It’s almost funny to look back at the old days of mobile poker, when everybody was playing poorly designed games on their inch-thick cell phones. Thankfully, these days are over and mobile poker has entered an entirely new and sophisticated era. Players today can enjoy great graphics and smooth gameplay through their wireless devices.
But solid gameplay and nice visuals have become the norm, rather than the exception. Poker players demand far more from their gaming experiences nowadays. This being said, when you’re looking for good mobile poker rooms, there are some specific factors that you should be aware of. So let’s look at several points that players need to keep in mind before signing up and depositing at a mobile poker site.
1. A Wide Game Selection
Like we said in the introduction, the poker mobile industry has advanced by leaps and bounds from its humble, mid-2000s beginnings. But this certainly isn’t to say that you’re going to get the exact same game selection through every mobile room that you will through traditional online poker play. So the first aspects that you want to consider with mobile poker rooms are the availability of certain stakes and games.
A nice start is any wireless room that allows you to play cash games, SNG’s and MTT’s through the mobile app. It’s also great if the cash tables and tournaments offer a wide variety of stakes/buy-ins. Some mobile rooms are still only offering micro stakes play and small buy-ins for cash games and tournaments. Also, look to see if other variations besides just Hold’em are present if you like playing different games.
2. Plenty of Features and Options
Are you still able to enjoy a full poker experience on your iPhone, iPad or Android? Or are you getting short-changed in this department when you play at certain poker mobile rooms? These are very important questions that you should be asking yourself because players shouldn’t have to sacrifice fun for convenience.
Check out any prospective poker room and see what features and options they offer to mobile players. For example, you should still have easy navigation, well-designed tables, the ability to choose avatars, multi-tabling and resizable tables. If a site is missing any of these options, it’s not a total deal breaker since not every app is perfect. However, you really need to think about the features that you can’t do without at online poker sites and apply this thought to your search for mobile rooms.
3. Good Bonuses and Promotions
Wireless players shouldn’t have to feel like second-class citizens at their poker site. They should still have the opportunity to participate in cash-filled promotions and chase huge bonuses just like desktop and laptop players. And in some cases, mobile players can even expect special bonuses!
For example, a poker site might offer an exclusive bonus to any player who deposits through their mobile device. Or they may even hold a freeroll that’s only open to those playing through smartphones and tablets. Aside from any exclusive rewards, worthy mobile poker rooms should offer all of the typical promotions like leaderboard races, freerolls, a VIP program and varying monthly offers.
Once again, if you’re going to play poker through your mobile device, you’ll definitely want to look for rooms that score high in the previously discussed categories.