Most people at the age of thirty and over grew up with little knowledge of poker. In fact, the vast majority would have believed as kids that poker involved drinking whisky neat and getting shot by an annoyed cowboy. That’s the beauty of television and people over thirty were schooled on cowboy films. Now though, kids are playing poker games online on places like facebook and it’s no shock to hear a thirteen year old saying ‘he should have gone all in then’ when they’re watching the World Series. Surely they should be watching the World Series of Baseball and not poker?
That’s the great thing about the internet; it’s a remover of barriers which in retrospect is not always a good thing. For poker players though, it is an amazing thing because it gives us constant access to our favorite past time. There are probably more people playing poker at any one time than there are grains of sand on the beach. It’s all thanks to the availability of poker games online with a global reach.
We have all heard the city that never sleeps phrase being touted about but these days the sun never sets on a poker table. You can literally play around the clock because there are so many people playing from different time zones. It’s no wonder there are more internet poker site start ups than any other traditionally offline business.
Another good thing about poker games online is that you don’t have to spend your hard earned cash to enjoy them. In fact the vast majority of people that play are simply there to have fun and socialize with other players. That in itself is just one other reason that online poker is attractive to more and more people.
In a normal casino environment you can sometimes have social barriers in place whether they are real or just perceived. In an internet poker room, you can be anyone but more often than not people take the opportunity to be themselves. It’s surprising how when people have a common interest that social stereotypes are put to one side and people communicate in a civil manner.
Of course you are bound to get the odd person that bucks the trend and has to try their best to annoy everyone at the table. Or you get a person with no patience for other players and they try to make them feel uncomfortable. These characters are easily dealt with by blocking their chat communications.
With online poker games you can get a very rich experience compared to playing against a table full of strangers at a casino table. Social awkwardness just doesn’t exist in an online environment which means it’s a great way meeting people. Obviously those people may actually be on the other side of the world so in a sense you are not really meeting them.
One of the most recent developments in poker games online is your ability to qualify for some of the major tournaments. For a small entry fee, many of the biggest paying and internationally recognized tournaments have qualification stages that begin in an online environment. In certain circumstances you can actually gain free entry.
So although poker places online differ wildly to the face to face table environment, there are signs of a marriage between the two. Ultimately this had to happen sooner or later because of the growing number of people playing on a daily basis. As the shift in the gambling centers of the world heads more and more to an online capacity, the people in poker had to move with it.
The fact that poker has a uniquely global appeal has meant that big name multinational companies have stood up and took notice. There are some astronomical figures being touted around the internet that make a million dollar prize look like they belong to a qualifying round. It’s hard to believe if you’ve never played in a really big tournament but take a look at PokerStars.com for instance.
For the 2010 WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) at PokerStars.com there is a combined prize pool of $50,000,000 minimum. The qualification starts from as little as a dollar and that has to be the craziest thing you will hear all year. What lottery could you take part in with returns like this that also allows you to influence the outcome?
With those phenomenal numbers flying around then the incredible growth in poker games online is a little bit more understandable. PokerStars.com is just one of many huge online tournament providers, many have events every week. Fulltiltpoker.com for instance has a game every week with a $750k prize pot and you can even manage to play for free if you use your frequent player points. If you haven’t played in a major online poker tournament, then maybe it’s time you did. Just make sure you get plenty of practice and where possible play for free to start with.
