Welcome to our online Gambling Games index and directory.

Online gambling is a general term for gambling using the Internet. This page provides a brief introduction to some of the forms of online gambling, as well as discussing general issues.The online gambling games index provides you with some carefully selected online gaming providers.

Poker gambling

Poker is a popular type of card game in which players gamble on the superior value of the card combination ("hand") in their possession, by placing a bet into a central pot. The winner is the one who holds the hand with the highest value according to an established hand rankings hierarchy, or otherwise the player who remains "in the hand" after all others have folded (the player who makes an un-called bet.). Game play In casual play, the right to deal a hand typically rotates among the players and is marked by a token called a 'dealer' button (or "buck"). In a casino, a house dealer handles the cards for each hand, but the button (typically a white plastic disk) is rotated clockwise among the players to indicate a nominal dealer to determine the order of betting. One or more players are required to make forced bets to create an initial stake for which the players will contest. The dealer shuffles the cards, cuts, and deals the appropriate number of cards to the players one at a time. Cards may be dealt either face-up or face-down, depending on the variant of poker being played. After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. At the end of each round, all bets are gathered into the central pot. At any time during a betting round, if a player makes a bet, opponents are required to fold, call or raise. If one player bets and no opponents choose to call (match) the bet, the hand ends immediately, the bettor is awarded the pot, no cards are required to be shown, and the next hand begins. This possibility of winning a pot without showing a hand makes bluffing possible. Bluffing is a primary feature of poker, one that distinguishes it from other vying games and from other games that make use of poker hand rankings. At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown, in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the poker variant being played wins the pot. The most popular poker variants are as follows: Draw poker Players each receive five — as in five-card draw — or more cards, all of which are hidden. They can then replace one or more of these cards a certain number of times. Stud poker Players receive cards one at a time, some being displayed to other players at the table. The key difference between stud and 'draw' poker is that players are not allowed to discard or replace any cards. Community card poker Players combine individually dealt cards with a number of "community cards" dealt face up and shared by all players. Each player will attempt to make the best five card poker hand using the community cards and their own face down cards. Two or four individual cards may be dealt in the most popular variations, Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em, respectively. See betting (poker) for detailed rules regarding forced bets, betting actions, limits, stakes, and all-in situations. See List of poker variants and poker hand rankings for order of play and other details for the most common poker variants. [edit] History The history of poker is a matter of debate. It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. The name of the game likely descended from the Irish Poca (Pron. Pokah) ('Pocket') or even the French poque , which descended from the German pochen ('to knock'). Yet it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time). It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now. English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards and four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (G. B. Zieber, Philadelphia, 1843), described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime. As it spread up the Mississippi and West during the gold rush, it is thought to have become a part of the frontier pioneer ethos. Harry Truman's poker chips Harry Truman's poker chips Soon after this spread, the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight. Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). The spread of the game to other countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military. The game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases and clichés as ace in the hole, ace up one's sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one's bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation, even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table. Poker Room at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey Poker Room at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began, in 1970. Notable champions from these early WSOP tournaments include Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim, Bobby Baldwin, and Doyle Brunson. It was also during that decade that the first serious strategy books appeared, notably Super/System by Doyle Brunson (ISBN 1-58042-081-8) and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro (ISBN 0-89746-100-2), followed later by The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (ISBN 1-880685-00-0). Poker’s popularity experienced an unprecedented spike at the beginning of the 21st century, largely because of the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card camera, which turned the game into a spectator sport. Viewers could now follow the action and drama of the game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors. Because of the increasing coverage of poker events, poker pros are becoming more and more like celebrities, with poker fans all over the world entering into expensive tournaments for the chance to play with them. This increased camera exposure also brings a new dimension to the poker professional's game—the realization that their actions may be aired later on TV. Major poker tournament fields have grown dramatically because of the growing popularity of online satellite-qualifier tournaments where the prize is an entry into a major tournament. The 2003 and 2004 WSOP champions, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, respectively, won their seats to the main event by winning online satellites. Poker gaming has many variations, all following a similar pattern of play. Depending on the variant, hands may be formed using cards which are concealed from others, or from a combination of concealed cards and community cards. Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as "poker." Video poker is a single-player computer game that functions much like a slot machine. History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like monitor with a solid state central processing unit. The earliest models appeared at the same time as the first personal computers were produced, in the mid-1970s, although they were rather primitive by today's standards. Video poker became more firmly established when SIRCOMA, which stood for Si Redd's Coin Machines, and which evolved over time to become International Game Technology introduced Draw Poker in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, video poker became increasingly popular in casinos, as people found the devices less intimidating than playing table games. Today, video poker enjoys a prominent place on the gaming floors of many casinos. The game is especially popular with Las Vegas locals, who tend to patronize locals casinos off the Las Vegas Strip. These local casinos often offer lower denomination machines or better odds, although this was more common in the 90s as casinos across the country have recently been cutting their paytables and/or only offering 25 cent machines or higher. [edit] The Game Game play begins by placing a bet of one or more credits, by inserting money (or in newer machines, a barcoded paper ticket with credit) into the machine, and then pressing a "Deal" button to draw cards. The player is then given an opportunity to keep or discard one or more of the cards in exchange for a new card drawn from the same virtual deck. After the draw, the machine evaluates the hand and offers a payout if the hand matches one of the winning hands in the posted pay schedule. On a typical video poker machine, payouts start with a minimum hand of a pair of jacks. Pay tables allocate the payout for hands based partially upon how rare they are, and also based upon the total theoretical return the game operator chooses to offer. Some machines offer progressive jackpots for the royal flush, (and sometimes for other rare hands as well), thereby spurring players to both play more coins and to play more frequently. [edit] Regulation Video poker machines operated in state-regulated jurisdictions are programmed to deal random card sequences. A series of cards is generated for each play; five dealt straight to the hand, the other five dealt in order if requested by player. This is based upon a Nevada regulation, adopted by most other states with a gaming authority, which requires dice and cards used in an electronic game to be as random as the real thing, within computational limits set by the gaming authority. Video poker machines are tested to ensure compliance with this requirement before they may be offered to the public. Video poker games in Nevada are required to simulate a 52 card deck (or a 53 card deck if using a joker). It is unclear whether all video poker machines at Indian gaming establishments are subject to the same Nevada-style regulations, as Indian casinos are located on reservations that are sovereign to the tribe which holds the gaming license. Newer versions of the software no longer deal out all 10 cards at once. They now deal out the first five cards, and then when the draw button is pressed, they generate a second set of cards based on the remaining 47 cards in the deck. This was done after players found a way to reverse engineer a random number generator's cycle from sample hands and were able to predict the hidden cards in advance. [edit] Kinds of video poker Newer video poker machines may employ variants of the basic five-card draw. Typical variations include Deuces Wild, where a two serves as a wild card and a jackpot is paid for four deuces or a natural royal; pay schedule modification, where four aces with a five or smaller kicker pays an enhanced amount (these games usually have some adjective in the title such as "bonus", "double", or "triple"); and multi-play poker, where the player starts with a base hand of five cards, and each additional played hand draws from a different set of cards with the base hand removed. (Multi-play games are offered in "Triple Play", "Five Play", "Ten Play", "Fifty Play" and even "One Hundred Play" versions.) In the non-wild games (games which do not have a wild card) a player who plays five or six hundred hands per hour, on average, may receive the rare four-of-a-kind approximately once per hour, while a player may play for many days or weeks before receiving an extremely rare royal flush. [edit] Full pay games Full pay video poker machines are games which offer the typical maximum payback percentage for that game type. Payback percentage expresses the long-term expected value of the player's wager as a percentage. A payback percentage of 99%, for instance, indicates that for each $100 wagered, in the long run, the player would expect to lose $1. Payback percentages on full-pay games are often close to or even in excess of 100%, assuming error-free perfect play. Full-pay Jacks or Better, for example, offers a payback percentage of approximately 99.5% when played with perfect strategy. It must be remembered that winning the jackpot (royal flush) is also part of the "long run" in every variant. One should not play a "full pay" video poker game expecting not to lose, because even over many thousands of hands played, it will take a royal flush to get back "even". Casinos often place full pay machines alongside other machines with pay schedules that offer less attractive payback percentages, leaving it up to the player to identify which video poker machines offer full pay schedules. Most full pay machines are configured with a pay schedule that is only full pay when the maximum number of credits is bet. (See the pay schedule tables later in this article for details.) [edit] Jacks or Better "Jacks or Better" is the most common variation of video poker available. Payoffs begin at a pair of jacks or better. Full pay Jacks or Better is also known as 9/6 Jacks or Better; the 9 refers to the payoff for a full house and the 6 refers to the payoff for a flush. Full pay Jacks or Better has a theoretical return of 99.54% when played with perfect strategy. Hand 1 credit 2 credits 3 credits 4 credits 5 credits Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 4000* Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250 