Online poker in Australia has faced challenges from the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, but you can still access huge MTTs and busy cash games. These sites host thousands of players, offering welcome bonuses up to $3,000 (AU$4,200), flat rakeback up to 27%, soft games and the option to multi-table 20+ games at once.
We tested poker sites in Australia, focusing on traffic during AEST, ACST, and AWST peak hours. We found poker rooms with 4,000+ active players, $100,000+ (AU$140,000) guarantees, and quick cash-outs through crypto and AU-friendly payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayID.
Best Australian Poker Sites in June, 2026
In This Guide
- Best Australian Poker Sites in June, 2026
- The Best Australian Poker Sites Compared
- How We Rate the Best Online Poker Sites in Australia
- Types of Online Poker Games
- Cash Games vs Tournaments
- Online Poker Tournament Formats
- Australia’s Most Famous Poker Tournaments
- Best Online Poker Bonuses in Australia
- Payment Methods
- Safety Features
- Is Online Poker Legal in Australia?
- Live Poker in Australia
- Responsible Gambling for Poker Online in Australia
- Our Verdict
- FAQs
- Resources
The Best Australian Poker Sites Compared
To find the best online poker sites in Australia, you need to consider important factors such as the number of players that are online during AU-friendly hours from 17:00-20:00 AWST, the selection of games and formats, and how much you can realistically claim through rakeback and bonuses.
Here’s how the top Australian poker sites compare to one another:
| Poker Site | Player Traffic (AU Peak hours) | Game Types | MTT Formats | Rakeback | Welcome Bonus |
| CoinPoker | 5,000+ | Hold’em, PLO, PLO5, PLO6, 6+ | Standard, Freezeout, Re-Entry, Satellite, KO, PKO | 15% + CoinRewards |
150% up to $2,000 (AU$2,800)
|
| Ignition Poker | 3,500+ | Hold’em, PLO, FLO | Standard, Freezeout, Re-Entry, Satellite | Ignition Rewards |
150% up to $1,500 (AU$2,100)
|
| SportsBetting | 2,500+ | Hold’em, PLO, Stud | Standard, Freezeout, Re-Entry, Satellite, KO, PKO | N/A |
100% up to $1,000 (AU$1,400)
|
| FullHouse | 800+ | Hold’em, PLO | Standard, Freezeout, Re-Entry | 10-20% |
250% up to $2,000 (AU$2,800)
|
| Crore Play | 2,300+ | Hold’em, PLO | Standard, Freezeout, Re-Entry | Up to 40% |
150% up to $2,500 (AU$3,500)
|
How We Rate the Best Online Poker Sites in Australia
To find the best online poker sites for Australian players, we tested real-money poker rooms and evaluated them based on traffic levels, tournament guarantees, payment reliability, and overall gameplay experience. Our team created accounts, played cash games and tournaments at multiple stakes, and reviewed how well each platform supports players in AEST, ACST, and AWST time zones.
Here’s a checklist to help you find the top places to play online poker in Australia for real money:
1. Security
Check whether the site you’re using is licensed by a reputable regulator, like the Malta Gaming Authority or Curaçao Gaming Authority. It’s one quick way to tell if an Aussie poker site is secure. Regulators have strict guidelines regarding data encryption, payments, and game integrity.
We also look at the RNG system for each poker site in Australia. This is a system which helps prove each hand is objectively random, so you know the games you’re playing aren’t rigged.
2. Player Traffic and Game Availability
Playing at sites with consistent traffic and a wide range of games means you don’t waste time scanning the lobby, or sitting at a quiet cash game table waiting for things to pick up. Some poker sites focus on US players, which means the time zones won’t work well in Australia. Instead, you want to target offshore poker sites that have a vast international player base.
We track how many tables and tournaments are active during Australian evening hours and weekends, when most local players are online. The best sites consistently have 3,000-5,000+ active players, which means you’ll always find Texas Hold’em and Omaha cash games – as well as MTTs with 100+ players. For example, CoinPoker will regularly have around 5,000 players online during the evenings in Australia.
