GETTING STARTED

ADVANTAGES - Online poker has many advantages over B&M poker.


• LOWER RAKE - Most B&M card rooms charge a 10% rake but most online card rooms charge a 5% rake. The lower cost of playing definitely adds up in the long run - especially at low-limit games where the rake, as a percent of the amount of the pot, is larger.
  
  
• MORE HANDS PER HOUR - Most B&M card rooms will deal about 30 hands per hour but online card rooms will deal about 60 hands per hour (even up to 100 hands per hour in shorthanded games).
  
  
• BETTER VARIETY OF GAMES - Online there are usually games being played of any type at any level at any time - from Omaha to Hold'em, from $.01/.02 up to $20/40.
  
  
• LESS TRAVEL TIME - You don't have to spend an hour driving to and from the casino. This gives you more time to play the game. This also allows you to have short sessions when you sometimes feel like playing for only 20 minutes or so but wouldn't drive to a casino just to play for 20 minutes.
  
  
• NO TOKING - You dont have to tip the dealer. This adds up in the long-run.
  
  
• NO-LIMIT CASH GAMES - B&M casinos typically don't set up no-limit cash games because in no-limit games luck becomes less of a factor and skill tends to dominate. Therefore, these games tend to break up pretty quickly because the fish bust out too fast and the games dry up.
  
  
• MORE TOURNAMENTS - B&M card rooms only have tournaments at specified times on specified days - usually only a couple per week. But online there are many more multi-table tournaments and ongoing (unscheduled) sit-n-gos.
  
  
• PLAY MULTIPLE TABLES AT ONCE - Many low-limit players like to play many tables at once - sometimes up to 4 or 8. Not only does this increase your win rate but it also smooths out the profits because you are playing around 200-400 hands per hour.
  
  
• CALCULATING POT ODDS - Almost all sites tell you exactly how much money is in the pot at any given time. This allows you to precisely calculate the pot odds and implied odds at all times. You do not have to keep track of how many bets went into the pot like you do at a B&M card room. This will result in more correct odds-related decisions.
  
  
• BONUSES - Because of the lower cost, online poker rooms give away a tons of money in bonuses to sign up and make an initial deposit at their site. Most bonuses tend to be about 10% of the initial deposit. Some sites also offer reload bonuses, which are bonuses offered to players who already have accounts open. In most cases you have to play a certain number of hands before cashing out the bonus and/or wait 30 days before cashing it out. Always read the terms and conditions of the bonus offers.
  
  
• ABILITY TO KEEP BETTER PROFIT RECORDS - Because you have close access to a computer, you will be able to more acurately record the details of your sessions - the amount of time you played, the starting and ending chip amounts, and game limits.
  
  
• NO DEALER MISTAKES - Dealer mistakes can distort your results in brick & mortar games. These mistakes don't happen online.
  
  
• HAND HISTORIES - You can a review the play of a hand by having a hand history e-mailed to you.
  
  
• OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS - You can software that imports hand histories and analyzes and serves you statistics about your play.
  
  
• EASY TO SPOT JUICY GAMES - Almost all sites tell you the number of players seeing the flop, the avg. pot, and who the players are at the table. This information can be used to find the most profitable tables.
  
  
• LOWER WAITING TIME FOR TABLES - Most of the time there are no waits for a online room (occasionally you may have to wait 5 minutes) but when you play brick and mortar games you could be waiting up to a couple of hours.
  
  
• WOMEN WON'T GET HARASSED - Some women don't like playing poker with guys because they are sometimes rude or disrespectful to women. When you play online you can pick a screenname which keeps your sex anonymous.
  
  
• BEGINNERS WON'T FEEL INTIMIDATED - Beginning players sometimes feel embarassed when they play live and they make mistakes or think too long about what to do. Online people won't be able to tell.
  
  
• BAD PLAYERS ONLINE - Bad players are sometimes annoying when they play brick & mortar because their bad play and suckouts get criticized by good players. The anonymity of playing online allows them more comfort and allows you to make more money.
  
  
• SMOKE-FREE - You don't have to worry about people smoking around you.
  
  


MYTHS - There are many myths about online poker. Unfortunately these are spread by people who haven't played online poker or are losing players. But if you have any issues with any online site then you can always just leave a site and never come back.


• THE HANDS ARE FIXED - Many players believe there are "action flops" where the sites are designed to flop cards which are more likely to hit certain players' cards in order to stimulate a lot of betting. Most of the cards dealt online are based on random-number generators which are verified by independent accounting firms like Price Waterhouse Coopers. There has never been any proof of any crooked dealing at any card room.
  