Four of a kind 25 50 75 100 125 Full House 9 18 27 36 45 Flush 6 12 18 24 30 Straight 4 8 12 16 20 Three of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15 Two Pair 2 4 6 8 10 Jacks or Better 1 2 3 4 5 Theoretical Return 98.05% 98.05% 98.05% 98.05% 99.54%* * *Notice the gap between the payoff for a Royal Flush played with 4 credits vs. one with 5 credits. The payoff schedule for most video poker machines has a gap like this, such that players who do not play with the maximum number of credits at a time are playing with a smaller theoretical return. [edit] Tens or Better "Tens or Better" is a variation of 6/5 Jacks or Better. The minimum paying hand is a pair of tens, rather than a pair of Jacks. Strategy is similar between the two games, in spite of the very different full house and flush payouts. [edit] Deuces Wild "Deuces Wild" is a variation of video poker in which all twos are wild. (Wild cards substitute for any other card in the deck in order to make a better poker hand). In Deuces Wild, the payout for a four of a kind makes up approximately 1/3 of the payback percentage of the game, and a four of a kind occurs on average approximately every fifteen hands. Deuces Wild can be found with pay schedules that offer a theoretical return as high as 100.762%, when played with perfect strategy. It is also available with other pay schedules that have lesser theoretical returns: Hand 1 credit 2 credits 3 credits 4 credits 5 credits Natural Royal Flush 300 600 900 1200 4000* Four Deuces 200 400 600 800 1000 Wild Royal Flush 25 50 75 100 125 Five of a Kind 15 30 45 60 75 Straight Flush 9 18 27 36 45 Four of a Kind 5 10 15 20 25 Full House 3 6 9 12 15 Flush 2 4 6 8 10 Straight 2 4 6 8 10 Three of a Kind 1 2 3 4 5 Theoretical Return 99.679% 99.679% 99.679% 99.679% 100.762%* * *Notice the gap between the payoff for a Natural Royal Flush played with 4 credits vs. one with 5 credits. The payoff schedule for most video poker machines has a gap like this, such that players who do not play with the maximum number of credits at a time are playing with a negative theoretical return. [edit] Bonus Poker "Bonus Poker" is a video poker game based on Jacks or Better, but Bonus Poker offers a higher payout percentage for four of a kind. The player is dealt five cards and can then choose which cards to keep or discard. New cards are dealt accordingly. The final hand must consist of a pair of Jacks or higher in order to win. The game has multiple versions featuring different bonus payouts based on the ranking of the four of a kind. [edit] Double Bonus "Double Bonus" video poker is a variation of Jacks or Better with a bonus payout for four aces. This variation offers up to a theoretical return of 100.1725%, when played with perfect strategy. It is also available with other pay schedules that have lesser theoretical returns: Hand 1 credit 2 credits 3 credits 4 credits 5 credits Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 4000* Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250 Four Aces 160 320 480 640 800 Four 2, 3, or 4 80 160 240 320 400 Four 5-K 50 100 150 200 250 Full House 10 20 30 40 50 Flush 7 14 21 28 35 Straight 5 10 15 20 25 Three of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15 Two Pair 1 2 3 4 5 Jacks or Better 1 2 3 4 5 Theoretical Return 99.1079% 99.1079% 99.1079% 99.1079% 100.1725%* * *Notice the gap between the payoff for a Royal Flush played with 4 credits vs. one with 5 credits. Players who do not play with the maximum number of credits at a time are playing with a negative theoretical return. [edit] Double Double Bonus "Double Double Bonus" video poker is a variation of Jacks or Better which offers bonus payoffs for different four of a kinds, as seen in the payout table below. Full pay Double Double Bonus can be found with pay schedules that offer up to a theoretical return of 100.067%, when played with perfect strategy. It is also available with other pay schedules that have lesser theoretical returns: Hand 1 credit 2 credits 3 credits 4 credits 5 credits Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 4000* Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250 Four Aces w/2, 3, or 4 400 800 1200 1600 2000 Four 2, 3, or 4 w/A-4 160 320 480 640 800 Four Aces 160 320 480 640 800 Four 2, 3, or 4 80 160 240 320 400 Four 5-K 50 100 150 200 250 Full House 10 20 30 40 50 Flush 6 12 18 24 30 Straight 4 8 12 16 20 Three of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15 Two Pair 1 2 3 4 5 Jacks or Better 1 2 3 4 5 Theoretical Return 98.9154% 98.9154% 98.9154% 98.9154% 100.067%* * *Notice the gap between the payoff for a Royal Flush played with 4 credits vs. one with 5 credits. Players who do not play with the maximum number of credits at a time are playing with a negative theoretical return. [edit] Other positive expectation games Other kinds of video poker only have positive theoretical returns when the progressive jackpot is high enough. Many establishments advertise with a billboard when the progressive jackpot is high enough. Otherwise sub-optimal games like 8/5 jacks or better can become positive expectation when the jackpot is large enough. [edit] Locating positive expectation games Although positive expectation and full pay video poker machines are found in many "locals" casinos (located off the Strip) in the Las Vegas market (and in a few Reno casinos), most Strip casinos and casinos in other markets offer less attractive video poker pay schedules. [edit] Players' clubs Many casinos offer free memberships in "player's clubs" or "slot clubs", which return a small percentage of the amount of money that is bet in the form of "comps" (complimentary food, drinks, hotel rooms, or merchandise), or sometimes as cash back (sometimes with a restriction that the cash be redeemed at a later date). These clubs require that players use a card that is inserted into the video poker machine to allow the casino to track the player's "action" (how much the player bets and for how long), which is often used to establish a level of play that may make a player eligible for additional comps. Comps or cash back from these clubs can make a significant difference in the theoretical return when playing video poker over a long period of time. In some cases, usage of a club card can even add enough value to the pay schedule of a video poker game with a negative theoretical return to make that same game have a positive theoretical return.

