Enjoying online poker at a low deposit room in 2021 can bring you: An inexpensive way to take part in real money games and tournaments Access to a welcome bonus when you sign up to play for the first time A solid way to build up your bankroll and accrue VIP points. For example, PokerStars only requires a minimum deposit of $10, Bodog lists its bottom line as $20, and Bovada is $10 when you use Bitcoin. The sites below are our top 5 small deposit poker sites. All the online poker rooms that we’ve listed offer generous first deposit bonuses. However much you deposit into your gaming account, the poker room will match with usually 100% and sometimes 200% and sometimes on amounts up to $1000 which gives you an excellent bankroll with which to start.

A minimum deposit poker site is one that allows players to make deposits as small as $5 to $20 (though you could argue that a site with a minimum deposit of $50 fits the list too). These micro-stakes poker sites exist because not everyone can afford to deposit hundreds or thousands of dollars. Others prefer to treat online poker as a hobby. When you factor in that online the stakes are as low as .01/.02 and .05 for tournaments, depositing more than $20 or $50 is unnecessary for many players.

If you’re shopping for a minimum deposit poker site, you’ll find our top recommendations below. Further down the page you can read about the benefits of small deposit poker sites and what games are good for playing poker on a budget.

Which Sites Have Small Deposit Requirements?

The minimum deposit required will be different from one online poker room to the next. The following are the top US low deposit poker sites. Bovada andIgnition accept $10 poker deposits using Bitcoin or $20 deposits using MasterCard. Intertops Poker has a minimum deposit of $25. And finally, Sportsbetting and BetOnline have $50 minimum deposit requirements. Once you make a small deposit, play in the micro stakes poker games to manage your bankroll and clear any wagering requirements for your poker bonus.

Credit cards will often have the lowest minimum deposit requirements at popular poker rooms. However, keep in mind that some of them will have fees too, which obviously raises the minimum a bit. Visit sites’ payment method pages to learn about minimum deposits and withdrawals. You’ll find that $10-$20 is the norm, while other (arguably better) options have much higher minimum limits.

Why Deposit the Minimum?

You might considering depositing a small amount for a couple of reasons.

One, making a small poker deposit minimizes your risks. There are more bad or unstable sites than there are good and stable poker rooms. By making a small deposit you have the opportunity to test the site out. If they turn out to be bad it’s not such a big deal. You only have $10, $20 or $30 invested in the site.

Secondly, you might not want to deposit that much money until you’re sure you like the site first. While reviews help, they don’t replace hands on experience. You might want to play different games or stakes, not to mention that your experience depositing or working with support might be different than any review you read. Furthermore, many (if not most) reviews are biased. Anyway, the point is that you’ll want to try a site first, but without having to deposit hundreds of dollars to do so.

For a lot of people it’ll just come down to budget. For everyone else you can use the minimum requirements to your advantage to reduce the risk of playing poker online.

What Games to Play on a Small Bankroll

If you’re on a budget there are certain poker games that I recommend over others.

A good game to play on a budget are sit’n go’s (SNGs), namely the multi-table variations. What I like about them is that they’re relatively easy to learn, primarily a pre-flop game, have large payouts compared to the buy-in and smaller variance compared to large MTTs. They give you more bang for your buck too – where else can you play a game for 45 minutes to 2 hours for as low as $1?!

The games you should avoid include heads-up, hyper turbos, double or nothings or any sort of short stack game. These have a lot of variance to them, and while you can earn a lot of money quickly, you can lose your ass just as fast. The games I mentioned above have a solid balance of variance and opportunity.

Accept entry into any freerolls offered. Most poker sites give new players a ticket into a new depositors’ free-roll poker event. Always accept entry, even if the prize pool is small. You’re playing on the margins with minimum deposits, so any small bonuses or freerolls matter.

I would also avoid cash games. If you do, with a $20 deposit the highest you should play is .01/.02 games. Many people just don’t have the patience to grind out a bankroll in order to move up. If you do, by all means play them. Otherwise I would just stick to the games I mention above, build a roll and then make the switch to cash (if you want) when you have $500-$1,000. At that point you can play 50nl.

But Be Aware…

Depositing small amounts in online poker rooms can lead to negative experiences too. So you want to keep the following points in mind when making your deposit.

• Some rooms have small minimum deposit requirements, while having large withdrawal requirements. The idea is to suck you in and not give you a chance to leave. You’ll have to save up to $50-$250, which might be hard to do on a $20 deposit unless you win big and/or consistently on real money poker games.
• Deposit bonus offers often have minimum deposit requirements. These requirements can be larger than the minimum for a deposit. If you’re not careful you might make your (first) deposit and void your opportunity to earn a bonus.
• What deposit method do you plan to use? Each one will have a different limit. Credit cards and debit cards are usually your easiest payment option, but each site is different. Search through the payment methods to see the minimum deposit for web wallets, e-vouchers, crypto-currency like Bitcoin, and bank wire transfers.
• A small deposit will equal a small bonus. Most offers are on a first deposit basis only. So if you want to test out the site and their software, you might want to try their free software first. Otherwise, you put yourself in a position to only earn a small portion of the site’s overall bonus offer ($20 or $50 versus $500-$2,500).

