CARD GAMES · REAL MONEY
Poker for real money: minimums, pace and getting paid
Table floors, how fast the hour runs, and what happens between a winning hand and money in your bank.
What changes when the money is real
Micro stakes exist on most rooms and the buy-in floor on a phone is usually a couple of dollars. The fee structure matters more than the stake at that level.
On video poker, bet max coins. The royal flush pays a disproportionate bonus on the fifth coin and playing short changes the published return by roughly a percent and a half.
The floor is lower than you think
Live minimums on a phone start well below what a physical room can offer, often a dollar, and the common floor sits around C$5. Plan a session around the floor rather than around the biggest table in the lobby.
Everything settles instantly, so the balance on screen is the balance you can move. That puts the whole question back on the cashout flow, which across our board runs from three taps to eleven with a median of 5.
The cheapest bet here is deuces wild, full pay at 0.24%. The most expensive is tournament fee at 8%. Both are on the same felt and the room does not mind which one you pick.
Rooms with a low way in
Sorted on the minimum deposit, because a first deposit is a test rather than a commitment. The routine is written up as the C$20 test.