If you're looking for some fun, free no download poker games to play online with your friends or randoms around the world - you’ve come to the right place! Here at PokerListings we love poker in all shapes and sizes. Sure, we love the big money Main Events and WSOPs of this world but we really love free poker.
Free poker games may not be the main driver of the industry but they are what keeps players engaged between the big buy-in events. They are what allow millions upon millions of people to learn the game, improve their skills and stay sharp.
They are also a lot of fun.
Online poker may have started out as simple Texas Hold'em but these days there are all kinds of poker games and formats available to play right now for free - even poker games you’ve probably never heard of.
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Best Sites to Play Free Poker Games Online
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Why Play Free Online Poker?
First things first: why would you want to play free online poker? What are the advantages over real money poker or indeed any other game? Well, here are just a few of the reasons we love free poker games.
- It’s Free: The most obvious reason is also the best. Who doesn’t like playing good quality poker games without having to part with any hard earned cash?
- No Download Needed: These days many sites offer instant play versions of their more involved software so you can jump into a game within seconds without having to download anything. Indeed some of the best mobile poker apps only require an up to date browser to run.
- You Learn Poker: Believe it or not free poker games can help you learn the nuances of poker faster than low stakes real money games because you’re not distracted by the possibility of winning or losing money.
- You Keep Your Skills Sharp: Same deal. When you’re not worried about making mistakes they’re easier to spot and rectify.
- It’s Fun: Good free poker games should be fun and engaging. A nice contrast to the sometimes tense atmosphere of real money poker.
Where To Play Free Poker On PC
If you're looking to fire up some free online poker games on your desktop PC or Mac then you'll be spoiled for choice. Pretty much every major poker site has its own selection of free poker games and tournaments and you'll often find freerolls that give you a chance to win real money with absolutely nothing to risk.
The downside is most sites will try to get you to deposit and play for real money at some point and the free games may not be as fast. Still pretty minor complaints when you consider you can learn , Omaha and other poker games without spending a cent.
Here are some of our favorite virtual cards to shuffle up and deal - no download required (click on the review to go to the site):
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PokerStars sets the standard for real money poker but its play money game is unbeatable. Instant access to cash games and tournaments with hundreds of opponents to battle against at your pace.
Downside? You will get the old "There are no empty seats" message if you don't register an account. But it takes 30 seconds and a valid email address so it's hardly a chore. Once you're logged in there's a huge range of free No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha tables as well as tournaments running non-stop.
If you want to learn or this is the perfect place to do it.
Once you're ready there's a $300 welcome bonus on first deposit to take the next step.
888poker
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888poker may not have quite the volume of opponents as PokerStars but it does have a very slick instant play client that lets you try out a wide range of multi tabling and casino poker games.
casino apps iphone888poker also offers a series of that let you earn free tickets (more than $100,000 awarded every week) and missions that unlock tickets and other prizes. Check the tournament lobby for the latest list of free rolls.
As with PokerStars there are plenty of free No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha tables and once you're ready to deposit 888poker offers a healthy Welcome Bonus.
Partypoker
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Partypoker was basically responsible for popularizing free no download poker games after the UIGEA put an end to US players being able to easily find and make deposities. Over the years partypoker has toned down its free game slightly to focus more on real money but it still has one of the best offerings out there.
The partypoker play money software isn't as advanced as PokerStars but it still works well and lets you try out some unique poker game variations and formats like Fast Forward (aka Rush & Fold) and Short Deck Holdem.
Partypoker also runs a massive $100k weekly MTT schedule for Sit & Go's (SNG's) and Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT's).
Like the others partypoker has freerolls that lead to a real money bonus with the site matching 100% of your first deposit up to $600.
Casino Games That Aren't Slots But Still Let You Win BigUnibet
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Unibet is best known as a sportsbook but it's had an excellent poker platform for years now and the free version is definitely worth checking out.
Unibet's poker school is particularly strong and walks you through the basics of poker with a series of educational poker games. Once you've mastered those you can move onto the cash games and tournaments with a solid selection of No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha options.
Unibet also offers Casinos Poker (see below) if you fancy mixing it up with a slightly different challenge.
New accounts get €500 (€200 instantly + another €300 the first week) in free gifts including free spins, casino money and tournament tickets.