	Everest Poker ist der beste Online-Pokerraum für europäische und asiatische Pokerspieler, die gerne sowohl mit hohen Echtgeld-Einsätzen als auch im 'Freeplay-Modus' pokern. Everest Poker ist der beste Online-Pokerraum für europäische und asiatische Pokerspieler, die gerne sowohl mit hohen Echtgeld-Einsätzen als auch im 'Freeplay-Modus' pokern. http://www.everestpoker.com/
	Free Poker - Play poker games for free at freepoker.com FreePoker.com offers free poker games for you to play online with no downloading - a totally free poker room http://www.freepoker.com/
	Online Poker - live players online room Absolute Poker Online Poker Tournaments. Play poker online at AP, live players poker room of choice. Tables for non-stop online poker and blackjack games. http://www.absolutepoker.com/
	PokerHeaven.com - More than just poker PokerHeaven.com is an online poker site offering free texas hold 'em poker and play for real poker games including omaha, stud and draw http://www.pokerheaven.com/
	The World Series Of Poker presented by Milwaukee's Best Light The World Series Of Poker presented by Milwaukee's Best Light http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/
	Online Poker Guide - Exclusive Online Poker Bonus Offers, Strategy Articles, and Reviews PokerListings.com is the world's largest online poker guide - we have the best online poker bonus offers (guaranteed), the largest poker site directory, objective reviews of top 50 online poker rooms, official poker rules... http://www.pokerlistings.com/
	Poker Hendon Mob Poker articles, tips, competitions, the best forum and the first and most comprehensive worldwide poker tournament database. 'The coolest poker website on the net http://www.thehendonmob.com/
	William Hill Online Poker - Texas Hold'Em, Omaha And Online Poker Tournaments Play online poker, tournaments, Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, and 7 Card Stud games http://www.williamhillpoker.com/
	41st Academy of Country Music Awards! » First Round of Performers, Poker Tournament and MORE 41st Academy of Country Music Awards! » First Round of Performers, Poker Tournament and MORE http://www.acmcountry.com/
	PokerPages : Poker Information, Tournaments, Players, Poker Rules and Strategy, Learn Poker Poker Pages.com is a complete source of Poker Information including coverage of the World Series of Poker, World Poker and European Poker Tour tournaments along with Poker Player Profiles; Poker Tips, Strategies, Free Poker Software, Poker Forums and an Online Poker School. http://www.pokerpages.com/

