Online Poker Casinos

What are the best online Poker casinos in 2024? 

Here Mai! It is now possible for Kiwi players to play poker online by joining an online poker casino accepting players from New Zealand.

The variety of online casino poker games includes all-time favourites like Texas Hold’em and Omaha Poker. These days you can choose to play them in the version that you enjoy best: virtual poker, video poker and Live Poker.

If you’re looking for the best online poker casino that offers the best selection of online poker real money games and the most generous promotions, here’s where we recommend looking:

Is playing Poker online legal in New Zealand? 

Online casinos are a somewhat delicate subject in New Zealand as current legislation does not cater to online casinos.

Malta’s Gaming Authority and the UK’s Gambling Commission consider them to be one of the finest supervised gaming authorities.

On the other hand, there are six licensed land-based casinos in the country, offering various table games, including Poker.

It is always best to play with an online poker casino licensed by a reputable gaming authority.

Is Poker online rigged?

No. If you follow our advice and choose a licensed online poker casino, you can rest assured that none of the casino games offered is rigged.

Furthermore, regulated gambling platforms would have partnered with respectable and licensed game providers to supply games. 

RNG games by top names are continually checked for flaws, even engaging an independent auditor to carry out checks to ensure games are always fair and random.

Regarding live-dealer poker games, each croupier must have a gambling license before they can sit at the dealer table. The hundreds of cameras capturing every moment make it next to impossible for any rigging to occur. 

Why play Poker online? 

Let us assure you that playing online casino poker has its benefits, like playing from the comforts of your own home, to mention one.  

Not only can you play from the comfort of home, but you can take advantage of some great bonuses, allowing you to play risk-free!

Online casinos also allow you to play online casino poker in demo mode, which is one of the best ways to learn the game without using your own money. Land-based casinos would never offer this!

Are online Poker and live Poker different?

Online casino poker games can be separated into two different categories: Virtual (RNG) poker or Live Poker.

Under virtual poker, we usually group together those poker games that are often found under the table games tab, together with video poker games, whose location within a casino might vary from table games to a specific tab labeled video poker.

What makes them so similar is the use of an RNG computer for random card dealing.

Since virtual poker and video poker are software-operated, these games often come with a demo version that is free to play.

Live Poker takes the game to a whole new level by setting up the poker table in a real studio, with a real dealer to deal with the poker cards and play against.

This kind of online poker is streamed live to the players’ mobile or desktop, where they can view the action in real-time.

Participation in the game is done through an on-screen interface, where players can place bets digitally and make the appropriate moves.  

3 important tips to know before playing online Poker real money

1. Master the rules, positions and poker hands

As you can see poker casino online rules are simple enough to learn, however, it takes hours and hours of practice to become a good poker casino online player.

The best of the best have theorised about the best ways to play and win at poker and over the years have come up with some effective strategies compatible with more than one variant of poker.  

As you can deduce the rules of the game are important because without good knowledge you risk losing all the time.

2. Understand the key concepts of a Poker strategy

A poker strategy or two can boost your chances of landing a few wins, thus in the next part of our guide, we are going to share with you the most popular techniques to successfully win at a poker casino online.

Starting hands

As the name suggests, this strategy focuses entirely on those two cards that you are dealt with at the beginning of the game.

As the best poker players have suggested, it is important for all kinds of players, whether amateur or professional, to know which 2 cards constitute the strongest hands.

Why? Well, if you get a poor hand from the start wouldn’t it make more sense to fold right away, than keep going with the betting rounds and risk losing a substantial amount?

On the other hand, if you knew which hands are deemed strong and which have no potential, you could take the necessary steps to maximize your winning advantage.

Professional poker players have grouped together starting hands based on their strength, similar to what we did earlier on in this article, and organized them into a poker hands chart that can help you decided what is the best action to take.

Value Betting

Value betting is one of the most elaborate poker casino online strategies and one strategy that only a skilful poker player can pull off.

This strategy is all about getting your opponent to call on the belief that his hand is stronger than yours.

It requires a clever act of manipulation that attempts to get your opponent to call with the second-best hand, unwittingly increasing your chances of winning with the best hand.

Value betting cannot be put into practice unless you are completely aware of what is taking place during the four stages of those betting rounds.

It is also important to watch your bet, as a large bet that might favour you, might be motivation enough for your adversary to stay in the game blowing up your strategy completely.

Value betting might be a useful strategy to acquire but it works better when used in a land-based casino and you have flesh and blood opponents, which can be judged by their emotions and actions. 

Bluffing

Ever heard of the term poker face? And we don’t mean Lady Gaga’s single of the same name! Poker face is a term that came to be sometime in the 1800s in connection with the game of poker.

In modern times, the terminology is used out of the poker casino online context to describe someone with an expressionless face, someone who is trying to hide what he’s feeling or thinking.

In the poker context, a poker face means exactly the same thing and it is an effective poker technique, whereby players keep their expressions blank so their opponents can’t figure out if their cards are good or bad.

The poker face strategy is all about bluffing, leading your adversaries into believing what you want them too with your expression and your actions. 

