A Complete Introduction To Online poker

[The POD]

 Welcome to the Beginners' Guide to Online Poker. You've seen high-stakes poker on TV and heard about the online poker sites. Here you will find step-by-step directions for getting started playing poker online with other people from around the world.

We'll guide you through the steps of choosing a reputable poker site, creating an account for yourself and sitting down in your first play-money game. We explain what's different about online poker from the regular kind. For example, what you need to keep in mind now that you can't see your opponent, or what happens if you lose your internet connection during a hand. You'll learn about some of the dangers unique to online poker and how to protect yourself.

If you're new to poker, we have a quick course in basic strategy. If you're already an experienced player, you'll want to check out our pointers to great resources for refining your game. Online poker offers some unique ways to improve your own play (such as hand history records and tracking databases) and we'll show you how to take advantage of these.

And when you're ready to take the plunge and play for real money, we explain everything you need to know: how to get money into and out of the site, expert techniques to maximize deposit bonuses and minimize transaction fees, legal issues, tax issues and more.

What is on line poker?

 First, let's go over what it's not.

Online poker is not "video poker", the game you see in casinos that looks like a slot machine.

Online poker is not something that you play by yourself. Although you may be sitting at home all alone, you're connected to a game server via the internet. Every online poker game has at least two real people, while most have eight to ten. The larger tournaments have several thousand people all playing at once (at different tables, of course).

When you play online poker, you aren't playing against the "house". You don't make bets with the poker site. You make bets with the other people playing poker. The house (that is, the poker site) makes money by collecting a small fraction of each pot before awarding it to the winner. The house never gambles at all. This is very different from an "online casino", where the player and the casino are natural enemies. In the case of online poker, the house is a neutral third party.

Here's how it works. The ingredients are:

the poker web site - where you can find information about the games hosted by the site, the rules, promotions, upcoming events, and the place from which you download the poker client.

the poker client - the program you install on your own PC. It has a graphical display of the poker game showing the players and cards and has buttons you use to bet and fold. When you run it, it connects to the poker game server.

the poker game server - the central computer that hosts the poker games. The game server runs a computer program that acts as a dealer (shuffling and dealing cards and awarding pots), floorman (helping you find a seat) and cashier (handling chips and money). The game server ensures that all rules are followed correctly. The game server is the hub for all communication with and between the players.

the players - the people who are playing poker with each other. Each person is sitting at their own computer, running their own copy of the poker client, connected to the poker game server via the internet.

You can play online poker for play money or real money. When you play for play money, you are just playing for "play chips" or "free chips". When you first sign up you start out with some number of play chips. If you lose them all, you can simply ask for more, though some sites limit how often you can get more play chips. When you play for real money, you are betting real dollars, euros or pounds. Real money stakes range from tiny (in some games you can bet as little as a penny) to large (in other games the minimum bet could be several hundred dollars). The sites make their profit by collecting "rake" from the real money pots, but they are happy to host the play money games as a promotional expense.

Where real money is involved, the obvious first question is whether the site is trustworthy. Before you can play real money games, you have to deposit money with the site. How do you know you will ever be able to get that money back? Some sites have established track records of 5 years or more and have earned the confidence of thousands of players. But others have failed and gone out of business without returning the players' money. We'll show you how to choose a site with a solid reputation so that when it comes time to cash out you won't have any worries.

GETTING STARTED

The first decision you need to make is which site to try first. You can have accounts at more than one site if you want, but you might as well start off at one of the better sites. There are a number of factors you want to consider. Depending on which things are important to you personally, one site or another may be the best choice for you. The next section covers the important factors to keep in mind.

CHOOSING YOUR SITE

 Popularity. This factor is more important than you might think. The more people that play at a poker site, the greater the choice of games. At the largest sites, you can connect any time day or night and find hundreds of tables to choose from. Also, a site with a large player base can afford to spread a lot of different kinds of poker games, including less popular games that might be your own favorite. A smaller site can't do this because it would drain players from the other games, possibly causing another game to "break" (that's when all the players leave a table) because it has too few players. Another advantage of playing at a popular site is you can be assured that they are making a lot of money and will be operating far into the future. At a small site that is just getting by, you never know. Finally, a large player base means large turnout for tournaments, which means large prize pools. That's important if you want to win big in a multi-table tournament.

Ring game vs. tournament traffic. Some sites specialize in tournaments and others in ring games (that is, regular non-tournament single-table poker games). Depending on your own tastes, you'll want to choose a site that is tailored to your interests.

Game variety. Some of the biggest sites don't have a wide variety of games, even though they have a large enough player base to support it. For example, some sites do not have multi-table tournaments. Others do not have no-limit holdem ring games. But every site has limit holdem ring games. Check the site's web pages for listings of which games are offered.

Game selection and profitability. Although we mentioned this in the section on popularity, it's worth calling out separately. One of the most important skills of a winning player is the ability to find the most profitable game. But even the best player will do poorly if all the games are bad. Some sites tend to attract stronger players than others. Even within a site, some games will be much better than others. If profit is one of your motives, you want to play at a site where the other players are less skillful than average, and also where the site gives you the tools to distinguish a good game from a bad one. We'll talk about that more later.

Client software experience. The different poker clients vary widely in the graphics, lobby organization and overall ease of use. But since they all do the job, this is mostly a matter of personal taste. In later sections we'll point out how some of the clients provide special tools (such as the ability to keep notes about the other players) that can help give you an edge over opponents who don't know how to use them.

Customer service. Some sites are famous for taking care of player problems quickly. Others are just as famous for caring less about you than your cell phone company does. If you're not playing for real money, this isn't something to worry about.

Loyalty program. Every site has promotions aimed at retaining their customers, but some are more generous than others. Some sites hold freeroll tournaments, some have high hand jackpots, and others give you Frequent Player Points (like airline miles) that you can redeem for merchandise or tournament entries. Many of the promotions are available to play money players as well, in the hope that those players will some day decide to play for real money.

Financial reputation. This is a key factor if you are planning to play for real money. The last way you want to spend your time is worrying about whether your money is safe with the poker site. However, if you are only going to play for play money, then you don't care about this, since they won't have any of your money. In general, today's largest sites also have the best reputations.

You can check out many of the sites in the TPP reviews or read some of the posts that fellow members have made regarding the different sites.

JOINING A SITE

Downloading the client is easy. Click one of the links below; either the download will start automatically, or a new page will open with a "Download" link or that you should click. Select "Save to Disk" and choose an easy to remember location (like your desktop). When the download completes, double click on the file you saved and follow the instructions. See our suggestions below for what to consider when choosing a screen name and email address.

CHOOSING YOUR USER NAME

 How to choose a screen name

Part of the sign-up process will be choosing a "screen name". This is the nickname by which you will be known at the poker site. Most sites make it very difficult to change your screen name once you've chosen it. Since you don't want to be stuck with a lame nickname forever, think up a good one now. If you go with a popular theme (like "Maverick" or "Teddy KGB"), you'll need to add some variation to the name to make it unique.
How to choose a email address

One of the sign-up screens will ask you for an email address. The site uses this to communicate with you about your account and to verify funds transfers. Here are some things to consider before you fill out this field.

You may be worried about spam. Generally, the online poker sites consider their email list very valuable and don't share it with others simply for selfish reasons. Still, they will send you occasional promotional emails announcing upcoming tournaments, freerolls or deposit bonuses. Most sites don't send more than one or two messages per month.

So spam isn't a big problem. But another thing to think about is privacy. If you use your work email address, will it be a problem if your employer finds out that you are receiving email from an online poker site? You might be better off keeping these parts of your life separate. One easy answer is to create a free email address at Yahoo or Hotmail and use that for online poker sites.
They're asking for personal information

The better sites let you sign up for a play money account without entering a lot of personal information. If you're planning to stick to the play money games, you're better off staying away from a site that insists on learning about your personal identity. What business is it of theirs? But if you are going to play real money games, you will have to share your real name and mailing address with the site. There's really no way around this. If you're not comfortable doing this you'll need to avoid the real money games. This is another reason why site reputation is so important.

One concern some people have with giving personal information is the possibility that the site will share this information with government authorities. No such cases have yet been reported in any of the forums. Most of the sites operate in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Canada, which is outside the jurisdiction of your local and national authorities.

TYPES OF GAMES

Kinds of games – play money vs. real money, ring game vs. tournament
Play money vs. real money

The poker sites have both play money and real money games. Anybody can sign up to play in the play money games. You start out with a certain number of chips that you can use in the games. If you run out, you just ask for more, though most sites limit how often you can get more play money chips. Real money games require that you deposit money with the site first. Even if you know you're interested in playing for real money, it's smart to learn the ropes with a little practice in play money games.

