Internet Poker

Internet poker has experienced huge growth in the past few years, in no small part to the fact that one of the winners of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV, played almost all of his poker games before the tournament in front of a computer screen instead of seated at a card table.

Playing internet poker doesn’t allow players to use the classic poker strategy of “playing the man.” “Playing the man” involves paying attention to the opposing players at the table, looking for any unconscious physical signs that may give away if they’re bluffing or not. Poker players who employ this skill pay more attention to the other players at the table than they do to the cards, though the cards in their hands still have some relevance to how they play the game.

Since playing internet poker doesn’t allow players to see any unconscious gestures at all, internet poker players learn to ignore the opposing players’ physicalities altogether and pay attention to odds, pot odds, and the betting habits of their opponents. Some would argue that these strategies completely change the game of poker, and though they may be right, experience has shown that following these techniques correctly results in winning a lot of hands.

There are a lot of different internet poker sites, all with their own fans and detractors. Party Poker and Pacific Poker are a couple of the most popular pay sites, allowing you to play games either for real money or for play money. Yahoo.com also offers a free, “play” money poker server. Though many people play on “play” money sites before they make the commitment to play for real cash, the experience gained on the play money tables isn’t always transferable to real money games, either on the internet or at home. In play money games players are less likely to fold bad hands and more likely to chase bad cards.

Most of the pay sites will give you $20 or so for signing up and allow you to make or lose your own money from there. Be warned, though you’ll find some easy games on the low-money tables, sometimes experienced players will troll around looking for easy marks. It’s easy to lose a lot of money in internet poker, especially in the no-limit games since it’s easy to forget that you’re playing with real money. Keep an eye on your bank account and don’t be too hasty to add money to a small bankroll; if you’re losing your shirt it may be time to go back to real-life poker games for awhile.