The belief that online poker pioneered the concept of casino gambling on the Internet is one of the fallacies about the development of the currently popular virtual sport. During the pre-boom period of the Internet the cyber community was mainly composed of people obsessed with Star Trek or had a poor sex life. However, after some time someone realized that poker can be played on this medium. By then an industry was conceptualized.

Another dubious fallacy that has been a source of laughter is Al Gore’s claim that he invented the Internet. So it is clear that the former presidential candidate was not only responsible for the Internet but also online gaming and poker. Based on that information the roots of online gambling become a little clearer.

The history of online casinos can be traced to Antigua, Bermuda in 1994 when the local government ratified the region’s free trade and Processing Zone Act. The ruling paved the way for the establishment of many online gaming casinos and sports books that were free to operate as a legal business. Antigua Bermuda to this day remains as the most popular licensing jurisdiction for online gambling industries. It was during this period that Microgaming was born.

Microgaming is known as the biggest software developer in the online gaming world or what is Microsoft to the information technology industry. Other applications followed the first software developed for online gaming. Brothers Andrew and Mark Rivkin started Cryptologic in 1995.

The main goal of the brothers was to create a communications protocol that would ensure that transactions are made surely and safely. Microgaming divested its casino business to concentrate on developing online casino technologies in 1996. During the same year, Boss Specialtidningar AB designed a network that would host casino operations online.

Another fallacy is that a major US bank developed the first ECash and gaming application on the Internet. This distinction goes to Cryptologic, which developed its first gaming application in the same year. InterCasino supposedly was the first online gaming casino that accepted a real bet on the Internet. However, it was in 1998 that the first ever online poker room was created. Planet Poker was the single online poker company for around a year and continues to operate today but is dwarfed by its larger counterparts in the industry.

Paradise Poker entered in 1999 and was the top firm in the online casino market for a few years. In the same year, the infamous Poker Spot arrived. Poker Spot became controversial when it failed to reimburse the winnings of its players because of glitches in the betting system developed by its affiliate credit card company.

The Ecash system has been an integral part of the growth of online casino gaming, as it bolstered the reliability and security of tournaments and consumers became less concerned about losing their money to fraud. Party Poker and Poker Stars entered the market in 2001.

Paradise’s stranglehold of the online casino industry ended in 2003 when it was overtook by Party Poker. Party Poker’s emergence was fueled by its effective advertisements in television during the World Series of Poker and its launch of the Party Poker Million. However, belief that Party Poker Million drove the industry to new heights is a fallacy, as the Cinderella story of Chris Moneymaker is what put the sport on the map.

Mr. Moneymaker won a satellite tournament of Poker Stars to qualify for the World Series of Poker. Despite being participated by 839 other poker experts, Mr. Moneymaker beat all odds and won the tournament’s top prize of $2.5 million despite it being only his first try at a live tournament.

The so-called “Moneymaker effect” considerably increased the popularity of online poker in 2004 and also inspired more people to gamble in virtual tables. A survey conducted in 2001 found that 8 million people had joined online gambling casinos and by the next year, the industry produced its first ever million dollar winner. The lucky individual pocketed $1,594.649.

Top Online Poker Schools

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For many poker beginners, this card game can be very hard to learn. Many online poker sites give new users free download software programs that can teach them the poker game. There is even a poker school in some online poker sites that give out the tips on how to improve the users game.

Soon enough, after learning all the basic skills of poker, you will have to go to a live online poker event. What is a live online poker? Well, as you are only a trainee, if you have been playing alone in front of the computer then you are playing an offline poker game.

A live online poker event is where you log on to your online poker room and join thousands of other poker players in tournaments hosted by the website. Why is it called a live online poker event? It is live because you are playing against other people from different places in real time.

What is exciting about a live online poker game is you can actually put your knowledge and skills to the test. Betting a computer is one thing, especially if it is pre-programmed. Trying to outwit another human being in a live online poker event, you now have a competition.

There are different types of live online poker tournaments that you can join in. Over 60,000 players try to beat each other in these live online poker rooms. Finding the live online poker tournament that matches your current budget and skill level could helo you eran more winning.

The first live online poker tournament type is a freeroll tournament. This is a multi-table tournament where more than 10 participants can play. Multi-table means that you can play on different tables without having to tear yourself off an ongoing play. Freeroll in freeroll tournament means there are no entry fees needed to play in this live online poker game.

The second live online poker tournament type is the guaranteed tournament. Guaranteed Tournaments are also multi-table tournaments played with more than 10 participants. Guaranteed means there is a guaranteed prize pool amount, regardless the number of entrants in the game.

