Poker in California: the world's biggest cardrooms, no online poker yet

California is the largest poker market in the world by tables and players, and the one that has never managed to legalise online poker: bill after bill has died in Sacramento over tribal, cardroom and racetrack interests. So Californians play live, in the enormous cardrooms of Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and online through sweepstakes rooms. This page covers the law, the rooms and the events.

Is online poker legal in California?

No regulated real-money online poker exists in California, and after a string of failed bills between 2008 and 2016 none is on the table. Sweepstakes poker is the alternative: ClubWPT Gold accepts California residents from 18, playing with Gold Coins and redeeming Sweeps Coins for prizes with no purchase necessary. Offshore sites operate outside state law and we do not list them. This is general information, not legal advice.

Live poker in California

California's cardrooms cannot bank games, which makes them pure poker houses. Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, with more than 240 tables, is the largest cardroom in the world and hosts the WPT LA Poker Classic; The Bicycle Hotel & Casino in Bell Gardens is home of Live at the Bike and the Legends of Poker; Hustler Casino in Gardena streams the biggest televised cash games in America; and Bay 101 in San Jose hosts the WPT Shooting Star, the only bounty main event on the tour. Tribal casinos such as Thunder Valley near Sacramento, Pechanga and Graton add tournament series of their own. The minimum age at cardrooms is 21.

Events

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star (October), the WPT LA Poker Classic at Commerce (January–March), the Legends of Poker at The Bike (late summer) and the WPT Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley are the state's marquee stops. Our venue pages cover Commerce, The Bike and Bay 101.