How to Get Started Playing Online Poker

Online Poker is extremely popular, and for good reason. Because online poker rooms do not have the overhead costs of maintaining a physical building, paying human dealers, etc., and because many more people can play at any given time online than in a land-based card room, the online poker rooms can afford to charge a smaller rake, so playing poker online costs less than playing in a land-based card room. Further, the large volume of players online virtually guarantees that you will always be able to find a game. To top it off, you get all of these advantages from the convenience of your own home, with no travel required.

To get started playing poker online, first you need to choose an online poker room. There are several quality online card rooms listed here at wheretobet.com. You may wish to start by clicking on the "Best Online Poker Rooms" tab in the menu bar, as that will tell you the poker rooms that our users rate most highly. If you open an account with one of the online poker rooms listed on that page, you can be confident that the company is financially stable, has excellent customer service, allows a variety of ways to fund your account, and has easy to understand gaming software that provides very realistic results. The online poker rooms listed on wheretobet.com offer varying bonus policies as well as varying tournaments and schedules - so you have the opportunity to shop for the very best online poker room for your particular circumstances. Different card rooms listed here will also have different poker games available. While all of the poker rooms will offer the most popular games such as Texas Hold 'em, Omaha, and Seven Card Stud, fewer will offer less popular variants such as Chinese Poker, Pineapple, and Draw Poker.

After you have chosen an online poker room, you will need to sign up for an account. Most of the poker rooms have very simple, self-explanatory application forms, so there is no need to explain the process in this article. Simply click the "Download" (or equivalent) link on the poker room's homepage, follow the simple, step-by-step instructions to download and install the virus-free software, enter your personal details in the application that is displayed when you start the software, and submit the form.

Purchasing chips is one of the fundamental differences between playing poker online and playing at a land-based card room. Obviously you cannot buy chips as simply as handing the dealer a wad of cash since the both the transaction as well as the poker play takes place in cyber space. Still, as technology has made online poker a possibility, it has also made it possible to transfer money quickly and easily over the internet. Almost every online poker room accepts Visa or Mastercard, and, for European clients, a variety of debit cards as well. For larger transfers, most online poker rooms will accept checks, money orders, bank wire transfers, or Western Union deposits.

If you are a professional player or even if you like to play on a near-daily basis, and perhaps more importantly, if you prefer to receive your winnings nearly instantly, the fastest and easiest way to fund your online poker room account will be to use an online wallet. There are a variety of options available, all of which offer a simple, yet extremely secure means of opening and funding an online wallet account. Once you have an online wallet it is a simple matter to both place your deposits with, as well as collect your winnings from, your chosen online poker room.

Some popular online wallets are:

• Neteller (not available to residents of the U.S.A. or Canada)
• Moneybookers (not available to residents of the U.S.A.)
• Click2Pay (not accepting new applications from residents of the U.S.A.)
• Ecocard

PLACING YOUR ONLINE BET

If you have gotten this far, your are now ready to LET THE GAMES BEGIN, and play poker to your heart's content.

Simply select your favorite game and preferred stakes level, click on the appropriate room, and you are ready to take money from the other players.

LEARNING POKER

For those that have never played poker before, but want to learn the game, perhaps the best method, or at least the most fun, is to register an account at one of the online poker rooms listed here at wheretobet.com and start playing for free.

Almost all poker rooms allow players to register and play for free without depositing any of their own money.

Free players play at specific free tables and play with free (non-cashable) funds. This presents the unique opportunity to experience life-like poker play without having to risk any of your own money. Further, one can get a feel for all of the various poker games offered such as Seven Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold 'em, and also arrive at a level of comfort at various limits before making a financial commitment.

In addition, some online poker rooms even offer freeroll tournaments where players can have the chance to actually win real cashable prize money without paying tournament entry fees. While some freeroll tournaments are only offered to players that have wagered a certain amount of money over a specified period of time, other tournaments are available absolutely free of charge and with no obligations.

With the opportunity to learn to play for free, and even the possibility of free entry into regularly scheduled tournaments with real cash prizes, if you are interested in poker, there has never been a better time to learn.