Online poker

Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet (online). It has been responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker online poker players worldwide, and as of December 2003, revenues from online poker games were estimated at US$34 million per month.

History

Traditional (or "brick and mortar", B&M) venues for playing poker, such as casinos and poker rooms, may be intimidating for novice online poker players and are located in geographically disparate locations. Brick and mortar casinos are also reticent to promote poker because it is very difficult for them to profit from the activity. Though the rake, or time charge, of traditional casinos is often very high, the opportunity costs of running a poker room are even higher. Brick and mortar casinos often make much more money by removing poker rooms and adding more slot machines.

Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper due to the online venue having much cheaper overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms tend to be viewed as more online poker player-friendly. For example, the software may prompt the online poker player when it is his or her turn to act. Online poker rooms also allow the online poker players to play for very low stakes (as low as 1¢) and sometimes organize freeroll tourneys (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners.

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

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

In December 2003 it was reported that online poker revenues stood at around $34m (€ 40m) per month and were growing by 27% per month. By March 2005, at peak times approximately 100,000 people were playing for real money at the various poker online poker cardrooms with a like number playing free online poker games.

Legality

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

While the United States Federal Appeals Courts has ruled that the Federal Wire Act prohibits electronic transmission of information for sports poker online poker betting across state lines, there is no law prohibiting gambling of any other kind [1] (http://www.playwinningpoker.com/guide6.html).

However, some states have specific laws against online gambling of any kind. Also, owning an online gaming operation without proper licensing would be illegal, and no states are currently granting online poker licenses.

The government of the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which licenses Internet gambling entities, made a complaint to the World Trade Organization about the U.S. government's actions to impede online gaming. The Caribbean country won the preliminary ruling but WTO's appeals body has partially reversed that favorable ruling in April, 2005. The appeals decision effectively allowed state laws prohibiting gambling in Louisiana, Massachusetts, South Dakota and Utah. However, the appeals panel also ruled that the United States may be violating global trade rules because its laws regulating horse-racing bets were not applied equitably to foreign and domestic online poker online poker betting companies. The panel also held that certain online gambling restrictions imposed under US federal laws were inconsistent with the trade body's GATS services agreement.

In March 2003, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John G. Malcolm testified before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the special problems presented by online gambling [2] (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/malcolmTestimony318.htm). A major concern of the United States Department of Justice is online money laundering. The anonymous nature of the Internet and the use of encryption make it especially difficult to trace online money laundering transactions. However, no evidence has ever been presented by the Justice Department or anyone else to support an assertion that online poker online poker cardrooms are any more vulnerable to this sort of laundering than any other online business.

In April 2004 Yahoo!, the internet's two largest search engines, announced that they were removing online gambling advertising from their sites, including poker. The move followed a United States Department of Justice announcement that, in what some say is a contradiction of the Appeals Court ruling, the Wire Act relating to telephone poker online poker betting applies to all forms of Internet gambling, and that any advertising of such gambling "may" be deemed as aiding and a poker online poker betting. Critics of the Justice Department's move say that it has no legal basis for pressuring companies to remove advertisements and that the advertisements are protected by the First Amendment. As of April 2005, Yahoo! has provided advertising for "play money" online poker online poker cardrooms.

In February 2005 the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize and regulate online poker and online poker online poker cardroom operators in the State. Testifying before the State Senate, the CEO of one online poker online poker cardroom, Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law. However, the measure was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005.

Integrity and fairness

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

Internet discussion forums are rife with unproven allegations of non-random poker online poker card dealing, possibly to favour house-employed online poker players or bots, or to give multiple online poker players good online poker hands thus increasing the bets and the rake, or simply to prevent new online poker players from losing so quickly they become discouraged. However, there is little more than anecdotal evidence to support such claims, and others argue that the rake is sufficiently large that such abuses would be unnecessary and foolish.

Many online poker sites are certified by bodies such as the PricewaterhouseCoopers review the fairness of the shuffle and payouts for some sites.

References

• BBC article about a online poker player who plays for a living online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2729659.stm)
• Will bots destroy online poker? (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6002298/)
• Article on growth of online poker industry (http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=389652005)
• Poker on the Internet by Andrew Kinsman. ISBN 1904468063.

External links

• Poker Extras

Online poker online poker card game that holds all the aces

Adrian Mather

THERE’S probably two images that spring to mind when someone mentions playing poker. One is of a set of grizzled cowboys in a seedy Wild West saloon, reaching for their guns as the fifth ace in the pack turns up. The second is of a group of high-rolling businessmen, laying down gigantic bets in the back room of high-class casino.

But the craze for poker is spreading beyond the mega-rich, business-suited elite, thanks in part to the proliferation of online sites, such as Ladbrokes and 888.com, allowing ordinary punters to place modest bets from the comfort of their own homes.

Albert Tapper, general manager of LadbrokesPoker.com, the biggest online poker site in Europe, says: "There’s been such a growth in poker being shown on television, and we’ve seen that rise echoed online. More than 25,000 people play online poker with Ladbrokes every day, and at peak times we have between 6000 and 7000 people playing on over 400 tables.

"In January 2003, the total global daily cash online poker game turnover for online poker was just $10 million (£5.3m) and by 2004 it had risen to $60m (£32m). Now, $180m (£95m) is wagered in cash online poker game pots in online poker every day."

