Poker has been a growing trend over decades, turning into the popular game that is the standard of Poker today. While Poker can be remembered to date back as far as the wild west and Mississippi riverboats, no one could have predicted what poker would eventually become and be accepted the way it has years later. With the explosion of televising the World Series Of Poker(WSOP), the game and events associated with poker was no longer for the elite professionals of the world. The ever so popular game of poker evolved from casinos and home games at the kitchen, to virtual online poker rooms that served the needs of players all around the world. Notably, some of the 1st poker rooms to offer real money games were Party Poker, PokerStars, and Planet Poker. With the growth of online poker play, PokerStars emerged to be one of the largest rooms ever to offer poker play online. Online Poker revenue grew from $82.7 million that was reported in the earlier years of 2001, and grew to over $2.4 billion by 2005. With millions of players from all around the world and literally hundred’s of online Poker Rooms, the industry doesn’t show any signing of slowing, and online poker revenue could soon grow over $100 billion a year.
Some Advantages Of Online Poker:
There are many differences of playing online poker compared to playing live poker at casinos or poker rooms. Some of the most obvious differences is that online poker takes out the reading of body language of a player. While many may claim this is one of the most important things when reading a player, there are still many other ways to read an opponent such as the way an online poker player plays. Paying attention to betting patterns, aggressive or non-aggressive play, and also the ability to take notes and stick to a certain player for the next time he may be at your online table. Another difference is that you can play poker from the comfort of your own home against millions around the world at any time of the day or night. You don’t have to wait until your friends next home game to play again. Online poker play offers the play to play more hands because the speed of play is much quicker than conventional poker rooms. Online poker play also allows players to enter multi player tournaments at really low stakes for the chance to win lots of money with small amount of money invested. For instance, online poker rooms offer players the chance to win a $10,000 seat into the WSOP main event, for possibly a few dollars staked. WSOP champion, Chris Moneymaker was noted to have won his seat into the main event and essentially winning the world title in 2003.
Also, you don’t have to have a huge bankroll to play poker online, as many online poker rooms offer players no matter what type of gambler you are, a room that’s affordable to play. Online poker rooms offer stakes as low as $.01/$.02 cent cash or ring games with multi table tournaments for a single penny for the most novice or small bankrolled player. On the other hand, online poker rooms also offer stakes for the high rollers which can find a game at almost any stake they want to play in the thousands per tournament or cash game. No matter what you can afford, you can find an online poker room offering any stake that suits your style of play.
Online Poker Promotions:
Unlike conventional poker rooms or home games, online poker sites offer promotions for players. These promotions come in many forms such as first deposit bonuses and even prizes. Pretty much all online poker sites offers some type of poker deposit bonus when you are uploading funds to a poker site. For example, if you deposit $100, you may be offered a deposit bonus of 100% of your deposit. This means that you will receive an additional $100 in bonus. Most bonuses have requirements such as playing so many hands or earning so much rake for the poker room before any bonus money is released into your account. This is usually typical of all poker rooms, but sometimes, online poker rooms offer “up Front” deposit bonuses which will be added to a players bankroll when they deposit up front, and can be played with right away.
Though a player may be able to play with these type of bonuses right away, most poker rooms will require a player to wager the bonus so many times, also referred to as a play through, before being allowed to withdraw money from the poker room. Many poker rooms also offer “re-load” bonuses for playing to top up their bankrolls. Online poker rooms also offer promotional prizes such as TV’s, laptops, cars, I-pods, and just about anything else you could think of. Online poker rooms offer such prizes to remain competitive among all the other online poker rooms and to keep players interested and happy. Also, many poker rooms offer cash prizes during play, such as the Merge Gaming Network, which offers a reward of 100x the big blind when playing cash games, if a player is lucky enough to hit a Royal Flush While playing. Many online poker rooms offer unique promotions each day, week, or month, to keep players interested and excited about playing with their poker rooms. Finding a poker room that suits your style of play and needs can be easily done when playing online.
Security:
Security of online poker rooms may make future players hesitate to jump at playing online at 1st, but online poker sites over the years have developed some of the most sophisticated collusion methods along with high tech encryption devices to ensure the highest levels of security available. Online poker rooms’ security encryptions are at the highest levels of many major banking institutions around the world. Online poker rooms review and update their current security measures frequently to make sure they maintain the most obtainable security methods available.