Online poker is the game of poker played online. It's been partly accountable for a dramatic increase in the range of poker players worldwide. In 2005, revenues from online poker were estimated at US$ 200 million monthly.
Traditional (or "brick and mortar", B&M, live) venues for playing poker, for example casinos and poker rooms, may be intimidating for novice players and also are often located in geographically disparate locations. Moreover, brick and mortar casinos are reluctant to promote poker because it is difficult for them to benefit from it. However the rake, or time charge, of traditional casinos is usually high, the opportunity costs of running a poker room are even higher. Local casinos often make much more money by removing poker rooms and adding more slot machines.
Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper since they have much smaller overhead costs. For instance, adding another table won't take up valuable space like it might for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1˘) and often offer poker freeroll tournaments (where there's no entry fee), attracting beginners.
Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. On the contrary, they have collusion detection abilities that don't exist in local casinos. As an example, online poker room security employees can look-at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever understanding the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses so that you can prevent players at the exact same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the exact same tables.
Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the type of IRC poker. Shortly thereafter Planet Poker was the very first online cardroom to offer real money games. Author Mike Caro was one of the founders and also the "face" of Planet Poker.
The key online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain admission to real life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on PokerStars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event causing shock within the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured 3 times as many players than in 2003. At least four players within the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg "Fossilman" Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.
To play online poker it is important to download software and install it on your computer. It's graphics is normally good, even though those running on java-based programs are never that good. It is also better to set a budget when preparing to play on-line poker; this is going to help you avoid unnecessary expenses. Try to learn online poker money management; this is a good way of developing your skills as a on-line poker player.
Finally understand that to play poker on-line you will need to be smart. Let your common sense prevail. You should think with mind and not your cash. Just take it easy and also have fun.
Traditional (or "brick and mortar", B&M, live) venues for playing poker, for example casinos and poker rooms, may be intimidating for novice players and also are often located in geographically disparate locations. Moreover, brick and mortar casinos are reluctant to promote poker because it is difficult for them to benefit from it. However the rake, or time charge, of traditional casinos is usually high, the opportunity costs of running a poker room are even higher. Local casinos often make much more money by removing poker rooms and adding more slot machines.
Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper since they have much smaller overhead costs. For instance, adding another table won't take up valuable space like it might for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1˘) and often offer poker freeroll tournaments (where there's no entry fee), attracting beginners.
Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. On the contrary, they have collusion detection abilities that don't exist in local casinos. As an example, online poker room security employees can look-at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever understanding the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses so that you can prevent players at the exact same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the exact same tables.
Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the type of IRC poker. Shortly thereafter Planet Poker was the very first online cardroom to offer real money games. Author Mike Caro was one of the founders and also the "face" of Planet Poker.
The key online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain admission to real life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on PokerStars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event causing shock within the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured 3 times as many players than in 2003. At least four players within the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg "Fossilman" Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.
To play online poker it is important to download software and install it on your computer. It's graphics is normally good, even though those running on java-based programs are never that good. It is also better to set a budget when preparing to play on-line poker; this is going to help you avoid unnecessary expenses. Try to learn online poker money management; this is a good way of developing your skills as a on-line poker player.
Finally understand that to play poker on-line you will need to be smart. Let your common sense prevail. You should think with mind and not your cash. Just take it easy and also have fun.