  
• YOU PLAY AGAINST COMPUTERS - 99% of online poker rooms do not use bots in real money games. To the best of my knowledge there is only 1 site that I knew of that ever used bots, and the site closed down a few years ago.
  
  
• COLLUSION - Many players fear playing online because they believe that there are players who sit at tables together tell each other their cards. The problem with the colluding theory is that in order for you to be a successful colluder, first you must be a successful poker player. Most successful poker players spend so much time improving their game that they simply don't have the time or the interest to cheat the games. If someone has an interest in cheating it is usually a player who has either been unsuccessful or a novice player looking for a shortcut to make money in poker. In either one of these scenarios the colluder will lose money because they still don't know how to play poker successfully. It could be argued that having colluders who don't know how to play poker sitting in your game might be a good thing because it will give them a false confidence that will make them lose money. With that being said, there is bound to be some collusion in online poker (just like in offline poker), but it is not so common as to keep you from playing online poker.
  
  
• YOU GET MORE BAD BEATS - It is true that the absolute number of bad beats you suffer will be higher online. This is because you are being dealt more hands per hour as well as possibly playing many tables at once. This may also be due to the lower skill level of the players at some online site who will be chasing to the river more often. So, even if you get more bad beats, it is because bad players are chasing more often. This will just make you more money in the long-run.
  
  
• THE POKER SITE WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY - Most of the sites are large, stable sites who make plenty of money running a legitimate business and don't need to steal money. There have only been a few instances of online card rooms shutting down and leaving with their customers funds. These were small sites. Player would do well to play at only the larger and more established sites as well as monitor the online poker forums to watch for early indicators of financial trouble at a poker site - such as players not getting paid.
  
  
• THE CASHOUT CURSE - One of the most common accusations from losing online players is that sites will give you bad cards after you cashout. This isn't true.
  
  

The first decision you will have to make is how to deposit money. The are many options but I believe the easiest way to do this is through Neteller. Neteller is similar to PayPal but PayPal no longer does online gambling transactions so Neteller has become the first choice among online gamblers.


NETELLER



• SIGN-UP & ACCOUNT VERIFICATION - After signing up with Neteller they will make a deposit to your checking account which you have to verify to get the acccount approved. This one-time process usually takes a few days. Certifying your bank account raises your deposit limits, and speeds up the processing of deposits and withdrawals.
  
  
• FUNDING - After your account is verified then you can transfer money to your Neteller account. The best way to do this is to do an EFT from your checking account. This is free and will only take a few days to process. They also offer you an "InstaCash EFT" which is an immediate transfer but costs 8.9%.
  
  
• TRANSFERS TO/FROM POKER SITES - Depositing money to a poker site from Neteller is a very simple process. The poker site simply asks you for your account number, secure ID, and the amount and then the money always appears in your account within 1 minute. Neteller only transfers money in round dollars so if you have $85.31 in your account when you cash out from a web site then you are only able to cash out to Neteller for $85.00 and the other $0.31 will stay in your account. Some novice online poker players think the poker site is trying to steal your money but this isn't true.
  
  
• TRANSFERS TO/FROM OTHER NETELLER ACCOUNTS - You are able to transfer money to other people who have Neteller accounts but they charge a 2.9% on the receiving end of the transaction - there is no charge for the sender.
  
  
• WITHDRAWING - Withdrawing funds is the same as depositing. You can do a free EFT transfer back to your checking account and wait a few days to get the money or you can do an InstaCash EFT and pay an 8.9% fee to receive the money immediately. Neteller also has a debit card available for you to withdraw money out from an ATM. The fees are in line with most foreign ATM cards ($1-2 oer transaction).
  
  
  


FIREPAY



• SUMMARY - Firepay is a service similar to Neteller. You can deposit funds into your Firepay account to transfer in and out of online gambling sites. There is a $1.50 service fee for each deposit you make in Firepay and when you withdraw funds from your FirePay account to your bank account, there is a EFT service fee of $10. Because of the higher fees, Firepay simply does not offer the benefits that Neteller does. Nor do they have the reputation for good customer service that Neteller does. If you were planning on opening a Firepay accont, I would recommend you open a Neteller account instead.


CREDIT CARDS
 


• Even though Visa and Mastercard are commonly accepted at most online casinos, if you try to deposit with a credit card you wil probably find that your credit card purchase will be rejected. This isn't because the gambling site doesn't want your money, it is because the credit card company knows you are depositing to a gambling site and denies the transaction. If this happens to you then you can open an account at Neteller or FirePay and tie your credit card to these accounts and the purchase will be classified as a normal cash transaction instead of a gambling transaction.
  