We talk about real money games in a later section. But the thing to keep in mind about them is that real money doesn't necessarily mean high stakes. Some of the most popular online poker games are played at the nickel and dime level, or with $1 to $5 tournament buyins.
Ring games vs. tournaments

An important distinction between different kinds of poker games is the difference between ring games and tournaments. Tournaments are further divided into single-table or multi-table, and into scheduled events or so-called "sit-and-go" events. (New player advice: We recommend that players new to online poker start out by playing in a play-money ring game just to learn the mechanics of using the poker client. Once you've warmed up and are comfortable, try moving on to some play money or freeroll tournaments.)

The term "ring game" is poker lingo for a plain old non-tournament poker game. Another name for this type of game is a "live game". A ring game is confined to a single table. In a ring game, any player can sit down at any time, buy chips, play poker and cash out at any time. Players come and go as they please sit out when they need to take a short break. The big distinction between a ring game and a tournament is the ability to stand up and cash out at any time.

In the lobby, the ring games typically are grouped separately from the tournaments. If you see a section named "Holdem" or "Omaha", these are ring games. The tournaments are clearly marked as tournaments.

The easiest way to get started is in a play money ring game. The next section guides you through the process of finding a table, sitting down, getting chips and playing poker.

[The POD]

Even if you've played poker for years, getting started playing online poker means learning a new set of basic skills. You need to be able to find a game, sit down, buy chips and then, finally, see your cards and bet, raise or fold. And in the online world there are few unique issues to consider, like what to do when you lose your internet connection in the middle of a hand, and special rules of online etiquette. The section is a step-by-step guide to the basic mechanics of using the poker client software to play poker online. We'll use a play money ring game as an example.

 The lobby

Start out by running the poker client you already installed (see here if you haven't yet got a poker client). Usually you can double-click it from your desktop.

The first thing you see when you start the poker client is the "lobby". This screen shows you what tables are active and has details about each table such as the stakes, the game being played (Texas Holdem, 7-card Stud, etc.) and the number of players already seated. There is some variation among the different sites in exactly how they display this information. Some clients use a simple tabular grid while others show a 3-D graphic display of an imaginary card room. In general, all the sites make it easy to navigate and find the games you are interested in.

The lobby divides the games into a few categories. The most important differences are play money vs. real money, and ring games vs. tournaments.

Browse through the lobby in search of a play-money holdem game with an open seat. The lobby shows you how many players are seated at each table. Choose a table with fewer players than the others and double click it. A new window will open for the table.
Wait list

If there isn't a seat available in the game you want, you can join the wait list for that game. players stand up from the game, each person on the wait list is called in turn. When your seat is ready, a dialog box will pop up asking you if you want to accept it. You have one to two minutes to look over the table again and decide.
Sitting down and standing up

Once you have found a table and opened it up in a window, see if there is an open seat. If not, go back to the lobby and try another table. Once you have found an open seat, sit in it by clicking where it says “Sit down”.

Later, when you want to stand up, just click on the “Leave table” or “Stand up” (depending on the site).
Putting chips on the table

When you sit down, the dealer will ask you how many chips you want to put on the table. Since this is a play-money game, you might as well buy a lot of chips.

Later, if you want to buy more chips, most sites let you click on the dealer tray, though some sites have a special . When you buy chips in the middle of a hand, they aren't brought to you until after the hand is over. That is to prevent a player from playing short-stacked and adding chips only when they have a strong hand.

Play of the hand – posting, cards, betting, the showdown
Posting, or waiting for the blind

In holdem, players take turns paying the blinds. (The next section explains the basics of holdem.) To make sure everybody pays their fair share of blinds, new players have a choice to make when they sit down. a new player, you can either wait a few hands until the blind comes around to you naturally, or you can “post” an extra blind and get a hand immediately. If you post, on the hand after that you are a regular player and the dealer continues to deal you in.

When you post, the chips you post are “live” (they counts for you as a bet), so if the action is unraised when it reaches you you will not need to bet any more chips to stay in the hand. If someone raises before the action reaches you, your post counts as credit toward calling the bet, if you wish.

Stud games have antes instead of blinds and you don't have to wait. The dealer will ask you to post your ante on the very next hand after you sit down.
Your cards and the board

Once you are dealt in, your own cards will be displayed in front of your seat and other players' cards will be displayed face-down in front of their seats. This way you can see who is dealt in. After a player folds, their cards disappear. You'll have to remember yourself who was dealt out, and who was dealt in and folded, just like in real life.

In holdem, the dealer places the community cards, or board, face up in the middle of the table.

See the section on client display options below for information on using a 4-color deck. Sometimes it can be hard to tell clubs from spades and a different color for each suit helps you avoid a mistake.
Betting

When it's your turn to bet, buttons appear marked “Fold”, “Check”, “Bet”, “Call”, “Raise”, and so on. In a no-limit game, you will also have a slider and/or text box that you use to choose the amount of your bet or raise. The slider can take some getting used to and some people just always use the text box.

You can also make an “advance action” before it is your turn to act. This is most useful when you know you are going to fold no matter what happens between now and your turn. You will see little checkboxes that say “Fold to any bet”, “Call $3”, etc. You can change you mind any time before the action reaches you. If the action reaches you and you have checked one of the boxes, the dealer performs your action for you without pausing.
The showdown

At the end of the hand, the dealer manages the showdown. The dealer starts out by showing the cards of the person obligated to show first. Then each player in turn is given the option to show their hand or “muck” their cards without showing. To speed up the showdown, most sites automatically show winning hands immediately. None of the sites allow a player to muck a winning hand, so you don't have to worry about making that mistake.

When all the cards have been shown, the dealer awards the pot according to the rules of the game.


Sites welcoming US players

Full Tilt Poker
Highest limits, celebrity players, $600 deposit bonus

Ultimate Bet
Aruba and Bellagio freerolls, $650 deposit bonus

Poker Stars
Best tournaments and frequent player freerolls

Absolute Poker
Weekly $150,000 freeroll


Compare all sites.
   
Other actions – sitting out, chat, display options
Sitting out

If you want to take a break, you can click on the “Sit out” or “Deal me out next hand” check box (depending on the site). You'll be dealt out and won't pay any blinds or antes. When you want to come back, there will be a “I'm back” to click on. Most sites allow you to sit out for two rounds of blinds, which is 15 or more hands at a full table. If you sit out too long, you will be stood up and your chips will be returned to your account.

If you miss the blinds while you are sitting out, you will have two choices similar to those of a new player. You can either “make up the blinds”, usually by posting an amount equal to the sum of the blinds, or you can wait for the blind to reach you naturally. If you make up the blinds, only the portion of your post up to the amount of the big blind is “live”. The rest goes into the pot immediately and doesn't play for you as a credit when the action reaches you.
Chat

All the poker clients allow you to chat with the other players at the table. Look for a one-line text box near the text display area and try typing “hello” in it. Some clients let you chat if you are not seated at the table, while others restrict chat to seated players. Below, we talk about some etiquette guidelines you should follow when chatting.
Client options – sound, animation, 4-color deck

Most poker clients let you customize your poker experience. You can turn on and off the sound (good if you're playing from work!) and the animation (good if you have a slow machine). Exactly how you control the options depends on the poker client. Look for the “Options” menu on the lobby window, or else try clicking with the left or right mouse in the dealer tray in the poker table window.

A very useful feature that some sites have is a 4-color deck. Many players prefer this because it reduces the chances of making a mistake when looking at the suits.

Online poker etiquette

There is something about the anonymity of online chat that seems to bring out the worst in some people. And in poker, whether online or off, there are some basic rules of behavior that you should follow. Here are four guidelines for online poker etiquette:

Go easy on the language. While online poker is an adult activity, nobody appreciates a foul-mouthed slob.

Don't be a jerk. It's rude to dose out too much trash talk, or to rub your opponent's face in it when you beat them, or say they must be a real idiot to play as badly as they do. Now of course this depends on the table, and what's rude at one table might be good-natured fun at another. But think, do you really want to chase away the worst player at the table by telling him how badly he plays?

Keep up with the pace. Don't slow down the game by being inattentive. Use advance actions whenever it makes sense.

Don't comment on a hand in progress or give advice during a hand. The old poker rule is “one player to a hand”. It means that each player must play their own hand without help from anybody.

