Play poker online, using chips, in private rooms. Join Room Create Room Create Room. A recent add-on to our robust gaming webapp applications is our own private poker room. This popular game has millions of fans and players around the world and all of LegendSportsBook players can enjoy the always exciting game of Texas Hold’em.
Ever wanted to stage a private poker tournament online with your friends only and that was invite only? Well, you can. It is possible to now challenge your friends and enjoy the excitement of playing against them in a closed online environment, just as if you were playing in a home game against them. But its from the comfort of your own home.
- No download poker sites are poker rooms that allow you to play online poker for free or for real money in your browser. So instead of having to download and install the standard poker software, you can just sign in and start playing online poker from within your browser window. It really is that straightforward.
- Poker Home Games - Private Poker Clubs - Online Poker with Friends Start your Own Poker Club with Home Games Imagine having your own online Poker Club, for just you and your friends - where you can arrange your own private poker games whenever you want! It’s called Home Games.
Currently the best place to host a private poker home game online is over at BetOnline Poker. It’s pretty simple to sign up and organize a game for your friends so that your weekly home game can go on.
[ Ad: You can also play four cash games at the same time and 20 multi-player tournaments as well when you sign up and make Ignition Poker your poker room of choice! ]
They can be played at your convenience and only the players that you personally invite will be allowed to participate so it works in much the same way as invite only freeroll tournaments.
How do I create a private online poker club?
Hosting private online poker games could never be easier, and the top rated online poker rooms understand why. There are lots of players who like playing in games against people they know, creating a different type of dynamic, because there will always be personal rivalries.
At sites like PokerStars and 888 Poker, two of the leading online poker sites, you can set up a private poker tournament for co-workers, associates, clubs, charities or just for a bunch of friends. There are no limits to the number of people that can participate. And there are no additional charges for setting up your private poker games. Since everything is handled by the online poker site, the home game organiser doesn’t have to worry about expenses such as buying a poker table, chips, cards, food, drinks. And whatever else that is needed to make a home game possible.
Depending on the online poker site, you can also set up a private invitation-only ring game. Many online poker sites are also willing to allow private poker games with no rakes. Just tell them what private poker game format you would like to hold and they will take care of the rest.
Poker players interested in staging private poker games and competitions should check out PokerStars latest innovation – Online Home Games. This feature is a brand new part of the software, allowing players to bring their home games online.
Nothing like this has been tried in the online poker world so kudos to Pokerstars for implementing it into their online poker room. It turned out to undeniable be a huge success with 500,000 home game clubs already created since its inception.
The great thing about PokerStars’ Online Home Games is that pretty much every online poker player will already have an account at PokerStars.
Creating your own private poker tournaments online is very straightforward – simply choose the game type, buy-in level, then set the date for the tournament. You can invite up to 50 members. Best of all, it’s free to create your own private poker club.
In order to join one of the many invite only Home Games online at PokerStars, you’ll need to follow these simple instructions.
– If you don’t already have an account with PokerStars, then download their free software.
– Once you’re logged in to the main poker lobby, click on the Home Games tab.
– Click the ‘Join a Poker Club’ button.
– Enter your Club ID number, provided by the poker club organizer.
– Enter your Invitation Code, provided by the poker club organizer.
It’s as simple as that. Of course, the tournament organizer for the online home games will need to spread the word about the tournament to get enough people interested in playing. If you already play a home game with friends at someone’s home, it’s probably easiest just organizing an online game then. If not, obtain every player’s email address, and set it up via email.
What about private online poker club at other rooms?
You can also create your very own private online poker tournaments at 888Poker.
In order to create and play in one of the private tournaments against your friends using webcams at 888Poker, you’ll need to follow these simple instructions.
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– If you don’t already have an account with 888Poker, then download the latest software.
– Once you’re logged in to the main poker lobby, click on the Play with friends tab.
– Click the ‘Create New Game’ button and then choose whether you want to set up a tournament or cash game.
– Enter your unique game name, game password, and the starting time, which every player will need to obtain by the private game organizer.
That’s it! Once you have created a new private game, it will be displayed in the main lobby for players whom you have invited to join the game.
The tournament/cash game organizer will receive an email notification, letting them know they have created a private game at 888Poker. Simply forward this email to all the people that you consider friends and would like to play against.
The best no download poker rooms.
| Room | Review | Rating | Network | Java | Flash | HTML5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ignition Poker | A+ | PWL | ||||
| SwC Poker | A | Independent | ||||
| Nitrogen Poker | B | Independent | ||||
| 888 Poker | D | Independent |
What are no-download / in-browser poker sites?
