Online Poker

Internet Poker and Texas Holdem

Online poker has become mainstream in the world of professional gambling.

Gamblers who were primarily online poker players have won the most prestigious and most profitable poker tournament in the world, the World Series of Poker. Famous poker professionals endorse online poker rooms. Some poker celebrities have partnered in starting their own online poker sites. The online poker scene is thriving at the moment.

The internet is a boon to the average poker player. Most gamblers don't live within an hour of a casino. Making a trip to gamble legally is often a special event, not an everyday occurrence. The player has to play in the local poker night or let his skills get rusty.

Texas Hold 'Em Worldwide

Online poker allows anyone to turn on their computer and be playing Texas Holdem for real money within five minutes. As internet poker has become more widespread, online poker rooms have begun to offer a greater variety of poker games and poker events.

Most internet poker rooms offer dozens of tournaments over the course of a week, as well as sit-and-go tournaments designed for poker players without a whole lot of time to gamble.

Online Poker Tables

When you sign up for an online poker game, you are placed at a simulated poker table. Each player is placed in a specific order around the table. Each has his or her own character icon, with their chip stack printing on the screen below their icon. The online dealer will be facing out of the screen.

Internet poker games are played just live you would play poker at live casino. It's actually a little less confusing for first-timers, because the computer prompts you when it is your turn to play.

Online casino software will show the player a pop up, usually with three options. You can fold, call or raise. If you raise, you type in the amount you raise the bet. All you have to do is point and click.

Online Poker Chats

Also, online Texas Hold 'Em games have chat features, so you can communicate with your opponents. If you are the sort who wants to make friends around the poker table, you can do it in online poker. If you want to trash talk or goad your opponents, that's an option, too. Internet poker allows a player greater freedom to create a "Character" than you would be able to live, all behind a veil of safe anonymity.

Online Poker Entry Fees

You'll be able to find pots and blinds to match your bank account. Most online poker rooms have hundreds of games taking place at once. These are set for all kinds of games, from Texas Holdem to 7-Card Stud to 5-Card Draw to Omaha and even Razz.

You'll find games with entry fees ranging from $1 to several hundred dollars. The prizes are commensurate with your entry fee. You'll find games with blinds and pot limits to match your online poker tastes, as well.

Freeroll Tournaments

Freerolls are poker tournaments with no entry fee. You play for free. Often, free roll tournaments allow you the winner free entry into a paid tournament. As long as you keep winning, a gambler can play for larger prizes. Most any online poker room is going to offer freerolls.

Sit and Go Poker Tournaments

A "sit and go" tournament is an online poker tournament with a set number of players. Once the maximum number of players have signed up for the game, the sit and go tournament begins. Most sit-and-go events have a small number of contestants, likely only 10. In other words, a sit and go poker event is likely a one-table event with ten players at the table.

The Sit and Go poker tournament is meant for players who want a quick game of poker, but who want a conclusion to their session. SitandGo poker allows for a winner to be quickly decided. You'll often have a winner in under an hour, depending on how quickly the blinds are raised.

Satellite Events

Like the freeroll tournaments, there are also satellite events which qualify you for another tournament. You might sign up for a $30 event and win it. You get the prize money as well as automatic entry into a $300 poker event. If you win that, you win the prize and get free entry into a $3000 entry fee event.

There are even online poker events which qualify you for live poker tournaments on the professional poker circuit. The World Series of Poker offers satellite events. Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer won their way into the WSOP Main Event by winning online satellite tournaments. Chris Moneymaker turned a $40 entry fee into free admission to the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Million Dollar Online Poker Tournaments

Some of the biggest online poker rooms offer weekly poker tournaments with guaranteed prizes over $1,000,000 or prizes ranging higher than a million dollars. These internet poker events tend to take place on the weekend, especially on Sunday evening. It's assumed people might have more time to play on Sunday. The million dollar online poker tournament will have thousands of contestants and might take 8 to 12 hours to complete.

Online Poker is Faster

One major difference between online poker and brick and mortar poker is the speed with which the game is played. The computer dealer in the online version is simply faster than a live dealer ever could be. This means that more hands of online poker are played in an hour than at a casino poker table.

Multiple Games of Online Poker

Online poker players, especially professional poker players, play multiple games of online poker at once. You simply put each game in its own window and switch from screen to screen when making your moves. Some online poker players are known to play poker like this in 8 hour shifts all day long. A standard example of multiple poker games is four games at a time, though I've heard of people routinely playing 9 or 10 games of online poker at once.

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