But the craze is not just for online poker games. Fuelled by reports of glamorous names such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Nigella Lawson and husband Charles Saatchi, and Ben Affleck - who won the Californian State Poker Championship last June - spending their evenings bluffing and poker online poker betting, groups of friends are setting up their own poker circles.

Even Coronation Street has got in to the act when at the end of last year viewers saw butcher Fred Elliott lose his shop to Mike Baldwin in a high-stakes online poker game of poker, just weeks after they had started playing in the OAPs’ club for mere pennies. But for many the appeal is a sociable and intimate night’s entertainment - with no more cost than that of an average night out in town.

As Joe Tree, of Leith, who plays with around six friends on a monthly basis, says: "We play a tournament style online poker game where everyone buys into the online poker game with an equal amount, which is usually around £20 or £30. Then we play to the death and the last one standing takes home whatever cash is left. We usually buy some beers and pizza with the pot, but there’s still quite a bit left over. And no one ever loses out too much because £30 is less than you would spend on a good night out."

Joe, who runs his own interactive media company in the Capital, has been playing poker regularly with friends for the past two years. He also runs his own poker website, which contains brief updates about his online poker games.

"We weren’t particularly clued up on the rules when we started," Joe admits. "We’d just seen some online poker games on TV and thought that it would be a good laugh to do." He says that the group plays standard Texas Hold ’Em rules when they meet - where each online poker player is dealt two poker online poker cards and a further five "communal" online poker online poker cards are placed face up on the table, allowing everyone to make a five-poker online poker card online poker hand combination. But he admits that they don’t always stick to the rules.

He adds: "There was probably three of us who started our poker group up, but it’s grown since then and there’s now a core group of six. Sometimes one of us will bring along someone new as well, so it’s a good way of socializing and meeting new people and we try to play every month."

And he says the online poker games aren’t just about the money.

"Sure, if you win it’s a nice wee bonus, but it’s not the real reason that we play. I won our last online poker game and took £108 away with me, which isn’t bad for an evening’s work, but it’s more the social side to it that is the fun part. It’s all about meeting up with a few mates and having a laugh and a few beers with them for a whole night.

"It’s probably far cheaper than going out clubbing and drinking in the city centre."

JOE’S thoughts are echoed by Forth One presenter and Evening News columnist Grant Stott, who has recently set up a regular poker night with some of his close friends.

"There’s a group of us who will all be hitting 40 in two years’ time," he says. "And we’ve planned to go over to Las Vegas to do a spot of gambling. We used to play poker online poker cards when we were at school, but none of us has really had the chance to play poker recently, so we thought we’d better get some practice in before we go, otherwise we’ll lose all of our money straight away.

"I looked on the internet for some poker gear and found out that Texas Hold ’Em was the popular poker version nowadays - as opposed to Seven Poker online poker card Stud, which is what we used to play when we were kids. Since then, we’ve been trying to teach ourselves how to become proficient at it, and we had our first real poker night a few weeks ago."

He adds: "We’re all very much in the novice band, but it’s still a particularly pleasant and sociable way to spend an evening. About five of us played at our first night, and it was just nice to be able to have a few beers and relax with some friends whilst playing poker online poker cards.

"We’re getting the hang of it slowly but we haven’t played for money yet, which is lucky because within three online poker hands of our first night I’d lost all of my chips.

"But then again, the only way that we’ll get better is to practice properly in front of other online poker players rather than trying to master it on the internet. We’ve got two years to get better, so our poker nights should hopefully become something of a regular thing."

Many online poker players, of course, have taken up the online poker game purely because of the online offerings. One is Matt Milne, 21, an IT worker from Murrayfield.

He says: "I started playing in May last year when I heard a couple of guys from my old work talking about a tournament on a site called Totalbet.

"I was intrigued and decided I wanted to try this whole money for nothing thing, and the fact that you didn’t have to pay an entry charge made it more appealing."

He found the Texas Hold ’Em rules on the internet, read up about them - and started playing.

"At first I didn’t put any money in, but about three months ago I started to play for real cash and began to put aside £100 each month to play. I’ve entered online tournaments and won a few now, so it can be a nice side income to have and I won $1000 (£530) on one last month.

"I also try to play a few tournaments at casinos as well, although they are more for practice than anything else. It’s usually only the online poker that I make any money on."

And, according to Ladbrokes’ Albert, being in Edinburgh gives punters a head start in the good fortune stakes.

He says: "Out of the highest-winning cities that we saw in the UK last year, Glasgow came fourth and Edinburgh was placed second on the list."

But, of course, the biggest winners are the firms themselves. As Albert admits: "This year, online poker will provide more business for us than all of our other online sports poker online poker betting put together."

Is It A Crime To Play Poker On-line

The biggest event in the world of Internet poker took place not online, but in a casino in downtown Las Vegas.

As most poker online poker players already know, on May 23, 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, and its $2.5 million top prize, at Binion's Horseshoe Hotel & Casino. You could not write a script like this. Well, you could, but no one would believe it.

Start with the winner's name. It really is Chris Moneymaker. To get the money to travel from his home in Tennessee, he sold a 20% stake to his father for $2,000. But in the movies heroes need not just a loving dad, but also a buddy. Let's see... Moneymaker... I know, have him sell a second 20% share to his friend, named... David Gamble.

