Live Poker Game Reviews

Live poker brings a real dealer and a real table to your screen. There is one big difference from the poker you may know: you play against the dealer, not against other players. That means no bluffing and no reading opponents. We test and score as much of the category as we can.

Author: Niels Schutjens

Published:

May 28, 2025

Last updated:

August 28, 2026

Home Live Casino Game Reviews Live Poker Game Reviews

10

Live poker games tested

3+ hours

Testing per game

2

Providers

The Types of Live Poker

In most live poker games you play against the dealer. You place your bet, the cards are dealt, and the stronger hand wins. A few games work in another way. That gives us three groups, based on how the round is played.

• Against the dealer, with community cards. You build your hand from your own cards plus shared cards on the table, in the same way as Texas Hold’em.
• Against the dealer, without community cards. You are dealt a set hand of your own and play it against the dealer, with no shared cards.
• Not against the dealer. You do not play a hand against the dealer. What you do instead differs for each game.

Against the Dealer, With Community Cards

In these games you are dealt two cards of your own, and a set of cards is placed face up in the middle of the table. You and the dealer both make the best five-card hand from your own cards and these shared cards, and the stronger hand wins. Because you both use the same shared cards, the round plays in a way that will feel familiar if you know Texas Hold’em.

In most of these games the dealer needs a set hand before the full payout applies, which is called qualifying. If the dealer does not qualify, you are usually paid on your first bet and your later bet is returned.

The games in this group differ mainly in how many decisions you make and how you bet. Here are a few of them.

Casino Hold’em

This is the game to start with. You place an Ante at the start, then you and the dealer share five cards on the table. After you have seen your hand, you make your one decision of the round: place a Call bet to stay in, or fold. The better five-card hand then wins. With just that single choice, it is the easiest of these games to learn. Standard poker hand rankings are most of what you need to know.

The game has two optional side bets. The Bonus bet pays if your first five cards make a pair of aces or better. The Jumbo 7 jackpot pays fixed prizes for strong hands like a straight or a flush, and a shared progressive jackpot for a seven-card straight flush. That top prize starts above a million, but it lands very rarely, and not every casino offers it.

This game is not my personal favourite. As someone who plays a lot of real poker, I prefer games with more than one decision. What the single decision does give you is a nice steady pace. And if you are new to live poker, this is the perfect game to get to know it.

2 Hand Casino Hold’em

This is the same game as Live Casino Hold’em, with one difference. You can play two hands at once instead of one. Two hands give you more chances to win each round. But you pay for both hands, so each round costs more. It is a good choice if you like the normal version and want more action.

Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker

Of these games, this one plays most like real poker, the kind most people know. In real poker you bet in stages, as more shared cards appear. This game works the same way. First you bet on your two cards alone. Then you bet again after the flop, the first three shared cards. And once more after the turn, the fourth card. Unlike real poker, there is no bet after the last card, the river.

The game also has two optional side bets. The Bonus bet pays on your first two cards, with a strong starting pair like two aces paying the most. It pays even if you go on to lose the hand. The other is a progressive jackpot, the First 5 jackpot, which pays the full prize for a royal flush and smaller fixed prizes for lower hands.

Ultimate Texas Hold’em

This is the game with the most to think about. You can raise only once per round, but you choose when. The earlier you raise, the more you can bet, but the less you know. Raise before any shared cards and you can bet up to four times your stake, but you are betting almost blind. Wait until the end and you have seen more, but you can raise only once your stake. A strong starting hand is worth raising early. A weak one is worth waiting on.

It has one side bet, Trips, which pays on the strength of your own hand alone, whatever the dealer holds.

This is my personal favourite of the four. I like to think about the right moment and size for my one raise. It also helps that the house edge is only about 2 percent when you play it well.

“New to live poker against the dealer? Work through these games from the top. Start with Casino Hold’em. It asks the least of you, with one decision per round. Once you understand how it plays, move on to the next one. Each game adds a little more to think about. Take them in order and you build up at your own pace, all the way to Ultimate Texas Hold’em.”

Niels Schutjens

Against the Dealer, Without Community Cards

In these games you get your own hand and play it against the dealer, with no shared cards on the table. Most of the time you make just one choice: carry on or fold. These games also offer side bets. They can pay more, but the house edge on them is higher, so it is best to treat them as optional.

Three Card Poker

This is the simplest game in the group. You get three cards and make one decision: play on or fold. That is all there is to it. It is a good pick if you want a quick game with little to think about.

Two optional side bets sit alongside the main game. Pair Plus pays if your three cards make a pair or better. The 6 Card Bonus pays on the best five-card hand from your three cards and the dealer’s three.

Teen Patti is the same game as Three Card Poker, with the same rules and the same single decision. What changes is the look and feel. The table has an Asian style, and the dealers speak Hindi.

Caribbean Stud Poker

Here you get five cards instead of three, so your hand feels more like a full poker hand. You still make one choice: raise or fold, before the dealer’s cards are shown. The dealer qualifies with a hand of Ace and King or higher. Two side bets come with the game. The 5+1 Bonus pays on the best five-card hand from your cards and the dealer’s face-up card. The progressive jackpot pays a set amount for stronger hands like a flush or full house, and the full jackpot for a Royal Flush. That top prize rarely lands, but it can be huge.

Not Against the Dealer

Not every live poker game is played against the dealer. There are a few exceptions. Here is one of them.

One Day Teen Patti

Here you do not play a hand yourself. Two hands are dealt on the table, and you bet on which one will win. The cards are turned over one at a time, and the odds change as they appear. You can place a bet at each step, on a hand to win or to lose.

This game stands out because the odds shift with every card. That gives it a dynamic you do not get in the other games. It also makes it harder to play. It is not one for beginners, but for players who know poker hands well and can tell where a hand is going. Personally, I enjoy this game a lot. The one thing I miss is a side bet, which would give you the chance to win a bigger prize.

How We Review Live Poker Games

We test every live poker game ourselves and then score it with the same fixed framework we use across the site. That way you can compare any two scores on the site directly. No game gets an easier or stricter review, so a higher score always means a better result against the same points.

Take two of those points as an example: pace and depth, and the dealers. Pace and depth is where these games differ a lot. A game like Live Casino Hold’em gives you one choice per round, while Ultimate Texas Hold’em asks you to think about when and how much to bet. We play each game long enough to feel whether that choice stays interesting over a long session, or whether the round starts to repeat itself. The dealers play a big part here too, because a poker dealer runs the whole round: they deal, they read out the hands, and they keep the table moving. We watch the same game at different times of day, and we score whether the dealers stay clear and steady, or whether the game slows down and loses its rhythm.

FAQs

About the author

Niels Schutjens

Niels Schutjens is Lead Game Reviewer at LiveCasino24. He has worked in online gambling since 2016, and live casino is the part he enjoys most. He holds a master’s degree in econometrics, and that maths background helps him look closely at how each game pays out.

Read more about Niels Schutjens