Sub categories:

Pages:

1

|

2

|

3

|

4

Previous

Next

Back to the link directory home page

Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1¢) and often offer poker freerolls (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners.

Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security employees can look at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.

Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the form of IRC poker. Shortly thereafter Planet Poker was the first online cardroom to offer real money games. Author Mike Caro was one of the founders and the "face" of Planet Poker.

The major online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on Poker Stars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured three times as many players than in 2003. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg "Fossilman" Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.

In October 2004, Sportingbet Plc, at the time the world's largest publicly traded online gaming company (SBT.L), announced the acquisition of ParadisePoker.com, one of the online poker industry's first and largest cardrooms. The $340 million dollar acquisition marked the first time an online cardroom was owned by a public company. Since then, several other cardroom parent companies have gone public.

In June 2005, PartyGaming, the parent company of the then largest online cardroom, PartyPoker, went public on the London Stock Exchange, achieving an initial public offering market value in excess of $8 billion dollars. At the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gaming's income came from poker operations.

The market appears to be currently in a consolidation phase. In early 2006, PartyGaming moved to acquire EmpirePoker.com from Empire Online. Later in the year, bwin, an Austrian based online gambling company, acquired PokerRoom.com. Other poker rooms such as PokerStars and Poker.com that were rumored to be exploring initial public offerings[2] have postponed them.

Legality of Online Games Playing

From a legal perspective, online poker may differ in some ways from online casino gambling. However, many of the same issues do apply. For a discussion of the legality of online gambling in general, see online gambling.

Online poker is legal and regulated in many countries including several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea, and most notably the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill in February 2005 to legalize and regulate online poker and online poker cardroom operators in the state. The legislation required that online poker operations would have to physically locate their entire operations in the state. Testifying before the state Senate Judiciary committee, Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet and owner of Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law.[3]

The measure, however, was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005 after the U. S. Department of Justice sent a letter to North Dakota attorney general Wayne Stenehjem stating that online gaming "may" be illegal, and that the pending legislation "might" violate the federal Wire Act. However, many legal experts dispute the DOJ's claim.

North Dakota Rep. Jim Kasper (R-Fargo), the author of the legalization bill, has vowed to continue his efforts. He states that he is "not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota" and that the "revenue we missed is too great to pass up." Kasper has also stated that he will introduce the legislation in the 2007 session of the North Dakota legislature.

In response to this and other claims by the DOJ regarding the legality of online poker, many of the major online poker sites stopped advertising their "dot-com" sites in American media. Instead, they created "dot-net" sites that are virtually identical but offer no real money wagering. The sites advertise as poker schools or ways to learn the game for free, and feature words to the effect of "this is not a gambling website." Televised ads still feature the dot-net conceit but print ads have been trending back toward advertising the dot-coms directly.

