Online Poker Rooms with the Most Professionals
Three of the world’s largest poker sites sponsor professional poker players to play online under their real names. These professionals aren’t just small timers, either. These pros are the real deal – people you see on TV on a regular basis. If you’ve ever wanted to try your luck against Phil Ivey or Phil Hellmuth, the best way to get your chance is online at one of these poker sites.
Just be careful; these professionals won’t go easy just because you’re an average Joe. They are there to win money just like the rest of us. It might be intimidating but that’s where all the fun comes into play. If you’ve never bluffed a big name TV star out of a pot, you haven’t experienced poker in its truest form.
Full Tilt Poker got an early start in attracting stars to its tables and is now stocked full of big name professionals. Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and many more players call Full Tilt Poker home. Out of all the three poker sites on this list, Full Tilt Poker has the biggest lineup of pros. In total, about 140 pros represent Full Tilt.
Notable Pros at Full Tilt:
- Howard Lederer
- Phil Ivey
- Chris Ferguson
- John Juanda
- Gus Hansen
- Patrik Antonius
- Tom “durrrr” Dwan
Full Tilt pros are easily recognizable at the tables by their red names. You can also track down your favorite pros by looking for the red tables in the lobby. Any time a Full Tilt pro joins a table, the table name turns from black to red. There are also several high stakes heads up tables with just one open seat. When you sit in that seat, you’ll be able to face off against the pro that table is named after.
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PokerStars has sent more players to the World Series of Poker than any other poker site in the world, so it has a healthy team of big name pros. Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein are two of the biggest earners in poker history and if you want to test your mettle against them, you can find them online at PokerStars.com.
Notable Pros at PokerStars:
- Daniel Negreanu
- Chris Moneymaker
- Greg Raymer
- Joe Cada
- Joe Hachem
- Barry Greenstein
For the tourney players out there, PokerStars has a tournament leader board that you can participate in for free. Among various rewards it gives out, the highest ranking player each week gets to play a heads up match against a PokerStars pro. The prize pool each week is $1,000, but if the pro wins, the prize is rolled over and added to next week’s prize pool.
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Ultimate Bet has its fair share of poke pros as well, including the infamous Phil Hellmuth. If you’ve ever seen Phil Hellmuth on TV, you’re probably already familiar with his high strung personality. Just imagine how much fun it would be to play against him online, win a big pot with 72 off suit and watch him have one of his famous meltdowns.
Notable Pros at Ultimate Bet:
- Phil Hellmuth
- Annie Duke
- Liv Boeree
- Poker H0 (Mark Kroon)
The cash games at Ultimate Bet are always strong and are some of the fastest paced games out there. The tournaments are solid as well, with plenty of large prize pools thanks to the many players who choose Ultimate Bet. You can play against many of the pros during the weekly $200,000 Guarantee on Sundays.
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Playing Poker Against the Pros
As fun as it is to play against big name pros, it’s probably not the best idea to make it a regular habit. These people didn’t get to be big name pros by playing bad poker. When you play against them, make sure you only play with money you can afford to lose. Whatever you do, don’t sit down at a table full of poker professionals with your whole bankroll and pray for the best.
One good thing about playing against the pros is that you can learn so much from them. They are so good at poker that if you pay attention to their playing styles, you can learn new things. It’s like practicing basketball by playing against Michael Jordan. He might beat you to death but if you stick with it, you’ll soon be beating your usual competition to death.
Online poker has opened up so many possibilities for new players, and being able to play against the pros is one of those. Several no-name players got their start playing online and worked their ways up the ranks, eventually challenging and beating some of the biggest names in the poker world. Tom “durrrr” Dwan got his start playing online and today he’s one of the biggest winners in high stakes cash games.