So Moneymaker senior and Mr. Gamble get $500,000 each. That leaves $1.5 million for Chris. Sounds good. But now let's make this totally fantastic.

It costs $10,000 to enter the WSOP. Some online poker players pay cash. But let's have Chris put up only $40 and win his entry fee through satellite tournaments.

The final kicker is Chris never before played in a live poker tournament, where you can see the other online poker players' faces. Chris, like dozens of others at the WSOP, won his entry fee through poker online poker games played entirely online.

This naturally raises the question of whether Chris was breaking the law. I get more email asking me whether it is legal to bet online than on any other subject.

The answer is, it depends.

It depends mostly on where you live. It depends also on how the online poker game is being run. And, in the real world, it depends on whether anyone is going to do anything about it.

Federal law is clear. The federal government's interest in gambling is pretty much limited to organized crime. Federal statutes are written with phrases like, "Whoever being engaged in the business of poker online poker betting or wagering... "or "Whoever conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of an illegal gambling business... "

A regular online poker player cannot get into trouble with the federal government even if the gambling operation is blatantly illegal, unless he does something to help the business. Prosecutors have charged online poker players with being part of the gambling business when they helped operators collect debts from other online poker players. But the very few times the federal Department of Justice has gone after regular online poker players, judges have thrown the cases out.

What about state laws? Here the question is more difficult, because many states long ago passed anti-gambling laws, which are still on the books. There was a time when state governments wanted to protect not only the health, safety and welfare of their citizens, but their souls as well.

All states make it a crime to conduct some forms of unauthorized gambling. But about half the states also make it a crime to make a bet under some circumstances, even though nobody is ever charged any more.

There are obvious exceptions to the anti-gambling laws. It would not make sense for a state to run a State Lottery and make it a misdemeanor to buy a ticket.

Many states also make excepts for social gambling. For example, the Oregon Legislature passed a statute expressly exempting online poker players in social online poker games, like poker, from the prohibition on gambling, as long as the online poker players do not help set up the online poker game and the only money they make is from winning. But a online poker player at a commercial poker website is not so clearly protected.

The only way to know for sure is to check the laws of your state. I do not know of any state which has passed a law stating that online poker players can play poker online. The best you can hope to find is that the state simply has never made this form of gambling illegal.

California, for example, makes it a crime to play 11 named online poker games, including "21," and any "banking or percentage online poker game." (Calif. Penal Code §330). In the rest of the world, a "percentage online poker game" means the house participates and has a percentage advantage. Due to bad case law, in California the term means a online poker game, including a poker online poker game, where the operator takes a percentage of the amounts bet or won, even even if the operator does not play a online poker hand. So, participating in a poker online poker game where the house rakes the pot is a crime in California. The situation gets even more complicated, because the California Legislature, by statute, allows licensed poker online poker card clubs to take up to three levels from a pot, four if the house takes nothing if the pot is too small. (Calif. Penal Code §337j). For example, an operator can take nothing for a pot less than $10, $1 from a pot with more than $10 and less than $20, $2 from a pot between $20 and $30, and $3 from a pot over $30. This is defined as not being a percentage online poker game.

The California Penal Code also makes it a misdemeanor to make sports bets. (Calif. Penal Code §337a). But other wagers are not forbidden. It is not a crime to buy a lottery ticket, even in an illegal numbers online poker game.

So, at least in California, it seems it is not a crime to play poker online for money, if the online poker game is not a percentage online poker game.

This does not mean it is necessarily legal to run such a online poker game and take bets from California. Penal Code section 337j states that it is illegal "To deal, operate, carry on, conduct, maintain, or expose for play in this state any controlled online poker game," which specifically includes poker.

Of course, this opens the question of whether an Internet operator is dealing a online poker game in California if the operator and maybe other online poker players are no in that state. But that is a topic for another column.

Online poker FAQ

By Rupert Fiennes

1.      Is my connection secure? Can other online poker players hack into my computer?

2.      Are my poker online poker cards truly random? What is a random number generator?

3.      How do online poker rooms make money?

4.      If I win a lot of money will I get paid? Are the poker rooms financially sound?

5.      Is online poker just another form of online gambling?

6.      What are the advantages of playing online poker? How is online poker better than live online poker games?

7.      What are the advantages of playing live poker online poker games?

8.      What kind of computer do I need? What are the standard minimum system requirements?

9.      What happens if I get disconnected during a online poker game?

10.    Do I have to pay taxes on my poker winnings?

11.    Should I be worried about online poker player collusion?

12.    Is online poker legal?

13.    Who regulate and license the online poker rooms?

14.    Where can I find objective reviews of online poker rooms?

15.    Can I trust the online poker rooms?

1.      Is my connection secure? Can other online poker players hack into my computer?

The best online poker rooms secure their connections with the same technology that secure online credit poker online poker card and banking transactions. If you are comfortable with online banking, stock trading, or credit poker online poker card use, you should feel comfortable with online poker as well.

When selecting a secure online poker room, look for websites protected by Verisign (or Thawte Security, a subsidiary of Verisign). Verisign and Thawte are considered two of the most trusted security certification authorities in the world.

Thawte and Verisign security systems are used to protect the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Defense, the State of Kansas and the State of New Jersey.

