How to Choose an Online Poker Site That Won’t Burn You: A 10-Point Checklist

Choosing a platform is the first and most consequential security decision a player makes. This checklist recommends no specific site. Instead it gives you ten questions you can check yourself — each one verifiable in about ten minutes.

Fairness (the four highest-weight items)

• 1. Is the dealing architecture publicly explained? Does the site state clearly where the deck order is generated and who can touch it? If it can’t or won’t say, assume the worst (see can poker sites see your cards?)
• 2. Is there verifiability beyond an RNG certificate? Certification is a floor, not a ceiling; replayable transcripts and independent verification tools are the hard currency (see RNG certification vs. cryptographic proof)
• 3. Are hand histories complete and exportable? Records are your only future evidence. A site that provides partial histories, or none, disqualifies itself
• 4. Is the client code auditable? Open source — or at least reproducibly buildable — platforms have closed off the “swapped code” path on their own

Anti-cheating governance (three items)

• 5. Is there a published anti-cheating policy? Explicit bans on bots, collusion, and RTA, with stated penalties and refund mechanics
• 6. Does the report channel actually function? Check community accounts: do reports get responses? Are bans disclosed?
• 7. How did they handle past scandals? A past incident isn’t automatically disqualifying — a platform that investigated openly and refunded fully may deserve more trust than one that has “never had an incident” (possibly meaning never been caught)

Operations and compliance (three items)

• 8. Are the terms written in plain language? Liability, dispute handling, account-closure conditions — vague clauses always favor the operator when things go wrong
• 9. Is the money model clear? For real-money sites, check licensing and fund segregation; for play-money sites, confirm “chips can never be cashed out” is actually written into the rules, not just marketing
• 10. Privacy and data practices. What is collected, where it lives, who gets it — a privacy policy readable in five minutes usually signals a franker operator

Fair Poker’s answers on this same checklist

We hold ourselves to the same standard: the dealing architecture is published in full (no dealing server; the deck is encrypted and shuffled jointly by players’ browsers); every hand has an exportable, independently verifiable transcript; the client is reproducibly buildable with all verification materials public; and the site is play-chips-only with the rules and a responsible play policy in writing. You don’t have to take this paragraph on faith — the checklist is above; check us against it.