In July 2006, United States federal agents, citing the Wire Act, arrested BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers in Dallas, Texas while he was changing planes. He was traveling between Costa Rica and the United Kingdom; in both jurisdictions online gaming and poker are legal and regulated.[4]

Later in the year a similar event happened in France, where Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner, the CEO's of bwin, [5] were giving a press conference. The arrest was made due to offenses against the French gambling laws.

Since many banks and credit card companies will not allow direct money transfers to online poker sites, electronic money transfer businesses provide online “e-wallets” that players can load from a bank account, then transfer the funds directly to the poker site. The advantage of these services is that it makes it easy for people to transfer money between different poker sites without the money going back to their bank accounts.

On October 13, 2006, President Bush officially signed into law the Safe Port Act, a bill aimed at enhancing security at U.S. ports.[6] Attached to the Safe Port Act was a provision known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to the UIGEA, "unlawful internet gambling" means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by means of the internet where such bet is unlawful under any law in the State in which the bet is initiated, received, or otherwise made. Thus, the UIGEA prohibits online gambling sites from performing transactions with American financial institutions. As a result of the bill, several large publicly traded poker gaming sites such as PartyPoker.com, PacificPoker.com and bwin closed down their US facing operations. Some operations have not closed and it is still possible for some American players to play online for real money and even sign up for new accounts. The UIGEA has had a devastating effect on the stock value of these companies.[7]

Following passage of UIGEA, former U.S. Senator Al D'Amato joined the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Part of the PPA's mission is to protect and to advocate for the right of poker players to play online. Sen. D'Amato's responsibilities include Congressional lobbying. The PPA has over 650,000 members as of August 2007.[8]

On April 26, 2007, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA). IGREA would modify the UIGEA by providing a provision for licensing of Internet gambling facilities by the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. On June 8, 2007, the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Frank, held a hearing entitled, "Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated to Protect Consumers and the Payments System?". Details of the meeting, including the archived webcast, are available on the House Financial Services Committee website [9]. Expert witnesses at the hearing testified that Internet gambling can be effectively regulated for age verification, money laundering issues, facilitation of state and federal tax collection, and for issues relating to compulsive gambling. As of August 2007, IGREA has 35 cosponsors. [10]

On May 3, 2007 Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced HR 2140, the Internet Gambling Study Act. This bill "provide(s) for a study by the National Academy of Sciences to identify the proper response of the United States to the growth of Internet gambling."[11] As of August 26, 2007, IGSA has 64 cosponsors.

On June 7, 2007, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) introduced HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act. This act would legalize Internet poker, bridge, chess, and other games of skill. Also on June 7, 2007, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling Tax Act. The IGTA would legislate Internet gambling tax collection requirements.

How online poker rooms profit

Typically, online poker rooms generate the bulk of their revenue via three methods. First, there is the rake. Rake is collected from most real money ring game pots. The rake is normally calculated as a percentage of the pot based on a sliding scale and capped at some maximum fee. Each online poker room determines its own rake structure.

Second, pre-scheduled multi-table and impromptu sit-and-go tournaments are not raked, but rather an entry fee around ten percent of the tournament entry fee is added to the cost of the tournament.

Third, some online poker sites also offer games like black jack or side bets on poker hands where the player plays against "the house" for real money. The odds are in the house's favor in these games, thus producing a profit for the house.

These are also the three primary methods brick and mortar casinos derive profits from operating poker tables.

Integrity and fairness

As with other forms of online gambling, many critics question whether the operators of such games—especially those located in jurisdictions separate from most of their players—might be engaging in fraud themselves.

Internet discussion forums are rife with allegations of non-random card dealing, possibly to favour house-employed players or "bots" (poker-playing software disguised as a human opponent), or to give multiple players good hands thus increasing the bets and the rake, or simply to prevent new players from losing so quickly that they become discouraged. However, there is little more than anecdotal evidence to support such claims, and others argue that the rake is sufficiently large that such abuses would be unnecessary and foolish. Many claim to see lots of "bad beats" with large hands pitted against others all too often at a rate that seems to be a lot more common than in live games. This might actually be caused by the fact that online cardrooms deal more hands per hour. Since online players get to see more hands, their likelihood of seeing more improbable bad beats or randomly large pots is also increased.

