Take Poker Reviews with a Grain of Salt

Poker site reviews occupy an important part in the online poker industry. Players who are looking for reputable real money poker sites rely on poker site reviews to find objective reviews of the big names in the industry. Most online poker reviews are written with good intentions, but I recommend that you take everything you read with a grain of salt.

Why?

Because online poker sites have affiliate programs in which they pay webmasters for sending players to those poker sites. I’ll admit it; I do make money with this website by following that exact formula. So when I write reviews, I have an incentive to make those reviews overwhelmingly positive for the sake of sending new players to those poker sites.

I do not take that route with BeatNoLimit.com because I’d rather gain the trust of my visitors. Not only do I know what it’s like to be a player in need of a poker site, but I also value repeat visitors. I would rather have people come back time and time again than to just send players off to some cheesy poker site. Most poker webmasters feel the same way, but not all do.

For a positive example, look at the website TopOnlinePokerSites.net. That website has about 15 poker rooms that it reviews and rates. These reviews are mostly positive, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The webmaster in this case simply doesn’t bother with poor poker reviews. That’s the same way I operate this website. There’s no point in spending the time to write negative reviews for websites that you don’t trust.

I occasionally run across other poker websites that review poker sites at random. These other poker websites appear to be promoting whoever pays the most money. That’s a serious accusation, so I’m not going to list anyone here, but you can see these sites for yourself. If you see a poker website give some unknown room a hugely positive review, do a little Google research for yourself.

Look at what other people say about that poker site. If it’s a shady poker site, you are going to find lots of forum posts from members who complain about slow withdrawals and missing payments. You can’t expect everybody to be happy with a poker room, but there are clear trends that become apparent with rogue poker sites. If enough people complain about a poker room, it becomes clear that something isn’t right.

I don’t write this post to blow my own horn or act like I’m riding on some high horse. Again, I want to state that most poker webmasters are ethical people who legitimately want to help poker players. And if they get paid while in the process, I have no problem with that. The only issue I have is when poker information sites present lopsided reviews of poor poker rooms.

If you are ever in doubt about a poker room review, consider doing a little research on your own. A quick Google search will tell you a lot about a poker site. If a poker site gets lots of bad press, the odds are good that something is wrong with that poker site. What I recommend you do is find a few poker websites that you trust and stick with their recommendations.