No Bull: The Real Story Of Online Poker

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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

Poker School Online
Low Limit Holdem
Poker Pages
PlayWinningPoker.com
Low Limit Omaha
Poker Performance Psychology
So You Wanna Learn Poker
Poker Pro Association
The Gamblers Edge
Poker Club Belgium
PokerStrategy.org
Studstrategy
Ichiban Poker

Mainstream of Online Gambling Casino

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One of the first online gambling casinos was from Microgaming, which arrived in 1994 and is now a popular gaming software developer.

The first mainstream online gambling casino was Planet Poker, which was established in 1998. A number of bigger and better online casino gambling sites came up after a few years. The initial rate structure of 5% and a max rate of as high as $3 have been the industry standard ever since.

Current industry leader Paradise Poker was created in 1999 and at the same time Dutch Boyd founded the controversial Poker Spot. Poker Spot was the first online gambling casino group to operate poker tournaments online and continued to do so until it was hit by a major problem. Poker Spot was unable to withdraw player deposits from its credit card partner. Players failed collect their winnings, as the funds were not transferred to Paradise Poker’s system. The unreliability of Poker Spot’s system eventually resulted in its collapse afterwards.

By that year there were around 700 online gambling casinos, while a March 2001 survey found that nearly 8 million people have gambled their money in the Internet. A year later, the first millionaire from an online casino was produced. The lucky winner pocketed $1,594,649 on May 30 2002.

Other online casino gambling sites were able to avoid Poker Spot’s fate with the use of Neteller’s e-cash system. Neteller is today known as having the top funds transfer system for the online casino gambling sector. The e-cash system frees the player from using a wire transfer service or a credit cardswhen depositing in an online poker room. Neteller’s system has also minimized fraud and boosted the credibility of the industry.

2001 was an important year for online casino gambling given the entry of the two industry giants, Party Poker and Poker Stars. Party Poker’s overtook Paradise in 2003 as the industry’s top player with its strategic advertising on television.

In addition, Party Poker introduced Party Poker Million and the World Poker Tour, which have become attractions across the US. The intriguing story of Chris Moneymaker also contributed to the popularity online poker gambling. Mr Moneymaker paid a $40 fee to enter a satellite poker contest of Poker Stars.

His victory in the small tournament gave him a spot on the World Series of Poker. Mr Moneymaker defeated 839 other online poker contestants and won the top prize of $2.5 million. That year’s World Series of Poker tournament is still believed to be as the biggest ever staged in its short history.

Mr Moneymaker’s inspiring Cinderella story attracted more beginners to learn online poker and the game expanded to new territories in 2004.

Online training site www.pokertips.org offers easy to learn advise on how to play the game. Revenues of online casino gambling firms rocketed during the year, which also saw the entry of new players such as Full Tilt Poker and Noble Poker. Sportingbet’s acquisition of Paradise Poker also opened new doors given the new owner’s status as a listed company. Listing on the stock market has become an option for online casinos to raise funds for expansion.

In addition, the UK government’s recent passage of a bill that legalizes and regulates Internet gambling casinos indicates that online poker is close to becoming a global phenomenon.

Top Online Poker Gambling and Tutorial Sites

Low Limit Holdem www.lowlimitholdem.com
PlayWinningPoker.com www.playwinningpoker.com
Low Limit Omaha
Texas Holdem Poker
Poker School Online www.pokerschoolonline.com
Poker Pages www.pokerpages.com
Poker Performance Psychology
Poker Club Belgium www.pokerjokers.co.uk
Ichiban Poker
StudStrategy
PokerStrategy.org
So You Wanna Learn Poker

The Best Online Poker Room

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With hundreds of online poker rooms out there, it can be a daunting task to choose which has the most to give to its users. What does it take to be called the best online poker room?

Perhaps to be the best online poker room, one has to be flexible, secure and provide users what  they need to be great poker players. Whatever the criteria, PokerListings.com, an independent website dedicated to becoming the premiere online poker guide has ranked Party Poker as the number one best online poker room over thirty-nine other contenders.

Party Poker, with the highest rating of 8.20, boasts the world’s highest traffic in their ring games. In addition to this, the best online poker room gives perks to its member like loose games, great WSOP promotions and a loyalty program. Party Poker also has a special events and membership referral scheme for their loyal users.

The best online poker room has features like a monthly $5,000 backdoor free money roll for the new users, exclusive surprise reload bonuses for online poker room players, world’s largest online poker room, with more than 35% of the market, has online poker room software that supports side bets, the game of black jack, and deal making, online poker room membership referral program, a chance to join the online poker room tournaments.

Party Poker became the world’s largest site for ring game traffic early 2003, after their launch campaign. By keeping their aggressive marketing going, the best online poker room increased room traffic every month.

The best online poker room Party Poker cannot be without a good game variety.  The games Party Poker hosted are Holdem, Omaha and 7-Card-Stud in both High and Hi-Lo raked in the biggest volume of users. But despite huge number of players, the best online poker room lacks games like heads-up matches, crazy pineapple, draw poker, etc. although players seem quite happy just by playing these three major games.

The best online poker room is able to maintain its standing with loose and juicy games online catering to beginners and those users craving for some action. Even at the “middle limit online poker games” this is true – you can find very soft poker games of up to $2/$4 in no-limit and $5/$10 in fixed limit.

Party Pokers offers a great loyalty program making it so popular to over PokerListings.com users to vote for it as the best online poker room. The frequent player points program and the countless re-deposit promotions you can receive each time you play can get you get 15%-25% up to $100 maximum. Playing poker in the best online poker room is indeed sweet!

As for support, Party Poker has been providing their 24/7-telephone support ever since their operations started. As the best online poker room, it has modified its services by responding in under a minute. Their telephone support is very knowledgeable regarding the game’s procedures, on promotions and matters of payout. The best online poker room also adapted the email service.

Being able to provide quality graphics is one of the traits the best online poker room should posses. Although some suggest that it can be improved on, from a practical player viewpoint, it is good enough. Bandwidth is the one complaint received from players who get disconnected to certain tournaments or those who are in the middle of the game.

Party Poker as the best online poker room gives their users a chance to play multiple games of up to four to increase their chances of increasing their earnings. Over all, the graphics are fine though it may need updating.

And lastly, the best online poker room quality that users look for is financial security. This is where Part Poker has beaten all others. Party Poker goes away with the top score and undisputed title of the best online poker room in the world. With no recorded problems and a fast, easy and secure currency transactions, what more can a gambler wish for! Ok, maybe to win but at least he knows where to go for the best online poker room games.

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