No download poker sites are poker rooms that allow you to play online poker for free or for real money in your browser.
So instead of having to download and install the standard poker software, you can just sign in and start playing online poker from within your browser window. It really is that straightforward.
Why play online poker in your browser?
Because it's quicker and easier.
Plus, there may be times where you'd prefer not to install a poker room client on your computer. For example; if you're using a shared computer, or if you're trying to get a few hands in whilst you're at work. For situations like these, no download poker sites are perfect.
Furthermore, these in-browser poker rooms are also handy for Mac and Linux users (e.g. Ubuntu poker players) that can't install the .exe files of the standard poker clients offered by poker rooms. There are sites that offer Mac poker apps that you can be installed on Macs (through .dmg files), but the no-download poker rooms are always a handy alternative.
How do they work?
Browser-based poker rooms are delivered in one of two ways:
- Flash
Java and Flash are simply two different programming languages that allow poker rooms to develop web-based poker software. You may have heard of these two languages before, as they are commonly used for games on free games websites. For example, ArmorGames.com (my fave) offers flash based games.
Surprisingly, one programming language isn't more popular than another when it comes to providing web-based poker software -- it's pretty much an even split. I guess that's a good indication that both methods are on par with each other for this sort of stuff. When playing at these no download rooms you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two types anyway.
So if you're playing online poker from within your browser, it's running on either Java or Flash, and they're both as good as each other.
Will these work in my browser?
Should do. It's not necessarily your browser that's the issue though; it's whether you've got (or an up to date) version of Java or Flash. If you haven't, you can always grab the latest version of Java or the latest version of Flash for free.
Note: The poker room will usually prompt you beforehand if you're not up to date, so I'd just go ahead and try them out first and see what happens.
Nonetheless, I went ahead and tried all the instant play poker rooms in the table above, and they all worked well in these browsers:
- Chrome (my favourite browser)
What's the difference between download and no-download poker sites?
Seeing as the no download poker rooms have to load up and run from within your browser, they need to be lightweight and fast. As a result, these 'instant play' rooms often have fewer features and simpler graphics than their downloadable counterparts.
Common features that may be missing/different from an instant play poker room are:
- Table resizing.
- Maximum number of tables open at one time is smaller.
- Instant hand replay feature.
These are just examples though of course. Some no download rooms are almost identical to the full version.
On the whole though, I've always been impressed with the browser-based poker sites. It's not like you're getting a completely stripped down service -- it's more like a 'lite' alternative to the full-version.
The pros and cons.
I'm guessing that you've already figured out whether or not an instant play poker site is the ideal option for you. If not, here's a quick summary of the good stuff and the not-so-good stuff.
Pros.
- No need to download or install anything. Play from within your browser.
Cons.
- Fewer features than the full version.
- There aren't as many options out there for browser-based poker sites.
If you're a serious poker player, I'd recommend looking in to a downloading a full poker room client. The extra features and stability that comes with the full poker software more than makes up for the time it takes to download and install the program.
There's no harm in trying out an in-browser poker room first though to see how it works out -- you can switch around whenever you like.
No download poker rooms FAQ.
Will these poker rooms leave any evidence that I've been playing poker on my computer?
Yes, they'll leave evidence in your browser history.
Playing at a poker room in your browser will leave the same sort of history as any other website that you may want to keep hidden. You can clean up the evidence by either deleting your history, or using the 'incognito' mode (or the equivalent of that) in your browser.
Some poker rooms require that you download a tiny .jnlp file to get the browser-version up and running, so you'll want to delete that from your downloads folder too. You'll know if you've downloaded one of these though.
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Which no-download poker room is the best?
Honestly, they're all very good. It all depends on what you want from your poker room, so check out the reviews and go for the one that looks the most ideal.
Can I play for real money?
Yep, just make a deposit through the web cashier and you can play real money cash games and tournaments as normal. You'll be playing against both the real money players using the no download room and the players using the downloadable client.
Can I play for free?
Yes. Playing for cash is more exciting though. Get some NLHE strategy under your belt and you might win some money.
Are they safe?
Yes.
Security is of the utmost importance when it comes to playing poker online, so the poker rooms have ensured that everything is safe and secure. I've been playing at web-based poker rooms for a while and I've never had any problems.
Will these rooms work on my mobile?
Probably not.
Although these no-download poker sites allow you to play within a browser, it doesn't mean that they're also going to work on your mobile's browser. It's worth a try, but these rooms aren't the answer just yet.
If you have more general questions about playing poker online, check out my Texas Hold'em FAQ.
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Go back to the Texas Hold'em rooms.