Throughout the years casinos in general, have always been seen as preferred destinations for travellers seeking riches and relaxation. From the slot machines, to blackjack, owners of such establishments have always used innovative technologies to hold on to their existing clientele and also to reach out to new ones from as far as the other side of the globe. The results of this have yielded the lucrative and accessible online casino concept. Online casinos are essentially, virtual centres where individuals can play primarily slot machines, participate in poker matches and win grand prizes such as free trips. Its important to note, that the odds of winning online are far better than in traditional land based casinos. The idea of winning a game while in the comfort of your own home, without having to travel anywhere, or being distracted by others around you can certainly be an enticing proposition. Some operators, to attract more business, have launched theme based sites. Others have opted for more diverse games, higher payouts and a sports book. This extremely profitable $49 billion dollar worldwide industry, is projected to experience sustainable growth for years to come.

While online casinos, especially to the younger generation of people around the world, may be seen as very old technology, the fact is that the technology is fewer than 15 years old. Looking back at the history of gambling, it can be argued that the invention of online casinos is one of the biggest things in the history to ever happen to gambling. In Nevada, gambling was legalised in the early 1930’s, which in fact created Las Vegas as we know it today and is the biggest event in the history of gambling. Over the past 10 years, the growth of online casino has been astounding. While exact numbers are difficult to get a hold of, it is estimated that the amount of money generated from online casinos was about 1 billion back in 1997. In 2006, it is estimated that the business took in over 10 billion in total.

Poker’s casino gambling frequently asked questions on Google
Remember that time you four-bet pre-flop with aces, cricket betting online, flopped your set, and got your opponent to get it all in? Remember when he shoved his chips in and then asked, “Do you have the ace?” You probably thought, “What is this guy doing playing internet poker?” We sometimes think the same thing about the search referrals we get here on the Up For Poker Blog. Here are just a few recent questions that william hill casino has thrown our way. Q. Who is the High Stakes Poker casino games guy who looks like Jabba the Hutt? A. We here at Up For poker texas hold em are huge fans of both the Star Wars series and High Stakes Poker. So, when we saw this question come in, we wondered if we had missed a few episodes of HSP. After looking at the cast list from the past several seasons, we narrowed it down to two possibilities. The first is David Benyamine, for obvious reasons. The second is Doyle Brunson. Either way, that’s just mean, and we’d dare whoever asked the question to call either of the above players Jabba to his face. And either way, if you’re hoping to play poker and you don’t know Brunson or Benyamine, you’d best stick to watching Return of the Jedi and pleasuring yourself to your Princess Leia action figure. Q. Is an UTG limp raise always the nuts? Yes. We polled every poker player in three countries. The results were staggering. No player in our millions of respondents has ever limp re-raised under the gun with anything other than the nuts. Every player indicated it would be irresponsible to play a hand in such a way that it led others to believe he might have aces instead when he actually held kings, queens, or 9c-7c. We suggest that if you are ever limp re-raised by a player under the gun, fold your kings immediately. You are behind and will never catch up. Q. (From Sweden) How does WSOP poker works? A. This is a tricky question and one not taken lightly. It assumes that WSOP poker (translated World Series of Poker poker) actually works. We are not ready to make that assumption. If we did, we might answer that the World Series of Poker poker takes a decades old tradition of poker mastery and devalues it by creating dozens of events that award dozens of bracelets and charges millions of dollars in juice to play tournaments with dubious structures. Of course, we wouldn’t ever actually say that. We’re just saying, if we made an assumption, we might think about saying something like that. In the meantime, if you’re reading from Sweden, we like your women. How much for them? Q. Suppose that you have played F five times but you don’t yet know your wins and losses. Would you play the gamble a sixth time? A. You just blew our mind, sir. We love you as a reader. We’d love for you to stay. However, we think you’d be better suited reading the “Handbook of the economics of finance” by George M. Constantinides, Milton Harris, Ren M. Stulz. But to answer your question, we’ve played F several times. We’ve got a lot of experience in the world of F. We may not yet know our wins and losses, but you give us a sixth shot at F and we’ll take it every day of the week. Twice on Sunday, in fact. Would we gamble a sixth time? Silly question. Q. Are cops allowed to bust poker games? A. That all depends on where you live. If you live where we do play bingo online, cops are allowed to bust poker games, take all the money, take all the cards, take all the chips, rummage through your house, make eyes at your girlfriend, and use your bathroom without flushing. You probably won’t ever be officially prosecuted, but you’ll sort of wish you had been. A real prosecution makes it feel less like a shakedown. Just sayin’. Q. Why is poker bad? A. Poker is not inherently bad. It’s naughty sometimes. Sometimes it’s downright dirty, nasty, naughty little poker. It’s not bad, though. Look at it this way: if poker was good all the time, you’d sit around wondering if you should’ve taken your shot at the game with the tattoos, nipple rings, and questionable grasp on hygiene. Trust us on this one.