These are important points to keep in mind because you could lose out on hundreds or thousands of dollars otherwise.

One of the many advantages offered by online poker is the widespread availability of low stakes games. In the real world, you would be fortunate to find anything lower than $1/$2 no-limit or $3/$6 fixed-limit. Live casinos just aren’t interested in diverting resources to host low level games. Meanwhile, the internet is chock full of games that go as low as €0.01/€0.02 no-limit and €0.2/€0.04 fixed limit.

Virtually every poker site on the planet has a variety of both ring games and tournaments starting at extremely low levels. You won’t have much trouble finding a place to play, but there’s no question that some sites are much better than others for small stakes players. In my experience, the following sites offer the best all-around combination of soft games, high player traffic and small deposits.

How Low Limit Games Work

If you’re new to poker, low limit games offer a great starting point. The competition isn’t overly difficult, but the people do play with a sense of purpose. Low stakes games provide a nice middle ground between the play-money games where people play with reckless abandon and the higher level games where the opposition can be fairly advanced.

In the table that you see above, I’ve listed the smallest no-limit cash games and lowest buyin tournaments that you’ll find at each site. Most sites allow you to buy in for up to 100 times the big blind in no limit games. So if you see the stakes listed as €0.01/€0.02, for example, the maximum buyin is €2.00. You have something of value on the line, but you’re not risking much in the grand scheme of things.

Most low limit poker sites host games that start at either the €0.01/€0.02 or €0.02/€0.04 level for no limit and fixed limit tables. The stakes go up from there to €0.05/€0.10, €0.10/€0.25 and so on all the way up to €500/€1,000 depending on where you play. Small stakes tournaments typically start out with buyins as low as €1 and sometimes even lower than that.

Player traffic tends to be the highest at low stakes games no matter where you play. Finding a table will only be a challenge at the smallest and least-populated poker sites. The sites that I recommend are all medium to large, so you’ll have plenty of tables to choose from any time of day or night.

As far as safety goes, that’s a given. I never recommend poker sites that aren’t 100% reputable and safe places to play. Even though we’re not talking about thousands of euros here, there’s no need to play at a site that can’t keep your bankroll safe or provide fair games.

Making a Small Deposit

After you choose a poker site, the next step in getting started is to make a real money deposit. Every deposit method has both upper and lower limits on transaction sizes. If you can part with at least €20, you should be able to use 99% of the deposit methods out there.

If you’re really limited on funds, you can deposit as little as €5 with some methods. Credit cards, Skrill and Paysafecard all come with a lower limit of €5. That’s about as low as it goes online. After that point, payment processors start to lose money on transactions.

The fastest way to get started with just a little money is to find your credit or debit card and use that to make your deposit. All you have to do is type in the numbers on the card like you would with any other online purchase and your account will be credited with the funds instantly. If you choose this deposit method, you’ll be playing in real money games five minutes from now.

What About Deposit Bonuses?

Deposit bonuses are great bankroll boosters, but you need to deposit enough money to make it worth your while. If you have a couple hundred euros/dollars to spare, you can hit the sweet spot of most deposit bonuses. Typical welcome offers double your first deposit up to a max of about €1,000 to €2,000. If you just want to deposit a little, that’s fine too.

I’ll go ahead and warn you now that bonuses aren’t all that useful for micro stakes players. If you’re planning on playing in the absolute lowest level games, it’s going to take a long time to clear any bonus. The speed at which your bonus cash is released ultimately depends on how much rake you generate at the tables. Micro stakes games generate very little rake and make it difficult to clear a bonus.

The best thing you can do is just focus on improving your game and winning money at the tables. There will also be more bonuses out there. Spend a little time building your bankroll now so that you can take full advantage of any bonuses that you find later.

Online Poker For Money

Are Low Stakes Poker Games Beatable?

Absolutely. The smaller the stakes, the easier the opposition. Even with all the training material available online today, the small and micro stakes games can be crushed if you use the right strategy. It’s always funny when I see someone complain about how atrocious the players are and how they can’t wait to move up in stakes where people actually make sense.

Let me assure you of one thing: whenever your opponents make mistakes, it’s a good thing for you. If you have multiple opponents making multiple mistakes in every hand, you’re bound to win money using basic, ABC poker strategy. Yes, you do experience more bad beats when everyone calls everything, but you get paid so much more on your made hands over the long run.

Low Deposit Online Poker Games

If you find yourself at a table of low stakes fish, the best thing you can do is be patient and play straightforward poker. Fold your weak hands, bet your strong hands and avoid chasing draws when the pot odds don’t justify doing so. That’s all you have to do. Don’t worry about bluffing or getting too tricky. Tight, basic poker is how you win money at the micros.