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One of Americaās hottest social casinos just cranked up the heat. Stake.us has officially launched Stake Poker ā a free-to-play poker game available to players in 44 states. But is it any good?
Well, Iāve been testing it out pretty much non-stop recently, and I have to say ā itās a hoot. While the game looks simple on the surface, players have several gameplay modes to choose from, ranging from rapid tournaments to āRabbit Huntingā, and the graphics and loading times are awesome, too. Oh, and thereās a huge bonus up-for-grabs. Ace.
Poker games are incredibly rare at free-to-play social casinos, so a weird mix of surprise and curiosity struck me when Stake.us unveiled their latest poker offering. By the time Iād signed up and played a few rounds for myself, I was seriously impressed, too.
Head to the brandās game pages and at first glance, Stake us Poker looks like just one game. But as I said in my intro, thereās actually a lot more to it than that.
You see, once you actually click through to play, youāll be offered a choice of several different gaming modes to suit all different tastes and ability levels.
Before you get that far, my Stake.us poker review found that players will be invited to choose between Texas Holdāem and Omaha-style poker. From there, you can sub-select any of the following modes, and more:
Game mode | How it works / special features |
---|---|
Bomb Pot | Special game rounds are initiated once every random number of hands. |
Rapid Ring Games | Once you fold, youāll automatically be moved to a new table, where seats move at random. |
Lucky One Hand | An exclusive one hand tournament mode is activated, where each player must always go all-in every round. |
Rapid Tournaments | Players must move to another table each time āFast Foldā is selected. |
Rabbit Hunting | Players get a sneak peek at potential other community cards that could have been drawn. |
So, what impressed me most here was the sheer amount of options Stake.us has put on the table. But it doesnāt end there. You see, thereās also an exclusive Stake.us poker bonus you guys can claim and play on this game, as well as others. Hereās how it works.
The brandās latest and greatest bonus isnāt specifically a poker offer, but it is playable on the siteās brand-spanking-new poker game.
Basically, by registering a new account and entering the Stake.us poker promo code āGBHSOCIALā, those of you in eligible states can qualify for a hearty mix of $55 worth of Stake Cash (SC), 260,000 Gold Coins (GC) and 5% rakeback on all your social casino game losses.
Whether or not youāve played at Stake.us before, nowās probably the time to remind you that Stake.us poker is not a real money casino game. Much like all the other games offered by this social casino, itās a free-to-play, virtual-coin powered game thatās here just for your entertainment.
But what are the ins and outs of the bonus? Well, my recent Stake.us bonus review runs through these in detail. Actually claiming the offer is pretty straightforward, though, youāll just need to:
Before you approach your first table, youāre going to need to know a thing or two about how games at Stake.us work. As I said before, this is a social casino, meaning all games are powered by online-only virtual tokens ā known at Stake.us as Stake Cash (SC) and Gold Coins (GC).
Iāve put together a separate Stake.us review that contains everything you need to know about these. But hereās a quick refresher:
Virtual token type | How it works |
---|---|
Stake Cash (SC) | SC can be entered into sweepstakes games and tournaments. Itās also redeemable for cash prizes and other real-world goodies if you build up a big enough SC balance. |
Gold Coins (GC) | GC is an āentertainment-onlyā coin thatās played purely for fun. Itās never prize-exchangeable, Iām afraid. |
Before redeeming my Stake.us poker promo code and giving the brandās latest game a go, itās important to note that, at the time of writing, Poker is only playable using GC.
This means that at the time of writing, the game can only be played using for-fun-only virtual coins ā i.e., you wonāt be able to play using prize-redeemable SC. Aside from this, standard rules for either Texas Holdā Em or Omaha, depending on your selection, will apply.
Stake.usā new poker game is just that ā itās new. This means that, at the moment, itās shrouded by a mist of uncertainty.
Having said that, the majority of games on offer at Stake.us are playable using both GC and SC and thereās a fair chance Stake Poker will start to follow suit if it attracts enough player numbers in the days, weeks and months ahead.
And with a whopping 260,000 GC up-for-grabs as part of my latest bonus offer, thereās never been a better time to try out the game in GC-mode than right now.
As the siteās Poker game is currently only playable in GC-mode, this is also a no, Iām afraid. However, the generous $55 worth of SC thatās up-for-grabs as part of my latest promo code offer is playable on more than 2,000 other different kinds of Stake.us games.
The brandās portfolio is huge and varied, comprising state-of-the-art slots and jackpots sourced from software heavy-hitters like Pragmatic Play, sitting alongside totally unique āStake Originalsā titles that youāll only ever find at this social casino.
Whether you want to go head-to-head with other American gamers via leaderboards on classic slots like Sweet Bonanza, or youād rather follow the highs and lows of a simulated stock market crash with Stake Crash, there are a ton of game options to players who favor competitive SC tournaments.
And once you accumulate enough SC by playing at these games, the process for redeeming them for real-world prizes is really straightforward. You just need to:
At the time of writing, Stake.us is legally available to players in 44 US states ā which means the Stake.us Poker game can be played by any of you guys who reside in these very same Stake.us-friendly regions. The only states deemed off-limits, are:
Social casino poker games arenāt massively common, but Iāve a strong feeling Stake.usā latest will be a trend-setter. During my own tests, the game certainly offered great graphics, fast gameplay and a seamless experience regardless of which devices I threw at it, thanks to Stake.usā beautifully optimized, mobile-friendly site.
What impressed me most about the game, though, was its excellent variety of game modes and all-round approachability for players of differing experience levels. The modes and speeds on offer ensure beginners and hardcore card sharks alike will feel right at home, itās just a shame that the game only seems to support GC coins for the time being. Though who knows when this might change, eh?
Not many social casinos serve-up poker games, but Iām a big fan of the latest poker offering from Stake.us. The gameās available in Texas Holdāem or Omaha form, with as many as 10 different more specialized game modes. Find out what you can expect from Stake.usā ever-expanding game portfolio with my latest review of this super-fun social casino brand.
āRiTā or āRun it Twiceā is a special poker mode where players will need to create a hand in two separate card boards simultaneously. Basically, any GC played go into a prize pot, which will be distributed to whichever player holds the best hand for both boards. Find out more about Stake.usā latest games with my deep-dive social casino reviews.
There are two tiers of virtual tokens youāll need to get your head around to play at Stake.usā social casino games. SC or āStake Cashā is a prize-redeemable sweepstakes currency that can sometimes be exchanged for cash prizes and other real-world goodies. Discover how this works with my latest sweepstakes gaming guides.
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