Online poker in 2026 is less about “one best site” and more about which room fits your games, stakes, and volume, as Bencb explains in his Raise Your Edge breakdown “The Best Online Poker Sites in 2026.” Across GGPoker, PokerStars, CoinPoker, ACR, and WPT Global, he weighs tournaments, rake, rakeback, software, traffic, and game softness to help players decide where to play.
How Bencb Frames the 2026 Poker Landscape
In the video, Bencb emphasizes that “best” depends on your profile: tournament grinder, cash game regular, recreational player, or pure rakeback hunter. He systematically compares GG, CoinPoker, PokerStars, ACR, and WPT Global, then gives a final ranking and role-based recommendations at the end of the video.
CoinPoker: Value, Softness, and Crypto Mechanics
When Bencb turns to CoinPoker, he calls it the most underrated site going into 2026 and highlights that, in terms of pure value, it is “an absolute must-pick” for many schedules. His review of CoinPoker centers on four big themes: rake and rakeback, promotions, game softness, and the crypto/CHP token setup.
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Rake and rakeback structure
For low-stakes tournaments from 1 to 50 dollars, CoinPoker charges around 8% rake, which he notes is already lower or comparable to major sites that often sit between 8–12% in that band. He stresses that all tournaments below 1 dollar are completely rake-free, with nine scheduled 0.50 dollar events per day and numerous rake-free satellites from 0.10 to 0.88 dollars into the Winter Master Series.On the cash game side, from NL5c up to NL100, CoinPoker runs a flat 5% rake with low caps, only beaten in raw percentage by WPT’s 4%, but with caps that become more favorable for CoinPoker as stakes rise. Bencb repeatedly contrasts CoinPoker’s cap structure with sites like GG, where effective rake per 100 hands can be significantly higher, especially once preflop 3‑bet-pot rake is considered.
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33% rakeback from day one via CHP
A key point in the video is that CoinPoker gives 33% rakeback “from the start,” without needing elite volume, which Bencb sees as a huge edge for low- and mid-stakes grinders. He details the mechanics: rake is initially taken in USDT during the session, then partly refunded if you hold enough CHP, and finally 33% of the full rake is paid back weekly in CHP.He walks through a concrete example: if you pay 20 dollars in rake and hold 10 dollars worth of CHP, you end up effectively paying 10 dollars in USDT and 10 in CHP, then receive 6.60 dollars (33% of 20) in CHP at the weekly payout. The practical takeaway, according to him, is that you should hold roughly half your expected session rake in CHP to fully benefit.
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Promotions and series
CoinPoker recently ran a 10 million dollar guaranteed Vista Winter Festival from late 2025 into January 2026, which Bencb highlights as a serious schedule for a relatively new crypto-focused room. He also points to 100,000 dollar leaderboards where only the top 8–10 results count, which he views as particularly friendly to low-volume or newer players who can still compete for meaningful prizes.In cash games, a “World Championship” style promo temporarily reduced rake to 0% across stakes while adding prize value, something he calls “insane” added value when combined with the existing rakeback. Beyond that, he notes that CoinPoker is building long-term brands like Coin Masters and repeatedly increasing guarantees, aiming for stable flagship-series status akin to SCOOP or WCOOP.
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Game softness and player pool
Bencb observes that CoinPoker’s player pool, drawn from both crypto and now fiat deposits, feels noticeably softer than traditional rooms at many stakes. He mentions that micro and low-stakes tournaments are “crazy soft,” and even high rollers like 1K, 2K, and 5K events feel softer than equivalent buy-ins on PokerStars—sometimes comparable in toughness to a 50 dollar Stars tournament.On the cash-game side, he notes a wide spread from micro stakes to nosebleeds with one of the better combined packages of rake, caps, and softness, especially when you factor in promos and the 33% rakeback.
Overall, Bencb’s conclusion in the video is that, when you combine rake, rakeback, promos, and game softness, CoinPoker deserves a significant place in a 2026 grind schedule for both tournaments and cash. He repeatedly reminds viewers that with referral code “BENCB” there are additional private freerolls and promotions layered on top of the base 33% rakeback.
GGPoker: Massive Traffic but Painful Rake Decisions
GGPoker is described as the biggest site in 2026 in terms of traffic, schedule, and marketing, with a lobby full of action almost any time of day. For players whose priority is volume and guarantees, Bencb acknowledges GG’s flagship series and WSOP integration as best-in-class.
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Strengths highlighted in the video
GG offers the largest tournament schedule, the biggest daily guarantees, and premium series like WSOP-branded events that allow online players to win bracelets and live packages. Its marketing machine brings in many recreational players via ambassadors, streamers, and constant promotions, which Bencb sees as good for the long-term ecosystem, even if he later argues that another site surpasses GG in pure softness.He also praises the software as possibly the best available: clean, innovative, with on-table staking, cameras, emotes, final-table clocks, seat selection, GG Care, and various jackpots designed to add entertainment value for casual players. GG’s new Ocean Rewards system, replacing Fish Buffet, aims to give more predictable year-long rakeback tiers from “fish” up to “shark,” with potential cashback up to 80% for the highest-volume players.
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Major drawbacks
The core criticism is structural: GG is “the only site” in his comparison that rakes preflop 3‑bet pots, which he argues can kill win rates, especially in cash games. While the nominal 5% rake might look reasonable, adding preflop rake makes many cash offers extremely unattractive, particularly at higher stakes where the effective rake can be difficult to beat.He also finds the real-name vs nickname policy inconsistent and unfair: some players are forced to use real names, others allowed anonymous handles, and final-table name switches can expose some players while others remain hidden.