Unlike the freeroll, guaranteed tournaments require a buy-in and an entry fee. This type of live online poker game has a guaranteed amount for the prize pool, which is always bigger than the 10 combined entrants value. This makes sure that the prize is big even if only a few entered the live online poker game.

Some guaranteed tournaments provides for "rebuys" and "add-ons" of the game chips.. This means that if you lose all of your chips, you can "re-buy” your entry into the live online poker tournament and continue to play. An add-on is offered at the first break. Add-ons give those who have a short stack a chance to "top up" their chips at the same original buy-in amount. Some tournaments have "double add-on" which will give you twice as many chips as the starting chip count, but for the same cost of an original buy-in.

Another kind of live online poker tournament is a freezeout tournament. It means there are no “rebuys,” so once you lose all your chips; you are out of the game.

The fourth live online poker tournament available to users is the sit and go tournament. Sit and Go tournaments are played on a single table, but it can also be played as a multi-table, depending on what the participants agree upon.

Sit and Go live online poker tournaments have specific buy-in and entry fee amount. This will form the prize pool money. At the end of the game, this is split up among the top three ranked winners and can follow a payout schedule in claiming the pool amount.

There will be times when you will encounter some problems, like being confused by the rules of the game. Some online poker rooms provide telephone support that you can call and ask about some clarifications.

Whatever live online poker tournament you play on, just remember that you are still a novice. Just feel your way into the game and everything will be fall into place. Who knows? With constant practice, you just might be the next World Series Poker Champion!

More on Poker Clothing - What To Expect In A Live Online Poker Event

Identifying cheats and accusing other online poker players of cheating are uncontroversial acts that will always, and will surely, get you into trouble.

Online poker cheats are always justified and disguised as just slippery, strategic and acceptable game tactics. But sometimes, it will be very hard to distinguish between tactics and cheating arrangements in online poker games.

Cheating is very rampant within traditional room and casino pokers. The fact can be attributed to the reality that poker is played based on a number and variety of procedures and rules and games are played more quickly.

Several forms of online poker cheats

The following are some of the most rampant and detected online poker cheats. If you are into online poker, or just a beginner, take note of how opportunistic and unscrupulous people commit online poker cheating methods so you will not fall prey to them.

Hacking

The most common form of hacking activity victimizing online poker players is the one that involves emails. This sub-form of online poker cheats can be easily detected if you are not that gullible. Just like in any email virus, opening a virus-infected email file can expose your personal online poker directory to others.

Online poker cheats are also experts in ‘hex-editing.’ Through this, a hacker can open an online poker client’s profile and personal programs. Hackers have adopted the technique or technology that online operators had formerly used to edit or modify interesting profiles, including banned names or aliases that are not decent enough and often, really funny and disgusting.

Aside from the two hacking techniques by some online poker cheats, hacking is not that rampant throughout the Internet. Most, if not all, of online poker rooms or operators are equipped with software or programs that will halt any attempt by online poker cheats to hack their systems or their clients’ accounts.

Online poker cheats will find that online poker rooms have security measures encrypted on the player’s screen and decrypted on the operating server’s side. Therefore, experts assert, hacking is just a myth in online poker.

Phishing

Phishing is the most common fraudulent activity over the Internet. The ‘modus operandi’ is very simple and familiar to online users.

Though phishing, scammers send ‘spoofed’ emails that can easily be detected through their funny email headings or subjects. Several of these scammers can be creative enough to try to convince users to click a link to a Web site.

Clicking on a scam Web site or link will try to fool users by convincing them to divulge personal and confidential financial information like account usernames, social security codes, personal identification numbers, credit card numbers, and others.

Online poker cheats also use this tactic to fool and defraud online poker players. Though, this cheating strategy is not that rampant in online poker compared to its counterparts outside the online poker world.

Here is one example of an email letter that you could receive. Be aware and careful cause this will lead you to links that will eventually defraud you.

From: technical_support@onlinepartypoker.com

Subject: URGENT Modify Account Info

Dear client,

This is regarding your cash out. Online Party Poker urgently needs to check and verify your account information because we are currently upgrading our systems. Failure to provide information will prevent you from cash outs. Click here to provide information.

Regards,

Online Party Poker Technical Support Team

There. You can easily detect that the letter is misleading you. It is obviously composed by online poker cheats. If you have received a similar letter, just ignore it. Cash outs are not usually cancelled due to lack of information.
Collusion

This is probably the most widely used cheating method by online poker cheats. In traditional poker rooms, the tactic is very simple. Two players will adopt a common and devised sign language. Through this, their chances at beating other players are higher.