Disconnections – timing out and all-in protection

An important way that online poker differs from real-world poker is the risk of getting disconnected. There are two common causes of this. First, your internet connection can be interrupted, even temporarily. If this happens, the poker client will detect the problem and attempt to reconnect automatically. Sometimes it will reconnect quickly and no harm is done. But if the connection is truly lost (like if your dial-up session hangs up) the client will not be able to reconnect. Some poker clients have ways you can test the quality of your connection. On both Party Poker and Poker Stars it is in the Help->Network Status menu.

The second common cause of disconnections is a software crash on your computer. The poker client may freeze up (because of a bug) or your entire computer might reboot (you know how that is). When this happens you will of course lose your connection to the poker server.

On rare occasions, you will lose the connection because the poker server itself is “experiencing technical difficulties”. You will recognize that scenario if your internet connection to other sites is just fine, but your poker client is unable to reconnect to the server. When this happens, you can be confident that thousands of other players are having the same problem.

What happens when you are disconnected? First, the poker server will detect your absence and will give you some extra time to reconnect and play your hand. Second, if you run out of extra time, the server will dip into your “disconnection protection” pool of credits. These are like get-out-of-jail-free cards. When you have one, the dealer declares you as all-in for the duration of the hand (even though you are not technically all-in because you still have chips). Just as in the real all-in case, your hand will compete for the main pot at the showdown, while the other players will compete for the side pot that was created after you disconnected.

But third, if you don't reconnect in time, and you don't have any “disconnection protection” credits, then your hand will be folded. This is true even if you have the nuts on the river! If you play online poker for real money, it's important to have a good internet connection and a non-crash-prone computer.

The “all-in protection” rule is controversial because some players abuse the system and cheat by intentionally disconnecting their computer when it would be to their advantage to be all-in. Therefore, the sites limit the number of times you can be protected in this way. Also, the site support staff investigates complaints about a player who may be abusing the privilege. Some sites even offer “no all-in” tables where your hand is automatically folded if you fail to act in time because of disconnection.

[The POD]

Betting rules

A hand of poker is divided into betting rounds. During a given betting round, each remaining player in turn takes one of the actions below. Betting proceeds in a circle until each player has either called all bets or folded.

   1. check, a bet of zero that does not forfeit interest in the pot
   2. bet or raise, a nonzero bet greater than preceding bets that all successive players must match or exceed or else forfeit all interest in the pot
   3. call, a nonzero bet equal to a preceding bet that maintains a player's interest in the pot
   4. fold, a surrender of interest in the pot in response to another player's bet, accompanied by the loss of one's cards and previous bets


Poker hand rankings

At the showdown, those players still remaining compare their hands according to the following rankings:

   1. Straight flush, five cards of the same suit in sequence, such as 76543 of hearts. Ranked by the top card, so that AKQJT is the best straight flush, also called a royal flush. The ace can play low to make 5432A, the lowest straight flush.

   2. Four of a kind, four cards of the same rank accompanied by a "kicker", like 44442. Ranked by the quads, so that 44442 beats 3333K, and then ranked by the side card, so that 4444A beats 4444K.

   3. Full house, three cards of one rank accompanied by two of another, such as 777JJ. Ranked by the trips, so that 44422 beats 333AA, and then ranked by the pair, so that 444AA beats 444KK.

   4. Flush, five cards of the same suit, such as AJ942 of hearts. Ranked by the top card, and then by the next card, and so on for all five cards, so that AJ942 beats AJ876. Suits are not used to break ties.

   5. Straight, five cards in sequence, such as 76543. The ace plays either high or low, making AKQJT and 5432A. "Around the corner" straights like 32AKQ are usually not allowed.

   6. Three of a kind, three cards of the same rank and two kickers of different ranks, such as KKK84. Ranked by the trips, so that KKK84 beats QQQAK, and then ranked by the two kickers, so that QQQAK beats QQQA7.

   7. Two pair, two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank and a kicker of a third rank, such as KK449. Ranked by the top pair, then the bottom pair and finally the kicker, so that KK449 beats any of QQJJA, KK22Q, and KK445.

   8. One pair, two cards of one rank accompanied by three kickers of different ranks, such as AAK53. Ranked by the pair, followed by each kicker in turn, so that AAK53 beats AAK52.

   9. High card, any hand that does not qualify as one of the better hands above, such as KJ542 of mixed suits. Ranked by the top card, then the second card and so on for all five cards, as for flushes. Suits are not used to break ties.

Suits are not used to break ties, nor are cards beyond the fifth; only the best five cards in each hand are used in the comparison. In the case of a tie, the pot is split equally among the winning hands.

Texas holdem rules

Many home game players are not familiar with the game of holdem, especially its use of “blinds” to start the betting action.

Texas holdem is a "community card" game, meaning that some cards are dealt face-up in the middle of the table and shared by all the players. Each player has two down cards that are theirs alone, and combines them with the five community cards to make the best possible five-card hand.

Play begins by dealing two cards face down to each player; these are known as "hole cards" or "pocket cards". This is followed by a round of betting. Most hold'em games get the betting started with one or two "blind bets" to the left of the dealer. These are forced bets which must be made before seeing one's cards. Play proceeds clockwise from the blinds, with each player free to fold, call the blind bet, or raise. Usually the blinds are "live", meaning that they may raise themselves when the action gets back around to them.

Now three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table; this is called the "flop". A round of betting ensues, with action starting on the first blind, immediately to the dealers left. Another card is dealt face up (the "turn"), followed by another round of betting, again beginning to the dealer's left. Then the final card (the "river") is dealt followed by the final round of betting. In a structured-limit game, the bets on the turn and river are usually double the size of those before and on the flop.

The game is usually played for high only, and each player makes the best five-card combination to compete for the pot. Players usually use both their hole cards to make their best hand, but this is not required. A player may even choose to "play the board" and use no hole cards at all. Identical five-card hands split the pot; the sixth and seventh cards are not used to break ties.

Poker strategy – a crash course in the basics

Poker is a complicated game but a few simple guidelines go far in preventing beginner mistakes. Later in the guide we will recommend good poker books and web sites where you can learn the finer points of advanced strategy, but for now keep these ideas in mind:

Be patient. Fold early and often. Top holdem players might fold 80% of their hands before the flop. The idea is to only play when you have an advantage. The sad truth is, most of the time you don't have an edge and you can tell just by looking at your first cards. If you're going to fold at all during a hand, the earlier you fold the better, because you will contribute fewer chips to a pot that someone else wins. By folding a lot early, you give yourself a stronger average hand when you do play. That makes it easier to follow the second rule.

Be aggressive. Don't be afraid to raise. The fewer opponents that are in the pot with you, the more inclined you should be to raise instead of call. Often the best choice is to raise, next best is to fold and the worst choice is to call. The exception is when there are a lot of other players in the pot. Now the odds are that somebody has a pretty good hand. In this case you can fold your medium-strength hands and call with good draws. But when you make that draw, don't slow play it. Raise!

Know when you're beat. Okay, so you started with a strong hand and have been doing a lot of raising. But now this other guy just won't quit reraising you and your hand hasn't improved. Well, it may be time to give up. Don't be afraid to fold when you know you're beat.

Keep an eye on the pot. The smaller the pot is, the stronger your hand needs to be to continue. Even a good draw in a tiny pot is not worth the cost. But conversely, a long shot draw becomes profitable in a large pot. When it's your opponent that is drawing, remember that his profit is your loss. You're happy to let them draw against you when the pot is small, but be sure to make them pay the maximum to draw when the pot is large. In short, don't draw in a small pot and don't slow-play in a large pot.

Get inside your opponent's head. What do you think he has? What do you think he thinks you have? What does he think you think he has? If you can outsmart your opponent on this level, you have the advantage. But it takes practice. New players tend to concentrate too much on their own hand. It's just as important to understand what your opponent might have as well. A good start at developing this skill in holdem is to imagine what is the strongest hand anybody could have given the current board. For example, maybe a pair of aces in the hole would make three aces. Then think back over the play of the hand so far. Is your opponent's play consistent with holding two aces? If not, he probably doesn't have that hand. To go to the next level, look back over your own play so far this hand. Is your play consistent with holding two aces? That gives you an idea what your opponent might think you have.

[The POD]

Tournaments

The world of poker tournaments looks pretty complicated at first. But we simplify matters by looking at tournaments from a handful of different angles:

    * Single-table vs. multi-table.
    * Sit-and-go vs. scheduled.
    * Play money vs. freeroll vs. real money.
    * Satellite vs. regular.
    * Rebuy vs. freezeout.