GGPoker
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RunGood is more than a phrase at GGPoker.
Founded in 2014 and going live in 2017 GGPoker has quickly become one of the biggest poker sites in the world and arguably the best place for free poker lessons thanks to its RunItOnce tutorials and coaching tools.
RunItOnce was a training site founded by Dutch pro and two-time EPT winner Michiel van den Sadelback and EPT winner and cash game expert Lex Veldhuis. Essentially every page of every coaching book has been distilled into GGPoker's software.
Basically every button, slider and checkbox has a tooltip explaining a concept like pot equity or how to use a slider effectively. There are popup reminders explaining what good position or a good hand is. There are even popups reminding you to take breaks and not burn out.
In addition to all the standard No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha tables and tournaments GGPoker also offers free PLO/Hi games, Flipouts and Big Hand Jackpots.
GGPoker is currently offering a 100% bonus up to $600 with new accounts.
BetOnline
BetOnline is an old school sportsbook that added poker several years ago but has recently gone all-in, taking a page from partypoker's playbook, by beefing up its amateur player perks and offering a ton of free poker games.
Highlights include a nickname/aliases for each player, a poker school, community street where everyone plays the same hand, daily freerolls and a Sit ‘n Cut format that combines elements of Sit & Go’s (SNG’s) and Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT’s) (think cut-throat MTT with a final table).
Not everything is freerolls, however, and the site offers a solid selection of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha cash games and tournaments with limits up to $20/$40 and $200/$400 respectively.
Betonline also offers a more unique poker experiences like Jackpot Sit & Go's, lottery-style poker tournaments and Windfall, a variant where you can win up to 209x your bet at any time during the hand.
New accounts get a 100% welcome bonus up to $1,000.
Americas Cardroom
Yet another site that got its start as a sportsbook but has evolved into a full-service poker room complete with its own version of Fast Fold poker called PLOB (Pick and Look Organize and Bet).
What makes Americas Cardroom noteworthy for this list is its insanely popular Sunday Specials, which regularly draw over 3,000 players and feature $100,00 guaranteed prize pools in No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha flavors.
Most weeks there are four large tournaments so there's always one that's good for you (well free, anyway).
Outside of the tournaments there are plenty of small to medium buy-in No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha tables and a solid poker school.
Real Money Online Casino No Deposit Bonus Winnings (2023) - Indivisible GamingAmericas Cardroom also offers a 100% welcome bonus up to $1,000.
SalsaParty Poker
SalsaParty Poker is an offshoot of the larger Everleaf network designed specifically for the Latin American market but it welcomes players from everywhere.
The site offers a vibrant community, a solid poker school, a jackpot Sit & Go's (SNG's) and regular tournaments with guarantees and satellites.
All new players receive 5 x $100 freeroll tokens and get entered into a $500 deposit bonus scheme.
Natural8
Natural8 is an offshoot of the giant Korean poker site Upoker and is part of the rapidly growing Blockchain-based poker initiative through its partnership with TRON.
That all sounds kind of complicated but the bottom line is Natural8 offers a variety of cryptocurrency bonuses, weekly cash backs and massive welcome bonuses (up to 200%!) for up to $1,600 / £1,168 / $1,750 CAD / $1,600 AUD / 0.2 BTC / 800 EUR worth of free poker on their competitors.
Natural8 also has an excellent selection of both classic poker games like Texas Hold'em and Nutsonoma (PLO) and innovative variants like Spacemullet (320 out of a possible 420 combinations of Nintendo-themed avatas at the table), Oceans Eleven (play the scenes from the movie), Ghost Poker (opponent ghosts appear and reveal how they would have acted) and Pan Spin Poker (similar to Carolina Stud / Three-Card Poker).
Best of all, anyone can play Natural8's God Mode, which puts you up against the site's ambassadors Triton, Sam Trickett, Andrey Zaichik and David Benyamine.
Naturally there are satellite tournaments and events that let you work your way up to the Triton High Roller Poker Series and the Asian Pacific Poker Tour.
XLING POKER
XLING POKER is a Chinese-based site that uses its own Scratch Card Soft opening mechanism, which allows players to skip straight to the bubble when they scratch off three cards.
online slots games freeIf you get the three cards in order you skip straight to the money.
