Getting Started Online
I have always enjoyed playing card games as a child and so with the recent surge in popularity it was only natural for me to try my hand at online poker. I started playing online poker out of boredom, it was nothing more then something to do during the times that I had nothing to do, but it didn’t take long before I became addicted to the highs and lows of the game.
When I started I knew nothing about the game. I knew a little about hand rankings but I even found myself looking these up from time to time. Now I have over 60,000 hands logged and even more unlogged.
Before you start playing you should decide how serious you want to get. You may only want to play for fun or you might want to put a little more effort into it. No matter your intentions, this article will help you to get started in the right direction.
There are many great sites to play online poker; PartyPoker, PokerRoom, Absolute Poker, Bodog, FullTilt, etc. Does it matter where you play? No, not really. You will find that all these sites offer comparable limits, tournaments, free-rolls, bonuses, and competition.
Before you sign-up to a poker site you may want to look into referral based websites. The referral websites get payed by poker sites to generate business for them. These referral sites offer you cash and prizes as incentive; they will offer poker money, and prizes such as poker chipsets, playing cards, books, and even gift certificates. They also have rake-back programs available for the long-term player where the player will get a percentage of the rake they paid every month. Depending on how many hands you play a month, this could be the most profitable option. No matter if you opt for cash and prizes or rake-back programs I highly recommend referral websites. You are going to be playing anyway, you might as well get some of your rake back. I suggest visiting Poker Source Online, it is the most popular referral site with the best offers.
Another way to make extra money through online poker is by chasing bonuses. Bonuses are completed by playing a certain number of hands and then bonus money is released to you. When a site offers a bonus they are essentially just giving you your rake back from the required hands that you played. Each poker site offers bonuses to get new players to sign up and keep the current ones playing. These bonuses can range from as little as $20 to over $1,000. Some people have found it profitable to jump from site to site receiving these bonuses, while others have found that they lost money. The losers couldn’t adapt to the frequent site changes or the constant pressure of the hand requirements. You have to determine if it is something you want to invest time in doing for yourself.
If you have decided that you are going to put in the extra effort and get serious about your play then you will in no doubt want to look into applications such as PokerTracker and PokerOffice. These applications not only analyze your play and the play of your opponents but also give you a means of keeping track of your bankroll. When you start to generate a substantial profit from playing this will also become an invaluable asset in tax preparations.
Now that you have all the information you need and have decided how serious you want to get, it is time to deposit your money. Thankfully the poker sites have made depositing your money very easy. You can use your credit/debit card, bank account, or an online merchant. I would recommend using an online merchant as it will be easier to manager your bankroll. If you are skeptical of the Internet or of using your banking information over the Internet you have other options. If you look around at the referral sites you will see that you can be setup with a $100 bankroll for free, no credit card required.