Black Chip Poker Review 2023

In this 2023 Black Chip Poker review, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned after hours of researching and interacting with the site.

You will find all the features, pros and cons, and many screenshots.

Most importantly, you’ll discover my honest opinion on Black Chip Poker.

Feel free to skip directly to sections that interest you.

Let’s go!
 

 

1. Key Takeaways

I understand you may not have enough time to read my full Black Chip Poker review, so here is an actionable summary to help you.
 

Pros of Black Chip Poker

 

Cons of Black Chip Poker

 

2. Background

 

 
 

3. Reputation 8.0/10

Black Chip Poker has a good reputation on Casino Guru but an odd absence on other review sites. I found this strange given how long this company has been around.
 

Black Chip Poker License

Black Chip Poker is licensed both in Costa Rica and Curacao. 
 

Security Features

As is the standard in the industry, Black Chip Poker has an SSL certificate. They also offer some features to protect players such as the Player Protection feature. 

Player Protection keeps other players’ names hidden until you’ve paid to play. This means that people can’t open cash games looking for weak players to take advantage of. This feature is pretty unique in the industry and is a great tool to help keep things fair.

Additionally, Black Chip Poker has a no-tolerance policy regarding bots.
 

Reputation of Owners

In 2010, Phil Nagy took over as CEO of Black Chip Poker. In his LinkedIn profile, he refers to himself as “Chief Poker Player”.

As a whole, the company is quite open about who they are, the entire history of their network, the Winning Poker Network, posted on their website. They chronicle their beginning in 2001, the different software platforms they have used, and even how Black Friday 2011 affected them.

This transparency, in my opinion, lends a great deal of credibility to the network as a whole.
 

Complaints Received

I was unable to find any complaints, even on their active forum. Players are encouraged to give feedback and make suggestions, and company reps respond quickly. They also post regular updates on new features and improvements, as well as promotions. 

Games are fair in that their Random Number Generator has been tested by iTech Labs and found to comply with relevant standards.

  

4. Prohibited Countries​

Before I move forward with the essence of my Black Chip Poker review, make sure you don’t play on this platform if you reside in one of the following countries:
 

 

**Black Chip Poker's software cannot be downloaded or used in the following U.S. states: Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, or Washington. To the best of our knowledge, all other states can use Black Chip Poker. 
 
 

5. Casino Features 7.50/10

Black Chip Poker offers an impressive selection of casino games, though not as many as some other sites. I was a little confused looking for them all because there are three different casinos that you are playing in!

The desktop app makes it easy to access the casino, but clicking slots, casino, sports, or live dealer blackjack will open up a window in your web browser. 

The lobby when you play directly from the website will also open additional web pages for each game you click on. 

First, when you click on Casino Table Games in the lobby (labeled Casino in the app), you get a page with - you guessed it -  table games including baccarat, double exposure, blackjack, craps, roulette, and more. 

Once there you have a menu on the side that will also take you to a list of over 30 slot games such as Takes of Terror, Slot Madness, and Touchdown Frenzy. You can also access video poker, keno, and tournament games from this menu.
 

 
Here’s where I got a little confused. From the lobby, you also have a Slot Machine option that takes you to a page of yet more slot games. If you’re playing in the app, click 777 Slots Ride Along to access these games.
 

 

Here you’ll find games like Al Capone, Gold & Glory, Forever Hot and more. These games have bright, appealing graphics and exciting sounds to keep you playing for hours!

If that’s not enough, go back to the lobby and click on Live Dealer Blackjack. The top menu will show another Slots tab that takes you to 24 MORE slots games like A Night with Cleo, 5 Times Vegas, and more. Here you’ll find 5 Bingo games, and 14 more table games, too! 
 

This adds up to a pretty nice selection, but it seems like it would be much simpler if they were all available in one spot. After all, I found the third section accidentally. If I came just to play slots I would have liked to have access to all of them at one time instead of going on an Easter egg hunt for them.

Having access to three different casinos is awesome but trying to figure out where they are is not.
 
 

6. Sportsbook Features 8.50/10

If you love betting on sports, Black Chip Poker offers an excellent portfolio of sports events that you can bet on. 

All the usual sports including basketball, American football, boxing, MMA, and many more. 

Additionally, you can bet on eSports, sports sims, elections, and entertainment events. They also offer sports futures and live betting.