Online poker cheats collude with each other through the use of various modern technologies, including fixed and wireless telephones, instant messaging, radio communications, etc.

It can be funny, but really amazing, how online cheats recently developed ‘self-collusion activities.’ How is this collusion process done?

Online poker cheats will set up or enlist a number of computers in one online poker room and run all of them by himself/herself. Through that, the online poker cheat has the advantage and collude with himself, beating the clueless opponents.

Currently, online poker rooms deny and dismiss allegations that this form of online poker cheat exists within their rooms or games. But nobody can really be sure.

More on Poker clothing - Cracking Down Several Online Poker Cheats

There are quite a number of online poker tools, some you have experienced, some you have not yet experienced, that can be put under the category of the best online poker tools.

Rec.gambling.poker and 2+2 forum are two online poker tools that represent the wide selection that you can find in the poker community. This said community consists of beginners, experts and professional online poker players too. These online poker tools have all variations of the game: it could be home; poker; online; irc or even at the real casinos.

Feed backs and advices are given for free and they more oftenly turn out to be fairly helpful.

Just so you would know, google now has access to rec.gambling.poker. Newsgroup and also to its archive. This makes your search on a particular topic about online poker tools a lot easier. Google is still working on gaining access to 2+2 forum’s archive to be able to have more productive search results including heaps of sites with Poker clothing and accessories.

Pokenum, a poker hand analyzer, is also a fantastic online poker tool, aside from its being excellent, for determining the win percent of your opponent’s hands against the win percent of your hands. This online poker tool has a very cool feature. With this said feature, you can now add cards to the board and you will also now be able to see the manner with which you hand strength changes relative to other hand strengths. This is believed to take place as the board progresses.

This online poker tool also has an open service code so you can be of help in making hand strengths better, more productively if you have the skills that allow you to do so.

The evergreen poker club, poker sourche and the university of Alberta’s computer poker research group are perfect online poker tools that serve as resources with downloadable codes. If you are a c-programmer or someone who would want to learn more about the computer language so you could acquire skills needed for designing your self-owned poker simulation, then these online poker tools are very much the tools you need.

If you are inclined to mathematics you will also find much that is of much value to you. You can obtain information from online publication from the university of Alberta’s computer poker research group. A helpful online poker tool indeed.

Another online poker tool that is highly recommended is chessandpokerdotcom. James yates is a personally who has his expertise on online poker tools and he prefers chessandpokerdotcom because this online poker tools offers a wonderful limit strategy guide for holdem. This will certainly make you more aware of the basics of the online poker game you are playing; therefore, you will then be ready for improvement.

Irc poker is another online poker tool that can aid you in getting started. Just read the faqs or the frequently asked questions to have explanations about the main concept of irc as a real-time network of online poker games, of which you can definitely play for free.

Forum, which you can find at pokernews.com is a section of the said website, aside from its being an online poker tool, that has specific target questions. These target questions more usually come form experienced online poker players. And the answers are also oftenly provided by professional online poker players with the experience and skill to offer sound advice.

These are only few of the examples of online poker tools. Hopefully, you will encounter more so that your status, in regards of online poker, can be improved for improvement is the aim of most of the online poker tools.

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The Poker card game has its rumored originations but these originations are somewhat disputed. Most game historians, however, have a belief that the present day poker is derived from several ancient games.

Firstly, the name poker has similarities with the eighteenth-century French game "Poque." Aside from this, historians claim that that the name Poker is also from the German betting game "Pochspiel." Both the French game Poque and German game Pochspiel contain the elements of bluffing and betting.

In the German Pochspiel, the Pochspiel player indicates whether they desire to pass or open. They do this by rapping on the table while saying, "Ich Poche!"

Historians have also included the Hindu word pukka as a possible source of the poker word.

Other people claim that there is another possible explanation for the word poker. The word poker was said to originate from an underworld slang word's version, "poke." Poke is a word used by pickpockets. Also, cardsharps who organized several card games to extract a sucker of his poke, his cash and valuables, may have also used the word among themselves. By merely adding an r to the word poke would make it "poker."

A few even believed that the word "poke" came from the magic word "hocus-pocus." Hocus-pocus is a word used by many magicians as "magic words" during their show.

-- The Poker Game Of Today

After several years of debate, historians have yet to decide on the origination of the poker game. Until now, its origination is under debate.

