What is Online Poker?

Online poker is one of the fastest growing pass times amongst adults around the world today. Professional players, amateurs or just curious surfers wondering what all the fuss is about can be found playing their favourite poker variant online, 24 hours a day.

Online poker began back in the late 1990's as the internet boom was at it's peak, choices of poker rooms in these early days were limited, the now huge Party Poker and PokerStars being the early pioneers of poker over the internet, however, many were soon to catch on to this ever growing craze including Cryptologic who now supply the poker room software for UK bookmaker giants such as William Hill, UKBetting and Betfair as well as many others around the world. Many will claim to be the oldest online poker room to attract new customers, there are many conflicting reports on really started it all though.

So, why would a poker player go online rather than to a card room in a casino? There are many benefits to playing online, nearly all poker rooms offer an incentive to play on their platform, from being paid per hour to play to a straight forward signup bonus of 10, 20, 50 or even 100% of your first deposit, there aren't a great many card rooms across the world that offer those kind of incentives to sit down and play a couple of hours of your favourite game. If you're a non-smoker then playing online means not having to put up with clouds of choking fumes as you try to bluff your opponent through the fog of cigarette smoke. You don't have to drive for 5 hours to get to online poker either, just switch on your computer, log in and start playing. Still learning? Then you've no embarrassment to be fearful of online, nobody can see your face through a PC monitor.

To get started in online poker you'll need to select a poker room to play in, perhaps one with a good signup bonus. Some of the larger signup bonuses may look attractive, so do read the small print, you may have to play for a while before you are credited any bonus funds. If you have absolutely no poker experience then choose a poker room that allows you to play for free for as long as you like, this way you can find your feet and learn the rules without it costing you any money. Party Poker and Inter Poker are great places for a "poker newbie" to start out at; there are plenty of low stake areas and good bonuses at those two.

How about cheating, is your money safe? If you're worried about others "hacking" into the poker room, you needn't be, poker room providers have extremely good security as you would expect of any company holding credit/debit card and address information about it's customers. If, in the very unlikely event somebody managed to "hack in" to the poker room you play at, in an attempt to see what cards are about to be dealt for example, he/she would be disappointed as the poker software generates cards "on the fly" meaning information about future events (cards in this case) is not stored anywhere and only provided when it is required. For your personal security you should always run a firewall, especially if you have a broadband connection which is always online, this should block any unwanted intruders from your machine. Almost all poker rooms will have a page on their web site explaining how their random number generator works, it's often worthwhile to read through this to set your mind at ease if you are concerned about the fairness of the game. Many poker rooms will have their random number generator checked independently by a trusted financial organisation. Online poker is not legal throughout every country in the world, always check your local laws before playing.

Professional poker players have taken to the internet in number as higher stakes and bigger prizes become available, many now play as many hours online as they would in a casino poker room, if not more! The benefits of online play to the professional are almost the same as everybody else, no need for traveling, comfort of their own home, plenty of games to choose from 24 hours a day. In the eyes of some professionals the standard of online play can be much worse than in their local casino haunts, thus providing a good opportunity to increase their income and profits for less effort. If you play for any period of time online, you are likely to run into a professional player, perhaps one you've seen in WPT or WSOP events on the television. Very few professionals do not play online, many have their own poker rooms where you can find celebrity players almost every night of the week, you may find Phil Ivey on Full Tilt Poker, Phil Hellmuth on Ultimate Bet or Gus Hansen on Poker Champs. Where else could you pit your witts against such stars of poker, with such ease, other than online?