played in California since the time of the gold rush. It continued to be played in card clubs after the state was founded in 1850. These card clubs were neither declared legal nor illegal. They were also not regulated. However, a number of card games were explicitly banned and this list included stud horse poker. In the 1970s, Texas Hold’em poker became extremely popular in the neighboring state of Nevada. The California card clubs also began to offer this variant. After prolonged litigation, all forms of poker became permissible in card clubs from 1987. In 1984, under the Gaming Registration Act all existing card clubs had to obtain a license. New card clubs would have obtain a license before starting operations. Today, the Indian tribal casinos are also allowed to offer poker.

The rationale for allowing poker in card clubs is as follows: The card clubs only charge fees for providing services and do not take money from the players as a result of wagering. The amounts lost by some players are won by other players and therefore the money remains within the community. In comparison, in card games like blackjack players lose money to the house. Therefore, games in which players wager against the house are banned. Another reason is that poker involves a fair element of skill.

There are two other forms of land based poker allowed according to California gambling laws[N]. Players can wager on poker at homes provided no rake is taken. Nonprofit organizations are allowed to host poker games under restricted conditions for the purpose of fund raising. The material constraints are that no cash prizes are to be awarded to the winners and that at least 90% of the revenue collected should go to charity.

Non-Poker i-Gambling Laws in California

There are two sets of gambling laws in California. The compacts with the Nation Tribes govern gambling at the casinos on Indian lands. These casinos offer banked card games and slot machines, which are illegal in the rest of California. The other set of gambling laws stem from the constitution of California. Gambling is covered in the Business and Professions code of the constitution. The California Penal Code prescribes the punishments and other details. The major forms of gambling permissible are non-banked games like poker in card clubs, horse racing and lottery. Gambling at fund raisers and on cruise ships are also permissible, but are prevailing to a minimal extent.

Section 19 (b) of Article IV of the constitution states “The Legislature may provide for the regulation of horse races and horse race meetings and wagering on the results.” The detailed laws are provided under Chapter 4 of Division 8 the Business and Professions code. Article 9 deals with the wagering. Only pari-mutuel wagering is allowed. All other forms of betting are illegal. Originally, the wagering had to take place at the racetrack. Now simulcast wagering is allowed. California residents can place wagers from authorized sites away from race tracks, including on intrastate and interstate horse races, under simulcast wagering.

Best Real Money Poker Sites California Map

Sections 19 (a) and (d) of Article IV of the constitution contain the directive principles with regards to lottery. The Legislature has no power to authorize lotteries in the state as such. However, the California State Lottery was established in 1984 through a constitution amendment. The functioning of the California State Lottery is governed by the California State Lottery Act of 1984[O], which is Chapter 12.5 of Title 2 the Government code.

The California Lottery is run by an autonomous five-member commission. The Lottery Act limits the types of games that can be used. The present list includes a number of Draw games, Super Lotto Plus and Powerball. In 2005, California Lottery joined Mega Millions. The lottery returns 50% of the revenues as prizes, 34% is allocated to educational institutions and the remainder covers administrative expenses.

Under Penal Code Section 322, “every person who aids or assists, either by printing, writing, advertising, publishing, or otherwise in setting up, managing, or drawing any lottery, or in selling or disposing of any ticket, chance, or share therein, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Best Real Money Poker Sites California State

Card clubs have to be registered with the Attorney General under the Gaming Registration Act. The laws governing the operations of card clubs are included in the Gambling Control Act, which is Chapter 5 of Division 8 of the Business and Professions code. The California Gambling Control commission is the regulatory authority. The card clubs can offer games that are not expressly prohibited under law. The prohibited games include banked or percentage games and gambling machines. Players can wager on poker in card clubs.

Sections 330 and 337 of the California Penal Code deal with violations of the Gambling Control Act. Violations are mostly defined as misdemeanors, but punishments depend upon the nature of violation and the repeated the nature of the offense. Punishments range from fines to imprisonment, or both.

Article 17 of the Gambling Control Act deals with nonprofit organization fundraisers for charitable gambling. Clause 19885 (b) states, “The playing of controlled games for the purpose of raising funds by nonprofit organizations is in the public interest.” Section 337j (e) of the Penal Code includes in controlled games “any poker or Pai Gow game, and any other game played with cards or tiles, or both”. Though bingo does not fall under “controlled game”, Section 19 (c) of Article IV of the constitution specifically allows bingo only for charitable purposes.

Owing to a recent change in federal law, cruise ships can call at consecutive California ports and allow gambling.

The state of California has entered into a separate compact with the each of the tribal nations. Hence, these compacts are not like uniform statutes covering all the casinos operated by the Indian tribes. The broad details are available at the CNIGA website[P]. Each compact with a tribe spells out the games that can be offered by that tribe, the maximum number of slot machines or tables that are allowed, the revenues that must be paid to the state, how much money has to be paid to tribes without casinos and what services like education, health and police the tribes have to provide on their own lands. Tribal casinos generated $7.8 billion to the economy in 2014, the latest numbers available, and support over 63,000 jobs per a report from the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.

Author:Joseph Falchetti (twitter)
(C) Copyright PokerWebsites.com, 2018

References and Citations