Over the past few years, online gambling has grown exponentially in popularity, and online poker is no exception. In fact, many people believe that online poker is the main reason for the raise in popularity of the game in recent years. If you’re looking to test your poker skills and improve your game, online may be the place for you.
Indeed, almost all professional poker players brush up at least some of the time online, and some professional players play almost exclusively online. The past three World Series Poker champions have, in fact, been avid online players.
Perhaps the best thing about playing poker online, however, is the fact that you can easily play a free game against opponents of various skill levels. This allows you to actually get good at the game before you start putting your money on the line. Check out our Free Poker Online section to learn more about playing for free.
If you’re in it for the money, playing poker online differs considerably from other casino games, of course. Poker puts you in a unique position as a player, since you are not playing against a house edge, but instead, against other players. As such, if you’re looking to make money, part of the trick is to find a table that looks like it’s full of amateur players. And there are a lot of amateurs online. Of course, the bigger the money you play for, the harder your competition will be, so don’t go beyond your means or you’ll be the amateur at the table.
Another major difference in online poker as compared to its face to face counterpart, is the relative lack of tells. Tells are the things that a player does that allow other players to surmise what kind of hand they have or what their play will be. They come in the form of eye or head movements, fidgeting, scratching, breathing differently, etc. People often unconsciously partake in such behaviors when they are feeling excited, anxious, or any other emotion that may come up in a poker game. Now, for some people this will obviously be an advantage, but for those players who are used to reading others and using this to their advantage, online poker may prove a little more challenging.
The relative ease of online poker will insure the steady growth of the game for years to come, no doubt, and as more and more professional players make playing online a large part of their career, we’re sure to see it come into the mainstream even more.
