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Article Listing - Online Poker
Online Poker
To play online means your game is set up in a virtual environment but your opponents are for real. All that is needed to play is a computer and an internet connection. The popularity of online poker has become incredibly popular during the last years. There are hundreds of thousand of players in the world online battling it out every day.
The volume of people playing poker has increased with more than 2000 % the last years and there are no signs of a decline yet. The biggest factors behind the rise in poker's popularity are the televised poker shows and online poker player's successes in live tournaments, foremost Chris Moneymaker who won the World Series of Poker after having qualified through an online satellite for only $39.
Online poker has several advantages, some of them are; accessibility 24/7, large variety of games, fast speed, possibility to play at multiple tables, lower costs (rake), no tip, no travels, micro-limits and heads-up play.
Some of the advantages with live play are; it's social and fun, the game feeling is more genuine when holding the cards and playing against real opponents and there's the possibility of reading your opponents at the table. When playing high stakes against good opponents does reading them in difficult situations become one of the key skills.
Poker is also a game that is easy to learn. There are only a few set of rules to get started and the short term luck factor is big enough to make beginners play against experienced players, something that wouldn't work in a game like chess for example.
But poker is a deceptive game for beginners. Poker is a skill game and luck factor will disappear over time. In the end it's the best players that will win all the money.
Choosing Poker room
There are many poker rooms to choose from, in reality it is a number of networks that many poker rooms are a part of. There approximately exist 30-35 networks and over 100 poker rooms connected with those. When the poker rooms are one the same network they use the same software (client) and share the same players but are operated by different corporations. There are some big independents like Pokerstars and Ultimate Bet but most rooms belong to a network and have sister sites.
There are some useful things to think about when choosing poker room.
- The skill of the players varies a lot between sites. This makes it much easier to win on some sites.
- The variety of the games varies between rooms. Differences can be the table stakes, number of players allowed at the table and other games than Texas Hold'em that is offered.
- The value of bonuses that the poker room offers their players. This includes sign-up bonuses, loyalty bonuses, re-load bonuses and free-rolls.
- The technology behind the poker room. Playability, graphics and feel varies between poker rooms.
- The competence of the people managing the card room. It means a lot if cash-outs are fast and the staff helpful.
To find the right poker room you might have to try 4-5 before finding the right one. Playing on several rooms is also a good idea for making money from sign-up bonuses. While you test the site you can release a bonus and then decide if the site is worth continue playing at.