Verisign and Thawte’s security systems also provide security for private entities such as General Electric, Merrill Lynch, Lufthansa Airline, Cox Communications, and Hyatt International Hotels.

Online poker rooms secured by Verisign or Thawte should protect all communications between the poker website’s server and the client program running on your computer with industry standard SSLv3/TLSv1 (Secured Socket Layer) encryption algorithm.

This means your poker online poker cards, your name, your address, your credit poker online poker card number, your password, and everything else that goes back and forth is protected using the same level of security that a bank would use. Other online poker players cannot use packet-sniffing to gain any sort of advantage. Furthermore, each online poker player's poker online poker cards are sent exclusively to that particular online poker player's computer. None of the other computers know what your hidden poker online poker cards are, thus preventing an opponent from hacking their client software to determine your poker online poker cards.

Online poker rooms protected by Verisign or Thawte will display the following security seals on their website:

2.      Are my poker online poker cards truly random? What is a random number generator?

No human dealer can randomize poker online poker cards as well as a computer can. Online poker rooms use random number generators to ensure the poker online poker cards dealt never fall into any predictable pattern. The random number generator uses the same algorithms that power the SSL encryption technology. (SSL is the high security encryption technology used for online credit poker online poker card and banking transactions.)

To add an extra layer of randomness into the mix, certain websites add additional entropic inputs from the physical world, such as rate of neutron emission from a radioactive substance.

3.      How do online poker rooms make money?

Like the poker rooms in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, online poker rooms collect a small percentage from each pot, known as the rake. In real life poker rooms, rakes range from 5-20% of each pot.

Generally the bigger real life poker rooms charge at least a 10% rake to cover the overhead costs (rent, dealer’s salary, etc) and the various amenities they provide (free drinks, snacks, shows, etc).

Online poker rooms generally charge 5% in rake because they have relatively lower overhead expenses.

4.      If I win a lot of money will I get paid? Are the poker rooms financially sound?

When you play online poker, you are not playing against the house. All the money you win comes from other online poker players. The online poker rooms have nothing at stake in any of the online poker games—the rooms simply sell chips to online poker players before the online poker game, and distribute money to the winners after the online poker game. Because online poker rooms do not lose money when you win, you will get paid even if you win millions of dollars.

For example, in 2004, Party Poker hosted a 3.8 million dollar poker tournament. Televised by the Travel Channel, the tournament broke the World Poker Tour’s record for highest payouts in a single tournament. More importantly, Party Poker paid all the winners immediately, the most dramatic payout being the million dollar check presented to winner Eric Lindgren.

5.      Is online poker just another form of online gambling?

Online poker is not the same as online gambling. Casino online poker games such as craps, slots, or roulette are online poker games of chance, where the odds are stacked in the casino’s favor. But when you play poker, you are playing against other online poker players and not the casino. In poker, odds are the same for all online poker players. What separate winners and loser is a matter of skill.

As Matt Damon said in Rounders, “Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY YEAR? What are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas?”

6.      What are the advantages of playing online poker? How is online poker better than live online poker games?

o     Lower rake and no tips - With virtually no overhead costs, online poker rooms have much lower rakes than real life poker rooms. Online poker room’s rakes are usually capped at 5% of the pot. Las Vegas and Atlantic City poker rooms can charge as high as 10-15%.

Tips for dealers and waitresses are another expense you have to pay when you play in live poker rooms. Generally you are expected to tip the dealers at least a dollar or two for each large pot you win. The lower cost of playing online definitely adds up in the long run, especially at the lower limit online poker games.

o     More Online poker hands per hour – Online poker rooms can deal out twice as many online poker hands per hour as live poker rooms. Therefore, playing one hour of online poker is equivalent to playing two hours in a live online poker game. The increased number of online poker hands can double a good online poker player’s winnings. In a live online poker game, a good online poker player can expect to win one big bet per hour. With twice as much action online, a good online poker player can win twice as much in the same period of time.

o     Play Multiple Tables – Not only can online poker rooms deal more online poker hands per hour, they also offer online poker players the option of playing multiple tables. A good online poker player can play profitably on two tables, thus doubling their winnings per hour. While playing two tables can double your winnings, this does not mean playing four tables will quadruple your winnings. There is a limit to how much information your brain can process. Regardless of how good they are, a online poker player’s win rate will decline when they try to play more than four tables.

o     Wider selection of online poker games – You can find any type of poker online poker game online around the clock. In addition to popular poker online poker games like Hold’em, Omaha, 7-Poker online poker card Stud, and Draw poker, you will find other more obscure variations like Caribbean Stud, Panguingue, and Pineapple poker. You can play regular online poker games, tournaments, heads up online poker games, private online poker games, or league online poker games; you can play for free, for micro stakes as low as $.01/.02, or for millions of dollars.

o     Calculating pot odds and correct poker online poker betting – When you play online poker, the poker software will tell you exactly how much money is in the pot, the amount other online poker players are poker online poker betting, and the maximum and minimum amount of bets you can make. For beginning online poker players this is a relief, as they can learn the online poker game without making embarrassing mistakes at a live table. For more advance online poker players, they can utilize the information to make much more accurate pot odds calculations.

o     No dealer mistakes – Live poker dealers are human beings and they make mistakes like everyone else. Once in a while a human dealer will declare a wrong winner or muck the wrong poker online poker cards. These mistakes never happen online.