3. Bonuses, Rakeback & Player Value
Poker rewards differ from standard casino bonuses, so we analyse deposit bonuses, rakeback deals, and loyalty programs through a poker lens. The best poker sites offer welcome packages up to $3,000 (AU$4,200), rakeback programs reaching 27%+, and regular freeroll tournaments for new players.
The biggest poker bonus you’ll receive is during the registration process, so take a close look at each Australian poker site’s welcome bonus. Reload bonuses also offer bankroll boosts, while the best poker rakeback deals give you extra value on every cash game or tourney.
4. Tournament Guarantees & Poker Variants
We prioritise sites that run daily and weekly MTTs with guarantees of $50,000-$100,000+ (AU$70,000-AU$140,000) and offer multiple poker variants such as No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and fast-fold formats.
We’ll also give bonus points to any sites that come up with innovative poker formats, like the Double Board Bomb Pots at CoinPoker. You pay 1-3 big blinds, skip to the flop, and bet on two boards simultaneously. It leads to some really wild pots.
5. Deposits, Withdrawals & AU-Friendly Payments
We test deposit and withdrawal options available to Australians, including crypto, e-wallets, and international payment processors. During testing, we verify minimum deposits (often AU$10–AU$25), withdrawal speeds, and whether players can cash out winnings in under 24 hours.
The fastest way to get your money is to play crypto poker in Australia, with average withdrawals of just 60 minutes. Crypto cash out times at Australian poker sites are often listed as being up to four hours or maybe a day, but in our extensive testing we’ve found that you usually receive winnings in a much faster timeframe. Some of our poker withdrawals have landed in under an hour.
Some of you might not be comfortable with crypto, but it’s much more widely available at the top Australian poker sites than local faves like PayID. That said, you can still find PayID (and other local payment methods), but you’ll be limiting the number of sites you can use.
6. Poker Apps
You can play at the best online poker sites in Australia using both desktop and mobile devices. The best poker apps these days offer an experience which is pretty close to the desktop version. Some real money poker sites in Australia don’t have an app, but get a pass because you can still play directly through the mobile browser. This is actually preferable sometimes, as there’s no need to free up data to download any apps.
One of our major tips is to not be put off by low scores in the app stores. These are often not reflective of the app itself, but come from players who are annoyed about losing on the site. The best method is to simply try the app for yourself. It’ll be free to download and, if you don’t like it, you can just bin it.
7. Software Quality
Our team plays online poker in Australia on desktop and mobile devices to evaluate the software’s stability, loading speed, and table responsiveness. Sites with lag-free gameplay, multi-table support, and fully functional mobile clients score higher in our rankings.
Some sites also have built-in HUDs, which significantly improve your decision-making at the tables, even if you’re not paying full attention. We’ll check out the fun stuff, too. Emojis, throwables, and other interactive elements all earn extra marks. And software isn’t just about in-game tables, as the lobby should also be easy to browse, and not clogged with too many zany animations.
8. Customer Service
Even some of the best places to play poker online lack decent customer service, but you can still find some that have it. While live chat is common at online casinos, it’s rarer for poker. We award top marks to any site with 24/7 live chat, because US-hours simply don’t work when you’re playing at peak AU hours of 17:00-20:00 AWST.
Failing that, we look for responsive emails which are manned round the clock. It’s hard to find phone support, and near impossible to find any with a +61 phone code, so your best bet is to focus on written communication.
Types of Online Poker Games
Hold’em dominates all the top poker sites in Australia, but you’ll also find plenty of PLO games and a few sites that have more niche variants, such as Stud and Short Deck (also known as 6+).
Here are the main game types at online poker sites in Australia.
Texas Hold’em Poker
- Number of hole cards: 2
- Community cards: Yes
Hold’em is by far the most common and popular version of poker in Australia. It’s used for the biggest events in poker, including the WSOP Main Event and the Aussie Millions Main Event.
Everyone gets two hole cards, dealt face-down. These can be combined with any of the five community cards to form the best five-card hand. You can win hands by bluffing, by betting your opponent off their hand, or by revealing the best hand at showdown.
