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The game of poker has been going for many years, but the history of online poker – along with most other online games – is relatively short. Yet despite the relatively short length of the history of the game, it is an extremely rapid developing part of the entire online gambling industry which is not showing any signs of slowing down. While it is very popular in America, Europe is fast catching up too.

The history of online poker begins with the history of poker in general. The game of poker has been around for thousands of years with origins all over the world, from China to France to Persia and Spain. However, it wasn’t until 1834 that the game of Poker with the name of “Poker” was officially recorded. Jonathan H. Green wrote about “the cheating game” which was played on Mississippi riverboats. This game was played with only twenty cards, but evolved into modern day poker.

Online poker only dates back 9 years, to 1998 which was when the first games came on line. But the real milestone for the history of poker was 2002. A year later when the World Poker Tour was launched on America’s travel channel in March, poker really hit off. This was also true for when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) had its largest turn out over.

These events and others certainly contributed to the developing growth of the history of poker as more and more individuals found out about how fun the game was to play on line, and indeed, how lucrative it could be, especially when playing online poker tournaments. 2004 and 2005 saw a huge influx of additional online poker rooms and sites, many of which appealed to the masses, even the non-poker playing ones who started to show an interest in this new and exciting online game.
Poker is a game that is coordinated by gambling laws and regulations and is mainly played in casinos and card rooms. However, it has recently become available for play in online poker rooms. The introduction of poker to the Online has increased the popularity of the game a huge amount, but it didn’t start out so simply.

The history of online poker began in 1998, when the first online poker room was opened. Planetpoker.com was the first website in the history of online poker and as the first it had many obstacles to overcome. One of the main problems was trust-after all they had to build peoples’ trust in order to get them to play with real money on their site. They also had to work out software that would be user friendly and realistic. However, once they worked out these problems it was a smooth ride.

Probably one of the reasons the history of online poker developed so well was because of how enthusiastic poker professionals have been since the game’s inception on line. Such big names as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren are included in this list.

The history is now definitely well on the map, especially financially as the industry in America has reached over $2 billion. There are so many poker rooms today on line that pretty much at any time, 24/7, one is able to find a poker game of their choice. Whether you love 3 card poker, video poker, Texas Hold’em Poker, 7 card stud poker, 5 card draw poker, Omaha Hi-Lo poker, to name but a few, on line players will probably be able to find a game to satisfy and appeal.

Many online poker sites offer now offer numerous features that attract and appeal to new players. This new features are what are making raves in the world series of poker because the world of poker has now wakened to the realization that even on-line poker participants can also have a shot at the big game.

One similar feature offered by the online poker sites is the tournament referred to as “satellite”. This feature allows participants to gain actual access to real live poker tournaments. In a similar tournament Chris Moneymaker emerged the victor and was able to participate in the World Series of Poker in 2003. his victory shocked the whole world.

Recent figures have in fact projected that the revenue generated by on-line poker could reach as high as US$ 100 million target in 2005, and that online participants are estimated to reach 100,000 people.

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Truth about Small Buy-in Poker Tournaments
Unlike many poker games, poker players can stride out of the casino as winners. That is because, unlike many casino games, poker players play against each other and not against the house. Despite this advantage, poker players should not immediately join small brick-and-mortar tournaments and purchase buy-ins. While you aim to win big, certain aspects [...]

Online sportsbooks were the first to be introduced in the internet and they were followed by many, one among them being online poker. Online casinos were also introduced in the mid 90s, the same time when sportsbooks reached the internet. Microgaming, that came up in the early 90s is a good example and has now become a casino software developer.

In 1998, Planet poker entered the scene and was the first to create an online poker gambling rooms. It was the first and the last of its kind for quite long. With passage of time, many new and big poker sites reached the net carrying a maximum rate of about 3 dollars with an initial rake of five percent. The industry was recognized only in 1998 but it noteworthy that the rates have been almost the same.

In 1999, Paradise Poker was created and this has now become the leader in industry. It was around this time that Dutch Boyd created Poker Spot.

Though Poker spot is the pioneer in running poker tournaments online, they faced whole lot of problems. The group did not collect the deposits of the players from its credit card partners. The company did not remit the winnings of the players as all deposits it held, were not returned. This resulted in their fall.

The introduction of the Netellers e-cash system has reduced the repetitions of the problems encountered by the Poker spot group in other poker players. The online poker groups are provided with funds from the Neteller system. The Netellers e-cash system frees the players from the trouble of using the wire transfer or credit card to deposit money in order to enter the poker group. This has helped in the minimization of frauds and improved the credibility of the company.

