Yes, yes, you don’t really think about them until you have to fund your poker player account. This is pretty much the case with all poker players, so don’t feel bad if this fits your description. Payment methods, if it wasn’t for them, online poker looks good on paper only. Fortunately, we live in a different reality, where online payment methods come in abundance. But, are all of them as safe as they say? Is your money safe if you play poker online?
We’re going to discuss the pros and the cons, the features and the flaws of the best payment methods for online poker players. Now, this is not an ultimate list, and there’s no “one payment methods that fits all criteria”.
From Depositing to Withdrawing, Play Poker Online and Stay Safe
Before we unravel the “the good, the bad and the ugly”, let’s start with a more general advice and a few tips. Why? Because there have been reports in the past, how online poker players were targets of account theft, hacks, and in simple terms, they lost their money. Although many of you will say, “that can’t happen to me”, it can and it has happened to pro poker players. Here are some general tips that should keep mediocre scams and threats at bay:
• Join and play only at licensed Online Poker Rooms
• DO NOT provide your PERSONAL and/or BANKING details in E-mails
• Don’t SHARE Your Player Account and Don’t SHARE Your Payment Method
These 3 should remove the threat from mediocre scammers. However, there’s always the possibility that a malicious hacker got bored and went for the cash of online poker players. It can happen, but highly unlikely. When in doubt, question everything! You received a suspicious email? Google it! Chances are, somebody has already reported it. You don’t want to be in the same basket with the pro online poker players who had their Skrill accounts hacked!
What’s Important to You as an Online Poker Player?
Now, with that said, what do you value as an online poker player? What’s important to YOU besides security? Most likely, you haven’t really thought about it. In our experience, there are several rather important criteria, that act like hygiene factors, meaning if they’re not met, they are not useful at all.
• Low Fees – This is rather obvious. In spite of the high competition, some payment providers are still operating with high fees. They are able to profit thanks to strong and aggressive marketing. Of course, these payment providers also come with better customer support. For example, PayPal is a poker player favorite, but PayPal is also used in online casinos and for online sports betting, thanks to its low fees and outstanding reputation.
• Fast Processing – Unless you deposit via Bank Wire or Direct Bank Transfer, deposits are instant. Fast processing becomes important once you want your 
money out, once you want to withdraw. This is when you realize there are a ton of terms that you should comply to, provide documents, proof of residence, etc., but you also have to wait for the transaction to go through the pending and transaction period. The pending period is standard for all payment methods, and largely depends on the operator’s ability to deliver fast payouts. However, the transaction period depends entirely on the payment provider. E-wallets steal the spotlight here. No wonder they’re a favorite.
• Convenience – Although the differences regarding this particular point have been brought to a bare minimum, there still are differences! The way you load your account, the way you withdraw, and what you have to do to get your money out of the poker site in your wallet. This attributes to convenience, or inconvenience.
• Accessibility – Is it easy to open an account with a given payment provider? Is it country specific? If you’re constantly on the move, like many poker players are, it’s best to go with an internationally available payment method. We know you like your national flagship payment provider, but sometimes it’s better to go global.
• Availability – Accessibility is how easy it is for you to start using the service of a given payment provider. Availability means where you can you use these services. Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, they’re the go-to e-wallets. However, usually, if you’re dealing with a recently established poker site, you might have to opt for credit and/or debit cards. Nevertheless, this is extremely rare.
• Versatility – What can the payment provider do for you, that others cannot? Where can you use it other than poker sites? Can you make other purchases online, besides depositing and withdrawing from poker sites? Sure, there are
To reiterate, security and privacy protection are also important, but we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. After all, this entire article is about security. Please, next time, when you’re thinking of switching to a different payment method, or you just want to evaluate your current payment method, consider the aforementioned points we made. It’s best to do this before you deposit, because online businesses in general are not very fond of this. They like to keep it one payment method per customer, or in our case, one payment method per online poker player. Control, control, control.
What Are the Best Payment Options for Online Poker Players?
We already mentioned a few of them, but we can’t point out only one payment method that can meet the needs of all online poker players. After all, your location and your poker playing habits are relevant. We can, however, deal with a couple dilemmas, that many poker players have been into.
• E-wallets – PayPal better than Skrill PayPal works differently. It’s proven to be safer, especially following the reports that pro poker players were target of Skrill hacks. Not only that, but PayPal is more cost efficient, which in the long run can become a significant amount.
• Credit Cards – VISA better than MasterCard If you have to choose between VISA or MasterCard, go for VISA. Due to its policy, MasterCard doesn’t support withdrawals in all countries, whereas VISA is almost a universal payment method as far as online gaming and online poker thrills go.
Direct online banking methods are also reliable, but we can’t point out two or three of them, because most of them are available in certain markets only. Chances are, you’re familiar with what your national go-to online banking payment provider is.
The Online Poker Community Without E-Wallets 
In all honesty, we can’t imagine it. We’ve come a long way to have efficient and effective poker products and services, and probably one of the pillars is the fast paced development in the financial industry, especially online payment providers.
E-wallets are a crucial component of the overall puzzle, and if it wasn’t for them, credit and debit cards would be a monopoly, charging more, taking more time to complete the transactions and so on. This way, even the credit card withdrawals are brought to the mandatory minimum. Sure, there have been account thefts, but so have been credit card information thefts. The damage is way bigger when a credit card gets hacked.
Any removal of e-wallets from the online poker scene won’t affect the costs in general, but it will definitely extend the withdrawal times, which has to be duly noted. Having more payment providers competing is healthy for the community!
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