Hold’em is usually played in a no-limit format, which means you can double up (or be eliminated) at any moment. And it’s so popular that it even has spinoffs, such as Pineapple and 6+ Hold’em (more about that later). Just note that these variants attract less players in AU time zones, with most games focusing on standard Hold’em.
Omaha
- Number of hole cards: 4
- Community cards: Yes
Omaha is the second-most popular type of online poker in Australia, and you’re likely to find cash games running from $0.01/$0.02 to mid-stakes in AU evening hours. You need to use precisely two of your four hole cards along with three of the five community cards, which dramatically increases the number of hands you can make.
The increased possible hand combinations mean your average hand strength at showdown needs to be higher. Put simply, you’ll hit more premium hands in Omaha than you will in Hold’em.
Standard Pot Limit Omaha is the most popular version of Omaha at Australian poker sites, but some also cover PLO5 and PLO6, where you’re dealt extra cards and get even more action. There’s also Hi/Lo, which has two separate pots each hand, and the odd FL (fixed limit) game. For these more niche games, you may have to log in early in the morning to find sufficient traffic.
If it’s your first time playing Omaha, try it out for free until you get the hang of it. You’ll find freerolls at some of the best omaha poker sites.
Stud
- Number of hole cards: 7
- Community cards: No
Stud is one of the rarer games you’ll come across when playing online poker in Australia for real money. Many sites don’t list it at all, while others barely have games running. That said, you can still find some Stud games now and then – especially if a big online series is running. But these will usually be at awkward hours for Australian players, so you’ll probably need to get out of bed in the early hours to join the action.
Unlike Hold’em and Omaha, there are no community cards in Stud. In Seven-Card Stud, the most common variant, you’ll receive up to seven cards, three of which are dealt face-down and four of which are face-up.
It requires a different skillset to other types of poker, as you need to take mental notes of your opponents’ face-up cards and remember them later in the hand to make informed decisions.
6+ Hold’em
- Number of hole cards: 2
- Community cards: Yes
Also known as Short Deck or just 6+, this is a spinoff of Hold’em where the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s are removed from the deck. That means way more premium hands and way more action.
Favoured by high rollers and players who prefer to get splashy rather than play conservatively, Short Deck has the same rules and round betting as Hold’em but with a slightly tweaked hand order. A flush beats a full house, which takes some getting used to at first. And some places put trips above a straight, although this seems to be getting phased out.
6+ Hold’em has been growing in popularity in recent years, and is slowly popping up at the best online poker sites in Australia. For instance, CoinPoker added Six-Plus Hold’em in early 2026.
Cash Games vs Tournaments
You’ll find two main formats when playing poker online: cash games and tournaments. The fundamental rules remain the same, but the value of chips and overarching aims differ.
Cash Games
Cash games have three defining features:
- The chips in play have a cash value; e.g., a $1 chip is worth $1.
- Games are ongoing, and players can sit down or leave at any time.
- The blinds don’t increase or decrease.
Your aim in cash games is to make a profit. You can play for one hand and leave, or grind for hours. The choice is yours.
The typical cash game buy-in when you play online poker for real money in Australia is 100 big blinds. So, if the big blind is $1, people usually buy in for $100 – although you’ll have the option to sit down with a shorter stack of around 40 bigs if you prefer.
Playing cash games will suit you if you:
- Enjoy playing deep stack poker with 100+ big blinds.
- Want the freedom to start and stop whenever you’re ready.
- Don’t want the pressure of increasing blinds and ICM considerations.
Tournaments
Poker tournaments are significantly different from cash games:
- The chips in play don’t have a cash value; they’re simply tokens that keep you in the tournament.
- You’re out of the tournament when you lose all of your chips.
- The blinds increase at set intervals.
- Tournaments have set start times and continue until one player has all of the chips in play.
- A certain percentage of players win some money (usually 10%-20% of the starting field).
Your aim in tournaments is to survive long enough to get “into the money.” You have to contend with increasing blinds, gradually smaller stacks (in relation to the blinds), and being moved to new tables.
