Best NJ Online Poker Sites To Play During The Holidays

If you plan to travel to New Jersey for the holidays, take care of one thing now: Set up an online poker account in New Jersey now before you go.
Even though players must be in the state to be able to gamble online, you can establish an account and deposit money from anywhere. Doing that from home in advance means you’ll have all necessary information readily available and you’ll be ready to hit the tables as soon as you want during your trip.
New Jersey has a thriving online casino market, generating $183.7 million in gross gaming revenue in the first nine months of this year, according to the Division of Gaming Enforcement in the state attorney general’s office. That’s up by 27 percent from the first nine months of 2016.
As with land-based casinos, most of that comes from online slots and table games. Online poker accounted for about $18.6 million of online revenue in the first three quarters or just over 10 percent of the total.
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Creating your online poker account in New Jersey
Registering for a real-money account to play during the holiday season is easy enough. Choose a username and password, and provide an email address and your Social Security number, which is required by state law. The quickest way to make a deposit is by transferring money from a bank account, which means you’ll have to provide the bank’s routing number and your account number.
You’ll also need to give your cell phone number and agree to allow a geolocation service to track the device whenever you log in to your casino account. You can sign-up anywhere, but when you’re ready to play, the service will need to verify that you’re actually in New Jersey.
Online Poker Bonuses in New Jersey
All sites offer incentives for establishing a new account, such as $10 to $30 in free play or a match of your first deposit. Some sites offer both. However, you can’t just claim the bonus and cash out. With free-play offers, poker players typically are required to pay a set amount of rake before cashing out. You can qualify for free-play bonuses at multiple sites, but make sure you can play enough hands at each to earn the bonus.
When the casino matches your first deposit, the money generally gets paid out slowly. At partypoker, for example, you get two points for every $1 in poker tournament fees and table charges, with every four points earning $1 toward the bonus.
Also, you have just 60 days from the time of the first deposit to collect points to release your bonus, which is paid out in equal installments over 10 months. Be sure you understand how to qualify and how the bonus will be paid before deciding on the size of your first deposit. As in land-based casinos, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose.
Here are some of the bets NJ online poker bonuses:
Site | Amount | RB Equivalent | Increments | Expires |
---|---|---|---|---|
PokerStarsNJ | $600 | 55% | $10 | 120 Days |
WSOP.com | $400 | 20% | $10 | 60 Days |
Pala Poker | $500 | ? | $5 | 90 Days |
888 Poker | $1,500 | 20% | $10 | 90 Days |
Borgata Poker | $600 | 50% | 10% | 45 Days |
Also, don’t let money sit idly in an account. If an account is inactive for a specified time – say, six months – it can be classified as inactive. Once an account has been inactive for a year, the state can label it dormant and claim whatever is in it.
What to expect from New Jersey’s Online poker rooms
New Jersey’s online poker sites offer a variety of promotions and tournaments which vary regularly. Here’s a small sampling.
PokerStars New Jersey
Zoom Games: This cash game and tournament format pit you against a pool of opponents rather than just the people sitting at your table. Your opponents change every hand. It’s a fast-paced and fun way to play online poker.
Spin & Go Games: This format features hyper-turbo sit-and-Goes in which three players start with 500-chip stacks. Buy-ins range from $1 to $25, and each tournament has a randomly drawn prize pool that will award between double and 1,000 times your buy-in.
Play 1 hand and get $150 free from PokerStars NJ when you sign-up today.
WSOP.com New Jersey
New Jersey Poker Classic: The first-ever New Jersey Poker Classic, concludes on Nov. 20th but you better believe this will be back soon. The Main Event on Nov. 19 guaranteed a $100,000 prize pool and a championship belt. Buy-in for that is $500. Guaranteed prize pools in other remaining tournaments range from $1,000 to $25,000.
Weekend Warrior: Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, WSOP.com offers tournaments with guaranteed prize pools of $4,000 ($50 buy-in) to $40,000 ($215 buy-in). The schedule features two tournaments on Friday evenings, three on Saturdays and four on Sundays.
You can get $25 FREE from WSOP.com right here.
partypoker New Jersey
Mega Tuesdays: At 8 p.m. Tuesdays, this no-limit hold’em tournament offers a guaranteed prize pool of $15,000. The buy-in is $535, but players can win a seat through daily qualifiers that have buy-ins starting at $5.
Sunday’s Main Event: The site’s biggest weekly tournament offers a $40,000 guaranteed prize pool, with play starting at 5 p.m. every Sunday. The direct buy-in is $200, but you can win a seat in daily qualifying tournaments that start as low as $5.
partypoker is offering new players $25 FREE, so take advantage this winter.
Borgata Poker New Jersey
Borgata Poker Open(s): If you’re looking for an opportunity to play in bigger live poker tournaments than Borgata is the site for you. With poker festivals happening every few months, you’ll have plenty of chances to make your mark.
Players most recently had chances to win $2,700 seats to the Borgata Fall Poker Open main event with satellites starting at just $5. Keep an eye on their schedule for upcoming qualifiers and promotions so you don’t miss your chance.