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The journey towards choosing the ideal starting poker hands guide has to begin with the (potential) player working out what type of poker they are really keen on playing – as there are different types of poker, from the popular Texas Holdem rules poker to the lesser known forms of the game like ‘carbon poker.’ As it turns out then, the ideal starting poker hands guide for someone who is keen on Texas Holdem rules poker might not be the ideal starting poker hands guide for someone who is keen on say, carbon poker.

Indeed, the more specific a potential poker player can be about the type of poker they are considering playing, the better their chances of getting the ideal guide for their purposes. Someone who is really keen on Texas Holdem rules poker, for instance, will tend to discover that there is still a variety of Texas Holdem rules varieties they can specialize in, an example of which is for instance the preflop strategy; which is considered by many authorities to be the best way to get introduced to Texas Holdem poker.

Should one start out looking for a starting poker hands guide, then narrow down their search to a particular variety of poker (say poker starting hands guide for Texas Holdem), and then further narrow down their search to a particular strategy in Texas Holdem – say to a guide on the preflop poker strategy, then they have chances of getting a highly specialized poker starting hands guide that can provide them with highly specialized information, which if well practiced, can turn them into poker specialists on that particular type of poker they happen to have so gotten inducted into.

The fact that there exists highly specialized poker guides (like the preflop poker strategy guide mentioned earlier, which deals with one particular strategy in one particular form of poker) means that the starting poker hands guides are not a preserve of novices looking to learn and try their very first hands in poker, but also experienced poker players seeking to enhance their knowledge of poker – since poker is a very extensive and ‘quite brainy’ game; of which no one can honestly say they know everything about.

So the next time you see someone searching online for, or reading through a poker starting hands guide, don’t assume that they are absolute novices at the game, as they could be world champions on the game – just seeking to learn one more form of poker.

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Deep Stack Poker Payout Quadruples Guarantee (source: launchpoker.com)
When the recent Deep Stack Tournament at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City announced a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000, it drew nearly a thousand players. The 956 players that each paid $2000 + $150 to play meant a final payout of nearly two … (source: launchpoker.com) – RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

Poker After Dark – Big Man Straight (source: launchpoker.com)
When Poker After Dark started their new season, they started to bring in some new blood as well. In the Cash Game episode, where players paid $100k to play, Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Allen Cunningham, Guy Laliberte, Mike Baxter, and David Peat were invited … (source: launchpoker.com) – RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

Poker After Dark – Durr Does It Again (source: launchpoker.com)
The $100k buy in event featured the best players out there, such as Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Allen Cunningham, Guy Laliberte, Mike Baxter and David Peat. It was Baxter and Dwar who mixed it up before, and were destined to do it again in this particular han… (source: launchpoker.com) – News widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

The exact age people actually started playing poker is heavily disputed. This game has many variations. So it is possible that it was born in several different places. It is common belief, however, that poker was invented by the Chinese way back in the 10th Century A.D.

People believe that poker came from Chinese dominoes. It is said that Emperor Mu-Tsang of China played a game of domino cards, a possible ancestor of poker, with his wife a day before the 969 A.D. new year.