  Because of the trouble associated with depositing via credit cards, the huge cash advances fees, the high interest rates associated with cash advances, and the personal risk of running up gambling debt, depositing by credit card would not be the first choice of depositing options I would make.
  
  

PRE PAID



• PrePaidATM is the only ATM Card that is not tied to a bank account. You can use your card wherever debit cards are accepted and you can also receive funds at thousands of ATM machines worldwide. They don't require your vital info, such as Social Security#, Credit Card#, or anything else so you have a lot of privacy. In order to use their system you will have to open an account and transfer money to it. There are some small fees incurring when you fund your account.
  
  PrePaid ATM Cardholders enjoy a variety of funding methods. To fund it with PayPal, log into your PayPal account and designate a payment to pal@PrePaidATM.com. Funds will be available within 1-hour during normal business hours Limits are $5,000 within any 24-hour period. You can also use Visa or MasterCard to transfer funds to your Prepaid ATM even if your Credit Card Issuing bank does not accept gambling transactions. Most banks will treat payments to Prepaid ATM as purchases, but some banks may still post them as cash advances, so it is recommended to ask your bank.
  
  Most of the sites that accept it also pay the transfer fee and transfers between Prepaid ATM account holders are easily processed. The downside is that there aren't many poker sites that use it at present it is only available to U.S. citizens.


900 PAY



• 900 Pay is an excellent online casino payment solution that doesn't require you to submit your credit card or banking account details to online casinos. All your payments will be charged to your telephone bill, without any additional costs. The 900 Pay payment solution is one of the simplest and most secure methods for online gambling. 900 Pay is only available for US citizens that don't have a 900-service block on their telephone number. You can call 1-900-993-4141 to check if you are able to connect to 900 numbers. If you can't you'll have to contact your phone company and ask them to remove the block on 900 calls.


DIRECT TRANSFER FROM ANOTHER PLAYER


• At Party Poker and PokerStars, you have ability to transfer money to another player directly without a fee. This is a very convenient option for new players to receive money without doing too much work setting up accounts but it is still a smart move to set up a Neteller account in case you want to open an account a different poker site. It would then only take a few days in order for you to cash out to Neteller and then deposit to a different poker site. Also, if you want to cash out your money and spend it, then it is easier to set up a Neteller account and do a free cashout to your checking account which will take 4 days or so instead of requesting a snail mail check (which could take weeks) or a wire transfer which will cost money.
  
  
OTHER - ACH, WIRE TRANSFER
 


• Some casinos will even allow you to deposit money by other methods such as ACH (which is basically an electronic check), or by wire transfer.

There are a number of different factors you should look at when looking for a poker site to deposit to.


• BONUS - The sign-up bonus available at a site is a big reason to play there. If you are depositing $500 or so, then an extra $100 can go a long way.
  
  
• THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS - The more players a poker site has, the more games you will be able to find to fit your needs. You know you there will always be a game offered at any stake level. Also, the more players there are on a site then the more confident you can feel about the financial stability of the site.
  
  
• TOURNAMENTS - Some players only play tournaments. In this case you would want a site that has good single and multi-table tournaments available.
  
  
• THE LOOSENESS OF A SITE - Many successful players will tell you that 80% of your poker profits will be a result of game selection. The looser the games are, the more money you will make in the long run. Party and Bodog are famous for having very loose games. For Bodog, it is because some of the players are sports and casino gamblers coming over to play poker. For Party Poker, it is because many of their players are new to the game and got introduced to poker through the World Poker Tour and signed up because of the Party Poker commercials.
  
  
• THE SOFTWARE - If you are going to be playing at a site for a for a while, you will want to pick one that has an interface that you are comfortable with. This means software that is smooth and doesn't stall much, is relatively fast, and offers many of the game features you are looking for (hand histories, game search filtering, wait lists, etc). Some players also take into consideration the look of the site - some players prefer a more graphics-intensive site while some like more visually-simple looking site.
  
  
• DEPOSIT METHODS - You will need to go through a site that offers the deposit and withdrawal methods that you have access to. Back in the Neteller days, you didn't have to wrry about this, but today you do.
  
  

• DOWNLOAD MANY SITES - Check as many sites as you can to see what software and sites you are most comfortable with.
  
  
• STAYING WITH A POKER SITE - Don't make up your mind until you have played at least 20-30 hours. Many players start playing at a site and start out with a couple of bad sessions and then cash out thinking the site is bad. This will happen at looser sites but it is normal. It takes some time to see how good the games are and how much you like the site.