Italy is of the friendliest places in Europe to play poker! In this article we will review the poker in Italy. 

Before the establishment of online poker regulation in Italy, Italian players could sign up in any online poker room they see fit and enjoy various cash games, tournaments and promotions without any problems. 

However, the Italian government has started to understand that there is a lot of money in online poker and decided to “come into play”. It’s obvious that this decision was made to keep the players’ money inside the country.

Italy was the first country that successfully established tax poker proceeds. To do this, the country started controlling online gambling within the country in 2007. Moreover, Italy was the first country, which set it up. The passing of the 2007 Finance Act substantially legitimated all card games based on game of skill, including poker. In 2011, Italian laws allowed to play online poker for real money.

Italy is a poker reservation. It means that Italians have to play in locally regulated poker networks. They are completely inaccessible for foreigners.

Where can I play poker online in Italy?

There are a few platforms on the Italian online poker market, where poker can be played:

PokerStars.it

Italian branch of PokerStarts is one of the biggest and the most reliable poker rooms from all available on any closed European markets. The pool of players is much smaller than in PokerStars Europe, but the low level of the players’ game compensates it over and above. In cash games, you can always sit at the table where players will share with you their money and MTT tournaments will delight you with a generous prize pool.

iPoker.it

The traffic of iPoker Italy is about 2-3 times smaller that in PokerStars Italy, but you shouldn’t be despaired: during peak hours you can find about 500-600 players, most of which play 6-max NL Holdem. The level of players’ game is low and your opponents are quite weak players, which will give you a good action in post-flop.

People’s Poker

People’s Poker is a great choice for poker pros to dive in the atmosphere of online poker in the mid 2000s. Quite good traffic, very weak opponents in almost all games and at all limits, convenient software and the opportunity to connect HM3/PT4 using converter. This room is good for 6-max regulars at NL 50-200 limits and heads-up regulars at NL600-1K limits.

PokerStars.it

Italian Reservation Good MTT Traffic

Best software with high traffic and weak Italians. A nice play to play at HU tables at middle and high stakes.

Network: Independent

Rakeback: Ask Manager

Review

Pros

• High traffic at all the stakes
• Weak level of play
• Heads-Up tables up to NL1K

Cons

• difficult and expensive set-up
• low rakeback

iPoker.it

Good Traffic HU Tables

Private Italian network of ten skins. It is on the third place in the country on the size of traffic. Play at middle and high stakes in 6-max.

Network: iPoker Italy

Rakeback: Ask Manager

Review

Pros

• Weak fields at all the tables
• Trackers compatibility without converters
• Weighted contributed (WC) rake system
• comfortable software of iPoker network

Cons

• cashier via agent
• VPN needed

People’s Poker

Italian Reservation HU Tables

Good action with only Italians at middle stakes at 5-max tables. High rakeback in second biggest Italian network.

Network: People's Poker

Rakeback: Ask Manager

Review

Pros

• Heads-Up tables up to NL1K
• Top-2 traffic of Italian players
• Fast Cashouts

Cons

• unusual software
• paid converter for displaying stats
• Bumunting at heads-up tables is prohibited