Some others feel that poker in fact has its roots in as-nas, a Persian game. This game which was first played in and around the 17th century was a 5 player game and was unique in the fact that it had only 25 cards in the deck with 5 different suits.

Some others claim that “poque”, a French card game was the true ancestor of poker. It was invented in 1480 by the French who settled in New Orleans. They used the normal deck of cards.

Dawn of the Era of Online Poker.

People invented games in the bygone era which resulted in poker. Now poker itself has reinvented itself into a new form -Online Poker. People are crazy about this game which offers many advantages over normal casino poker. This craze is spreading fast among all age groups and types of people.

Best Poker sites:

The best poker site is most probably one of those listed below. Novices can view these sites to find the site that suits him/her the best to improve his poker playing.

1) The forums on CardsChat.com

This is probably the best poker playing site online. It has a forum for exclusively poker and another for other card games. Poker players can read the various topics in the forums.

www.cardschat.com is the place to go if you want an active poker forum.

2) Learn Texas Hold’em

This is easily the best online pokers site for beginners. Here there are various write-ups on hold’em, advanced poker strategies and poker rankings. There are various poker tables, tips, and even a question and answer section in the site.

www.learn-texas-holdem.com is a must visit for beginners.

3) Celebrity Poker Showdown

It is the official site of the poker program on Bravo TV. It has complete videos of games and tip for gaming. It is the most famous poker site in the world wide web. If fame was everything, this site will win hands down.

It has an interactive flash animation on playing Texas Hold’em. It also features the poker great Phil Gorden

Play poker with the celebs at www.bravotv.com/Celebrity_Poker_Showdown

4) Poker Babes

It includes the profiles of prominent poker champions. You will be shocked to see the number of women champions in this man’s game

It is the best site for women poker players. It has many perks for women players and offers them a lot of priceless tips for excelling. After all, why should boys have all the fun?

All women poker players must visit www.poker-babes.com

5) Online Poker Guru

It is indispensable for poker rules, strategies, tips and tricks. It also runs down the memory lane by presenting the history of poker and poker vocabulary. It is among the best novice sites. This site is the true guru in teaching poker for novices.

Let the Guru teach you how at www.pokeronlineguru.com

6) Poker News

This site is a strong contender for the best poker site award. It offers unbiased reviews of other poker sites and helps users to join the poker room that suits them best. This is the place you need to be in if you want to stay in touch with poker and other poker players.

Get to know the latest in poker www.pokernews.com

7) Poker terminology glossary

This site has a comprehensive list of poker slang, definitions, terms and other must-knows for basic poker play. It cannot be done without for beginners. Even experts may have to cross check with this list at times.
Learn poker slang and terminology on www.conjelco.com/pokglossary.html
Low limit Omaha
This site stands out in providing novices the various possible starting hands of poker and also gives strategies for hi/lo split low limit Omaha games.

Check out these strategies at www.lowlimitomaha.com

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Poker Cup Australia 2008
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President Bush On Friday October 13, 2006 signed a bill that affected online casinos, poker rooms, sportsbooks, bingos whose principal purpose is to tighten security measures for the United States sea ports. Attached to that bill was a federal ban on banking institutions knowingly transferring funds to businesses or people that may conduct gambling operations in United States and areas where gambling is prohibited. Many online casinos left the United States marketplace, but, gambling at online casinos is not illegal in most of the United States.

There are 11 states; Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana (felony to play online poker), Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington (felony to play online poker) and Wisconsin that disallows gambling online, but there are 39 that have no laws against playing online poker or casino games.

Full Tilt Poker is an online poker room that allows Americans to play online poker after the United States passed the bill in October, 2006. Full Tilt Poker offers the best in online poker with world famous pros, a huge bonus, real or play money. Play poker online now, it is free to download. Try ther free online poker game 24 hours a day on state-of-the-art online poker software. Play for real money or for free in tournaments or ring games. Full Tilt Poker’s online poker room was designed by world class poker professionals, and offers you the ability to learn, chat, and play online poker with the pros.