In all, there are 22 categories, including futures.
 

You’ll find an awesome variety of wager types offered by Black Chip Poker. There are sides, totals, parlays, teasers, if-bets, reverses, futures, and lots more.

Along with the sportsbook, Black Chip Poker offers a racebook if you enjoy betting on the horses. Racebook odds are based on the official track odds, not house odds. 
 

The racebook allows you to bet on win, place, show, exactas, daily doubles, quinellas, trifectas, superfectas, pick 3, pick 4, and house Qs. So many options!
 
 

7. Poker Features 8.50/10

Black Chip Poker offers an excellent portfolio of poker games, as one would expect from a site with “poker” in the name. 

There is: 

• Hold ‘em -  no limit, fixed limit, and pot limit
• Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo
• 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
• Blitz Poker
• Sit & Go tournaments
• Tournaments - They combine player pools from all three casinos for bigger prize pools.

​Tournaments include those with guaranteed prize pools. You can also enter satellite tournaments where winners get promoted to a bigger tournament, eventually leading you to guaranteed prizes if you keep moving further.

You also have the option of creating private tournaments if you just want to play with a select group of people.

The Venom tournament is known as the biggest progressive knock-out tournament in online poker with $5 million guaranteed. The Beast is a progressive points race that costs nothing to enter. Every cash table competes each week for the chance to win cash. Points are based on stake levels, not if you win or lose.

Stakes vary from $.05 to $50 with pots ranging from $4 to over $500. Buy-ins start at under a dollar for cash games, freerolls, and events.

You’ll also find a wide range of some of the biggest tournaments anywhere, including:

• Progressive Knockout
• Final Table Experience
• Rebuy Tournaments
• On-Demand Tournaments
• Knockout
• Time-Based
• Multi-Table
• All-in-or-Fold
• Flip
• Re-Entry

Black Chip Poker also offers $3.8 million in weekly guarantees! Tournament payouts vary based on type, but most pay 12% to 16% of the field.

 

8. Player Experience 8.00/10

Platform Features and Functionalities

Black Chip Poker has a mobile app as well as a desktop client for easy accessibility anywhere you want to play. It’s compatible on PC or Mac, Android or iOS. 

You can play on your computer with the desktop client, but when you click on slots, live dealer blackjack, sports, or casino, it automatically opens a window in your web browser.
 

Design and Appearance

The feel of the site overall is clean and simple, but it has almost a generic feel if you’re playing on your computer. On the other hand, if you’re playing on your mobile device, it looks great.

While live dealer blackjack is found in the lobby under the ingenious title of Live Dealer Blackjack, slots and table games are in several locations. Sports are in the lobby under Sports, so at least that is simple and to the point.
 

Registration Process

Black Chip Poker offers easy registration, as do most sites. Unfortunately, they don’t offer anonymous play. To make a deposit and start playing, you must give your personal information. 

 

9. Welcome Bonus

You’ll get a pretty sweet welcome bonus when you make your first deposit at Black Chip Poker. You receive a 100% first deposit bonus of up to $2000! You must make a minimum of a $25 deposit to be eligible for this bonus.

There is no need for a bonus code. As soon as you make your deposit, the bonus is activated.
 

Terms of the welcome bonus

Include:

• Only one first-time deposit bonus per player.
• Minimum deposit to qualify is $25.
• New players must be on a computer that has not been used to play Black Chip Poker previously.
• Bonus will be paid out in increments of $1 for every 27.5 award points earned.
• You have 60 days to play your bonus through, and you must release it before the 60 days are over to earn your bonus.

   

10. Promotions 8.50/10

Black Chip Poker also has plenty of promotions each month as well as an Elite loyalty program and a 27% Rakeback program.

Promos include:

• The High Five.
• Million Dollar Jackpots
• The Venom PKO
• Multiple $50 freerolls every day!
• Bomb Pots drop 4 times per hour at 6 max tables and 4 times per hour at 9 max tables.
• The Beast. The first progressive points race held weekly with 1600 winners each week!
• Sit and Crush 

 

Elite Benefits Program

The Elite Benefits Program has six different levels based on how many Benefit Points, or BPs, you earn each month. For every $1 in tournament fees paid, you earn 5.5 BPs. Your BP counter is set to zero on January 1st of each year.

