New to poker with crypto? Start here

Online poker is legal for players in many countries, licensed and limited to local rooms in some, and banned in a few. The coin changes nothing. Check an official source where you live, and read the room's list of restricted countries before you deposit. You must be 18 or older. Our page on whether crypto poker is legal where you live walks through it.

We play on two. Basepoker runs in the browser, takes deposits from $1 in nine coins, pays 32% rakeback and has Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha cash games, Spin & Cash, All In or Fold and our own private club. WePlay takes USDT from $10, pays 30% rakeback every Monday and runs the guaranteed tournaments we play. Why we play on both says what we use each one for, and the two reviews go deeper: Basepoker and WePlay.

USDT is a dollar on a blockchain, and it is what every room here runs on. Buy it on an exchange with a card or a bank transfer, or swap a coin you already hold. Our guide to poker with USDT explains the networks, which is the one thing to get right.

Open the room's cashier, choose USDT and a network, copy the address, and send a small test amount before the rest. If you want a welcome bonus, read its terms first: Basepoker gives 100% up to $2,000 on $20 or more, WePlay gives 200% up to $600 on $50 or more, and both are released as you play, not on day one. The bonus page has the terms, and the deposit guide has the steps.

Play with money set aside for poker and nothing else, and let it choose the stake: about 30 buy-ins of 100 big blinds for cash games, 100 buy-ins for tournaments. With $300, that is $0.05/$0.10 cash or $3 tournaments. The bankroll calculator does the arithmetic, and the beginner strategy page is the plan for the first ten thousand hands.

If you have never played a hand, read how to play Texas Hold'em first; it is one page. Then start at the lowest stake the room offers and keep sessions short. Cash games let you leave when you like; a tournament with a guarantee gives you a shot at a prize many times the buy-in for a fixed cost. The formats page explains every game in the lobby. If you want company, our club on Basepoker, Crypto Poker Network, runs games for the players of our sites.

Take a small withdrawal in your first week, before the balance grows, so you know the road out works. Basepoker pays out from $10; WePlay has no minimum. Write down every session, the stake, the hours and the result, because that log is the only way to know whether you are winning. The withdrawal guide has the steps.