Check out Full Tilt Poker at http://www.casinospokerrooms.com/em/fulltiltpoker.html

Absolute Poker is an online poker room that allows US poker players to play online poker after the United States passed the bill in October, 2006, and Absolute Poker are a privately held poker room so the new law does not affect their business like other poker rooms.

Online Poker for Live Players Online Poker, joining this online poker room lets you experience the excitement of playing against live players from all over the world and winning big money and prizes in our great tournaments. Real and play-money games are available and a great bonus and rewards system for everyone. Maybe you will meet Serinda Swan at a poker table? Read how to find Serinda. All you have to do is download their poker software, Log in and start playing online poker.

Check out Absolute Poker at http://www.casinospokerrooms.com/em/absolutepoker.html

UltimateBet Poker is an online poker room that allows US online poker players to play online poker after the United States passed the bill in October, 2006. Designed with the assistance of the best poker players in the world, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, UltimateBet provides the best poker games available on the Internet. Poker players can download the free poker software, play in free ring games and tournaments and get tips from these pros to learn the sport or to enhance their playing strategy. UltimateBet currently has over 2 million registered players.

Check out Ultimatebet Poker at http://www.casinospokerrooms.com/em/ultimatebet.html

Poker.com is another online poker room that allows US poker players to play online poker after the United States passed the bill in October, 2006.

Make your first deposit with Poker.com now and receive a 100% Bonus, up to $200 FREE. When you join Poker.com you will receive entry to the $50 New Player Freerolls every 3 hours for 4 weeks. Everyday at Poker.com tournaments they run with huge guaranteed prize pools. $50 Freeroll tournaments run every 2 hours. Plus everyday there is either a $1,000, $2,000 or $10,000 Freeroll. The Poker.com software has a range of features that are not available in any other poker software online. You can contact their player support team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through email or live chat. Every Sunday at 15:00 Poker.com runs a $10,000 Freeroll, and on the last Sunday of every month Poker.com holds a $50,000 Freeroll. Poker.com is the only poker room with instant payouts, Click2Pay and NETeller. You could win your way to the WSOP, the WPT, the Aussie Millions and more by playing their daily satellite tournaments and much more

Check out Poker.com at http://www.casinospokerrooms.com/em/poker.html

Play Online Poker at the Fastest Growing Online Poker Rooms in the World.

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British Poker Software Company Joins with Italian Poker (source: launchpoker.com)
Playtech Ltd recently signed a deal with a leading Italian betting shop company to take them online, competing for the flood of Italian poker players looking for more online action. The British software supplier Playtech signed the deal with Snai, the Ital… (source: launchpoker.com) – RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com

To get started You will have to open a free account at the poker school and You will get access to to the Beginners Learning Materials. Usually the schools offer a choice of articles, videos and coaching sessions to teach You poker. The Beginners Sections are usually aimed at teaching You a small stack cash game strategy.

Once You mastered the basics You can take a simple poker quiz at the free poker schools. If You pass the test You will be given a no deposit poker bonus. The Texas Hold Em Poker School will start Your poker bankroll for free. Up to $150 is given away to players by the poker schools. No Deposit Needed.
This way You can start to test Your new Texas Hold Em Poker Skills at real money tables without investing own money.

Should You make some of the typical beginners failures then it will not cost You any of Your money but just the bonus You got free. This also puts You in a situation without any presssure and helps You to develop Your best game this way.

As You continue to become a more advanced player the poker lessons the schools offer will become more complex and YOu will learn a big stack strategy then and also learn about the right tournament play. The Online Poker Schools have poker lessons available for every level. Their Poker Courses are aimed at helping You to improve Your game and a solid bankroll managment, to help You to climp up the limits You play at.

All the poker lessons are usually presented in different media. You can read articles to learn poker or watch a video that will tech You that lesson. In the bigger online poker schools these materials are available in different languages, so everyone will find the right way to learn poker for him.