The longer you survive, the more you win. Payouts are top-heavy at all of the best poker sites in Australia, meaning the winner receives the largest share of the prize pool.
Tournaments will suit you if you:
- Enjoy competitions where one person wins the biggest prize.
- Are comfortable with decreasing stack-to-blind ratios.
- Want the potential for big returns of 10-1,000x or more on your investment
Online Poker Tournament Formats
Online poker tournaments have different formats, with all sorts of stack sizes, blind speeds and expected fields. In Australia, many players love big-scale MTTs and turbo Sit & Gos.
MTTs
Otherwise known as multi-table tournaments, MTTs have set start times. Tables have to remain balanced throughout, which means you’ll get moved around as people are eliminated. These are some of the most common events you’ll come across when playing Australian poker online, and come in all sorts of formats.
To find the biggest poker tournaments in Australia, check out the poker lobbies on Sunday evenings running into early Monday morning. This is when you’ll see massive events, like the $100,000 GTD (AU$140,000) Nemesis at CoinPoker, or the $200,000 GTD (AU$280,000) Main Event at Ignition.
SNGs
Sit & Go tournaments (SNGs) are a way to play online poker in Australia for real money on-demand. They don’t have set start times, which means the game begins once a table is full.
When you play real money online poker in Australia, you’ll have the choice between 6-max and full-ring SNGs with fixed payouts. In the poker lobby, there’ll be a heading that lists the format of the game. If it says ‘Turbo’ or ‘Hyper’, it’s an SNG where the blinds escalate rapidly, leading to much more action right from the beginning.
Alternatively, you can play jackpot SNGs that have random prizes. In a very small number of cases, the cash prize can be worth up to 10,000x the buy-in.
Jackpot SNGs
These special Sit & Go spinoffs offer a completely different experience to regular or even turbo SNGs, because the stacks are incredibly short, tables are limited to just three or four players, and prize pools are randomised.
Jackpot Sit & GOs go under various different names, with the best poker sites offering random prizes of up to 10,000x your buy-in (or even more). The trade-off is that you could play for just 2x your buy-in. Indeed, most of the random prize pools will be small. But the appeal is that you could hit a 5x, 10x, 100x or more at any time.
The standard format has three players each with a short stack of around 500 chips and incredibly aggressive blinds, which means your average game only last a few minutes. Some players start playing loosely if the prize pool isn’t very big, so it’s important to stick to your strategy and capitalise on these players.
Satellites
Satellites are tournaments that award the top finishers with entry into another event. For example, you could play a WSOP satellite on ACR that costs $10 to enter, and the winner might receive a free seat to the $10,000 (AU$14,000) WSOP Main Event.
In essence, satellites are cost-effective stepping stones into bigger tournaments offering better prizes.
Australia’s Most Famous Poker Tournaments
Outside of online poker, Australia has plenty of excellent live tournaments and series. Here are some of the biggest and best AU poker events:
Aussie Millions
The most famous and prestigious poker tournament in Australia is easily the Aussie Millions Main Event, with the list of former winners including Bryn Kenney, the current leader on the all-time money list in poker.
It’s now partnered with the APT, but deserves a special mention as it’s the crown jewel of live poker in Australia.
Australian Poker Tour (APT)
The APT is held across the country and typically includes the following mini series:
- Melbourne Champs
- Brisbane Champs
- Adelaide Champs
- Melbourne Champs
- Sydney Champs
- Gold Coast Champs
All players earn points across these events to climb a leaderboard. But the individual guarantees are more than enough, even without the added prizes. For instance, the Adelaide Champs in 2026 had AU$150,000 GTD.
Australian Poker League (APL)
Much like the APT, the APL is a nationwide affair, held across eight Australian states and territories:
- ACT
- NSW
- NT
- QLD
- SA
- TAS
- VIC
- WA
What makes this special is that it’s totally realistic for anyone to join in, even if you have little-to-no live poker experience. Many events have very modest buy-ins and guarantees, like a casual AU$25-entry, AU$500 GTD tourney on a Wednesday night. Even some of the Main Events are quite affordable, with buy-ins often hovering around the AU$500 mark.
