Playing online poker to make money? This is the dream of many gamblers who start playing poker. But how easy is it to be on the winning side of poker? Where can you play and how should you play? How do you learn to bluff and what can you learn from other games of chance?
And what’s the best thing to do when you lose? Our guide to online poker leaves hardly any question unanswered.
The Moneymaker Effect
Before the poker boom, poker was considered firstly an old boys’ game and secondly a slightly dodgy affair. With the worldwide poker wave that emerged around 2003/04, the playing field changed abruptly. Suddenly poker was seen as the game of the younger generation.
Because you could suddenly play poker online, the structures changed. When Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million at the WSOP via an $86 online satellite in 2003, a worldwide boom ensued – the so-called Moneymaker effect.
Poker internationally and in German-speaking countries
Primarily, the hype occurred in the U.S., but it spilled over into other parts of the world. Strategy books soon appeared in German and became bestsellers.
At the latest when Pius Heinz won the WSOP Main Event in 2011, the largest poker tournament in the world, the game of poker was considered absolutely presentable.
Free Play vs Real Money Poker
You can also use poker online free play, that is, play for play money. For most players, however, without at least a small amount of real money, the game lacks excitement.
Playing poker for real winnings is generally preferred. This is also due to the fact that many players do not take the game itself seriously enough and make crazy bets when it is only about play money. This ruins the gameplay for the rest of the table as well.
Software vs Browser Play
Whether you play in the browser or in a downloadable version depends on your preferences, but also on the device you use. For the computer, most poker sites offer both, with browser play traditionally experiencing rather low demand.
With a cell phone or tablet, you usually have to install an app.
Playing poker with your cell phone
Most online poker real money apps that you can download are well developed and implemented. The menu navigation in the apps is now also mobile successful and it the game runs stable if you have decent internet.
Whether you play poker online with a laptop or a smartphone doesn’t make much difference anymore. The poker software is usually optimized for Android, iPad and iPhone.
Multi Table Play
If one poker table is too boring for you, you can also play several poker rounds at the same time. This is possible in most poker rooms.
Of course, it’s easier if you don’t play on the small screen of a cell phone. The best way to play poker is to multi-play from a computer with multiple screens. However, most players prefer to play just one game at a time anyway.
Deposit and withdraw
After registration, you can load your player account with credit. For this purpose, there are usually quite a few payment methods to choose from: Card payment, instant transfer, Trustly, Skrill, Neteller and Paysafecard are prominent examples.
It is important that you can withdraw your account balance at any time. The minimum withdrawal is usually 10€ or 20€, the minimum deposit by the way as well. The maximum amounts are several thousand euros per transaction.
Poker Networks
There are poker rooms where not only the players of a single gambling website sit at the table. Smaller poker sites in particular like to use such a network solution – or websites that are primarily concerned with other forms of gambling (such as online casinos or betting providers).
One well-known poker network is called iPoker and comes from the gambling provider Playtech. There, poker players from Bet365, William Hill and other websites sit together at the poker table.
The most important online poker sites
However, poker rooms that only serve their own players are dominant. By the way, it is quite normal that there is no separation by country: Australians sit next to Poles, Swedes, Japanese and Senegalese at the table and all play together or against each other.
Among the most popular poker rooms are
- Poker Stars
- Party Poker
- GGPoker
There is also a chat function in pretty much every poker software, but you can also ignore it.
Poker Blacklist
We issue warnings against these poker rooms and poker sites:
- Cake Poker
- Chico Poker
- Carbon Poker