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Internet Poker - Casinos at Your Computer

Online poker is poker game variation which is played through the web or the Internet. This format is responsible for making the poker game widely played in the world. Several surveys have shown huge increase in online poker revenues over the years.

Advantages of Online Casinos

There are some noted advantages of having casino on the part of the player and the owner. Some players are intimidated to play at traditional casinos. Playing online gives them a chance to hide their identity, as well as it costs them cheaper compared to brick and mortar casino playing. On the part of the owner, it can be more profitable to administer online gambling houses because overhead costs are lower. Online casinos allow their players to play with lower stakes and no entry free on tournaments. This entices more players as it can also be less intimidating to play using their own computer and at the comfort of their own home. Nonetheless, online venues may have greater risks as opposed to brick and mortar casinos. They may be more vulnerable to collusions between players. In order to prevent this, online casinos devise anti-collusion systems.

Poker Game Boom

Free online poker started out early 1901 through IRC poker. But it was Planet Poker who started out money games on January 1, 1998. Top sites that offer online poker designed various ways of attracting new players, but common feature was the eligibility to join real tournaments through what they called satellite tournaments. In fact, Chris Moneymaker earned his entry to the 2003 WSOP by joining a tournament by PokerStars. He was able to win the Main Event which surprised many players and started the poker boom causing the following World Series Of Poker in 2004 to triple the number of participants. Greg Raymer followed the footsteps of Moneymaker the same year.

Poker Networks

As of early 2010, there are about 545 online poker sites. From these, only about 24 are stand-alone sites, and the others are called skins and run based on 21 different networks. iPoker is the largest network which has many skins under its operation. But PokerStars.com is considered to be the largest poker site in the world based on the number of players online at any given time. In fact, this year, its market share increased by 56%.

Profits of Poker Games

Online poker rooms profit in four ways. The first one is through the rake, or the earnings from a scaled commission, typically about 5 to 10 percent of the pot in every poker hand. Compared to traditional poker, rake from online poker room is smaller. Online poker rooms also earn through sit and go tournaments, or impromptu games held when players put their money. Typically, it is about 5 to 10 percent of the buy-in which is added to the cost of entry in a tournament. Some online poker sites offer blackjack or poker hands where players beat the house for real prize. But in these games, favor is usually in the house which equals to profit. The fourth way in which they earn is by investing the money that players deposit.

Who am I

My name is Roy Bennett. I have a sport column in Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga, Tennessee is a great city - this is where Ted Turner came from. His life and great deeds inspired me to be a journalist. There was a vacant place in Sports so this is how it all begun. I knew more about all kind of sports and poker is for sure my favorite one.