Although these schools don’t charge You for their poker education they offer You live poker coaching sessions. The Coach is playing online and will discuss his concepts and strategy right as he plays, while You watch it live and can contact the coach via internet directly. It’s a great way to learn poker. You get Your questions answered instantly and can get back to coach in real time with everything You don’t fully understand.

Compared to Poker Books or Poker Lessons DVDs the Texas hold Em Poker Schools on the internet offer You more varieties of learning materials. They also put You in contact with many other players via their forums and communitites. You will always have someone at hand to help YOu if You should get stuck. I think You can learn much more much faster this way then at home with a book or Poker Lessons DVD. The hand discussion forums of the online poker schools alone are worth joing these sites.

And only the online poker schools will give You free money to play poker with. Remember that You will get a free poker bankroll for passing the beginners quiz. A Poker Book or DVD has to be paid for ( and unfortunatly the rather good ones aren’t cheap ) while the free online poker course pays You to learn poker. Can it get any better than this?

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Poker in Las Vegas (source: about.com)
In just a few hours, I’m heading out to Las Vegas and I can’t wait. While there’s closer poker in Atlantic City to me — there’s no place better than… (source: about.com) – RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

The game of poker has been going for many years, but the history of online poker – along with most other online games – is relatively short. Yet despite the relatively short length of the history of the game, it is an extremely rapid developing part of the entire online gambling industry which is not showing any signs of slowing down. While it is very popular in America, Europe is fast catching up too.

The history of online poker begins with the history of poker in general. The game of poker has been around for thousands of years with origins all over the world, from China to France to Persia and Spain. However, it wasn’t until 1834 that the game of Poker with the name of “Poker” was officially recorded. Jonathan H. Green wrote about “the cheating game” which was played on Mississippi riverboats. This game was played with only twenty cards, but evolved into modern day poker.

Online poker only dates back 9 years, to 1998 which was when the first games came on line. But the real milestone for the history of poker was 2002. A year later when the World Poker Tour was launched on America’s travel channel in March, poker really hit off. This was also true for when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) had its largest turn out over.

These events and others certainly contributed to the developing growth of the history of poker as more and more individuals found out about how fun the game was to play on line, and indeed, how lucrative it could be, especially when playing online poker tournaments. 2004 and 2005 saw a huge influx of additional online poker rooms and sites, many of which appealed to the masses, even the non-poker playing ones who started to show an interest in this new and exciting online game.
Poker is a game that is coordinated by gambling laws and regulations and is mainly played in casinos and card rooms. However, it has recently become available for play in online poker rooms. The introduction of poker to the Online has increased the popularity of the game a huge amount, but it didn’t start out so simply.

The history of online poker began in 1998, when the first online poker room was opened. Planetpoker.com was the first website in the history of online poker and as the first it had many obstacles to overcome. One of the main problems was trust-after all they had to build peoples’ trust in order to get them to play with real money on their site. They also had to work out software that would be user friendly and realistic. However, once they worked out these problems it was a smooth ride.

Probably one of the reasons the history of online poker developed so well was because of how enthusiastic poker professionals have been since the game’s inception on line. Such big names as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren are included in this list.

The history is now definitely well on the map, especially financially as the industry in America has reached over $2 billion. There are so many poker rooms today on line that pretty much at any time, 24/7, one is able to find a poker game of their choice. Whether you love 3 card poker, video poker, Texas Hold’em Poker, 7 card stud poker, 5 card draw poker, Omaha Hi-Lo poker, to name but a few, on line players will probably be able to find a game to satisfy and appeal.

Many online poker sites offer now offer numerous features that attract and appeal to new players. This new features are what are making raves in the world series of poker because the world of poker has now wakened to the realization that even on-line poker participants can also have a shot at the big game.

One similar feature offered by the online poker sites is the tournament referred to as “satellite”. This feature allows participants to gain actual access to real live poker tournaments. In a similar tournament Chris Moneymaker emerged the victor and was able to participate in the World Series of Poker in 2003. his victory shocked the whole world.

