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Easy Poker Sites in 2022 with Soft Games
BY JOSH H, OWNER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
In my poker site infancy, finding an "easy" poker site was as easy as spinning the dial, jumping headfirst into the easiest fish pond advertising on TV, and beating the games at will. Just sit back, cast your line, and if you were a half-decent player you usually would win. Soft games were the rule rather than the exception.
Today? Not too many easy poker games exist. Dwindling new real money players, tight-fisted poker site promotions, a wishy-washy economy, and borderline cheating heads-up display users nearly ruined a beautiful thing.
What used to be easy poker sites are now often filled with a mature poker populace that ties up their bankrolls tighter than the Gordian Knot. They splash some chips around online poker rooms about every Halley's Comet visit or two.
Depressing thoughts, to be sure. Here's the thing, though:
There are still easy poker sites around if you know where to look.
Don't be that player who swears off online poker because you lost your deposit at PokerStars to some HUD-leeching, 20-table grinding, single-digit-flop-percentage-creating "shark".
Be the wanderer who found the soft easy poker oasis in the shark-filled sands, where the casual players file in like sardines waiting to be canned.
I've been on the beat looking for the easiest and softest poker sites, especially for USA online poker players, to win at for more than 15 years.
Let's dive into it and look at:
- Online poker sites that I rate as the easiest to win at from real gameplay
- What you need to watch out for when scouting a site for the softest poker games
- The easy poker game types at each site
- How to use loose table metrics to find soft competition
888 Poker
It may not be what it once was, but there's no denying that 888 Poker remains one of the easiest poker sites online thanks to its casino association.
They give away free easy money and come out with wacky ideas to draw casuals like webcam tables. That crowd is exactly the fish you want to be playing against.
This is still one of the genuinely easy poker sites
- I’ve personally seen how easy this poker site can be. I once coined 888 Poker “the double salmon burger of online poker”. During the online poker boom of the mid-2000’s I literally couldn’t believe my eyes when I would play here because of how easy the games were. Ultra-fishy flop percentages of 50-60% for full tables were common. That has shrunk at real money tables over the past decade, but you’ll still regularly find 25-30% flop percentages and much easier games.
- The casual soft casino clientele makes a difference. The 888 casino has been a favorite of easy online gamblers for years. They advertise everywhere and new softer players often simply choose a name they see a lot. The trickle over to the 888 poker room is easy to see, with a large part of the soft player base willing to gamble on draws and try to pull off random big bluffs. In other words, recreating the short thrills of the casino games they’re used to. Easy-to-beat players with house game backgrounds have traditionally been some of the worst poker players.
- Direction of ads and promotions helps draw easy players. 888 Poker takes a much different approach than a straight-laced poker site like PokerStars. Whereas the latter draws full-time grinders and comes off as professional but stiff, 888 is a loose poker site throws free money at new easier players and tries wacky things like webcam tables. They draw loose easy players because they work hard to.
- I hear about the loose games all the time from fellow players. Whenever I invite feedback from other real players on where they like to play online, it usually goes something like this: “I love the software at PokerStars and Full Tilt, but I play at 888 Poker because it’s the easiest to win at.” They may not be the best at everything, but the easy poker games are simply more profitable.
What could make it even easier
- Update the software to ban tracking software. They're lucky to have skated by this long without doing something about it. As it is, heads-up display users can freely track the easy players here. Can you imagine how much softer and fishier the games might be if the grinders were rebuffed?
Bonus:
100% up to €400
plus
€88 free instantly
Playable on:
These flop/pot numbers might not jump off the screen, but they're higher than most of the competition at these higher stakes. 888 Poker is one of the easiest poker sites to win at thanks to their weaker player base.
4.5/5 Stars
Party Poker
Riding the graph of softness of competition at Party Poker over the years would give a lot of players motion sickness.
After reaching their low point, they're making a comeback by attracting recreational easy poker players. It's now one of the easiest places to play.
The once and future easy online poker site to win at
- Making a comeback to join the easy ranks again. Party Poker went through some hard times after once dominating the market as the easiest poker site to win money at. Over the past several years, they’ve made several new promotions such as instant bonuses to draw recreational soft players. It’s working. Their easy real money player numbers are up and the tables are easier to break into.
- A total ban on third-party software. I love the decision by to completely ban any poker tracking software that could help experienced players gain an unfair advantage over the easy poker fish. They’re totally restricted now, which helps encourage easier players to sign up.
Bonus:
100% up to €500
plus
€20 cash
Playable on:
They aren't terribly popular, but one game type helping to make Party Poker easier is the beginner section. These softer poker tables restrict multi-tabling, making it more likely to be populated by casual players.
4/5 Stars
Unibet Poker
Please never change, Unibet Poker. They made a great decision to open up their own network and bad/casual players have been flocking there.