For players who are just getting started with tournaments, we recommend trying out a play-money, single-table, sit-and-go no-limit holdem event.

All poker tournaments have one thing in common. After play begins, you can't stand up and cash out your chips. You must continue to play until you have lost all your chips or you have won everybody else's chips. Beyond this basic rule, there are a lot of variations. Below we cover the most important ones.

Single-table vs. multi-table

The simplest kind of poker tournament takes place at just one table. Usually 8-10 players enter the event, though some sites have special 2-seat tables for heads-up play. players "bust out" (lose their last chip), nobody takes their place and the table gets shorter and shorter handed. Eventually, one player wins all the chips and the tournament is over. At that point, the prize pool is divided among the players according to some payout schedule. Typically, the first place player gets about half the money while second and third get smaller shares, perhaps 30% and 20%.

The "multi-table" tournament format allows a much larger number of people to play in the same event. Online events often have thousands of entrants. Each player is assigned to start play at a certain table. players throughout the tournament bust out, the poker server moves players into the vacated seats and reduces the number of tables. Eventually, play comes down to two opponents, just like in a single-table event, and ends when one player wins all the chips. At that point, the prize pool is divided among the top-finishing players. Again, first place pays the most, but multi-table events generally pay a larger number of players than a single-table event. Typically, the top 5% to 10% of finishers receive some portion of the prize pool.

Sit-and-go vs. scheduled

The "sit-and-go" tournament is the more informal type of event. Usually these events have just one or two tables. The poker lobby shows a list of sit-and-go events that are open for sign-ups. soon as enough players sign up for a sit-and-go event, it starts. These events are a great way to get a lot of "final table" tournament experience: in a single-table sit-and-go, you start out at the final table!

A "scheduled" tournament has a specific start time announced in advance. The poker lobby shows events of this kind coming up in the next few days or weeks. Players sign up in advance and then arrive to play at the scheduled time. Most of the larger events are of the scheduled type.

Buyin – play-money vs. freeroll vs. real money

The "buyin" is what each player pays to enter the tournament. If the buyin is play money, that means you use a certain number of play money credits to sign up. If you win the tournament, you'll win play money credits in return.

A "freeroll" tournament is one that does not require a real money buyin but pays out a prize pool of real money. These are a fun way for a beginner to start because there's no risk of losing any money but a chance to win some in return. There are a few kinds of freerolls. The best kind is absolutely free: you just sign up. Not all sites offer these. The more common kind is a "frequent player point" (FPP) freeroll. You use points earned in the poker site's loyalty program to buy in. These are very popular. At some sites you can even earn FPPs by playing in the play money games, so this can be another good way to get started without going to the trouble of depositing real money.

A real money buyin means you use real money that you have deposited in your account to buy in.

Satellite vs. regular events

A "satellite" is a special kind of tournament in which the prize is an entry into another tournament. For example, a single-table satellite might have a $100 buyin and award one seat to a tournament with a $1000 buyin. Satellites are a popular way for players to get into a high-stakes tournament when they prefer not to buy in directly for such a large amount. A famous satellite example is Chris Moneymaker's $40 buyin to a World Series of Poker satellite: he eventually won the big event (which costs $10,000 to buy in directly) and took home the $2.5 million first prize.

Some satellites have more than one table and award more than one seat into the bigger event. A satellite can have its own mini-satellites. Or a satellite can be a FPP freeroll, where you use FPPs to buy in and the prize is an entry in a real-money tournament. The real-money tournament might even be offline, say, in Las Vegas. All sorts of combinations a possible, such as a multi-level FPP freeroll into the World Series of Poker.

Most tournaments are not satellites. They are just plain tournaments, in which the buyins go into a prize pool and the prize pool is awarded to the top finishers in the tournament.

Freezeout vs. rebuy events

Most poker tournaments are "freezeouts". In this format, you buy in at the beginning and when you lose all your chips, you are out. But some tournaments have a "rebuy" option. When you run out of chips, or even if you just run low, you can choose to buy more chips. The rebuy amount is typically the same as the buy in amount, though it can be less, and you usually get chips at the same or better exchange rate as at the initial buyin (for example, 1000 chips for $20). The rebuy period is normally limited to the first few rounds of the tournament. At the end of the rebuy period, there is often an "add-on" option. This is one last chance to buy more chips before the tournament becomes a standard freezeout. Usually all players are eligible to take the add-on, but sometimes the add-on is restricted to just those players whose chip count is less than a certain amount.

The strategy of deciding when and whether to make rebuys and add-ons is an advanced topic in tournament equity. But good beginner advice is "when in doubt, make the rebuy". You usually won't go far wrong. When you enter a rebuy tournament, you should take this advice into account and plan for the likelihood of investing more than the initial buyin.

[The POD]

Taking the plunge - real money

So you're ready to take the plunge and play for real money! The first step is learning the best way to move money around. In this section we explain how to make deposits and withdrawals without paying excess fees, suffering delays or worrying about the security of your financial accounts. If you plan ahead, it is possible to use the web to transfer money in a few seconds with zero transaction fees.

One thing to consider before you play is whether you would be breaking any laws by playing online poker. Unfortunately, laws in most countries are slow to catch up with the fast-changing world of the internet. That means it can be hard for even a legal expert to say what is a lawful activity and what is not.  of this writing and to the extent of our knowledge, no person in any country has ever been charged with a crime for playing online poker. However, consider your local legal climate and keep up with the news.

Financial processors – how to move money around

Getting money into and out of an online poker site can be a little tricky. In the US, most of the large banks have decided to stop performing credit card transactions for online gambling, and they include online poker in this category. Your Visa or MasterCard is probably issued by one of these big banks. Paypal has also left the market. In their place, several other companies have stepped in to provide this service.

The most reputable of these new financial processors is NETeller, a publicly-traded Canadian company. NETeller provides a service very similar to Paypal's. You have an web-based cash account that you can use to transfer funds to and from your bank, your credit card, an online merchant or an online poker site. Since NETeller is not in the business of online gambling, the credit card issuers are happy to do business with them.

FirePay is another web-based cash account similar to NETeller and Paypal. Their reputation for customer service is worse than NETeller's and they charge a $5 fee for withdrawals. Therefore, we don't recommend FirePay.

Deposit bonuses

Before you deposit any money at all you should learn about the sign-up bonuses that most sites offer as a promotion to attract new players. You are eligible for only one sign-up bonus at each site, so be sure not to deposit until you understand your options.

Why do poker sites give away money? Just like a cell phone company or credit card company, every poker site is desperate for your business. They figure that once you start playing at their site, you'll stick around. And since they earn a few cents for every hand you play, they're willing to pay good money to encourage you to sign up. They'll pay you directly with a sign-up bonus, and they'll also pay the person who referred you to their site (called an affiliate).

What's the catch? Every bonus has some strings attached. Usually the site requires you make a minimum deposit and play a minimum number of raked hands. The better bonuses require 5 raked hands be played for each dollar of bonus earned. The skimpier bonuses require up to 10 hands per dollar.

Deposits – getting money into the poker site

The poker rooms make it as easy as they can for you to deposit money. If you use the right financial processor, the poker site will even cover the transaction fees for you. To make a deposit, go to the Cashier section of the poker client. The Cashier screen will give instructions on the deposit methods available; you should also consult the poker site's web pages for details on fees.

Deposits – getting money into the poker site

The poker rooms make it as easy as they can for you to deposit money. If you use the right financial processor, the poker site will even cover the transaction fees for you. To make a deposit, go to the Cashier section of the poker client. The Cashier screen will give instructions on the deposit methods available; you should also consult the poker site's web pages for details on fees.

Visa or MasterCard

If you have a credit card issued by a US bank, it is likely that you will not be able to use it to deposit money directly into an online poker room. This is not a Visa or MasterCard policy, but rather a business decision made by most US banks. If your credit card is from a UK, European or Australian bank, you probably won't have a problem. However, even if the bank performs the transfer, it will treat the transaction as a cash advance, which means you will pay a transaction fee of a few percent, plus a higher interest rate that begins accruing immediately. The advantage is that the transfer takes only a few seconds and you don't have to mess around with opening another account.
Bank draft or bank wire

Most sites accept bank wires or bank drafts (a check from your bank to theirs), but usually not personal checks. Your bank will charge you a fee in the $20 to $50 range for either service. Mailing a bank draft overseas will take several weeks while the bank wire only takes a day or two. Generally, a bank wire is the better choice. While expensive, both methods let you avoid the hassle of opening up a web-based cash account.
NETeller

NETeller is an attractive alternative to the difficulties and costs of credit card transactions and the delays of mailing checks. It is available in the US and Canada only. Using NETeller is a two step process. First, you deposit money into your NETeller account. Second, you transfer money from your NETeller account into the online poker site. So how do you get money into NETeller?