Finally, he points out that the lower-tier Ocean Rewards percentages are underwhelming for low-volume players, especially for a market leader, and he questions whether GG provides enough value to these segments compared to what competitors now offer.
Bencb’s implication in the video is that GG makes sense when you absolutely need traffic and huge guarantees, but that its rake model and reward structure leave meaningful value on the table compared with alternatives like CoinPoker.
PokerStars: Legacy Brand with Declining Edge
As a former PokerStars ambassador, Bencb gives a nuanced account of Stars in the current market, separating strong legacy elements from what he views as a visible decline.
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Positives in the Raise Your Edge review
He still regards PokerStars’ software as one of the cleanest and most stable clients, with very smooth multitabling and a familiar environment for grinders. Security also gets high marks; he notes that big scandals around bots and RTA seem rare, and from his past collaboration he knows that PokerStars invests significantly in detection and enforcement.On the rake side, Stars charges 5% at low and mid-stakes but drops to around 4.5% at NL10K and doesn’t rake preflop 3‑bet pots, with solid rake caps from NL25 to NL200. Flagship series like SCOOP and WCOOP still exist with good structures and prestige, even though guarantees have been trending downward.
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Negatives and signs of decline
One key issue in the video is the 1 dollar rake cap at the very lowest cash stakes (NL2, NL5, NL10), which can translate into extremely high effective rake in larger pots—up to 50 big blinds at NL2 and 20 at NL5. Bencb walks through how a 20 dollar pot at NL10 can result in 1 dollar being taken, while other sites with lower caps might only rake 0.50 dollars or less, effectively halving the rake on comparable pots.The current rakeback system relies on tiers and chests with roughly 15–40% rakeback for most players, which he deems disappointing compared with what competitors like GG (at the high-volume end) and CoinPoker (33% from day one) are offering. PokerStars Select can reach 50%+ direct rakeback, but this is reserved for the very highest volume players, making it inaccessible to many.
Beyond numbers, Bencb argues that PokerStars feels increasingly like a legacy premium brand rather than an innovator: guarantees are smaller, some schedule decisions seem out of touch with recreational players’ lives, and mid/high-stakes games are often tough and reg-heavy. He notes that Zoom 500 rarely runs, Zoom 100/200 pools are modest, and that departures like Lex Veldhuis from the roster signal internal strategic shifts.
In contrast with the more aggressive promotional and value-focused posture of CoinPoker, the PokerStars segment in the video leaves an impression of a still-solid but no longer dominant option, especially once you factor in rake, rakeback, and game toughness.
ACR and WPT Global: Niche Advantages with Serious Trade-offs
Bencb covers ACR and WPT Global more briefly, framing them as useful additions to a schedule rather than all-purpose main sites, and he supports that view with specific pros and cons.
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ACR (Americas Cardroom)
ACR gets credit for big-field tournaments like Venom and for meaningful cash-game promotions such as The Beast, which can add an estimated 2–8% to effective rakeback for high-volume grinders. Its flat 5% cash-game rake with strong caps from NL50c up to NL10 is described as competitive, and a 27% weekly deal (plus alternative VIP ladder up to roughly 60–65% for elite volume) can appeal to serious grinders.However, Bencb flags long-standing reputation and security concerns, referencing years of allegations and community drama that, in his view, have damaged trust in the brand. He also criticizes the software as less polished than GG or PokerStars and notes that tournament rake tends to sit on the higher side relative to competitors.
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WPT Global
WPT Global brands itself as recreational-first, using table-composition rules to limit strong players at each table and thereby maintain softer lineups. Bencb acknowledges that this produces soft games and that some added-value promotions can be attractive when timed correctly.But he is highly skeptical about the rakeback model: there is no classic lifetime or VIP-based rakeback; instead, rewards are tied to behaviors like starting tables, with “table starter boosts” that can give 20–40% session-based rakeback. In practice, he notes, winning players who do not regularly open tables can end up with almost no rakeback, while high rake caps at many stakes undercut the argument that recreational splashing is being fairly rewarded.
He also points out that tournament rake is slightly higher than GG and CoinPoker’s 8% benchmark and that affiliates may struggle to offer meaningful extra rakeback to proven winning players due to internal revenue-sharing rules.
Across both ACR and WPT Global, his video perspective is that they have situational appeal—ACR for certain tournament and rake-race structures, WPT for ultra-soft games and specific promos—but that they fall short of a balanced, long-term value proposition compared with what CoinPoker currently offers.
Takeaways from Bencb’s 2026 List
Throughout “The Best Online Poker Sites in 2026,” Bencb keeps returning to the idea that players must weigh rake, rakeback, caps, promos, traffic, and game toughness together rather than focusing on brand or traffic alone. GGPoker leads on raw volume and marketing, PokerStars retains strong software and security, ACR and WPT Global target particular niches, but CoinPoker stands out in his analysis for combining solid rake, guaranteed 33% rakeback from day one, aggressive promotions, and softer fields across a wide range of stakes.
He backs his CoinPoker praise with concrete data points and also lists clear drawbacks like lower traffic, crypto frictions, and incomplete software polish. The result, as presented in the video, is a structured comparison where CoinPoker comes off as one of the most compelling options in 2026 if you prioritize long-term value and beatable games rather than just brand size or headline guarantees.
