When deciding where to play, there are several factors most players look at, but one that comes out at the top of the list for most is the softness of the games. Or, in other words, how easy it is to win playing your favorite format, be it ring games, tournaments, or sit and gos of one description or another.
With sweepstakes poker gaining more popularity than ever, and the number of options growing, the question of what the softest site is has come even more into the spotlight.
In this article, we’ll focus on three relative newcomers to the scene. Global Poker, which has been around the longest, is likely to have the toughest games overall. Due to its longevity, most grinders have found their way onto the site, making it harder to win in the long run.
- Generous Welcome Offer
- Daily freerolls & free SC offers
- Hold’em, Omaha and Mixed Games
ClubWPT Gold — Our #1 Pick for the Softest Sweepstakes Site
ClubWPT Gold is the latest site on the expanding sweepstakes poker horizon. While the operator has been running games for less than a year, it’s already managed to build a very big player base, allowing for tournaments with huge guarantees and non-stop ring game action across all stakes.
So, why is ClubWPT Gold the softest of the three sites we compare in this article?
The answer lies in the room’s massive advertising campaign in the month leading up to the launch, as well as its cooperation with numerous top-tier poker streamers. This allowed it to reach a wide audience across the United States, many of whom are people who see poker purely as a fun pastime.
Backed by a strong brand that is the World Poker Tour, ClubWPT Gold had no problems attracting these hobby players, giving them a fun and safe platform to play on.
So, it is a combination of two factors. Firstly, the company’s advertising effort achieved its targets as far as reaching potential customers is concerned. Secondly, these customers, being poker fans, recognize the WPT brand as trustworthy, so they are convinced there will be no problems when the time comes to redeem their coins for cash.
The end result is that the site is filled with recreational players of all shapes and sizes. We are not talking only small stakes recs; looking at the games, there are some players on there with substantial bankrolls and fairly basic skills. And, ClubWPT Gold caters to these players, spreading games as high as SC 25/50.
Clubs Poker — Great Pick for Mixed Games
Compared to ClubWPT Gold, Clubs Poker has a smaller total player pool. The site hasn’t invested nearly as much money into marketing, and their platform has been growing more organically. So, on average, games might be a bit tougher.
This is not to say that Clubs Poker is some reg-infested room — far from it. Both ring games and tournaments are still quite soft, but as you go up in stakes, you’ll likely come across players who have a decent understanding of at least the fundamental principles of the game.
On the other hand, Clubs Poker is the only sweepstakes poker site where you can play mixed games, and if you have the skills and the patience, there is a lot of money to be made here.
To put it bluntly, there are many people out there who like to dabble with various lesser-known poker variants, but not very many are actually good at them. So, if you put in some time behind the scenes and learn about some of the most popular formats, like Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw, and Badugi, you’ll set yourself up for success.
While resources for learning these games aren’t as readily available as those for No Limit Hold’em, you’ll find that some of the top poker training sites offer quality crash courses to explain all the rules and fundamentals. These might be all you need to thrive on Clubs Poker.
Stake.us Poker
Stake.us Poker is a bit of a strange one. Generally speaking, games are very soft, due to the fact that the site’s traffic comes primarily from casino players and sports bettors. Many of them tend to find their way to poker tables, and, as expected, their poker knowledge is quite limited.
However, the same thing that makes Stake Poker soft is what makes it not such a good option. Many of the players are there for other reasons, so they’ll hop in and out of games, hit and run, play very short-stacked, etc.
So, the games are soft, but you’ll have to deal with many factors that you won’t have to worry about on poker-first platforms like ClubWPT Gold and Clubs Poker.
This will obviously have an impact on your hourly. Whether the win rate you can achieve is enough to offset these other issues is pretty much down to how well you’re able to adjust to these games and get the maximum value.
To summarize, ClubWPT Gold edges out if we are talking about No Limit Hold’em ring games, while Clubs Poker offers some unique opportunities for those experienced with mixed games. Stake Poker is an interesting alternative that you may consider running alongside these two, and jumping in when the action gets good.