Funding your NETeller account is a trade-off between speed and cost. If you need instant gratification, you have two choices. First, you can use a credit card. NETeller charges a 3.9% fee on top of whatever cash advance fee and interest your credit card charges you. Second, you can use an “Instacash” transfer from your bank account, which is NETeller's way of extending you credit until the transfer from your bank is completed. The fee for this is a hefty 8.9%! In both cases, NETeller will contact you on the phone to verify your identity and reduce fraud.

To avoid these fees, you need to plan ahead. NETeller lets you “certify” your bank account by providing them with the account numbers needed to perform a transfer. A few days later, they make two small deposits into your account at their expense. You tell them the amount of the deposits and thereby verify your identity. Once your bank account is certified, you can use the NETeller web site to order a transfer between your bank and your NETeller account. This is called an EFT, has no transaction fee and takes 4-5 business days. You can also transfer money in the other direction, also for free.

Transfers between NETeller and the poker site are currently free at all the top sites. Although NETeller charges the poker site a transaction fee for transfers in either direction, the poker site pays the fee for you.

NETeller changes its policies and fees from time to time. For an up-to-date fee schedule, see the NETeller FAQ entry How do I fund my account?
Player-to-player transfers

All the top sites allow a player to transfer funds from their account to another player's account. If you know someone who already has some money in an online poker site, this is the easiest way to get started playing for real money. In the meantime, you can set up a NETeller account so that when the time comes to withdraw your winnings or deposit more money you will be ready.

Withdrawals – getting money out of the poker site

To withdraw money from your poker account, you go to the Cashier section of the poker client and request a cash-out in the desired amount. The most convenient methods are NETeller or, available from only a few sites, an electronic funds transfer (EFT) direct to your bank account. Consult the poker web site for details on cash-out options and fees.

 Some sites insist on using the same financial processor you used to make your original deposits, from oldest to newest. For example, if you used FirePay to deposit $100 and now you want to withdraw $150, the site may credit $100 to your FirePay account and give you a choice on the remaining $50. Other sites give you full flexibility to choose your cash-out method.

Most sites also offer the option of mailing you a check that you can deposit into your bank account. This usually takes several weeks unless you pay a fee for express service. Some sites offer free FedEx delivery of checks over $500.

A few sites offer an electronic funds transfer (EFT) direct to your bank account. You follow a similar certification process as you do for NETeller, which takes about a week, but once this is set up the transfer only takes a few days. There is no need for an intermediary such as NETeller. Party Poker's iGM-Pay cash-out option is an example of this.

Each poker site has its own policy for minimum cash-out amounts and how often you can make a withdrawal. While these vary, a typical policy is $5 minimum via NETeller, $50 minimum via bank draft and no more than one withdrawal of any kind per week.
Beware trouble-prone sites

Some poker sites have better cash-out procedures than others. The best sites handle your cash-out request promptly and without making you jump through hoops. That translates into a 1-3 day delay on your first cash-out request while they perform some anti-fraud checks. For example, they might call you on the phone. Later withdrawals may be handled more quickly, sometimes without any delay at all. Once the fraud department has approved the withdrawal, some additional time is required depending on the cash-out method. NETeller takes only a few seconds, an electronic funds transfer a few days, a mailed bank draft a week or more. The sites with the best reputation for prompt handling of cash-outs are Poker Stars, Party Poker and Paradise Poker.

The bad sites look for any excuse to delay your withdrawal in the hope that you will change your mind and cancel your request. Some impose a mandatory 3-4 day waiting period before they will even begin processing your request. Then they may demand that you send them copies of your utility bill or credit card statement to prove that you are you. Or they may simply drag their feet and not get around to processing your request until you call them up to complain. In the end, you will probably get your money, but why should you put up with this nonsense? People rarely complain about the top 5 sites behaving in this dishonest manner. If you play for real money, you would be wise to avoid the smaller sites that haven't yet established a strong reputation.

[The POD]

Lobby statistics – profitable game selection

The lobby display has some information about the recent character of the game at each table. You can use this information to choose a table that will be the most fun or profitable.
Hands per hour

Tables vary in the speed of the game. The higher limit games tend to play faster, both because players fold earlier and play more quickly. In general, a fast game is more fun to play at but can also indicate tougher competition.
Percentage of players seeing the flop

This is a very useful measure. It tells you how loose or tight the game is. If only 20% of the players are seeing the flop, it means that in a 10-handed game the average flop is heads-up. Since some flops are multi-way, this means that many hands are finished even before the flop. This is a very tight game. In holdem, look for a game where at least 40% of players are seeing the flop. This indicates a weaker field of players. In omaha, you would like an even looser game.

Unfortunately, Party Poker does not include this statistic, but most of the other sites do.
Average pot size

This statistic is an average over the most recent dozen or so hands. It gives you an idea of whether the game is quiet and tight without much raising (small pots) or loose and crazy with several maniacs (big pots). Most players prefer the games with large pots and the waiting list for these games tends to be longer. A game with large pots isn't intrinsically better, but many players associate large pots with the unskilled play of beginners or wild gamblers.

In a $3-$6 game, an average pot size of $30 is rather small and $60 is large.
Player names and bankrolls

When you single-click on a table in the lobby, most sites show you a list of players seated at the table. Once you have become familiar with some of the regulars at the site, you might recognize some of the names. This can help you decide whether the table looks like a good game or not.

Even if you don't know any of the players, seeing how many chips the players have on the table can also be helpful. Some people say that tables where most of the players have huge stacks are not very good games, because the professional players tend to buy in for larger amounts.

Playing multiple tables at a time

One of the pleasures of online poker is being able to play at more than one table at the same time. Once you get the hang of the game, most of your time is spent sitting around waiting for the other players to finish the current hand and get on to the next one. Being in a second game means less waiting. Of course, it also means that from time to time you will be busy making poker decisions on two tables at the same time! This is a distraction that is sure to degrade the quality of your play somewhat, so be careful.

Screen real estate is an issue. You don't want the tables overlapping too much because there is a risk you'll click the Raise in one table when you meant to click it in another. Ouch! Your best choice is to use a large monitor that can display 1600x1200 pixels without making you go blind. This lets you display up to 4 tables without any overlap. An alternative is to use two separate flat-panel displays, each turned vertically and showing two tables.

Keeping track of your opponents
Player notes

The top poker clients let you scribble notes about each opponent that you can consult later when you see that opponent again. For example, you might write “calls with anything” or “never bluffs”. This is a great resource for adapting your play against different opponents. You'd need a photographic memory to keep track of all this information in your head.

To add a player note in Party Poker, right-click on the player's name plate. In Poker Stars, choose the Notes tab in the lower left area of the window; to see a player note, just hover your mouse over the player.

There is a great tool called Poker Tracker that automates this process. It reads your hand history emails to create a profile on every opponent you have ever played against. Then it writes a player notes database for the poker client to use. See our section on record keeping for more details.
Buddy list

Many poker clients let you maintain a “buddy list” of other players. You can see which of your buddies are currently logged in and, at some sites, the tables at which they are playing. You can use this to keep track of your friends…or to find that crazy maniac who was so good for the game the last time you played.
Real-time heads-up displays

Several third party software packages display opponent statistics directly on top of the poker table window, where you can use it in real time to help you make your decisions. Typical information is the number of hands the opponent has played, the percentage of flops seen, percentage of showdowns won and various measures of aggressiveness.

 Where do these opponent statistics come from? There are two categories of heads-up displays. The first category uses statistics that you have collected yourself with a tool like PokerTracker. Every time you play in a hand, or at some sites just observe the hand, you can save the hand history for later reference; tools like PokerTracker allow you to store the hand history in a database and use it when you ask for opponent statistics. The best heads-up display that uses this technique is Poker Ace HUD, which costs $25 (and you'll need PokerTracker as well). Another capable tool is GameTime+; it is free.

The second category of tool uses a centralized database of hand histories that is collected by the tool vendor. With this technique you don't have to maintain your own hand history database. A good example is Poker Sherlock, which costs about $15 per month for a subscription to the database. One disadvantage of tools that use a centralized database is that some poker sites have forbidden the use of such tools in their Terms and Conditions. (For example, see Party's “unfair advantage” statement, which specifically prohibits this tool.)

