You've just stepped out of the shower. You put on your favorite jeans and that cute little T you just got from Vickie's. Your hair is up in one of those 'As Seen on TV' turbans. The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts upstairs. You stop at the baby's room and listen to her breathing. You start down the stairs. Your time is your own. She's down for a nap; your husband is at the office…what shall you do? Pay some bills? Clean the house? Flip on The Price is Right? NO WAY! As you pour your first cup of coffee for the day you hear those familiar musical tones. But it wasn't the stereo you turned on as you headed for the kitchen; it was your laptop.
You're going online to play Texas Hold'em in an online poker room! You are going to join the thousands of players from all over the world who have discovered this amazing phenomenon and are already sitting in a virtual card room having fun, winning real money, and having real conversations.
Whether you just want to kill a couple three hours or earn next week's rent, here is the perfect opening to do either/or! You can relax in the privacy of your own home without the need to get a babysitter and make money doing it. In addition, your chances of winning a satellite tournament and an entry into one of the prestigious Poker Tournament Events happening all over the country (all expenses paid!) is better than ever before! You don't need bunches of cash and a night out at your local live casino to play poker any longer. Your credit card makes the transfer into your virtual account and your mouse makes the bets. You're on your way.
You can't see the faces of your opponents in the online poker room, but you can read their trash talk (players who use the chat to try to intimidate you into actions other than what you would like to do) in the chat. You can play against the same players in the same card room and learn their strengths and weaknesses that way. You can make friends doing it. It is not out of the realm of possibility that your new best friend is sitting across from you in this virtual poker room. Smoke free and as cozy as your recliner, you're in an entirely new stage of reality.
Playing poker in an online poker room is the world's newest craze and one that appears to be here to stay! At the recent WSOP main event in Las Vegas, Nevada, 50% of all players who showed up won their entries worth $10,000 apiece by playing in an online card room. Fifty percent! They accounted for over $12 MILLION dollars in entry monies. That is an astounding figure. Virtual card rooms offer Million Dollar cruises where you can win your way on board and sit next to a Phil Hellmuth or a Scotty Nguyen and watch the masters at work.
Nowhere is the field more evenly matched than playing in an online poker room. You can practice in the card rooms 'free money tables' until you are comfortable; however, playing in these rooms doesn't really give you the sense of spending real money as sometimes the pots are an ridiculous $300,000 and players will not play as keenly as they would if they were using 'real' money. After all, you only have to click on the lobby and add more 'play' chips to your account, so who cares? Open a Neteller account, make a small deposit and 'practice' if you will, in the nickel and dime tables and work your way up to the higher stakes that way. Sit in on a tournament. Most all the virtual rooms offer MTT's, which are Multi Table Tournaments, those in which hundreds of players play the same game at different tables and as they are eliminated, the tables combine to form one final table where the chip leader can win literally thousands of dollars by coming in first place, not to mention entries into those Live tournaments I told you about earlier.
What do you watch for when playing online? Start with a reputable friendly Cardroom. Until you are sure that your deposits are accounted for, your Internet connection is fast enough to download their software and play without Internet disconnects and freeze ups don't make any large deposits. Make a small deposit first until you are certain your funds get immediately transferred into your playing account. If you encounter ANY problems with your deposit, cut your losses and delete the software. There are hundreds of classy card rooms on line; don't waste your money or your time with one that doesn't take care of you. Send an email to their support and ask questions. If you don't get responses in a decent time frame (or don't get responses at all!) - GET OUT! They don't want your business if they aren't going to take the time to answer your questions. All card rooms have disclaimers…'we aren't responsible for you losing your connection', etc. but these instances are rare, and it is one of the pitfalls of playing online. If the kids run by and accidentally disconnect your phone cord or knock the keyboard on the floor and you lose a pot or get booted from a hand, you lose out. You accept that risk when you play online. Most sites are fully responsible for their server disconnects. If their game server (the machine that houses the software) crashes due to whatever reason, they will cheerfully refund your money, if they won't, and you are 100% certain it is their fault - GET OUT! Again, there are too many reputable card rooms online to waste your time and your money in one that won't take care of you. Test their cash out procedures. If there are difficulties or delays in receiving your winnings - GET OUT!
You can't read the other players when playing in an online poker room, see their faces, learn their tells (quirks of movement, or talk that help you figure out if they are bluffing or not), and that sometimes is a big disadvantage, but for all the reasons we talked about here, playing poker online is great fun and profitable too! The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, so sit back, turn on that computer and enjoy!