The fun-looking software helps and you'll mostly find easy games full of fishy players who just seem to enjoy gambling it up rather than trying to win.
Not the biggest, but some of the easiest poker tables
- Simple software helps make games loose. What will probably strike you first at Unibet Poker is how different the software feels. Full of bold colors and caricatures, it helps to interest newer easy poker players that may be intimidated by more complicated software. The no-download version also helps curious prospective players sit down right away.
- The free money brings tons of soft players in. Unibet Poker opened the floodgates by literally giving free money to everyone. Anyone who registers a new poker account gets $10 to play at the NL4 tables. You’ll find some of the easiest and fishiest players imaginable sitting at them.
- Easier players can’t be picked off. Unibet Poker allows any player to change their screen name and avatar at any time while also banning HUDs. That means softer easy poker players can’t be tracked and encourages them to have fun rather than think about improving their play.
Bonus:
€20 free instantly
plus
€200 more as you play
Playable on:
You won't be able to see table stats in the lobby (that's party of what helps), but Unibet Poker is now one of the easiest sites to beat. It's largely populated by soft easy-to-beat players trying out the poker room from one of Unibet's other gaming sections.
4.5/5 Stars
My Pick for Easiest Online Poker Site
winner
Still the easiest poker site overall for looser tables and soft players.
New Player Bonus: 100% up to $400, $88 free, and 10 private freerolls
Why Some Poker Sites Are Easier to Win At Than Others
All fast-fold poker variations play tighter than the standard softer cash games, but take a look at how great Ignition Poker's Zone numbers are.
Although there are still plenty of "easy" poker site choices for the perennial favorite Texas Hold'em, there are some hidden treasure troves of bad players who fill the Omaha tables.
Sit down at soft online poker rooms and be surrounded by players who can't even spell poker. Yes, Phil, thanks for the line.
Take control over easy poker players by either making them pay to draw out on your strongest hands or by betting for value against calling stations.
Not every poker site plays the same. Find the ones with easy poker games and be prepared to write a lot of + symbols in black (or green is my preference) in that won/lost column.
The simplest way to find easy poker games online? Look for flop percentages exceeding 25-30% and average pots of at least 20-25x the big blind.
Which poker site is the easiest to win on?
How easy a poker site is will depend on factors such as the quality of players, the number of games available, and the availability of HUDs. Certain poker sites simply attract easier players because of their target audience. I currently rate Bovada, Global Poker, and 888 Poker as the easiest poker sites to profit on.
What makes a poker site easy?
Besides judging from my personal playing experience, I like to look at a poker site’s table statistics. Higher flop percentages and average pots indicate more action, which is generally easier to profit from for experienced players.
What is the easiest poker site for US players?
In general, the largest US poker sites are easier to beat than those only open to the rest of the world, such as PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker. Global Poker accepts Americans and is very soft, largely thanks to their ability to draw inexperienced new players from social media. Bovada is also quite loose and they’ve always been that way because of their aggressive sports betting clientele.
Easy Poker Game FAQs
What makes a poker site easy?
To be clear, no poker site is "easy" in a vacuum. No one is going to pay you just for showing up. When I refer to a site as easy, I mean that solid experienced players will probably find it more profitable on average than competing sites.
That will mostly be due to a softer average player base and it will often be at the expense of your short-term variance. Easy poker sites are more volatile, but have a higher ceiling for wins thanks to looser and softer games.
What causes poker sites to be softer than others?
I think there are four main factors that determine how difficult a poker site's player base is:
1. The clientele the poker site tries to attract
2. Support for poker tracking software
3. Rewards for grinders
4. The design of the poker software
What makes a player easy to beat?
Generally speaking, when poker players talk about an "easy" poker table or the fishiest games, they're talking about games filled with loose-aggressive (also called maniacs) or loose-passive (also called calling stations) player types.
Poker players willing to commit a lot of chips on gambles, hunches, blind aggression, or, in the case of calling stations, simply because you did it first, are going to result in bigger average pots and more easy poker players seeing each flop.
Since the most common play style of educated poker players is tight-aggressive, they fit with loose players perfectly who can be waited out for big pots with premium hands. The easiest real money poker sites to win are the ones filled with that type of soft competition.
Signs of easy poker games will include:
- High flop percentages
- High average pots
- A number of games at each stake level
Conversely, poker sites filled with tight timid players are usually the toughest to crack profits with.
Why should I care if a poker game is filled with easy players?
For one reason alone: you'll win more often and see a greater hourly win rate against easy players. Although you'll see more bad beats and increase your variance against easy poker players, that's actually exactly what you should hope for.
If you're consistently getting poker money into the pot when you're the favorite to win, you're making correct decisions, regardless of the outcome. Simple math proves that, long-term, you'll always see positive value from being the favorite.
Easy players giving you action on your premium hands and putting in entire stacks on speculative hands is exactly who you want playing at your next poker site.