XLING also offers a series of Snap Poker (aka Boost/Rush & Fold) tables and is part of the natural8 Blockchain/bonus/satellite family.
New players get a 100% match bonus up to 1,600 AUD/ USD/ EUR/ CAD/ JPY or 0.2BTC on their first deposit.
Best Free Poker Apps for iOS and Android
If you prefer to play your free no download poker games while sitting on a beach somewhere (who doesn't?) there are actually some surprisingly good smartphone clients out there. As you might expect, the best free poker apps are the ones associated with the biggest sites.
PokerStars is still the undisputed king of smartphone poker but the others are closing the gap fast.
PokerStars
No surprise here. Since the release of the first iPhone back in the day PokerStars has consistently offered the best free poker app experience.
You can multi-table to your heart's content, play for free or real money and qualify for big live tournaments. The interface is super clean and easy to navigate one-handed and the game play is as smooth as you'll find on any device.
888poker
888poker's free poker app is a little less refined than PokerStars but still more than adequate for playing a few hands on your lunch break or while waiting for your Uber.
There's no download required for either iOS or Android so you can dive right in and the interface is quick enough to multi-tabler if you really want to.
Best of all there's a surprising amount of free No Limit Hold'em tables and tournaments so you don't even have to dip into your holiday money.
Partypoker
Partypoker came late to the mobile party but has steadily improved its free poker app to the point where it's now a viable option for casual players looking to get a QuickChek fix.
Sites Where You Can Find Casino Coupon Codes – Plus 3 Bonus SourcesPartypoker's free poker app works on iOS and Android and includes FastForward (aka Rush & Fold) poker along with MTTs and Cash Games (four-colored decks only).
As with the others there are satellites to win real money prizes without spending a dime. All you need is a working email address to get started.
*Chicago Poker App
Okay this one is a bit different. While Chicago isn't exactly PokerStails in terms of overall volume, it does have a surprisingly robust poker ecosystem and this free poker app is the best way to tap into it.
Even if you have no intention of playing for real money in your city it's worth downloading Chicago to see what a highly functional regional poker app looks like.
From the looks of it there's very low transaction fees so it's cheap to host and the inclusion of Zelle (instant, fee-free deposits/withdrawals) is a major plus for players.
Hopefully more major sites take notice and replicate some of these features.
More Free No Download Poker Options
ClubGG
ClubGG is a Discord-based community focused on Short Deck Hold'em (also known as 6 Plus Hold'em). Short deck is basically No Limit Hold'em but with all the cards 5 and lower removed. It's big in the live high-stakes scene and getting increasingly popular online.
Why? Because it's aggressive, swingy and kind of nuts.
ClubGG offers a series of Weekly MTT League (league style competition with points determining payouts) and Weekly Cash Game Leagues where you compete in a leaderboard for a bigger share of a prize pool.
usa online poker real moneyTo join simply head to this link and follow instructions. Games run across multiple time zones.
Pokerrrr
It's not much to look at but pokerrrr is a basic HTML5 poker client that lets you play No Limit Hold'em and Omaha anywhere from 2-6 handed with 1bb/1min.
It's literally a webpage so there's nothing to download and it should run on any half decent device.
Traffic is hit or miss but it's a great backup in case all Internet goes down. Created by cody aka Bencb (one of the creators of Home Games).
PocketFives Random Table Generator
Wish you could instantaneously teleport to the best poker table on the Internet? Now you can (sort of).
The good folks at PocketFives created this handy tool that generates a random table with any number of filters such as No Limit Hold'em, 25NL, 6-max, 10 players, $500 bankroll, US, English, PokerStars. Hit enter and voila! Instant poker table travel.
Red Dragon Poker
If you've ever wanted to try your luck against Asian poker players at odd hours Red Dragon is the free poker app for you.
Red Dragon is an HTML5 poker client with a bare bones interface and a surprising number of mid-stakes players. Everything happens fast so you'll want to have your moves queued up beforehand.
Taipaica Poker
Taipaica Poker is another basic HTML5 free poker app but it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve including a poker tutor, an AI opponent and some interesting statistics on your game.
Not a ton of traffic but the games are relatively soft.
Cerebus Poker
Cerebus Poker aims to bring back the glory days of online poker with a novel reward system based on loyalty and monthly leaderboards.