Keeping track of your own play
Session statistics

Some sites show you your own session statistics. This is a summary of your play during the current login session. Typically, the statistics include the number of hands you have played, the percentage of the time that you folded preflop and the percentage of time you won the hand. Aside from tracking the number of hands, these statistics are not very useful. For example, they don't even include the total amount you have won or lost in the session.

To see your statistics in Party Poker, right-click on your own name plate. In Poker Stars, choose the Stats tab in the lower left area of the window.
Hand histories

For those who like to review their play, hand histories are a dream come true. Most sites let you request an email report of the most recent hands you played, usually up to 100 or so. The hand history message contains a detailed record of the hand, including every betting action, the pot size and all the hands shown at the showdown. Some sites also include hands that called at the showdown but then were mucked without being shown at the table.

Some sites, such as Ultimate Bet and Party Poker, let you immediately bring up a record of the previous hand, without having to request an email. This is convenient when you didn't see exactly what happened at the showdown. Also, sites that specialize in tournaments, such as Poker Stars, let you request an email report of your recent tournament activity.

While it's fun to request a hand history when you win a monster pot (and savor winning it all over again!), the most valuable use of hand histories is as input into record keeping software that tracks both your and your opponents' performance.
Record keeping software

There are two main types of software for keeping poker records. The first is developed specifically for online play and can automatically import hand history emails into a database. The second is not designed for online play in particular and is used to manually track all your poker play, online or off.
Poker Tracker

This is the most popular tool for automatically importing hand histories into your own private database. It handles all the top sites. It keeps track of your own performance by site and by stakes, for both ring games and tournaments, but is limited to holdem. You can see simple session reports, or drill into detailed reports on your profit rate for each starting hand broken down by position. It tracks your opponents, too, and can export a player notes file with mini-reports on each player that you can see in the poker client. It even integrates with your email account and will automatically request hand histories while you play. This is a comprehensive tool that is frequently updated by its author.

Cost: $55. See Poker Tracker for screen shots, a free trial and more details.
Poker Office

This is the main competitor to Poker Tracker. It imports hand histories into your own private database in the same way. Poker Office doesn't support such a wide range of sites and doesn't come out with updates quite as quickly, but it's still a good product. Many people strongly prefer the Poker Office user interface to Poker Tracker.

Cost: $69. See Poker Office for screen shots, a free trial and more details.
PokerStat

This tool imports online poker hand histories and is similar to Poker Tracker. It only handles Paradise Poker and Poker Stars and can read both holdem and omaha hand histories. It tracks both ring games and tournaments. It provides similar statistics to Poker Tracker but isn't quite as full-featured.

Cost: $65 to import data from just one poker site, $105 to handle both. See Poker Stat for screen shots, a free trial and more information.
StatKing

This is a general-purpose poker record-keeping tool. It does not import online hand histories or track individual hand results. You manually input your session results and it generates tabular reports by game, location, stakes, etc. You can even use it for tracking other games such as video poker.

Cost: $30. See Conjelco for more information and the Conjelco download page for a free trial.
Poker Dominator

This is a free web site that allows you to input your poker session results and see cool reports and graphs of your results. It's very easy to use and you can access it while traveling – even from a cell phone. Having the data on the web is both a plus and a minus. On the one hand, you don't have to worry about installing yet another program or backing up your data (though you can export a copy if you want). But on the other, you have to trust the web site operator to maintain the privacy and integrity of your data. Many people have decided it's a net win and made the site a popular resource.

Cost: Free. See Poker Dominator for screen shots and more information.
PokerCharts

This is a subscription web site with a similar service to Poker Dominator (see above – the same comments about keeping your data on the web apply here). PokerCharts has a different look and feel and some people prefer it to Poker Dominator. On the other hand, it costs money.

Cost: About $2/month.

[The POD]

Beyond basic strategy – polishing your game

Once you are comfortable with poker basics, you will want to draw on the experience of others to improve your game. Why learn the hard way (by losing)? While real playing experience is critical, you can accelerate your progress by reading poker books, articles and discussion forums. Thanks to the recent surge in poker's popularity, there are lots of good resources out there.

Poker books

If you're a beginning player, you should definitely invest in an introductory poker book. If you learn how to stop making just one big mistake, the book will pay for itself in your next poker session. Even experts can learn something from the more advanced books.

The books listed below are our picks for getting started reading about poker. They range from basic strategy (like Poker for Dummies, which is actually quite good) to more advanced tactics (like Holdem Poker for Advanced Players) to narratives written about adventures in the poker world (like the extremely popular Positively Fifth Street).

(see TPP's review section for an expanding reviews on poker books)

Online articles and essays about poker

Many of the same authors who write poker books also write periodic columns for magazines and online sites. Some of the best sources are:
Poker Pages

Poker Pages publishes excellent original articles from a large stable of writers, plus world-wide tournament results and reports updated daily.
Card Player

Card Player publishes original articles and news from the poker world, plus a very nice “tournament player of the year” leader board with full tournament results. Also available in print.
Other sites with original poker articles

    * Low Limit Holdem – a good collection of articles that will help you develop your skills.
    * Play Winning Poker – essays by Steve Badger.

Essays by expert players

Not all poker authors are good players, which might make you suspicious of their advice. The following writers are accomplished players as well, and their writing often shows a different way of thinking about the game than your run-of-the-mill author.

    * Howard Lederer
    * Abdul Jalib
    * Izmet (and Angelina) Fekali
    * Daniel Negreanu
    * Phil Hellmuth

there are also plenty of excellent articles in this board!

Practice software

There are several programs that you can buy for your PC to practice playing poker without going online. They all include programmed “bot” opponents that play against you.
Poki's Poker Academy

This is the first commercially available computer program to incorporate both game theory and recent advancements in machine learning. Its use of game theory makes it a challenging heads-up opponent that is not afraid to bluff you with just the right frequency. The machine learning techniques include statistical opponent modeling that help it adapt to your game and exploit your weaknesses. This program is a strong learning tool, especially for heads-up play.

Cost: $70. See Poki-Poker.com
Turbo Texas Holdem

This is the ancient learning tool that's been around since the days of DOS but is still worth having. It provides an “advisor mode” to suggest the betting decision the computer thinks is best. You can choose different lineups of computer opponents to refine your strategy and tactics. It has good analysis tools for setting up specific scenarios and seeing which strategy fares best. For example, you can tell it to always deal AJs to the first player after the blinds and then see whether the bot wins more by raising or calling, and how the results depend on the lineup of the other players.

Cost $60-90 for various versions. See Wilson Software.
AceSpade

This software is similar to Turbo Texas Holdem. Some people say the bot players are harder to beat. However, it lacks the high-speed simulation capabilities of Turbo.

Cost: $120. See AceSpade Software.

Online schools and tutoring

If you're willing to spend a little money, you can improve your game by participating in a competitive play-money environment or finding an expert poker tutor.

See also this google answers item.
Poker School Online

This is an online poker site with play-money games where players compete for leader board rankings and cash prizes. This makes the level of play as good or better than real-money games at other sites. A dozen expert players and poker writers participate on the site through written and audio lessons and live poker sessions.

Cost: $15/month. See Poker School Online.
Mike Caro University of Poker

Poker author Mike Caro hosts poker classes at the Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles. The web site has written versions of his lectures and quizzes.

Mike Caro University of Poker.
Learn Tournament Poker

Learn Tournament Poker features a half dozen tutors who give one-on-one instruction. You can arrange for lessons in person, via email, over the phone or at an online poker site.

Improving your game by self-analysis

The top poker players share one thing in common: They spend a lot of time thinking about poker away from the table. They ruthlessly critique their own play after the fact and use this process to improve their game. Online play offers two ways that make it easier for you to develop this habit.

First, request your hand histories after each session and go over the interesting hands in your head. Think back to your mental state that led to your decisions. Was your estimate of what cards your opponent held a good one? Did your opponent react in the way you expected? Was there anything about the play of the hand that surprised you because of some bad assumptions? How could you have played the hand better?

Second, use one of the hand history analysis tools such as Poker Tracker (see the section on useful tools). Take a look at your preflop folding and raising percentages. Are they what you think they should be or does your play need a tune-up? Examine your win rate in various situations. For example, how are you doing in the blinds? Are you defending too loosely or folding too often? How do you do when you start with a big pair? Compare your results to those of other players. Are you doing worse than average in a certain situation? Why? It takes a lot of hands (10,000 is a good start) to do some of these analyses, but if you play frequently they add up soon enough.

[The POD]

Real money - more advanced topics

If you become a serious online poker player, you will want to consider some more advanced real-money issues having to do with house fees, the reload bonus system, security and taxes.