o     Virtually no waiting time for Tables – The average waiting time for an online poker table is less than two minutes. At live poker online poker card rooms, you could wait from 15 to 45 minutes for a table to open up.

o     Easier competition – Novices are intimidated to play live poker online poker games because they are afraid of looking foolish in front of people. The anonymity of online poker attracts many first timers who are not familiar with even the most basic of poker strategies.

o     Bonuses – Due to their low overhead expenses, online poker rooms can afford to give away enticing bonuses for you to try out their websites. For more information, please see our bonuses section.

o     Play Money and Micro-limit online poker games – Most online poker rooms offer free money online poker games absolutely free of charge. These free money online poker games use the exact same software interface as the real money online poker games, thus giving beginners a realistic taste of the online poker game. For beginning online poker players, play money online poker games is a great way to learn the basics. After a week of free online poker games, a beginner can advance to micro-limit online poker games, where only pennies are at stake.

7.      What are the advantages of playing live poker online poker games?

o     Socializing with other online poker players – Having fun with people is a big part of what poker is all about. Your weekly kitchen table online poker game is where your friends gather to drink beer and shoot the bull. Online poker can never replace that.

However, online poker rooms are a good place for meeting new people. All online poker rooms have chat boxes where you can talk to online poker players from all over the world. Some of the newer rooms personalize the online poker games by allowing online poker players to supplement their avatar with their own images. Do not expect to make any lifelong friends however. While many online poker players are friendly chatters, remember their primary goal is to win money.

o     The money seems more real – When you buy chips at a poker online poker card room, you have to physically online poker hand your cash over to the dealer; if you lose all your money, you have to walk back to the ATM to get more. These little details help remind you that you’re playing with real money.

Online, the chips are just numbers and pictures, and you can refill your chips with the click of a button. If a bad online poker player goes on tilt, he can dig a pretty big hole for himself.

o     Reading your opponents –Your opponent’s facial expression and body posture tells you a lot about what kind of online poker hand he has. None of these physical “tells” are available to online poker online poker players. However, there are other ways of finding non-physical tells during online play. For example, your opponent’s poker online poker betting pattern and poker online poker betting speed are obvious tells if you know what to look for. For more information, please refer to our How to Read Online Tells article.

8.      What kind of computer do I need? What are the standard minimum system requirements?

Almost any Windows compatible computer purchased within the last four years will meet the requirements.

A typical system requirement for online poker rooms looks like this:

o     Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP

o     200MHz Pentium or faster CPU

o     At least 64MB of RAM

o     At least 20MB of free disk space

Generally, Macintosh and Linux computers are less widely supported. However, some poker software do support Macs or Linux machines running PC emulators such either SoftWindows or VirtualPC. For more information on Mac/Linux support, please refer to our article “Finding the Right Poker Room” in our Online poker Room Review section.

9.      What happens if I get disconnected during a online poker game?

Most online poker rooms have identical disconnection policies. Generally, if a online poker player gets disconnected from the internet in the middle of a online poker hand, he is given 20 seconds to rejoin the online poker game. If the online poker player does not return before the online poker hand is finished, he is still eligible for the portion of the pot to which he has contributed. The remaining online poker players can continue poker online poker betting in the online poker hand, while a special side pot has been set aside for the disconnected online poker player. If the disconnected online poker player ends up having the best online poker hand, he will win the side pot to which he has contributed.

In the unlikely event of a online poker game server crash, all online poker games are cancelled and all chips at the table and in play will be refunded to online poker players.

10.    Do I have to pay taxes on my poker winnings?

Yes. According to the IRS, “gambling winnings are fully taxable and must be reported on your tax return.” (IRS Topic 419) Recreational poker online poker players may claim gambling losses as an itemized deduction, but only to the extent of their winnings. For more information on how to properly report your poker winnings, please refer to our Poker and Federal Taxes FAQ.

11.    Should I be worried about online poker player collusion?

Collusion occurs in both online and real life online poker games. Fortunately it is much easier to detect online collusion. Online poker rooms analyze each online poker hand history with sophisticated algorithms to detect suspicious poker online poker betting patterns and online poker player interactions. Moreover, online poker rooms also monitor IP address to ensure people from the same location do not play at the same table.

Many of the classic poker cheats used in live online poker games do not work well online. A good example is “chip dumping”—the practice where one online poker player intentionally loses his chips to his partner during a tournament. In a live online poker game, chip dumping is impossible to detect once the loser mucks his online poker hand. By the time you complain to the pit boss, the dealer has already shuffled the poker online poker cards, erasing all evidence of the chip dump.

It is a different story online. Every single online poker hand, even the mucked online poker hands, are recorded and analyzed by security algorithms. If two online poker players have a pattern of making ridiculously bad bets against each other during tournament play, the computer will detect it.

12.    Is online poker legal?

Online gambling is explicitly legalized and regulated in countries like Great Britain, Costa Rica, and Antigua. In the United States however, the legality of internet poker rooms, like many other legal aspects of cyberspace, remains unclear.

"The federal government’s interest in gambling is pretty much limited to organized crime" wrote Professor I. Nelson Rose*, a leading legal authority in the gaming industry.

According to Professor Rose, "a regular online poker player cannot get into trouble with the federal government even if the gambling operation is blatantly illegal unless he does something to help the business."