Sydney Championships
Elsewhere, the Sydney Championships usually has buy-ins ranging from around AU$350 up to AU$5,000, packing in approximately 30 events per year. It’s been running since 2009, and features a mix of turbos, freezeouts, PLO events and bounty tournaments.
Star Poker Festival
If you want consistent access to big poker tournaments in Australia throughout the year, check out the Star Poker Festival. It’s held in Sydney, though there are also venues in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Most buy-ins land in the AU$200-AU$675 bracket.
Away from the live felt, a lot of the best online poker for real money in Australia happens on Sundays. That includes the $250,000 (AU$350.000) GTD ‘CoinMasters – BITCOIN’ event at CoinPoker, with a modest $150 (AU$210) buy-in, and the $200,000 (AU$280,000) GTD weekly event at Ignition, which has a similar entry fee of just $162 (AU$225).
Best Online Poker Bonuses in Australia
One of the best Australia poker bonuses is rakeback, because it’s straight cash that goes directly to your account with no wagering requirements. But there are plenty more high-value poker offers, including welcome bonuses and free entry to online poker tournaments.
Here are the bonuses you can claim at the best online poker sites in Australia:
Rakeback
Rake is a contribution you make each time you play cash game pots and enter online tournaments. Rake generates revenue for the operator and keeps the poker site running.
Most of the best poker sites in Australia return a percentage of your rake contributions, and this is called rakeback. These payments are made in cash, which can be withdrawn immediately. One of the best Australian poker sites for rakeback is CoinPoker, where you get 15% paid out in 24 hours or less, as well as a potential share of $1.5M (AU$2.1M) in weekly CoinRewards.
Welcome Bonus
All real-money Australian poker sites give new customers a reward when they join. Some sign-up bonuses require deposits, while others feature a no-deposit bonus (though these are rarer).
When looking at a poker welcome bonus, consider these two things:
- Total value: Think about the maximum bonus amount and whether it comes with extra perks, like tournament tickets.
- Wagering requirements: If you need to make a deposit, check that the minimum amount is sensible (between $10 and $30, or AU$14 and AU$42). Also consider the playthrough requirement, i.e., the amount you need to pay in rake to release your bonus or a percentage of your bonus.
Ignition Poker has one of the most generous welcome bonuses, awarding up to $1,500 (AU$2,100) to new players. If you include the casino welcome bonus which is available in addition to the poker one, you can double that amount.
Deposit Bonus
Also known as a reload bonus, this is a special poker offer where you make a real-money deposit and get some extra chips to play with. Most commonly, you’ll be able to use your bonus chips on any cash game or tournament.
You can’t cash out until you meet the wagering requirements. Your welcome bonus usually includes a first-deposit bonus, and reload bonuses are very similar. The difference is that these are for existing players. And they’re usually a bit smaller than that first mega deposit bonus. A typical reload bonus would be 50% extra up to AU$100 or similar.
Freerolls
These are free-to-enter tournaments. Because nobody pays to enter, and because the prizes are usually quite modest, the skill level of your opponents will be extremely low. But it still works just like real online poker in Australia, and you can win cash, tickets or merchandise.
Most daily and weekly freerolls only offer a grand prize pool of between AU$5-AU$50, but there are some that reach the thousands. Freerolls always have a cap on the number of players that can enter, so get in there early if you want to secure your spot.
Poker Tournament Tickets
Tickets give you free access to tournaments at online poker sites. Most other players will pay real money to enter, which means the prize pools are usually much bigger than in freerolls.
You’ll find opportunities to pick up free tournament tickets at pretty much every top online poker site in Australia. Our top tip is to check out the promotions, and opt-in to email marketing, around the time of a major series, like the CSOP at CoinPoker. This is when poker sites often dish out the most free tickets, to drum up interest.
VIP Rewards
The vast majority of top poker sites in Australia have some kind of a VIP program. Sometimes, this will just be in the form of rakeback. But other sites have a proper, tiered system in place, where you can play poker to earn points and climb the ranks.