It adds a certain amount of excitement to the game if you could see how effective your poker face is, however, regretfully when playing online no one gets to actually see your face (at least not at present). 

Playstyle

A person’s personality is likely to affect the way they do things and in poker, it is not so different.

Each player has a distinguished ‘style’ in which to do things and a skilled player can learn to identify the behavior patterns and group them into 4 main playing styles: loose, tight, passive, and aggressive. 

• Loose: someone who plays with a variety of hands
• Tight: someone who will play only his best hand
• Passive: someone who plays with the fear of losing, there are two types of passive players: loose-passive and tight-passive. 
• Loose-Passive: a player who keeps calling and doesn’t take big risks.
• Tight-Passive: will avoid playing pots, and when he does all other players will fold as they’d know he has a strong hand. 
• Aggressive: a player who will continually raise hands instead of calling and is not afraid of taking big risks. Aggressive players can be grouped into two categories: loose-aggressive and tight-aggressive.
• Loose-Aggressive: some who will re-raise a variety of hands pre-flop and will go on to bet on most flops. 
• Tight-Aggressive:  they don’t play too many pots but if there is a good opportunity he won’t miss out. 

When you are playing against the computer, the above technique is completely obsolete, and it is not so different when playing Live Poker, where the dealer is your only opponent.

It is a technique that can be used when sitting at an actual poker table with other players to evaluate. However, it is never wasted knowledge to learn about playing styles and maybe even find your very own. 

3. Choose the best online Poker variants for you

We’ve mentioned several times the different online poker variants you can play, so it is time to go over some of the most popular poker games available online for players from New Zealand.

The rules are sometimes similar to the ones we’ve explained in this guide with slight alterations or else they might be completely different.

Fear not, however, we will go over the most important factors of each variant, so you are well prepared when it’s time to play.

Texas Hold’em

The rules of this poker variant are exactly the same as the ones we have explained in this guide with the 2 hole cards, 5 community cards, the 4 betting rounds and the final showdown amongst the still active players. 

Ready to give it a go!? Visit any one of the recommended casinos in this guide and try either the RNG Texas Hold’em or else Evolution Gaming’s live dealer version!

Omaha

Omaha Poker is almost as big amongst poker players as Texas Hold’em and in terms of rules, although very similar, it has a slight difference in how the starting hand is dealt out.

In Omaha, the starting hand is made up of 4 hole cards instead of the customary two and each player must choose the best 2 to try and form the strongest 5-card poker hands.

The game is still made up of 4 betting rounds, but the advantage of choosing the best starting hand possible makes this version one of the most exciting to play. 

Three Cards Poker

Three Cards Poker is one of those variants that are completely different but are considered poker games as they share certain elements with the classic game.

In this variant, the player is facing off against the dealer and gameplay starts with an initial bet, followed by 3 face-up cards for the player and 3 face-down cards for the dealer.

Three Cards Poker does not have 4 betting rounds, instead, it has only two rounds making this game faster and quicker to complete.

The second round of bets is quite decisive as the player must decide whether to place a second bet of the same amount as the first, fold or forfeit the game.

Once the decision has been made, it’s time for the showdown. The dealer reveals his 3 cards and if a second bet had been made the best hand is determined.

In case the player has folded, the dealer collects the first bet in favour of the house.

Jacks or Better

Kiwi players are more likely to find Jacks or Better under the video poker section and it is amongst the most popular video poker versions online.

The aim of the game is to build the best 5-card poker hands possible, which in this case must have at least a pair of Jacks, hence the name Jacks or Better!

The game has quite a unique gameplay and starts with each player receiving 5 hole cards. Each player must use all of the skill they possess to determine, which of those cards constitute an advantage and which should be discarded.

The game proceeds to the next round of card dealing, where each player must try to build the best poker hand with the cards they have. 

How to improve your game

1. Read our reviews

Any online casino game must choose the proper game for the proper Casino. You’ll want to search for online casinos that have the best poker tables and offer generous poker bonuses.

2. Watch streamers to discover new tips

Twitch is widely used by online gamers, including online poker players. The platforms that are constantly being tweeted are the strongest.

We recommend only following streamers who work with licensed casinos, especially since in September 2022, Twitch proposed to ban unlicensed gambling sites from Live Streaming their content in effect from mid-October 2022.

3. Free online Poker

At online casinos, you must wager at least one credit per round. Digital Poker, on the other hand, is offered by a lot of casinos for free.

Poker online free is a great way to get to know the hands and understand the game risk-free.

Playing online Poker on your mobile

There are several benefits of playing on a mobile device. You can play when and where you please, as long as you have a good internet connection!

Many live dealer poker games are also made available for players on mobile!

Only the best online casinos have mobile versions of their site as well as PC versions of their gaming software.

Let’s get you started!

Are you ready to enjoy this classic casino game? You can start by checking out the casinos featured on this page to play Poker online with the best operators in New Zealand!

When visiting any casino, remember to stay safe and practise Responsible Gambling. While some people play casino games for fun, others find it hard to not let gambling negatively affect their lives.