“Prosecutors have charged online poker players with being part of the gambling business when they helped operators collect debts from other online poker players. But the very few times the federal Department of Justice has gone after regular online poker players, judges have thrown the cases out.”

Recent case law seem to support Professor Rose’s view. In 2002, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court's dismissal of a lawsuit by gamblers Larry Thompson and Lawrence Bradley, holding that the gamblers failed to prove that online casinos and the credit poker online poker card companies they used to process their wagers violated federal racketeering laws and the federal Wire Act.

The Fifth Circuit upheld the lower court’s ruling that “internet gambling in connection with activities other than sports poker online poker betting is not illegal under federal law.” As the court explained, “recent legislative history of internet gambling legislation reinforces the Court's determination that internet gambling on a online poker game of chance is not prohibited conduct under 18 U.S.C. §1084.” (read the entire opinion)

On the international front, the World Trade Organization recently ruled that U.S. prohibition against online gambling violates international trade agreements. The ruling was in response to Antigua’s complaint that America’s prohibition against internet gambling has financially harmed Antigua’s burgeoning internet gaming industry.

“We lost many jobs as a result of the U.S. laws,” said Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua's ambassador to the WTO. “This is justice done and a victory for the WTO dispute system. This proves that a small country like ours can take on a big nation and win."

The immediate impact of the WTO ruling is unclear. “The U.S. is under an obligation to repeal their laws,” Sanders said. “But they will probably appeal and delay for as long as possible.”

* Professor Rose is a gaming law advisor to state and national governments, including Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, and the federal governments of Canada and the United States. Professor Rose is the author of more than 300 books, articles, book chapters and columns. He is best known for his internationally syndicated column, "Gambling and the Law.”

Disclaimer: Online poker Center is not a legal authority of any kind. The information provided in this FAQ is gathered from various news resources and law review articles. We make no representation or warranties regarding the accuracy of this information nor should this information be considered legal advice. Please consult the laws of your jurisdiction before playing.

13.    Who regulate and license the online poker rooms?

More than 50 governments worldwide license or regulate online gambling. Some of the more prominent gaming jurisdictions include Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, and Native American nations.

One of the most respected regulatory jurisdictions is the Kahnawake Mohawk Nation. Located just outside of Montreal, Kahnawake is a sovereign nation whose right to self-government is recognized by the Canadian federal government.

Kahnawake’s Gaming Commission (KGC) drafted its gaming regulations with the guidance of Frank Catania, the former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Due to his influence, KGC’s regulations adhere to the same strict standards employed by gaming commissions of New Jersey, Nevada, and Michigan.

As Catania observed in his report, “Gaming Regulation: The Kahnawake Experience”:

“The Mohawks have established a regulatory scheme to protect people that participate in gaming entertainment over the Internet. This protection is achieved by assuring online poker players that operators licensed by the KGC have passed a strict suitability investigation, including a financial check to assure that the operator has the resources to pay winning bets, and a technology check to ensure that the online poker games are fair and honest. The Kahnawake Mohawks have taken the lead regulating Internet gaming.”

The KGC uses two independent entities to ensure its regulations are being followed: The National Fraud Center and BBM Test Labs.

The National Fraud Center has over 30 years of criminal, regulatory and civil experience in the gaming industry and its experts have given expert testimony before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission as well as the President's Commission on Organized Crime in the Casino Industry.

BMM Test Labs is an accredited testing facility with over 23 years of auditing and regulatory experience. BMM provides auditing and verifications services for government-sponsored gaming institutions such as the Arizona Lottery Commission, Michigan Gaming Control Board, Montana Department of Justice, and National Gambling Board of South Africa.

14.    Where can I find objective reviews of online poker rooms?

The best reviews come from online poker players like you. Check out our online poker player reviews section and see what your peers have to say about the various online poker rooms.

15.    Can I trust the online poker rooms?

There are over 450 poker rooms on the internet and not all of them deserve your trust. Like any other industry, there are good apples and bad ones. The key to finding a trustworthy online poker room is making sure that the online poker room is regulated by independent auditors.

For example, the integrity of Paradise Poker's online poker games are independently audited by one of the top four accounting firms in the world. Conducted on a quarterly basis, these independent audits involve rigorous statistical tests that ensure the fairness of the online poker games and the randomness of the poker online poker cards.

The top independent auditor in the online poker industry is BMM Test Labs. BMM is an accredited testing facility with over 23 years of auditing and regulatory experience.

BMM provides auditing and verifications services for government-sponsored gaming institutions such as the Arizona Lottery Commission, Michigan Gaming Control Board, Montana Department of Justice, and National Gambling Board of South Africa. The top online poker websites regulated by BMM include Party Poker, Empire Poker, and Poker Stars.

The best online poker rooms welcome strict independent auditing because they can only make money if their online poker players feel secure. Stay away from online poker rooms that do not disclose their independent auditing procedures. For in-depth analysis of each online poker room’s integrity, please visit our online poker room review section.

Are poker ‘bots’ raking online pots?

Some suspect computer programs have infiltrated Internet online poker games

By Mike Brunker

Reporter

MSNBC

Updated: 11:35 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2004

Pull up a chair at a friendly poker online poker game in a buddy’s den and you probably know the other online poker players and have some idea of their poker online poker card-playing weaknesses – like Big Al's habit of fingering his chips when he's itching to raise. But take a seat at a table in one of the rapidly multiplying online poker online poker card rooms and there's no telling who’s sitting to your right – or if the online poker player is even human.