Many online poker sites are certified by bodies such as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and other major auditing firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the fairness of the random number generator[12], shuffle[13], and payouts for some sites.

Differences compared to conventional poker

There are substantial differences between online poker gaming and conventional, in-person gaming.

One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across from each other, removing any ability to observe others' reactions and body language. Instead, online poker players learn to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time, speed of play, use of check boxes/auto plays, opponents' fold/flop percentages, chat box, waiting for the big blind, beginners' tells, and other behavior tells that are not physical in nature. Since poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online players learn to master the new frontiers of their surroundings.

Another less obvious difference is the rate of play. In brick and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards, shuffle, and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is around thirty hands per hour. However, online casinos do not have these delays. The dealing and shuffling are instant, there are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons (where the player selects his action before his turn). It is not uncommon for an online poker table to average ninety to hundred hands per hour.

This large difference in rate of play has created another effect among online poker players. In the brick and mortar casino, the only real way to increase your earnings is to increase your limit. In the online world players have another option, play more tables. Unlike a physical casino where it would be nearly impossible to play multiple tables at once, most online poker rooms allow this. Depending on the site, a player might play from 4 to 10 tables at the same time, viewing them each in a separate window on the computer display. For example, a winning player may make around $10 per 100 hands at a low-limit game. In a casino, this would earn them under $4 an hour. After dealer tips, the winning player would probably barely break even. In an online poker room, the same player with the same win rate could play four tables at once, which at 60 hands per hour each would result in an earning of $24/hour. Some online players even play eight or more tables at once, in an effort to increase their winnings.

Another important difference results from the fact that some online poker rooms offer online poker schools that teach the basics and significantly speed up the learning curve for novices. Many online poker rooms also provide free money play so that players may practice these skills in various poker games and limits without the risk of losing real money. People who previously had no way to learn and improve because they had no one to play with now have the ability to learn the game much quicker and gain experience from free-money play.

Finally, the limits associated with online poker are much less than the table limits at a traditional casino. On gambling sites, players can find limits as low as $.01/$.02. However, at most brick and mortar establishments the lowest limits are often $1/$2.

Bonuses

While the practice of comping players with free meals, hotel rooms, and merchandise is quite common in B&M casinos, online poker rooms have needed to develop new ways to reward faithful customers. The most common way of doing this is through deposit bonuses, where the player is given a bonus code to enter when placing money into an account. The bonus code adds either a percentage or a set amount of chips to the value of the deposit. One should be aware that these are not up-front payments. The bonus is released in a piecemeal manner in accordance with the number of raked hands played. In addition, several online cardrooms employ VIP Managers to develop VIP programs to reward regular players and additional bonuses exist for players who wish to top-up their accounts. These are known as reload bonuses.

Compatibility

Online poker rooms typically operate through a separate piece of software. This may be cross-platform, for example using a Java Applet, allowing the programme to run equally well on various computer systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. However, many online poker rooms offer downloadable programmes designed only for Microsoft Windows which require a compatibility layer such as Wine to run on Macintosh or Linux computers. Some sites do make available clients that run natively on Mac or Linux.

Some mobile content providers have started offering poker on portable devices (mobile phones, PDAs). The functionality of mobile online poker software is much the same as computer-based clients, albeit adapted to the interface of mobile devices. The player must be able to receive a cell phone signal in order to play.

Online poker portals and forums

Online poker portals are websites offering poker-related content. Examples of such content could be news, tournament results, strategy articles or reviews of online poker cardrooms. Some portals have a considerable amount of content, while others attempt to act as mere conduits to other sites, where actual gambling games are offered. Poker forums exist that discuss poker strategy, cardroom information, gambling news, and other topics.