Recent figures have in fact projected that the revenue generated by on-line poker could reach as high as US$ 100 million target in 2005, and that online participants are estimated to reach 100,000 people.

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Omaha Hi Lo – A Varaition of Standard Omaha
Omaha Hi Lo is a form of the regular poker game Omaha. In fact, the wagering, the blinds, as well as the postings are totally identical to Omaha poker.read more

Poker Professional Reality
With the huge increase of people playing poker online and in casinos, the thought of becoming a poker professional always enters peoples minds. As appealing as becoming a poker professional might be to you, it is not easy to become a poker pro.

These poker aides online can not help you into transforming into a professional players at poker as for that you need a hell lot of experience and massive amount of studying. The poker aides online help give you the self-esteem and confidence which is required to start playing the low limit poker in exchange for real cash and also to enjoy an interesting online poker game.

Poker aides on the net can also be taken as poker schools. Most of the discussions are about mass hysteria the online poker can cause.

Lots of tips for playing and many types of poker strategies can be found in the online poker aides. It’s just like learning ABCs in school. So, go now and avail the online poker aides to get your online poker started.

As soon as you have finished that course, later, like a normal school, you jump of to the following level. The aides will later tell you about the various differences that are there between playing poker in real and playing poker online. You can also learn the possibilities of losses or winnings you are likely to get when you are playing online poker. The trick of bluffing also becomes different when playing online poker from when you’re playing real poker with actual people.

Actually, there aren’t many differences between playing poker online and playing poker in real. Many people do not realize that they are not just losing the small dollar sign symbols that are there on their monitors but they are also losing real money. Due to this a number of the poker rooms available on the net make some big bucks and will continue to make more big bucks.

So remember that when you’re playing online, it doesn’t mean it’s not real. It is so easy to withdraw money for playing at tables such that it makes you ask yourself whether playing poker in real world is less real than playing poker online.

To forget about bluffing is one of the things that the poker aide teaches you about. Bluffing is definitely one thing that should be struck out of your list of strategies. Speaking strategically, playing poker tournaments in real is more different than playing poker online.

Traditionally, online poker is being called a game of skill as you can call bluffs and also bluff your self. It requires a very high amount of skill to act as well as see bluffs and it is also necessary to learn and complete a lesson that needs a lot of courage. The skill of bluffing is very important when you are going to play a game of poker in real as you will be taking on real people with stamina and thinking, face to face.

Unlike that, it doesn’t make much of a difference with playing poker online. The poker aides also include teaching you how to perform a bluff before entering into a game of poker online. Don’t forget that, although bluffing is a low level act, you have no option but to use it at times.

But make sure you make only small buffs. With the fact that most of the bluffs you call are also small, there can be a huge chance of an opponent calling out your bluffs.

Not only do these poker aides teach you, they also help when you are stuck up with some really tough poker trouble.

You have a high probability of winning the jackpot as the last person standing in the games at casinos when there is an unsuited seven and two. Try to tighten up the game to its maximum. When you are playing with only suited picture cards and in a state at which a mistake committed doesn’t turn the tables of the game then you know the game is really tight.

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Free Poker – If you are looking to play online poker for pure recreation, and not for money, ensure that the site you are interested in accommodates “free” players. Most online poker sites do cater to free players.

Software Download vs. Web-based – Most, if not all, online poker sites require you to download their poker client software onto your computer system to run. If you are adverse to downloading such software onto your system, then you might want to check to see if the poker site alternatively has a web-based poker interface, which allows you to play poker on the site from within your browser. Software installs run the potential risk of viruses and/or adware being loaded onto your system (although most of the reputable firms would never do that), but software installs on your computer generally run a lot faster than web-based sessions. Software installations harness the power of your local PC’s CPU, whereas web-based interfaces rely on downloading any screen real estate updates over the Internet during play. This can be slow, particularly, if you are running over a slow internet connection (e.g., a dialup line). Hence, if you are after speed, select local software installations; if you are concerned about your computer’s safety or cannot afford the disk space used by a software installation, select a web-based poker site.