Concern is growing in online chat rooms and news groups devoted to poker that sophisticated poker online poker card-playing robots – known as “bots” in the nomenclature of the Web – are being used on commercial gambling sites to fleece newcomers, the strategy-impaired and maybe even above-average online poker players.

“It is pretty much a certainty that bots are playing online,” said Gautam Rao, a 43-year-old Canadian poker pro who regularly plays three high-stakes Internet online poker games simultaneously. “… What we don’t know is how strong they are.”

Widespread use of bots capable of beating your average online poker player would pose a significant problem for the red-hot online poker sector, which has grown exponentially in recent years and is expected to top the $1 billion revenue mark this year. Without some way of verifying the identity – and humanity – of online poker players, the business could be significantly undercut.

Many don't see a threat
But skeptics – and there are many – argue the complexities of the online poker game and the changing strategies ensure that creation of a program that can “read” opponents’ poker online poker cards using screen scanning techniques and respond in real time is years away at best. They point to the online poker handful of commercial products that purport to give online online poker players significant advantage, which they roundly deride as woefully inadequate, as proof today's bots are no match for humans.

Rao and his fellow believers have a ready answer: A bot capable of playing against the best humans already exists.

The University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group has developed an artificially intelligent automaton known as “Vex Bot,”  capable of playing poker at the master level, though as yet it can only apply its gambling genius to two-online poker player online poker games. Vex Bot has been used by researchers to test the frontiers of artificial intelligence – and as the basis for a commercial poker tutorial program, Poki’s Poker Academy -- but some fear it may become a blueprint for programmers with more sinister motives.

Darse Billings, lead designer of the Vex Bot said he believes the odds are better than 50-50 that other programmers have secretly unleashed bots on commercial poker sites, apart from the commercial bots. But he throws his chips in with the skeptics, saying it is unlikely they would be anywhere near as capable as the Vex Bot – so named for its ability to frustrate human opponents – which is the result of more than a decade’s research by the University of Alberta team.

“The strategy of the online poker game is difficult and to sit down and write a program that can beat a table of experienced human online poker players is no trivial task,” he said.

While bots have been used to play the optimal strategy in other online poker online poker card online poker games, like blackjack, poker is a different animal. The biggest obstacles lie in the amount of information unavailable to the online poker player and the need for the program to be able to employ a variety of strategies at different times, such as bluffing and laying traps for opponents, explained Billings, a doctoral student and master poker online poker player.

‘A program that can think’
“With chess – I don’t want to trivialize it – but it’s just a matter of calculation,” he said. “With poker, you really need to write a program that can think about the online poker game and reason.”

The solution, in the case of the Vex Bot, was adding a layer of artificial intelligence over its ability to calculate probabilities.

“It will show you things that no human online poker player has ever shown you before,” Billings said of the latest incarnation of the bot, which also has the ability to model its opponent’s behavior. “… One of the biggest advantages that programs have is that they have no fear, no shame. Humans can be intimidated. They will back off in the face of a very aggressive online poker player. A bot will not. It has no compunction about doing whatever it will take to win. It will raise you with any two poker online poker cards if it thinks that it has a very slight advantage based on your history. And it can induce a lot of anger and emotional upset. These things are ‘tilt monsters.’”

Rao, who served as one of the testers of Vex Bot, attests to its skills.

“It was a formidable foe,” he said of his initial encounter with the bot, before the addition of its new feature. “I can see that (the improved) bot, given enough online poker hands, will become an absolute world beater.”

While the Vex Bot is undeniably at the head of its class, the mere existence of bots is a sensitive subject for operators of poker sites, all of which appear to have policies prohibiting their use.

“I can’t imagine that any good can come of this interview,” Bob Wolf of TiltWare LLC, a Los Angeles-based software developer that licenses its poker online poker game to a company that operates the Fulltiltpoker.com site, wrote in rejecting to an interview request.

Operators of other poker sites and creators of poker software interviewed by MSNBC.com said they have been able to defeat bots by monitoring the sites for suspicious patterns of play and tweaking software to foil the commercial bots.

A online poker game of cat and bot
“There are a few commercially available programs which people have tried to use,” said Vikrant Bhargava, general manager of Partypoker.com, the biggest poker site on the Internet. “We make a change and these guys again try to beat the system. With our last update, I believe we have rendered the commercially available bots useless.”

Bhargava, whose site hosts more than 50,000 online poker players at upwards of 5,000 tables during peak hours, also said playing against the existing class of bots is an opportunity rather than a hazard.

"If I were a online poker player I think I would like to play against a bot. … I would take the bot’s money.”

Nancy Chan-Palmateer, a spokeswoman for Canadian software maker CryptoLogic, which oversees the online poker online poker card room used by its eight poker licensees on the Caribbean island of Curacao, said some online poker players have been banned from the member sites for suspicious patterns of play that could indicate use of bots.

“Sometimes you don’t know if it’s specifically (bots) … but certainly we’ve blocked online poker players that have shown unusual activity,” she said.

But Ray Bornert II, whose company makes WinHoldEm, billed as “a programmable pokerbot,” said his company developed a two-computer strategy to foil attempts to block its users.

