Popular online poker platform PokerBaazi.com has made an announcement regarding their newfound partnership with Asian Poker Tour (APT) – Asia’s biggest Poker event organiser. This partnership will lead to the inaugural APT India Online Series 2021 taking place on Indian soil with a total prize pool of INR 8 crores ( US$ 1.1 Mn). The Asian Poker Tour (APT) was founded in 2008 and after a string of successful tournaments, the APT seeks to continue positioning itself as the premier poker tournament in Asia. Its growing popularity as a highly respected poker tour is a testament to its goal of bringing world-class poker experience in Asia.
Online poker in Asia is catching up with the rest of the world, and becoming a booming industry there thanks to huge economic growth across the continent. Card games have always traditionally been different in Asia with each Asian country having its own unique card games. Poker has taken a while to become more popular and widespread across Asia but in the past few years a growing number of international poker brands, such as GG Poker, are opening their markets to Asian players. The demand for reliable, secure and reputable poker sites is increasing in Asia, as well as an appetite for tournaments, prizes and exciting poker games. Live poker events are increasingly being held in Asia, particularly the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) which is the largest poker tournament in Asia. It is hosted in cities across the Asia-Pacific, and has brought the first major government-sanctioned real-money live poker tournaments to Korea and China. The Philippines is another Asian country which is quickly becoming an important hub for the online betting industry in South East Asia – it hosts several high-profile poker events in Macau. Check out our list of the ten best online sites for Asian players to get some poker action!
Rank | Poker Site | US | Rating | Sign Up Bonus | Review |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bet Online Poker | 4.7/5 | 200%up to$2500 | Read Review | |
2 | Best Poker | 4.5/5 | 200%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
3 | 888 Poker | 4.4/5 | 100%up to£230 | Read Review | |
4 | Party Poker | 4.2/5 | 100%up to£500 | Read Review | |
5 | GG Poker | 3.9/5 | 200%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
6 | Shen Poker | 3.9/5 | 90%up to$1000 | Read Review | |
7 | Bodog | 3.7/5 | %up to | Read Review | |
8 | TonyBet Poker | 3.6/5 | 100%up to€2400 | Read Review | |
9 | Dafabet | 3.5/5 | %up to | Read Review | |
10 | Tiger gaming | 3.4/5 | %up to | Read Review |
Another worldwide bookmaking heavyweight, 888 is a well-known brand in Asia also. It os the fastest growing online gaming site in the industry and it promises an “elite, world-class consumer experience” for poker players who join. It has been up and running since 1997 and has amassed 5 million users. It offers high-tech, industry leading software which is easy to download and use. A wide range of poker variants are offered here and plenty of tournaments are always running with huge prizes up for grands
This Canadian poker brand was established in 1994 and has recently become popular with some Asian countries. It is a stylish site with excellent features and reliable software. Bodog offers its players fast payouts and speedy deposits. Customer service is noteworthy here and the poker client is easy to use. Tournaments have a decent mix of casual and serious players so the competition is varied.
This Asian site confidently claims to be the best online poker site in the entire continent of Asia. It promises fast, easy and secure payments into your account once you join up. The range of games have enough options to suit any level of poker player. The downloadable poker client is easy to use and straightforward. New players are rewarded with an instant $20 Welcome Bonus once they sign up, with no deposit necessary. There’s plenty of freerolls for new depositors too, as well as high stakes tournaments. Promotions here are updated frequently and are quite attractive.
This Asian-friendly poker room is fairly new on the scene. It is popular for its 200% First Deposit bonus, which rewards new players with a match bonus up to $400. Every hand you play on Pokamania will generate a number of bonus points and for every 2000 points earned you will be playing with a free 10 euros. Software here is easy to use and available both on Mac and PC. All poker games are run in Euros and traffic tends to peak in European evenings and on weekends. The Pokamania site has a feature of “All-In Insurance” which ensures that you don’t have to fear a bad beat. Pokamania’s easy to use cashier offers a large variety of deposit options which include Neteller, Skrill, Credit Card, Bank Wire, Clickandbuy and Ukash. It is an efficient and reliable processor of cash withdrawals from your account.
Partypoker is the world’s largest listed online gaming business and was once the top site in the world. It has high-profile tournaments which run frequently and offers players the chance to win a seat at big events like the WPT. It has a Poker school for new players, which includes a blog full of daily tips from the team of professional poker players on the site.
Part of the Beijing Lianzhong gaming company which has a huge number of players across Asia – it claims to have in the region of 500 million registered users. PokerMonster hosts a wide range of events and tournaments with big prizepools and has an extensive “how to” section for beginners.
The world’s favourite online poker site has been recently expanding its influence in Asia to take advantage of the emerging online poker markets there, particularly in countries like China and Japan. PokerStars said their ambition was to “grow the game in one of the world’s biggest emerging poker markets,” even though the overwhelming majority of the Asian market views poker as a questionable activity. PokerStars has plenty of online traffic, an average of 15,000 players online at any given time (this number can be closer to 30,000 at times) and it caters for both low and high stakes poker fans. The site has a wide variety of games available and the tournaments here have jackpots that exceed $1 million. There’s always a consistent level of action here and customer service is efficient. Asian players can try their luck against the PokerStars Team Asia – a selection of top professional Asian poker players that play on PokerStars. The site also offers the chance to enter satellites for Asian players to win a spot at the APPT live tournament series.
A popular Canadian site for online poker which is also being favoured by Asian players and shares a network with BOL Poker so shares a player pool with US players. It’s been running since 1999, offering high stakes poker action and low buy-ins. Tiger Poker had plenty of poker variants like Texas hold’em, Omaha, 7 Card Stud on offer, as well as the chance to play unusual poker games such as Chinese poker, Big 2 Poker and “Guts Poker”. Tiger poker has a range of casino games, like blackjack on offer too. The software is simple to download and it includes handy features like Buddy List and the ability to make player notes. Daily tournaments and freerolls here have the potential for huge cash prizes. An extensive “how to” section is available for inexperience players to introduce them to the world of online poker.
A popular online betting site that has become widely used in Asia. It has the accolade of holding the biggest live Open Face Chinese Poker event in the online gambling world, the Tonybet Poker OFC World Championship. Tonybet is an ideal spot for new and inexperienced players as the games here seems to be still quite soft, making it a great poker room for beginners. Those joining the site will receive a great 100% bonus up to €2,000 on their first deposit. There’s some attractive promotions here, with TonyBet rewarding Sit and Go Heads-Up players with €1,000 (each week the Top 18 Sit and Go players share the €100 leaderboard prize pool, while the best 18 throughout the month are rewarded with €600). The rake system here is very generous and it’s worth becoming a regular player to avail of the rewards!