Last updated: April 2026 — James Whitfield, Hibirminghamairport
```htmlAt Hibirminghamairport (hibirminghamairport.co.uk), every online poker site review you read has been personally researched, tested, and written by James Whitfield. This page explains exactly how we arrive at our scores, what we look for, and why you can trust our recommendations when choosing where to play poker online in the UK in 2026.
We believe you deserve complete transparency. That means telling you not just what we think of a site, but how we reached that conclusion. Below you will find a full breakdown of our step-by-step process, our weighted scoring criteria, and the safeguards we put in place to keep our reviews independent.
James Whitfield creates a real player account on every site he reviews, using his own personal details. He completes the full KYC (Know Your Customer) verification process, just as any UK player would. This gives him first-hand experience of how smooth or frustrating the sign-up journey really is.
Before anything else, James verifies the site's licensing status directly with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). If a site does not hold a valid UKGC licence, it will not be recommended on Hibirminghamairport, regardless of any other qualities it may have. He also checks for secondary licences from bodies such as the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
James makes real deposits using multiple payment methods available to UK players, including debit cards, e-wallets, and faster bank transfers. He then requests a withdrawal and times how long it takes to arrive. This is not a theoretical exercise — real money is placed at risk during every review.
James plays actual cash games, tournaments, and sit-and-go formats available on each site. He assesses software performance, table variety, player traffic at different times of day, and the overall quality of the poker experience.
James reads the full terms and conditions of every welcome bonus and ongoing promotion. He pays particular attention to wagering requirements, expiry dates, game restrictions, and maximum withdrawal limits. Where possible, he attempts to claim and clear a bonus himself.
James contacts the customer support team through all available channels — live chat, email, and telephone where offered. He asks both simple and complex questions and records response times and the quality of answers received.
James tests each site's mobile offering on both iOS and Android devices. He evaluates the quality of any dedicated app, as well as the browser-based mobile experience, checking for ease of navigation, game loading speeds, and stability.
Only after completing all of the above stages does James write his review. Scores are calculated using the weighted criteria set out below. No site is given a score before testing is complete.
Every poker site reviewed on Hibirminghamairport is scored out of 10 in six key categories. Each category carries a different weighting to reflect its importance to UK players. The final score is a weighted average across all six areas.
| Category | Weighting | What We Assess |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing and Safety | 25% | UKGC licence validity, responsible gambling tools, data security, SSL encryption, player fund protection |
| Bonuses and Promotions | 20% | Welcome bonus value, fairness of wagering requirements, ongoing promotions, loyalty rewards, clarity of terms |
| Game Selection | 20% | Poker variants available, tournament schedule, cash game traffic, software quality, live dealer poker |
| Payment Methods | 15% | Deposit and withdrawal options, processing speeds, fees, minimum and maximum limits |
| Customer Support | 10% | Availability hours, response time, quality of answers, number of contact channels |
| Mobile Experience | 10% | App quality, browser compatibility, game range on mobile, ease of navigation |
We score each site on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 represents the best possible experience. Here is how to interpret our scores:
Independence is fundamental to everything we do. Here is how we protect the integrity of our reviews:
James Whitfield is the founder, author, and lead reviewer at Hibirminghamairport. With over a decade of experience playing and analysing online poker in the UK market, James brings both professional knowledge and genuine player perspective to every review. His approach is rooted in honest, first-hand testing — he plays real money games on every site he covers, so his recommendations are always grounded in actual experience rather than marketing materials or secondhand