Are you interested in playing poker online?

If you're familiar with gambling in casinos, playing poker online is essentially the same thing.

Unlike at a bricks and mortar casino, online you can play at more than one table at a time. So sometimes you can log into more than one poker site at a time, which means that you don't have to be as good a player to make the same amount of money.

But in some ways, online poker is a very different game. It's a lot faster, as there's no banter around the table.

In fact, at a casino you will be at a disadvantage because these people know all about body language. If you went to a casino and got a royal flush - it does happen occasionally - and your hands would be trembling so much that everyone realised something was up.

An interesting article about a user that play poker for a living.

"When I meet someone new and they ask what I do, I just say 'I play poker'.

I used to have more of a problem with it, not least because I'd end up explaining it at length, as people are often more interested in online poker than in talking about what they do.

I make about $40 an hour on average and play poker 30 hours a week - it's not quite a full-time job, and it leaves me time to do a bit of web consultancy, read a lot of books, and go off on holiday without having to arrange leave.

The most common mistake that beginners make is not folding [stopping betting on a weak hand] early enough. I had to get over that and learn to sit a hand out.

Even now, I'm constantly evaluating if I really know what I'm doing. But there's always days when I can do no wrong, when every bluff I make goes my way. I just have to treat each and every hand exactly like the one before.

I consider gambling as something to tide me over while I figure out what it is that I want to do next. So far it hasn't worked out quite as I'd hoped - having no direction isn't a great way to get direction - but it's been a wonderful vacation.

If I win a lot of money will I get paid? Are the poker rooms financially sound?

When you play online poker, you are not playing against the house. All the money you win comes from other players. The online poker rooms have nothing at stake in any of the games—the rooms simply sell chips to players before the game, and distribute money to the winners after the game. Because online poker rooms do not lose money when you win, you will get paid even if you win millions of dollars.

Is online poker just another form of online gambling?

Online poker is not the same as online gambling. Casino games such as craps, slots, or roulette are games of chance, where the odds are stacked in the casino’s favor. But when you play poker, you are playing against other players and not the casino. In poker, odds are the same for all players. What separate winners and loser is a matter of skill.

As Matt Damon said in Rounders, “Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY YEAR? What are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas?”

What are the advantages of playing online poker? How is online poker better than live games?

1. Lower rake and no tips - With virtually no overhead costs, online poker rooms have much lower rakes than real life poker rooms. Online poker room’s rakes are usually capped at 5% of the pot. Las Vegas and Atlantic City poker rooms can charge as high as 10-15%.
2. Tips for dealers and waitresses are another expense you have to pay when you play in live poker rooms. Generally you are expected to tip the dealers at least a dollar or two for each large pot you win. The lower cost of playing online definitely adds up in the long run, especially at the lower limit games.
3. More Hands per hour – Online poker rooms can deal out twice as many hands per hour as live poker rooms. Therefore, playing one hour of online poker is equivalent to playing two hours in a live game. The increased number of hands can double a good player’s winnings. In a live game, a good player can expect to win one big bet per hour. With twice as much action online, a good player can win twice as much in the same period of time.
4. Play Multiple Tables – Not only can online poker rooms deal more hands per hour, they also offer players the option of playing multiple tables. A good player can play profitably on two tables, thus doubling their winnings per hour. While playing two tables can double your winnings, this does not mean playing four tables will quadruple your winnings. There is a limit to how much information your brain can process. Regardless of how good they are, a player’s win rate will decline when they try to play more than four tables.
5. Wider selection of games – You can find any type of poker game online around the clock. In addition to popular poker games like Hold’em, Omaha, 7-Card Stud, and Draw poker, you will find other more obscure variations like Caribbean Stud, Panguingue, and Pineapple poker. You can play regular games, tournaments, heads up games, private games, or league games; you can play for free, for micro stakes as low as $.01/.02, or for millions of dollars.
6. Calculating pot odds and correct betting – When you play online poker, the poker software will tell you exactly how much money is in the pot, the amount other players are betting, and the maximum and minimum amount of bets you can make. For beginning players this is a relief, as they can learn the game without making embarrassing mistakes at a live table. For more advance players, they can utilize the information to make much more accurate pot odds calculations.
7. No dealer mistakes – Live poker dealers are human beings and they make mistakes like everyone else. Once in a while a human dealer will declare a wrong winner or muck the wrong cards. These mistakes never happen online.
8. Virtually no waiting time for Tables – The average waiting time for an online poker table is less than two minutes. At live card rooms, you could wait from 15 to 45 minutes for a table to open up.
9. Easier competition – Novices are intimidated to play live poker games because they are afraid of looking foolish in front of people. The anonymity of online poker attracts many first timers who are not familiar with even the most basic of poker strategies.
10. Bonuses – Due to their low overhead expenses, online poker rooms can afford to give away enticing bonuses for you to try out their websites. For more information, please see our bonuses section.
11. Play Money and Micro-limit games – Most online poker rooms offer free money games absolutely free of charge. These free money games use the exact same software interface as the real money games, thus giving beginners a realistic taste of the game. For beginning players, play money games is a great way to learn the basics. After a week of free games, a beginner can advance to micro-limit games, where only pennies are at stake.
12. Online poker rooms are a good place for meeting new people. All online poker rooms have chat boxes where you can talk to players from all over the world. Some of the newer rooms personalize the games by allowing players to supplement their avatar with their own images. Do not expect to make any lifelong friends however. While many players are friendly chatters, remember their primary goal is to win money.

What kind of computer do I need? What are the standard minimum system requirements?

Almost any Windows compatible computer purchased within the last four years will meet the requirements.

A typical system requirement for online poker rooms looks like this:

Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP

200MHz Pentium or faster CPU

At least 64MB of RAM

At least 20MB of free disk space

Generally, Macintosh and Linux computers are less widely supported. However, some poker software do support Macs or Linux machines running PC emulators such either SoftWindows or VirtualPC.

Can I trust the online poker rooms?

There are over 450 poker rooms on the internet and not all of them deserve your trust. Like any other industry, there are good apples and bad ones. The key to finding a trustworthy online poker room is making sure that the online poker room is regulated by independent auditors.