Let’s start with the basics, how does a round of Texas hold ‘em get played? First, there are the blinds. This requires two people, the big and little blinds, to put in the ante. Big blind puts in the full amount, little blind puts in half. Once that has been placed, the dealer will hand out two cards to each player. A round of betting will take place start with the person to the left of the large blind. Each person has three options. They can put in an amount equal to the ante, raise the ante or fold. The small blind, if they want to continue to play, needs to put in the other half of the ante or fold and then the big blind would have the option to raise or check.

Once that round is done, the dealer will lay three cards on the table face up, making the total number for each player 5 cards. A second round of betting will take place again with each person having the option to check if no bet has been placed, if a bet has been placed they need to see it or can always raise it. Upon the completion of that round, one single card will be turned over, again, followed by a round of betting. Finally, the last card is dealt for a total of 7 cards each player has to work with and can make the best combination of any 5 cards. Once the last card is dealt it is the final round of betting. No more cards are coming and each player must try to win by any means necessary!

Because now I know the gaming rules and precautions, I would like to do a comparison between Online Poker and Conventional Poker – or as it is called ‘In Person’ gaming. In Online Poker the obvious difference that I could see was, the players here do not sit opposite to each other. This removes the ability to observe each others’ reactions or, as it is called, the ‘body language’. On the other hand the online poker games focus more on betting patterns, speed of play, and use of check boxes, opponents flop percentages, chat box and other behaviors that are not physical in nature. Online Poker requires lots of adaptability and agility. The next thing I observed in the conventional poker was the rate of play, where the dealer has to collect the card reshuffle them and deal them after every hand due to which lot of delay occurs. On the Online Poker the dealings and shuffling is instant. The result of this is that more hands can be played within an hour. The only way to increase the earnings in the conventional poker is by increasing the limit whereas on the online poker game there are options to play more tables, depending on the site, and each of them can be viewed on a separate window in the computer. This increases the winning chances. Most important difference is some online poker rooms offer online poker schools, that teaches the novices – these are not there in the conventional games. Finally the most important thing I observed was that limits associated with online poker are by far less than the table limits at the conventional poker.

I had always heard about poker and that it is a very popular game in the world. I had never played cards in my life before but the popularity of this game and the curiosity made me learn about this game.  The origin of the game is not exactly known .It is said it either originated in China or is the descendant of a Persian game known as Nas. The game in its original form first came to New Orleans and from there it took off. It can be thus said that the new form of this game originated in the United States of America. The origin of the word poker has no roots either. The name was perhaps made up by the writer Jonathan Green in 1830’s who commented on this gambling game and thus the name Poker became popular. This game is now played by millions of people across the globe daily on online poker or the poker home games. Millions of dollars are changed but not to forget there are even those who have lost everything. It is just a game but has the power to make people or break them as it is an addictive game. So if I was playing poker I would play it safe and with a sense of responsibility rather getting addicted to it.

Now that I know about the online gaming my interest was to know about the benefits the game has by playing online. Playing on the internet is the best way to get experience and less expensive than traveling to the nearest card room. In the card room my observation had been most of the players tip the dealer when they win and also tip the servers who bring the food and drink. These are not there when one plays online. In addition to this I can play many more hands per hour online here because here the dealer does not have to shuffle. Moreover, the play is much faster as everything is synchronized accordingly. For a novice player like me online gaming is the best place to increase my skills and knowledge about the game with a possibility of making a bankroll at the same time. Another thing I would like to say is, most of the games are free. There are even sites where you can play the tournaments free and can get the real winning money. There are even sites that offer low limits as .01/.02. The largest being ½. I even observed that play at the free money table is not that good. I also observed one thing; and that was the online business is highly competitive, the more players means the more money it generates. This in turn ends up giving bonuses to attract the new players.

I guess every game that is played has to be played with precautions. It is true that the online poker playing is fun and exciting but amidst the fun and excitement there are pitfalls that causes concern to me. The irony is the aspects that make the internet poker so convenient make it unsafe at the same time. The money can be felt as being imaginary, but if is lost very fast, it can be dangerous. To avoid these it is advised to follow some tips before starting an online poker game.

Playing Internet poker is not meant for everyone. The laws and regulations are different from what many players are aware of. It is always recommended to play only on the larger and well established sites keeping in mind that only if it is legal otherwise do not play. It is always advisable to set up a virtual bank account as many of the sites do not accept credit cards keeping in mind that the virtual bank has been in business for quite some time and most importantly have many customers. Always deposit a small amount as test bankroll. Download the software and play free games until one has the feeling how it works. After which the money can be deposited and can be played under the micro limit table. Never jump into the game that has higher limits. I think that poker is a lifelong game so one should not stop learning and the internet is the best way to learn. Online poker can be fun and a profitable way to learn.

Now I know how the game came into being, my interest was turned to knowing how to play the game. The game is nowadays played mostly online on the internet. My decision to play on the internet was based on the fact that it is dramatically cheaper, and has no overhead costs. But this does not mean that there is no fraud here, it is more open to certain kind of fraud. The fraud is mostly in the form of collusions of players. The first ever online poker was played on as early as 1990’s in the form of IRC poker. In a short span of time a first online card room to offer real money was introduced in the form of Planet Poker. These online sites offer lots of features to woo the new players. One of the familiar features that I came across on online poker is the satellite tournaments, through which a player can get an entry to real life poker tournaments. Players like Chris Moneymaker in 2003 and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer in 2004 got entry by first playing in the online poker, and subsequently they went on to win the tournament. Online Poker is legal and is regulated in many countries. It is more popular in the Caribbean areas and the United Kingdom. At this time there are more then 200 Internet poker rooms and the largest poker room being about 50,000 people playing poker at the same time during the peak playing hours.