You start at the Player level as soon as you play your first real money hand in any ring game or tournament. Start earning points as soon as you start playing and start unlocking Achievement Rewards that are available when you’ve earned enough points. 

Once you have 750 BPs in a calendar month, you level up to Rounder. At this level, you’ll get higher bonuses and Achievement Rewards. You’ll have earned enough Player Points for a $50 cash reward and now receive 1.5 Player Points (PPs) for every Benefit Point (BPs) you earn. 

When you earn 3000 BPs in one calendar month, you level up to Grinder. At this level, you get 2 PPs for each BP you earn. You can also purchase cash rewards worth $300.

The next level is Veteran, and you reach this level when you have earned 7500 Bps in one calendar month. Here you earn 2.5 PPs for each BP you earn, and you can purchase $600 worth of cash rewards as well as qualifying to redeem PPs for Black Chip Poker sponsored live events.

The fifth level is Legend, and you get to this level when you earn 100,000 BPs. You get 3.5 PPs for every BP and $1,500 and $4,000 cash rewards are available for purchase.

Finally, there is Icon. If you can rack up 1,000,000 or more BPs in one calendar year, you are, indeed, an Icon. You have the benefit of earning 5 PPs for every BP. You’re also eligible for more big cash rewards!
 

Rakeback Program

Black Chip Poker also offers a 27% Rakeback program. All new players start in the Elite program but can email support and request to switch to the Rakeback program instead. 

When you do this, the Loyalty section under Rewards on your account page will say Rakeback instead. Clicking on this, you’ll see your accrued Rakeback. Then you can just click Redeem.

Rakeback is figured by adding the Ring Rake and Tournament fees, then subtracting any bonuses earned out. 
 

11. Customer Service 9.00/10

Black Chip Poker’s customer service is good. They have a chatbox that is in beta right now and can only answer certain questions. Those that it cannot answer, it forwards to customer service at your request. You should receive a response within a couple of days. 

A support contact page is also available. On this page, you’ll find tons of videos with tutorials, answers to account questions, troubleshooting, and more. 

If you can’t find the answer to your question, just fill out the contact form and send it to them. You should receive a reply within a few days.

Another outstanding feature is the forum. There you can talk with other players, and you can also have your questions or issues addressed by a company rep. 

This is an active forum with regular updates and information, so you may get your questions answered here faster than you would by emailing customer service.
 
 

12. Payments 9.00/10

Black Chip Poker allows several deposit options. Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency is what they recommend because it is faster, only has a small miner’s fee, and allows unlimited deposits. 
 

Deposits

The deposit methods available on Black Chip Poker are:

There are nearly 70 crypto options available to make your deposit! That’s a tremendous number of options, but if you don’t see yours listed, Black Chip Poker encourages you to suggest others.

Crypto deposits can take anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes. A minimum crypto deposit of $10 is required, with a maximum deposit of $25,000.

If you’re having trouble making your first deposit, you can use the person-to-person transfer and have a friend transfer your first deposit. You’ll still receive the first deposit Welcome Package as if you had made a regular deposit.

The person to person minimum deposit is $50 with a maximum of $500. The e-Wallet minimum is $10 with a maximum of $25,000. Credit and debit card deposit requirements vary based on card type and country.

I asked customer service if they could specify which credit cards and eWallets were acceptable. They stated that it depends on the player’s region and the options will show up when players access the cashier.
 

Withdrawals

The withdrawal methods available on Black Chip Poker are:

 

Maximum Payouts

Bitcoin is the fastest payout option with a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $10,000. You are allowed one payout per day, with a maximum of five a week using this option.

If you use an eWallet to make your deposit, your payout will go back to the same eWallet. The minimum payout is $50. 

The minimum check payout is $100, up to $3000, once per week. One check will be sent for free every 30 days. Additional checks requested will have a fee of $65 each.

MoneyGram transfers have a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $350 and are allowed once a week. A fee of $60 to $70 will be deducted from your poker balance when your payout is processed.
 

Payout Speed

Most withdrawals take only minutes, however, if you request a check, it could take up to eight weeks for you to receive it. 
 
 

13. Sites like Black Chip Poker

 

Black Chip Poker Review: Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this review of Black Chip Poker. 

What is the best feature of Black Chip Poker, in your opinion? What does the platform need to improve?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!