Rake and tournament fees

Unlike an online casino, an online poker site never bets against the players. Instead, it charges the players a fee to use the poker server. There are two kinds of fees: rake collected from ring game pots and entry fees charged in tournaments. Each poker site has its own “rake schedule” that defines the amount of rake that is removed from each ring game pot. These vary by site, but a typical rake schedule is 10% of the pot in increments of $0.25 up to a maximum of $3. In a $1-$2 game where the average pot is $12, the average rake would be around $1.25, or about 12 cents per player per hand. In games with stakes of $5-$10 and above, the pot is usually large enough that the maximum rake of $3 is applied to every pot. Some sites don't charge any rake if everybody folds before the flop (“no flop no drop”) and most sites reduce the rake when games get short-handed.

Tournament entry fees are typically 10% for the lower-stakes events: $1 for a $10 buy-in (written as $10+$1), $2 for a $20 buy-in, and so on. The $10 goes into the prize pool and the $1 goes to the house. The entry fee for larger buy-in events is usually a smaller percentage, for example $100+$9 or $300+$20.

Reload bonuses

From time to time, every top online poker site offer “reload bonuses” to existing real-money players. These are marketing promotions aimed at encouraging players who already have real-money accounts to deposit more dough and play more poker. But the offer is good for all players, not just those whose accounts have run dry. The offers always have strings attached before you can claim the bonus. Typically, the bonus is 15-20% of your total deposit amount up to a maximum of $100 or so and you have to play 5 to 10 hands for every dollar of bonus you will receive. This generally covers the rake you'll pay on those hands with some extra left over. If you are going to play these hands anyway, then you are burning money if you don't take advantage of the reload bonus.

The sites don't announce bonus offers with much advance notice, so you need to be ready to pounce on them when they appear. Sometimes the deposit time window may end less than a week after the announcement. If you don't have money in the right place it can be difficult or expensive to transfer the maximum amount. You don't want to pay fees that eat into your bonus. That means you have to use one of the free high-speed transfer mechanisms: either NeTeller or a direct transfer from an already-approved bank account. Be sure to keep enough money in one of these places to get the most out of any reload bonus.

Buy-in amounts

How Much Should I Buy in for in a No Limit Cash Game?

The vast majority of online no limit cash games have a maximum buy in, a minimum buy in and what amounts to a suggested buy in. When you sit down there are usually two check boxes: one that conveniently allows you to buy in for the maximum (usually 100 times the big blind) and one where you can type in another amount. The other amount area usually has a number that's equal to 60 big blinds pre-entered which the websites have put in as a suggested buy in. Of course if you try to buy in for a minuscule amount you'll be kindly informed that you are below the minimum which is almost always 20 times the big blind.

So which amount is right and additionally should you leave if you hit a certain amount? The answer is the same as the answer to many other poker questions; it depends. Some players will have their best results buying in for the maximum and others will have better results buying in for less. Some players should hit the road when they reach a certain amount and others should never get up only because they've accumulated a given number of chips. The important thing is to do some critical thinking about what your strengths and weaknesses are and decide what works best for you.

Conventional wisdom says that you should buy in for the maximum and accumulate as many chips as you can in an effort to have every other player covered. The thinking here is that when you get that big hand that you've been dreaming about and someone else makes a slightly worse hand (or tries an ill-advised bluff) you'll make the most you could possibly make. The main disadvantage is sometimes you will be the one with the second best hand that is tough or impossible to fold and you'll end up losing more than if you had fewer chips. The questions is, will there be more times that you double up or take an opponents entire stack than times that you lose all of your chips or allow an opponent to double up?

There are other advantages to having a huge pile of chips in front of you. While it's nice to have people bluff at you when you've got a great hand, in general it's easier to beat opponents who straightforwardly bet their good hands and check their weak ones. When you have a ton of chips your opponents will be less likely to bluff at you because they'll think you can afford to call them down. On the other side of the coin, your bluffs will be more effective on earlier betting rounds. Even if you're betting relatively small amounts, your opponents will know that in order to call you all the way down they might have to put in more chips than they want to. Frequently they'll decide it's not worth it and give up when they may have called you down if you had fewer chips.

Another strategy is to buy in for a smaller amount to limit your risk. In the old days before online poker, if you were winning you'd be stuck with whatever amount you had in front of you since you couldn't take chips off the table. Now there are so many games that if you want to, you can leave one game if you're ahead and immediately buy into another for a lesser amount. For example, if you decide that it makes sense for you to always have between 40 and 70 big blinds, you can buy in for 40 and if you find yourself with more than 70 you can leave that game and buy into another for 40. The main advantage of this strategy is limiting your fluctuations. No /one/ terrible hand is going to wipe out an entire solid day's profit or put you in a huge hole.

Of course there are other advantages for buying in small. You'll find that it's easier to get paid off on your good hands. Since you're opponents will know they're only liable for the amount you have in front of you, often times they'll take ill-advised risks. Furthermore, many players have the perception that if you haven't bought in for the maximum then you must be a weak player. Anytime your opponents have misconceptions about your abilities, it works to your advantage. It can be less stressful when you have less on the line and it can make those small pots and blind steals seem significant (which they are).

Deciding how much to buy in for requires that you look at your strengths and weaknesses. If one of your strengths is making big lay downs, then having more chips is less dangerous than if you're a player who's never folded top pair in your life. Maybe chopping out a bunch of small pots with well timed bluffs is what you do best. In that case there's no reason to open yourself up to more risk by having a big stack. If you go on tilt every time you lose a huge pot, you'll be better off having fewer chips and keeping the pots smaller.

While half the players in every game think they're the best player in the game, actually being the best player in the game means you'll be better off with more chips. Another factor in this decision is the size of your bankroll in relation to what size games you find interesting. You can play in bigger games with a smaller bankroll if you buy in small.

If you buy in for the maximum is it still possible to have so many chips that you should get up? Sure it is. Most players have a range in which they feel comfortable and play their best. Maybe that range is 100 to 200 times the big blind for you or maybe it's anything up to 500 times the big blind. When you start playing hands differently than you would strictly because you're worried about losing all of the chips in front of you then it's best to get up and buy in to another game for a lesser amount. For example, if you've decided that raising to 3 times the big blind when you're first in with pocket aces is the best way to play them in the games you usually play and all of a sudden you decide to open raise to 6 times the big blind because you're worried about taking a bad beat, you've got a problem. You don't want to give up equity because having so many chips is making you nervous.

When you look at a typical online no limit game you'll find that most players buy in for the maximum, but many of them would be better off buying in for less. Don't let your ego get the best of you and buy in for more than the optimal amount just because you feel like you have to. On the other hand, if you're used to buying in for less, maybe you'd be better off buying in for the maximum. The important thing is to think about why you're buying in for the amount you do. If you're not sure how much is right amount is for you (and probably even if think you're sure) try experimenting with various amounts and let your results dictate what you should do in the future.

Dedicated poker bank account

The most convenient way to transfer money into and out of the poker sites requires a bank account for electronic transfers. This avoids all of the fees and most of the delays that have to put up with using other methods. You can use electronic transfers between your bank and either the poker site itself or with a go-between like NeTeller. The only trouble is you must provide detailed bank account information to other party. Many people are not comfortable revealing this information for their primary bank account.

The solution is to open a dedicated poker bank account. You then keep a very small balance in this account except when you need to make a transfer. This way, even if your account information is compromised and misused, the total amount of money at risk is very small. Having a dedicated account also separates your poker transactions and makes it easy to keep your records in order.

[The POD]

Getting paid – trouble withdrawing your money

This is the most serious integrity risk that you face when doing business with an online poker site. What guarantee do you have that the site will pay you when you request a withdrawal? All of the poker sites are beyond the reach of legal action, thanks to the US refusal so far to regulate the industry as a legitimate business. So you can only rely on their reputation.
Prompt payments

The four largest sites (Party Poker, Poker Stars, Ultimate Bet and Paradise Poker) all have good reputations for paying promptly. See our section on withdrawing money for details about this process. If you play at one of these sites you can be confident of being paid, usually without any hassle at all.

However, in the poker discussion forums you will find frequent and repeated stories of poor behavior by a few sites. a general rule, the smaller poker sites that are associated with online casinos (sites with blackjack, craps, etc.) are the worst offenders. These sites are more familiar with the online casino world where almost no player ever withdraws money – they lose it all first. Their cash-out procedures assume that if you won then you must have cheated somehow. They also hope that if they delay the processing long enough you will decide to play some more and cancel your cash-out request. With all the alternatives you have in the world of online poker, why bother with such a sleazy operator?