In the year 2001, online poker industry welcomed the entry of the two giant firms, Party Poker and Poker Stars. Paradise was on the lead until 2003, when they were overtaken by Party Poker due to the latter?s strategic advertising. The launch of World Poker Tour along with the Party Poker Million strategies attracted a lot of people and drove the group to success.

Chris MoneyMaker also contributed a lot to the popularity and growth of online poker. He was charged with 40 dollars to enter the poker room. He won the satellite tournament conducted by the Poker stars and was qualified for the final and the main event. He won the topmost prize of 2.5 Million dollars in a game considered to be one of the biggest of the World’s Series of Poker tournaments and in which about 839 participants had contested.

The creation of the site http://www.pokertips.org made online poker more accessible to all people especially to those who were new to the field of online poker. In 2004, that is one year after the launch of the site, the game became very popular with the fascinating story of Mr. Moneymaker adding another feather to its cap. The companies pocketed huge amounts and there were other entrants like Noble Poker and the Full Tilt Poker to the industry as well.

Sportingbet, a listed sportsbook acquired Paradise Poker and this contributed to the growth of gambling industry. A lot of companies considered listing in the stock market as it helped them get funds to aid expansion of their business.

The United Kingdom has passed a legislation which states that gambling is legal.

Today we have a lot of sites that educate people who are new to the industry on the game. They aid in developing the skills of the beginners and making them professionals. Here are a few books on online poker: the Super System which is by Doyle Brunson, the Hold ‘em Poker for the Advanced Players and this is by Sklansky,Malmuth, the Killer Poker which is by John Vorhaus and Texas Holdem which is by Ken Warren. You are advised to learn the basic skills and the poker theory from experts.

Some of the best Online Poker Sites

Texas Holdem Poker
StudStrategy
Low Limit Omaha
Poker School Online at pokerschoolonline.com
Ichiban Poker
Poker Performance Psychology
PlayWinningPoker.com and playwinningpoker.com
The Gamblers Edge at thegamblersedge.com
Poker Pro Association
Low Limit Holdem at lowlimitholdem.com
PokerStrategy
Poker Pages at pokerpages.com

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In fact
yours truly actually did run a search specifically for “Women and Poker”
and here are some of the surprising results. In no particular order we present 10 of the most tasteful poker sites on the web:

-Pokerium Online Poker Room and Casino: The front page of this website is a model of good taste and restraint. Many of the searches yielded interesting results
but this website was head and shoulders ahead. Upon opening the home page one finds an illustration of a scantily clad brown-haired vixen with a flower in her hair(no real women were harmed during the production of this design). The interesting part of this drawing is that she is placed inside of a huge Ace of Clubs. In the middle of the card
where the woman is located
lies a very large club
and the stem of said club just happens to terminate in the center of the woman’s crotch. Although there is a possibility that this not-so-subtle innuendo was unintentional
we would not bet on it.

-Next on our list is the deliciously tasteful advertisement on hollywoodpoker.com for their “Babes & Bounties” tournament. To begin with
the title itself should be enough to ruffle the feathers of most women poker players. Then
the image used on the page is of a woman in a bikini top with money in the background behind her. And finally
for those players who aren’t sold by the picture in the middle
the site claims that “12 of the sexiest poker hostesses in the game” will be present at the table. It’s a good thing too
because most serious poker players refuse to play in tournaments with any less than 8 sexy poker hostesses. Finally
jus tto make sure that one can notice all the different features on the side
there is a picture of a woman on the left-hand side of the screen dressed in her rather unsupportive underwear lying down in front of a laptop with poker chips lying around her body. She is happily wearing a pair of flattering white high heeled shoes so that she can model at any moment during her poker game. A truly classy website.

-PokerWorld.com
an up and coming online card room
is another tastefully crafted website
with nothing to offend save for their new “Topless Bonus”. The “Topless Bonus: The Shape of Things to Come” seems a stretch: with this promotion they will “top up” your account with a free 20% bonus. The stingy bonus does not only fall way short of the 200% bonuses floating around on various sites
it also offends the eye. They advertise it with a small silhouette of a woman
hardly exposing anything whatsoever. Why they chose to try and correlate a 20% with topless women is a mystery
but they surely went for it.

-Not to be outdone
Jungle Poker has its own female spokeswoman: none other than the lovely Cheynelle Fraser
a bartender/model who is now the official face of Jungle Poker. Why a poker site would need a sizzling hot model as a spokeswoman is a grand mystery. We suspect it is because the photos of Cheynelle – which include several excellent cleavage shots – surely have everything to do with poker and nothing with selling sexuality. Although the site may be using the good looks of beautiful Cheynelle to help promote their site
they are not just about T & A on th
eir site: on the front page of the site they have an advertisement for their heads up Sit & Go tournaments
featuring two headshots of a man and a woman
both fully dressed
challenging each other to a card game. Hurray for equality!

