Poker was already among the most favorite games with movies
and series dedicated to it. It had always been a much loved, thrilling and fun
activity. Then, the introduction of online gambling or online casinos furthered
its fame. And now, promotions through e-magazines, television and other forms
of electronic media have made online poker a highly acclaimed sport globally.
Traditionally, Poker had just a few variants – stud poker, draw poker,
community card poker (or flop poker) and the most commonly played straight
poker. But now, Internet has experimented and invented quite an exhaustive list
of poker games that can be played online. Holdem Poker has over 16 varieties
online with some interesting names like Pineapple, Manila, Billabong, Shanghai,
Psycho and one that’s called ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’. 7 stud poker can
also be played in several variants like Chicago and six kick, 5 stud can be
played as satan or soko and draw can be played as dogbutt and anaconda.
There are numerous more variants of each of the traditional as well as
modern poker types. However, of all varieties available online, there can
basically be three broad classifications (according to the bet amount) that one
can play poker online in
– no limit poker, pot limit poker and the basic limit poker. Irrespective of
the bet size, there are 3 main poker variants that are most popular online –
Texas Holdem Poker, Omaha Poker and Seven Stud poker.
Instead of visiting the traditional poker rooms, players have now started
going online in large numbers to play poker. The world’s poker venue is now the
virtual room, and no longer the old brick structured room. In fact, its
popularity online can be gauged by the fact that as many as 14.5 million people
worldwide play poker online at least once a month for money, according to the
most recent research. The very fact that it can be played online is the
biggest reason for its popularity. Poker fans do not need to visit their
community or city poker rooms anymore, they can just turn to the Internet to
play poker. This is particularly great for the current lifestyle, which does
not leave us with enough space to even make it to important occasions
sometimes, let alone poker rooms.
Another major reason for the popularity of online poker is that it costs
much less in comparison to the traditional room poker. People save on
travelling expenses poker and on tips that they would typically have to give the
dealer. A major saving is the expense of drinks, or beverages, so encouraged at
offline casinos and poker rooms, but hitting hard on the pocket. In addition,
it is very time saving because there is no travel time, and there are no slowly
shuffling dealers. Some poker sites also offer limiting the players’ time to
act.
A large number of people who play
poker online are beginners of the game, who exploit the Internet’s
poker rooms to learn to play the game and practice strategies. A major
attraction for people is also the promotional offers that websites have. Every
poker room has bonuses in some form or the other to attract new members and to
retain existing members. New members are offered bonuses for signing up, either
as the first balance for poker, or as a bonus over the first deposit amount.
Then there are also sites that offer bonuses for subsequent deposits to
these new, as well as the old members, in order to retain their business. To
make funds for operational expenses, profits and such bonus offers, they
generate revenues in the form of rakes or entry fees for random games and for
tournaments.
The option of being able to play poker online has really eased the lives
of poker enthusiasts as well as opened an entirely new avenue for people who
always fancied the game
,
but could never get to playing one.
,
but could never get to playing one.