For example, at Ignition, you’ll progress through nine VIP ranks, ranging from ‘Steel’ to ‘Diamond VIP’. As you play, you’ll earn Ignition Miles, which can then be cashed in for prizes including tournament tickets and reload offers.
Bad Beat Jackpot
Some online poker sites in Australia have a special prize when you take a particularly brutal loss. Typically, you’ll need to be holding four-of-a-kind and lose, but some bad beat jackpots are activated when you have a strong full house as well.
You’ll usually need both of your hole cards in Hold’em to be in play in order to trigger a bad beat jackpot. And it’s almost always more lucrative to lose a bad beat jackpot hand than it is to win a regular one. Plus, most sites will shower cash prizes on everybody at your table. Win-win.
Payment Methods
Crypto is one of the best payment methods for playing online poker in Australia, as it’s super fast and doesn’t require a bunch of ID checks. But you have other choices, too.
The best online poker sites in Australia have plenty of options when you want to deposit. This includes:
- Crypto
- Bank card payments
- e-Wallets
- Mobile payments
Deposits are instant at all the best poker sites, while withdrawal times vary from a few hours to a few days. Bitcoin poker sites also offer near-instant withdrawals. They’re the ideal way to make payments from Australia, as you don’t need any direct link to your bank account or home address.
| Payment Method | Deposit Success Likelihood in AU | Withdrawal Speed | Privacy & KYC | Fees & Currency Conversion |
| Cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, USDT) | Very high: Most offshore poker sites process crypto deposits reliably for Australian players | Fast: Usually instant or within 2 hours | Low: Minimal verification unless withdrawals exceed $2,000 | Network fees only: No FX conversion if the poker site supports crypto wallets |
| Debit/Credit Cards (Visa, Mastercard) | Moderate: Some banks block gambling transactions, leading to 10–30% decline rates | Slow: Typically 1–3 business days | Medium: Poker sites typically require ID verification and card checks | Possible 1–3% processing fees and AUD-to-USD conversion fees |
| E-Wallets (Skrill, Neteller) | High: Widely accepted and rarely blocked by Australian banks | Medium/fast: 6–24 hours on most sites | Medium: Wallet providers require account verification | 2–4% wallet fees plus possible currency conversion if accounts are not in AUD |
Safety Features
It’s vitally important that you only play at online poker sites which are 100% safe, with proven RNG and a strong reputation for paying winning players quickly.
Here’s how to make sure the poker site you’re joining is safe and legit:
- Get a fair deal. All online poker sites in Australia require RNG to create randomly shuffled decks. Make sure they use a legit company. Some of them even use blockchain-based RNG, which is Provably Fair.
- Ban the bots. The best online poker sites in Australia don’t just ignore the bot problem, but take active steps to detect and ban them. The top sites will revoke any winnings from a bot-associated account and redistribute funds to affected players.
- Avoid collusion. Top poker sites will look at player activity, including IP addresses, log-in records, and betting patterns, to sniff out any collusion at the tables. A strong anti-collusion policy helps keep poker games fair.
- Check the license. Even though licenses aren’t technically required, it’s a solid indicator that the poker site has undergone third-party checks and has been approved.
- Run the numbers. Have a look at the total number of players in the lobby, and see how active cash games are. Legit sites should have ring games running 24/7.
- Examine the T&Cs. The best place to start is the welcome bonus. You want to play at a site which is transparent about the wagering requirements and limitations of any offer.
Is Online Poker Legal in Australia?
No, online poker in Australia isn’t legal if you’re trying to play at a local site based in the country. But offshore poker sites don’t need to follow these rules and regulations, which is why you’re able to join these sites and play poker for real money.
Technically, online poker in Australia has been illegal since the introduction of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. But this doesn’t mean you can’t play at all.
As per the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 and subsequent amendment in 2017, real-money online poker is illegal. But this law applies to companies that “offer or advertise gambling services.” In other words, it applies to Australian poker sites.
So, if we work on this basis, it’s possible to play poker online in Australia because the law relates to companies and not individuals. Even the poker authority in Australia focuses on regulating operators rather than prosecuting individual players. Supporting this assumption is the fact that very few people have been prosecuted for using offshore poker sites.