Methods of Deposit/Withdrawal – If you are planning to play poker for money over the Internet, it is very important to consider the methods of deposit and withdrawal that a poker site supports. Many of these sites permit major credit cards to be used, which seem to be the universal deposit mechanism of choice. Others permit the use of bank transfer, ACH transfer, checks, and wire transfer from banks. Most poker sites also support some form of 3rd party eWallets, which provide an intermediary between banking institutions and the poker site itself. The main criteria to look at are: 1) What methods of deposit/withdrawal are supported by the poker site, and how many of these methods are supported by the locale that you live in ?; 2) Is it legal to fund/withdraw to/from a poker site, from the jurisdiction that you are playing in ?; 3) What are the fees associated with the 3rd party eWallet companies that you are able to use, and how reliable are they (this latter question can be researched on some of the poker message forum boards) ?

Locale Restrictions – Some poker sites restrict the playing for money (and even free play sometimes), based on your locale, and the laws governing gambling in your locale. You should check with the laws of your local jurisdiction and check with the poker site, to see if there are any imposed restrictions on play, based on your locale.

Support – You should definitely look at the methods of support that a poker site offers. Poker sites generally provide one (or more) methods of support that include: telephone support, fax support, Email support, and live chat support. The more of these that a poker site offers, the better. For telephone support, check and see if the poker site offers toll-free support from your playing jurisdiction or not.

Game Variety – Depending on your level of poker playing expertise and your interest in variety, it is important to determine which game types the poker site supports. Almost all of the sites offer Texas Holdem, but depending on your level of interest, you should check to see if they offer games like Five and Seven Card Stud, Omaha Poker (and all of its variations), Blackjack (not poker, but often included as a game option), Stud (and its variations), Draw poker, Tournament support, and limit and pot limit games. Tournaments in particular are very popular with online poker sites, and some site tournaments offer very large prize pools.

Bonuses – Most, but not all, of the poker sites offer some form of bonus to the player, when you initially sign up with the site. Each site’s bonus is somewhat different, but of the one’s that offer first time bonus, it is usually predicated on a minimum initial deposit. Many bonuses are also calculated based on the amount of money deposited and spent on the site. Additionally, many sites offer reload bonuses, which are bonuses that are offered to existing customers, beyond their initial deposit bonus, and as an incentive to keep you as a customer.

Graphics and Useability – This is a very important consideration. Every poker site has a different look and feel to it. If you are going to be playing poker for money, it is important that you feel comfortable with the screen graphics and your ability to navigate (via mouse or keyboard clicks) through the poker program. If you feel uncomfortable at all with the poker site, you should definitely not consider playing at it for money. You should always test a poker site out in “free” mode first, before actually considering it for real-money wagering.

Game Features – You should always consider the game features that are available with a given poker site. Game features such as hand history, multiple simultaneous playing windows, player notes, audible and visual indicators, player statistics, connection status indicator, player chat, turbo games, and screen options should always be considered.

Rake – Rake is the amount of the pot that the poker site takes (as part of its fee for doing business), from each hand. You should always be aware of how much rake a poker site takes (compared to another site). Poker sites usually use a Weighted Contribution rake method or an Average Contribution method, when calculating rake. Obviously, the lower the rake, the more money you will take home on hand wins, but this criteria by itself should not dictate which poker site you use, since all of the above factors need to be taken into consideration as well. In summary, the aforementioned criteria should always be used, when deciding which Poker site is best for you. Depending on your preferences, some of these criteria should be given more weight than others. Happy Poker site hunting !!

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Two online poker giants join the new CEREUS poker network
MIAMI, Florida — (PRESS RELEASE) — It’s being hailed as a totally new poker platform, but for poker players at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, there will be a lot of old familiar faces at the tables. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_27112008_93.html

Poker Cheating Controversy – Sanctions Announced
Kahnawake Gaming Commission announces sanctions in the UltimateBet poker cheating scandal. Further culprits to be named in the November report. Read the full story at http://www.classicasinos.com/PokerNews/ns_01102008_46.html