At certain milestones cerebral poker players get to keep a portion of the rake normally kept by the house. So the more you play, the more you can potentially make.
Obviously this model requires a critical mass of players so cerebrus is currently offering significant referral bonuses to juice up the action.
WCC Poker
WCC Poker (formerly known as What Community Are You In?) is another Discord-based free poker app that uses a combination of bots and volunteer "floor hosts" to administer games.
While you need to be a member of Discord to play it's surprisingly active with games throughout the day including tournaments, cash games and even Sit & Go's (SNG).
Final Table
Final Table is an innovative free poker app that lets you play out the final table of a hypothetical Major Live Tournament such as the WSOP Main Event, WPT World Championship, EPT Grand Final or African Poker Tour Orange Open.
You can customize the starting stacks and blind structure, invite friends or play against strangers. Even though it's just a simulation it does a really good job of recreating the stress and excitement of the final table.
Indeed, Final Table is so realistic it was briefly banned by PokerStars for using bot technology (it's not--the software is simply ahead of what poker clients are currently checking for).
Best Free Casino Games You Can Play Online in 2023*iPoker
We included iPoker in our original list but developer Playtech decided to shut it down in 2019. We'll believe free poker really is dead when PokerStars follows suit.
Happily there are several upstarts trying to fill the void such as Chicago (see above) and Yako.
Yako
Based in Sweden, Yako is a social networking/payment app that also happens to have a free poker engine powering its messaging functions.
Yako users can play No-Limit Texas Hold'em and Omahol with in-app currency that can be won via various mini-games and quizzes.
The goal, of course, is to get users comfortable with the app so they'll use it to transfer money to friends. Interesting approach.
Old School Free Poker Sites (RIP)
Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker was one of the top free poker apps for Apple devices and arguably the best place to play on an iPad with its innovative butter animations and easy to use multi-tabling functions.
Alas, Full Tilt Poker went the way of all living things and was absorbed into Stars. On the bright side the site reported record levels of traffic after the closure so kudos to PokerStars for keeping the free poker dream alive.
Dusk Till Dawn
UK poker legend and former PokerStells champion Rob Yong finally opened his live poker room Dusk till Dawn online with a solid micro stakes and free poker experience.
A separate DTIDmobile app handled smart phone traffic until …
Jazz Poker
Jazz Poker was yet another solid micro stakes and free poker site that offered a generous 200% sign up bonus, 100% reload bonuses every month and satelitties to its famous parent company Ultimate Poker.
Sadly Jazz Poker became another victim of the UIGEA until …
True Poker
True Poker had one of the original and best free poker experiences with excellent No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha action right down to .01/.02 with 9 second blinds and 30 second rounds.
True Poker held on until Black Friday when its payment processor got cold feet until …
Carbon Poker
Carbon Poker had one of the Merge Gaming Network's better free poker experiences with a soft player pool ripe for semi-pro grinders.
Sad, sad Carbon got stuck with the worst possible fate for a free poker site—total radio silence until …
Absolute Poker
Ah Absolute Poker where it all began. Before the age of free poker sites everyone knew SCUFO (Some Call Us Fun Organization) was the place to get your cheesy Real Poker Experience.
When the House of Cardss fell apart in 2007 absenzipient players were shocked to discover bots at their table until ...
What Happened to Free Poker Sites?
So what happened to all the free poker sites? After the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the USA in 2006 many poker operators realized they couldn't collect money from Americans without some form of credit card surcharge.
Others feared they'd suddenly fall afoul of the law and stop taking money from Americans altogether, thus killing their businesses.
Since most poker operators used free poker as a loss leader to build their brands and sign up new players it made no business sense to continue offering it in the USA.
Interestingly, one of the largest free poker sites, PokerStars, found a way to make it work by segregating its US and international operations.
At its peak PokerStars had roughly 100,000 players on its international site versus 50,000 on the US version thanks to Black Friday restrictions.
Huge Slots Casino Review - Top-Rated for 2023Since then a few free poker sites have popped up (i.e. Chicago) but it remains to be seen if the model can truly survive on the mainstream poker sites.
Footnotes:
- “SCUFO” is a reference to a classic Xerox PARC memo. ** Chrome extension allowing you to play 6-max No Limit Hold'em against the tabs you have open.