It’s also interesting to note that live poker is legal in Australia. Many of you will already be familiar with the world-famous Aussie Millions series, which last ran in 2020 – three years after the 2017 online poker amendment. In other words, it’s widely understood that players in Australia still love poker, which separates the gambling ban in AU from those in more restrictive countries, like some in the Middle East.
The main issue Aussies have when they want to play real-money online poker in Australia is making deposits and withdrawals. Australian banks are covered by the law, which is why we recommend using cryptocurrencies at the best online poker sites in Australia.
Tax on Australian Poker Winnings
You don’t have to pay tax on your winnings from online poker in Australia. The Australian Tax Office clearly states that you “don’t need to declare your gambling winnings as income” if you’re not playing poker online in Australia as a professional.
Even if you are a professional, it’s possible to deduct losses from your income. Plus, offshore Australian poker sites aren’t required to provide financial reports to the Tax Office. This means there isn’t necessarily a requirement for you to do so either.
Live Poker in Australia
Unlike online poker in Australia, It’s completely legal to play live games at casinos. And you can find it in all the major hubs, from Sydney and Canberra to Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The rake is almost always higher when playing live poker in Australia. For example, the Star Sydney Casino Australia runs 10% rake capped at AU$20 per pot. This even applies to the lower stakes of AU$2/AU$3, making it harder to post a winning ROI.
Here’s a comparison of live poker and online poker in Australia:
| Online Poker | Live Poker | |
| Rake | Low (5%) | High (10%) |
| Games | Hold’em, PLO, PLO5, PLO6, Stud, 6+, Razz, H.O.R.S.E. | Hold’em, PLO |
| Availability | 24/7 |
Limited casino hours
|
| Where to Play | Anywhere in Australia |
Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne
|
| Biggest Event | Venom | Aussie Millions |
| Speed | Fast (80-120 hands per hour) |
Slow (25-35 hand per hour)
|
| Avg. Player Pool | 4,000+ | 10-100 |
| Multi-Tabling | 20+ tables | N/A |
Responsible Gambling for Poker Online in Australia
Online poker is a game that combines skill and luck, which makes it different to pure games of chance. And that means you can get better with practice. But, for some players, playing too often can be a sign of a deeper problem.
The best poker sites in Australia come with built-in tools to help moderate the amount you play. If you log into your account and go to ‘My Account’ or ‘Settings’, you should find tools to set deposit limits, time-outs, and even self-exclude.
If you can’t find them, just reach out to support and they can help.
If you feel you’re playing too often, or betting too much, you can also reach out to a third-party expert. They can talk to you about your situation and provide you help if it’s needed.
Here are some organisations you can speak to for help:
- Gambling Help Online (1800 858 858)
- Lifeline Australia (13 11 14)
Our Verdict
As an online poker player in Australia, you have more options than you might realise. There are plenty of Aussie poker sites to choose from, and if you make crypto deposits and withdrawals, you should be able to enjoy real money games.
Before you join the best Australian poker sites, here are three things to remember:
- Crypto payments are the safest and easiest way to make deposits and withdrawals
- Most sites use USD or Tether, so you’ll need to convert your AUD through the site
- Major events often run at late hours in Australia because of the Western audiences
FAQs
Can you play online poker in Australia for real money?
Can you play live poker in Australia?
What is poker called in Australia?
Are online poker sites in Australia safe?
Can you play online poker in Australia with a VPN?
Can I play poker online in Australia in AUD?
What is the most legit online poker site?
When was online poker made illegal in Australia?
Are there online poker rooms that accept Australians?
Are casino poker games in Australia rigged?
Are tournament games harder than cash games online?
How do withdrawals work on Australian poker sites that are licensed offshore?
Can I use Australian dollars on these sites?
Are online poker winnings taxable in Australia?
Resources
- https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-blockchain (Blockchain Technology)
- https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001DSO/p00028035 (Aussie Poker Tax)
- https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/interactive-gambling-act-2001 (Interactive Gambling Act 2001)
- https://www.ato.gov.au/ (Australian Tax Office)
