Not everyone wants to play online poker for big bucks. For beginners, the idea of putting their own money on the line only for it to be swallowed up by experienced “sharks” is enough to send them running. That’s where Replay Poker wins every day of the week – it’s a play money site where you can learn the game in a friendly and supportive environment. Make all your rookie mistakes here, and you won’t lose a cent.
But just because it’s play money only, don’t think it will be quiet – Replay Poker is one of the busiest online card rooms available, with ring games and tournaments running around the clock in a variety of poker formats.
It’s simple to sign up to Replay Poker
Many of today’s big poker companies expect you to download their client software and install it on your desktop. But Replay Poker is different – you simply play within your usual browser. Once you get to the site, just select your preferred language and confirm the details required on the sign-up form.
It’s as simple as that. Once you have your email confirmation, you’re good to hit the tables immediately, with some free play chips in your account to get you going. We should point out that while it is indeed free to play while you have play chips, you always have the option to purchase more. However, part of the fun of play money poker is seeing how far you can take your play money bankroll; it’s great to practise for the day you decide to play for real cash.
While you’re looking around the lobby for the first time, you’ll see there are always several promotions on offer, so take advantage of those to build your play chip account further.
There are always a good number of players online, so no matter what game you’d like to play, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha and the action-packed Royal Hold’em (only tens, picture cards and aces are used), and whether you want a ring game, a sit and go or a multi-table tournament, there will be something available.
Ring games always running
What we particularly like about Replay Poker is that, even though it’s a play money site, players still take the game seriously. Players aren’t going “all in” at every opportunity simply because it’s free to do so. That makes for a more enjoyable game for everyone, and it certainly helps you to learn some basic poker strategy. In fact, the standard of play is surprisingly good, but that’s not to say the games are hard – they are just right for you to enjoy learning.
You can select from fast or normal-paced ring games, at a variety of stake levels and with the usual six or nine-player tables. The layout of the poker table is simple and uncluttered, and it’s easy even for beginners to follow the action without becoming confused.
Wide range of free poker tournaments
The bosses at Replay Poker have clearly thought long and hard about their tournament schedule. There’s a good mix of styles and stakes kicking off around the clock, and usually, there’s a healthy number of players eager to take part.
Many of these tournaments are “value added”, meaning the poker room adds guarantees and throws play chips in the prize pool as an added incentive. There are also many freerolls, which sounds odd for a play money site. But this means you don’t even need to use your play money chips to enter.
The tournament lobby, like the tables, is clearly laid out, making it easy to follow the status of the event, like your position, the chip counts, blind levels and more.
If you don’t have time for a full-blown multi-table tournament (some of them can take hours), then why not start off playing sit and go’s, where six or nine players start and play down to one winner? You can select these in Texas Hold’em format, while the Omaha sit and goes run less frequently.
Gamification and promotions
Replay Poker likes giving out badges. Everyone loves a badge, right? Every step of your poker journey is rewarded, and this sort of gamification helps encourage new players to dive deeper into the game, which is a good thing for all of us.
Many of the poker promotions offer free chips to add to your play money bankroll, but if you ever needed to buy more, you can generally bag yourself 60,000 play chips for just 99 cents. And 60,000 chips go a long way!
As well as occasional one-off promotions, there are constant leaderboard promotions for ring games and tournaments, so you can follow your progress. Where you stand in the current leaderboards, as well as all your other key account information is readily available from the main menu.
Help and support
The site has a good support system, and if you prefer to get help and advice from other players, head over to the Replay Poker forums. There’s an active community there, a decent poker blog and more to keep you engaged while you’re not playing the game.
Don’t expect phone-friendly play
While we’ve been positive about the Replay Poker experience up to now, here comes a drawback, and it might be a significant one for some: there is no phone app, and the browser game is not “responsive”. This makes playing on your phone pretty much impossible.
Let’s hope so because today’s generation of players expects phone usability.