-Europeans are no exception when it comes to using alluring images of the female form to help them sell their products. In a recent article published on poker.gamble.co.uk
the author writes about the upcoming Great British Poker Tour
and the centerpiece image of this article is a nude woman relaxing in a bathtub full of poker chips. It’s a good thing that they posted this picture
because nothing says Great British Poker Tour better than a woman bathing nude in poker chips.

-The most morbid result found during the search came from best-poker-rakeback.net on their rakeback advertisement
which features a frightening illustration of zombie woman in a corset
fishnet stockings
heels
and a short skirt using a rake to gather up some playing cards that must have fallen off a tree. Although the idea of having somebody literally raking poker cards is cute
we’re not sure about the need for a sexy undead woman.

-Gambling blog Oddjack paid homage to the women of poker in an article titled “Top 10 Sexiest Women of Poker”. This enlightening four part series takes the readers through their list of what they view as the sexiest women in the poker world. Just to give a small taste of their depictions of these women
we will go over the first three women they talk about. Each woman has a picture with a caption beneath it. At number ten on their list is Courtney Friel
a television hostess for the world poker tour. The picture they have of her is in a lacy tank top: fair enough. She’s obviously OK with the picture considering she modeled for it. Underneath the picure is a caption that says “Stop teasing us Courtney
tear those laces off!”

The next featured profile is that of Evelyn Ng. Underneath her picture they put a quote that says
“Evelyn sure is one sweet ride…” Sadly
they did not even try to be creative with this comment
the only possible connotation for this remark is a sexual one. They also remarked in her profile that she won the WPT Ladies Night event and that
“Yup
she kicked ass. Asses that belong to Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert. Asses I don’t wanna see anytime soon. No matter how much they pay me to.” This hilarious joke about the physical assets of two of poker’s greatest female players was insulting to say the least.

At number 8 on their list is none other than Lily Elviro. This strong poker player who
besides being a strong poker player
is physically well endowed as well. The picture which they used for her was taken during a poker tournament she played in and shows her at the table holding a pair of cards. She is leaning forward a little showing a fair portion of her not so small breasts. Unable to resist
the comment beneath the photo says
“It’s hard for Lily to always carry a heavy set of puppies like that.” If it wasn’t for such brilliant writing most of us would completely miss out on such hard to miss features.

-Next on our list is an article written by Toby Bochan on her poker blog. This photo-article
featured on about.com
is titled “The hottest women of poker”
and it is essentially an amateur photo gallery of professional femal poker players. The women featured in this article are Evelyn Ng
Shannon Elizabeth
Clonie Gowen
Jennifer Tilly
Liz Lieu
Vanessa Rousso
Isabelle Mercier
Cyndy Violette
Jennifer Harman
Annie Duke
Kristy Gazes
Chantel McNutty
and Jennefer “Jennicide” Leigh. Perhaps the most disturbing part about this gallery is not that these women have their pictures posted
but that none of the pictures were studio pictures. They all seem like photos that were taken in a clandestine manner on a digital camera. Does this strike anybody as creepy?

-Coming l
ast on our list is none other than Full Tilt Poker
who recently issued a challenge between Paris Hilton and Clonie Gowen. Their hearts were definitely in the right place: they were to host a heads-up challenge between the two women and the winner would take the $100
000 prize and donate it to the charity of her choice. This sounds good
so why does this make our trash list? Well
if you go to the website
the page they created for this challenge has these two women stacked up next to each other. The title for their statistics is called their “Sexy Stats”
and just to make sure that the best poker player wins
they even added a “Who is sexier?” poll at the bottom of the page.

Thus concludes our trashy website list (NEED TO THINK OF A WAY TO PITCH THIS ARTICLE). Part IV will conclude “Women and Poker” by addressing what the future of women and poker may hold.

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When the recent Deep Stack Tournament at the Borgata Hotel and casino in Atlantic City announced a guaranteed prize pool of $500
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Whats a freeroll? True to their name, a freeroll poker tournament is a free promotional event sponsored by poker rooms and is a great reason to play poker online. Online poker rooms hope the allure of a free poker tournament will bring people to their poker rooms. While there are several different types of freeroll tournaments, two that stand out are the gargantuan-sized fields and the modest prize pools. You wont get rich playing at a freeroll poker tournament, but it presents an invaluable opportunity to gain some tournament experience. In addition, you may be the winner and take home a few dollars without ever making a deposit. You can almost consider the tournament as part of the poker bonuses offered by many poker rooms. It also gives you a free chance to see if you like a particular room before making a deposit. read more

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