 Financial soundness

Although the less reputable sites may drag their feet when you request a cash-out, they will mostly likely pay you eventually. But what happens if there is a run on the bank? This has happened more than once to small sites with disastrous results. The most famous examples are Poker Spot and Highlands Poker. The lesson to learn here is to avoid the newer, smaller sites.

examples include;

PokerSpot  collapsed with several hundred thousand dollars of player deposits on the books. A willing buyer  came forward to rescue the site, but says that Boyd refused the terms. Former PokerSpot players report that he never made good on the player deposits.

Highlands Poker suffered a similar fate, though players reported that spokesman Doyle Brunson personally reimbursed them for the value of their accounts, despite not even being a principal in the business.

A fair and random shuffle

A random shuffle is a fair shuffle. How can you be sure the shuffle is properly random? That's a tough question. The “shuffling” is actually a carefully-designed computer algorithm performed by the central poker server. It's hard to know what's happening inside that server. In order to reassure their customers, all the top sites have taken a number of measures to demonstrate that their shuffle is fair.

Published algorithms. First, many have published the technical details of algorithms they use for the random number generator (RNG) and shuffling. (For example, Poker Stars' algorithms are here.) The reason for doing this is rather surprising. Believe it or not, it's difficult to implement an RNG that is random enough for use in shuffling a deck of cards. Once you have a good RNG, using the random numbers in a shuffle is trickier than it looks. By publishing algorithms that experts agree are good, the site shows that its engineers are not incompetent.

An amusing story from the early days of online poker shows how devastating the effect of technical incompetence can be. After Planet Poker published the source code to their shuffle – to reassure players it was secure – some grad students created a program that was able to determine the entire deck ordering by just seeing the first round of up-cards. A user of this program could see everybody's down cards and also knew what cards were coming off the deck next! The students gave the software developers time to fix the error and then published their findings. Planet Poker's reputation suffered for years.

Independent auditing. Claiming to use a fair algorithm is one thing, but how do you know that is actually what is going on inside the poker server? To answer this question, the top sites have engaged independent auditing companies to inspect their source code and deployment procedures and to make surprise inspections at later dates. For example, PriceWaterhouseCoopers reviews the card shuffling at Paradise Poker on a quarterly basis and two separate auditors stand behind the code at Poker Stars . The other major sites have passed similar audits.

Regulatory oversight. Third, most poker sites have obtained licenses from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, a regulatory agency operating in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake in Canada. The commission requires license holders to comply with a number of regulations which include a requirement to offer a fair game. The commission claims to conduct monthly audits to ensure continuing compliance.

Note that many smaller sites have not gone to such trouble to reassure their customers that the game is fair. That doesn't necessarily mean they are crooked, but there are other risks to playing at a smaller site, so why bother? Stick to the big sites.

Conspiracy theories – bad beats, action flops, cash-out curse

Despite the poker sites' efforts to demonstrate that they deal a fair game, many people aren't convinced. They accuse the sites of rigging the shuffle. This section is called “conspiracy theories” because the evidence behind these accusations has so far been unconvincing. Nevertheless, they are worth discussing because like all good conspiracy theories they spring from a grain of truth.
Good players get bad beats

The grain of truth: When you play online and flop a strong hand, your opponents call with very weak draws and sometimes they beat you.

The conspiracy theory: The poker site makes more money if the bad players don't lose all their chips to good players in the first ten minutes. The longer a bad player survives, the more rake he will pay. Therefore, it is in the poker site's interest to help the bad players by making their draws get there more often.

The alternate explanation: Online players are indeed weak and passive and call too much. Naturally, good hands hold up less often in such a loose game.

Another explanation: Online poker is very fast paced. A typical online holdem table sees 60-80 hands per hour. This is about twice as fast as real-world dealing. If you play two tables at once, it is four times as fast. Therefore, you should expect that good hands will get sucked out on two (or four) times as often, per hour, as in the offline world.
Action flops

The grain of truth: When you play online, you see a lot of confrontations where two or more people make very strong hands or draws and build up the pot.

The conspiracy theory: The poker site makes more money from rake when the pots are larger. Therefore, it is in the site's interest to deal flops that hit more than one player's hand.

The alternate explanation: Players are loose and the game is fast-paced. Loose play means the flop has a chance to hit more players and the fast pace means you will see many confrontations per hour.

Another (more speculative) explanation: Perhaps it is the real-world shuffle that is not random. A typical card room shuffle is riffle-riffle-strip-riffle, theoretically known to not fully randomize the deck. Could it be that in the offline world we don't see our fair share of action flops?
The cash-out curse

The grain of truth: After you cash out some of your winnings, there is a good chance that you will then experience a run of bad luck and go bust.

The conspiracy theory: The poker site never wants you to withdraw your money. They would prefer that you keep playing until you have lost all your money to the rake. If you cash out some of your money, the site worries that you may cash out the remainder before you donate it to the rake. Therefore, the site decides to redistribute your money to other, more reliable players who will eventually pay it to the house. They do this by setting the “curse” flag on your account and dealing you bad beats.

The alternate explanation: Poker is a volatile game where luck plays a large role. Your balance is always fluctuating. If you reduce your balance, it is a fact that there is a greater chance that you will bust soon thereafter than if you had maintained the extra cushion. In other words, the cash-out curse is real. But it isn't because the site throws a switch, it is just everyday statistics.

Site security – internal controls and hacker defenses

What's the difference between site integrity and site security? Integrity means that the site deals a fair game and won't try to steal your money. Security means that the site has mechanisms in place to prevent criminals from exploiting the players or the site.

How could a site be vulnerable to criminals?

In any business that handles a lot of money, the greatest danger is from insiders. For example, a dishonest insider could try to gain access to player names and addresses, email addresses, credit card numbers, NETeller account numbers and bank account information. A well-run site will make it difficult for an employee to get any of this information beyond the minimum needed to perform their job each day. Another insider threat is the possibility of eavesdropping on the messages the dealer sends privately to each player saying what the player's hole cards are. A well-designed poker server will encrypt this information before it leaves the server and can be eavesdropped upon.

Outside criminals are also a threat to online poker sites. Just as the players' personal information must be kept private from insiders, so must it be protected from external hackers. Attacks can come in surprising forms, too. Several online sports books in the UK have been the victims of denial of service attacks as part of an extortion racket. Defense against external attacks requires a well-funded, competent IT staff and excellent physical security.

So how do the various poker sites measure up on the security front? Unfortunately, there is very little data available. No breaches of any poker player databases have been publicly reported (or even rumored, in fact). But the obvious difficulty of securing a site against electronic, physical and insider attacks means that the smaller sites with the fewest resources are likely the most vulnerable. This is another reason to favor the larger sites.

 There are two kinds of player cheating you should look for.

All-in abuse. First, some players intentionally abuse the disconnect all-in protection. If you see a player time out at a time when it would be very advantageous to be all-in, you may have witnessed this form of cheating. Send an email to the poker site's support staff that includes the hand number and your suspicions

 Recently, the top sites have introduced no-all-in tables and tournaments for players who prefer that the dealer fold all disconnected hands. the average internet connection quality improves, this will probably become the norm and this type of cheating will fade away.

Collusion is the second kind of cheating you need to keep an eye open for. Unfortunately, it can be hard for you to spot if the colluding players are experts. While it may look to you like one player raised his friend and squeezed you in the middle, he might have just thought the first player was bluffing or betting a draw. Conversely, you may not notice anything at all when one player folds AQ preflop because his friend has AK. The poker site, who knows what everybody's cards are, can do a better job. In fact, because of the complete hand history database, collusion detection is easier online than in the real world. But this is balanced by how simple it is for players to collude in the first place. So the poker site's collusion detection department takes a two-pronged approach. First, they run continual analyses of hand histories in search of signs of collusion, which they follow up with manual review. Second, they rely on player reports of suspicious activity, which they also follow up manually. Some sites have better reputations than other for being diligent in this responsibility. Poker Stars has the best reputation for collusion detection. Here is an example of one of their investigations:

Addiction to online poker

Do people get addicted to online poker? Some people do. If you are prone to gambling problems, you definitely should avoid online poker. Even though you're not playing against the house, the game has the same mix of disappointment and excitement that problem gamblers find irresistible. The only positive aspect of being addicted to poker (as opposed to, say, slot machines) is that you can actually be a consistently winning addict. But that may be small consolation to your family and friends who can never persuade you come out of your online poker cave. Just remember to keep perspective and balance in your life.