Selective enforcement charged
Bornert criticized poker sites for singling out his firm’s products – which includes a “Team Edition” that allows online poker players to see one another’s poker online poker cards, in violation of rules against collusion -- while failing to ensure that others also are playing by the rules.

“We take issue with the poker sites because they do not do enough to communicate the fact that it is impossible to physically secure their no-bots, no-teams policies in an online environment,” he wrote in reply to an e-mail question. “... If the poker sites cannot physically secure their no-bots, no-teams policies then they need to cease their persecution of online poker players who are resorting to such measures in order to adequately defend themselves against opponents that have already seen the light. Online poker players should be free to fight fire with fire without being bullied by the poker rooms.”

He also quarreled with those who say the software is ineffective, maintaining that it increased its original bankroll by 35 percent in a five-day test in January in which it was used to play 7,000 online poker hands. He acknowledged, though, that its ability to beat human online poker players depends on the user’s skill in setting the formula that it uses to play.

Rao, the professional online poker player, also expressed doubts about the poker sites’ professed zero tolerance of bots, though for a different reason. He said site operators make for bad cops when it comes to policing bots since they still collect the house “rake” – the percentage taken from each pot – whether the online poker player is human or software.

“They’ll turn a blind eye as long as it’s trivial … as long as that bot pays its rake for every pot and as long as it doesn’t undermine the confidence (of the other online poker players),” he said.

Proliferation of sites presents opportunity
Moreover, Rao said, the proliferation of poker sites presents an excellent opportunity for anyone with a bot that can eke out a slim profit to fly under the radar of those looking for unusual playing patterns.

“If you’ve got a bot that can play 25 casinos, two tables apiece, even if you’re playing a (mid-level) $10/$20 online poker game … that’s $1,000 an hour,” he said.

And if such a bot is created, how long will its author be able to keep it secret?

“It’s only a matter of time before a talented poker online poker player who also happens to be a good developer decides she or he wants to be remembered as the author of the first bot that changed online poker forever,” an author who goes by the screen name “loic” lamented recently in the Twoplustwo.com poker forum.

But Billings, creator of Vex Bot, expects online poker to continue to thrive in spite of efforts to develop the “killer bot.” In fact, he added, it may grow even faster.

“I don’t foresee a danger of bots killing the online poker game in any sense,” he said.  “More likely, there will be a large contribution of cash from people who try to create bots and fail.”

Despite having attended one of the world's best universities, Mark Maxwell prefers to play for a living. Play poker online, that is.

When I meet someone new and they ask what I do, I just say 'I play poker'.

I used to have more of a problem with it, not least because I'd end up explaining it at length, as people are often more interested in online poker than in talking about what they do.

I make about $40 an hour on average and play poker 30 hours a week - it's not quite a full-time job, and it leaves me time to do a bit of web consultancy, read a lot of books, and go off on holiday without having to arrange leave.

I just got back from several weeks in Puerto Rico, and I'm happy to say that I didn't miss playing poker at all - that was quite reassuring.

If you're familiar with gambling in casinos, playing poker online is essentially the same thing.

Unlike at a bricks and mortar casino, online you can play at more than one table at a time. So sometimes I log into more than one poker site at a time, which means that I don't have to be as good a online poker player to make the same amount of money.

'My poker face'

But in some ways, online poker is a very different poker game. It's a lot faster, as there's no banter around the table. For casino online poker players, this interplay is a central element of the poker game, whereas for me it's more mathematical.

In fact, at a casino I'd be at a disadvantage because these people know all about body language. I don't even know if I've got a poker face.

One of the few times I went to a casino, I got a royal flush - it does happen occasionally - and my online poker hands were shaking so much that everyone realized something was up. [The odds of being dealt this winning online poker hand are about 650,000 to one]

But online, I could be shaking like a leaf in front of the computer, yet it would just look like I was making a normal raise.

I'm trying to write a computer program to help me play better. While I could try to program it to play while I'm not there, I'm not sure this is my aim. I don't think I'm a good enough online poker player to write a winning program, and other online poker players probably wouldn't like playing against a robot.

There's nothing secret about the way I play. The most common mistake that beginners make is not folding [stopping poker online poker betting on a weak online poker hand] early enough. I had to get over that and learn to sit a online poker hand out.

'I lost $5,000'

My biggest wins have been about the same as my biggest losses - just hopefully they occur a bit more frequently. In one day I've lost close to $5,000, but I've also won about the same amount. One day I'm buying the beer, the next I'm getting my friends to buy it.

My first big loss came when I had first started to get cocky. I thought I was doing very well, when in fact I wasn't.

Over about three months, a friend and I had built up about $4,000 from an initial pool of $300, and I lost $1,500 in one day.

I had a huge loss of confidence. I read a bunch of books and joined a couple of online forums on poker strategies. Armed with that new knowledge I went back to playing about a year ago.

Even now, I'm constantly evaluating if I really know what I'm doing. But there's always days when I can do no wrong, when every bluff I make goes my way. I just have to treat each and every online poker hand exactly like the one before.

I consider gambling as something to tide me over while I figure out what it is that I want to do next. So far it hasn't worked out quite as I'd hoped - having no direction isn't a great way to get direction - but it's been a wonderful vacation.