UK or the modern online poker heaven on earth: where to play in 2019

Most popular poker players from the UK

With over $1,500MUSD in poker profits ($900MUSD live and $664MUSD online), more than 50 WSOP gold bracelets, top-players in all rankings, we can consider the UK as a poker superpower. Players like Sam Trickett (partypoker team pro), Stephen Chidwick, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot (RIP), and Roland de Wolfe rank among the top poker players in terms of live profits.

Online poker players like Chris "moorman1" Morman, Rick "TheClaimeer" Trigg, and "girafganger7" (famous for being the promoter of a recent boycott to PokerStars) are always ranked as top winners in all rankings online.

Poker refugees living in the UK

Lots of professional poker players decided to move to the UK (the main destinations are London and Edinburgh) after online poker regulation reached their countries, and they had no other choice than to emigrate to continue playing. Perhaps the famous one is Adrian Mateos, the Spanish poker player with the most profits in history, who left Spain after poker was restricted in this country.

Why do poker refugees choose the UK to live?

The UK has a long history of being friendly with gambling:

• In 1960, the Betting and Gaming Act was promulgated, allowing the creation of betting shops and legalizing several types of bets;
• In 1968, the Gaming Act expanded the initial act to commercial casinos;
• In 2005, the Gaming Act legalized online poker.

Online poker is 100% legal in the UK, both in UK-based sites and offshore sites; therefore, players can play in any room they like. The cherry on the cake is that online poker has no particular taxation in the UK; consequently, players don't have to pay any additional rate to the government besides the regular tax applied to all citizens, which is very reasonable compared to other European countries.

Whether you are going to eat fish and chips, visit the London Eye or Stonehenge, or enjoy The Beatles experience, the United Kingdom is a country full of surprises; our team has visited London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and other cities within the past years and the experience has always been remarkable. Most recently, in February 2019, we picked up the awards as Best Poker Website in London during the iGB Affiliate Awards ceremony.

Best online poker rooms for UK players

UK poker players can virtually pick any poker room to play, but with hundreds of sites out there, the decision is not always easy. You can either contact our team to get personalized advice or stick to the best online poker rooms, which in our affiliate opinion are:

• partypoker
• Tigergaming (US-friendly)
• PokerKing (US-friendly)
• Betfair
• RedKings

And of course, if you want to venture in the "alternative poker room world," you can reach us to join Israeli, Italian, Indian, Latin American, and Chinese rooms which right now is a tremendous EV+ decision.

Deposit and withdrawal methods available for UK players

In short, all popular payment methods are available for UK residents: Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, PayPal, and for those players looking for anonymity, cryptos like BTC or USDT are always an option: 1BTC worth about 3,200GBP. For being UK a SEPA member, players can request debit cards from e-wallets to quickly withdraw money from an ATM.

The UK is one of the few EU countries which use its currency, the pound sterling (£). £1GBP = $1,31USD or €1,17EUR.

Conclusion

There are plenty of reasons why the United Kingdom has become the best country to play online poker. Having the freedom to choose almost any poker room, safely withdrawn without having to pay ridiculous taxes are just the top of the ice of a country with a high quality of life. Our team will be delighted to guide you to pick the best online poker rooms to play and get the best rakeback deals for UK players on the market.

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