Whatever will be the decision of history, it is a good thing that the poker game is still alive today. The poker game is alive today because of the advent of online poker.

An online poker site offers the poker enthusiasts news and articles regarding the world of poker. The online poker site offers the beginners or novices the chance to be able to excel in their game by providing tutorials and play for fun online poker games for practice.

-- Online Poker Site For Old Poker Players

The online poker site also offers many new features and advantages for the old-time poker players. Aside from a faster rate of play and multiple tables available for their access, players need not fear that their opponent can read their reactions to their cards. They are online and are far away from their opponent players.

The online poker site is simply the reason for the eventual spread of poker to every age and kinds of people.

In fact, poker games are never this exciting with the advent of an online poker site.An online poker site can offer the game of Texas Hold'em to prospective players. Texas Hold'em is by far the most popular form of poker being played today. The action for this type of poker play is not only fast but also furious.

The objective of Texas Hold'em is to finish with the best poker hand and win the pot. Two to ten players can play and win Texas Hold'em at any one time. In this game, if two or more players have the same winning hand, they will have to split the pot amongst themselves.

-- Available Online Poker Site

The online poker site paved the way for the beginner or novice to have a shot in improving their game. Due to the fame of online poker, the world of poker accepted players of online poker site into their worldwide tournaments, even the World Series of Poker. In fact, some of the recent champions in the World Series of Poker earned their winnings through an online poker site.

Listed below is some of the online poker site available to the beginner or novice:

More on Poker Clothing Online Poker Sites

Playing online poker can be very exciting. That is if you know how to play. Online poker is a very big source of revenue for online casinos. The appeal is in the convenience and extra features that normal poker players do not get to experience.

To play online poker tournament, a person need to become a member of an online poker room. In this case, Party Poker is the leader in hosting online poker tournaments. 

When you play online poker tournament, you agree to follow the rules of the game. Cheating is prohibited, however certain user privileges like a card statistics and graphical card history can be used as long as it is allowed for play online poker tournament.

There are three ways play online poker tournament:

· Freeroll tournament - A freeroll tournament is a multi-table play with more than ten participants. Freeroll means there are no buy-in or entry fees to play online poker tournament. 

· Guaranteed Tournaments – these are multi-table online tournaments with more than ten participants. Guaranteed means there is a guaranteed prize pool, no matter the number of entrants who play in the tournament. When you play online poker tournament with this one, you have a buy-in and entry fee. But the prize pool is worth every penny.

·       Sit and Go tournaments – these are usually single table tournaments. But you can also play this as a multi-table. This tournament has a specific buy-in and entry fee, which becomes the prize pool. The money is usually split up by the winners.

Anyone who wishes to play online poker tournament, must recognize the rules and practice courtesy, even if the players do not physically see each other. 

If a person wants to get into to play online poker tournament, he just joins a rooms with his desired limit and let the cards fall where they may. When you to play online poker tournament, it is not unlikely to experience a delay in the computer or to be accidentally logged off during a table play. Problems like this usually occur because of the online poker room’s site server.

Should there be any disputes between those on play online poker tournament, technical support through telephone service is available 24 / 7. The online poker site administrator can be asked to rule over any private deals, side bets, or redistribution of the play online poker tournament prize pool among finalists.

When in the game, focus in needed to play online poker tournament. Without the distractions and pressure that real life poker brings, online users can sit back and really think about their next move.

Should any of the remaining participants who went to play online poker tournament decide to distribute the prize pool among them, online management will not allow this. Any private agreement that does not include one or more active competitors is improper by definition. 

It is expected that to play online poker tournament, it is played until the end of the event. Any private agreement to play online poker tournament that states removing the all prize money the competition is not tolerated by the online poker room.And will be considered unethical. If a participant who is there to play online poker tournament disobeys any of the rules of the room, the user will be booted out of the site.  don't forget your poker clothing for good luck.

It is therefore a must that participant, both old and new, follows these tips to play online poker tournament to avoid being blacklisted in the site.

· Learn to play online poker tournament fairly.

· Wait for your turn and do not harass or verbally abuse your opponents as a sign of psy-war. Play online poker tournament like it was in real life.

· To play online poker tournament, learn when to hold or to stick to your cards. There are tutorials for anyone who wants to study. There’s even a poker school for this.

· When you start to play online poker tournament, make sure that you are a sport. Play for the fun of it and don’t be too hard on yourself when you lose.

Now if there is a serious problem, like a virus has entered the online poker room, the management has the right to postpone any event.

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