Online Poker Guide : What To Look For

What's the point of an online poker guide? Of course, it's information. On other places on this site, we discuss specific games, or recommended online poker rooms. Here, we include information that can help you evaluate what's being offered. For example, online poker software comes in many different flavors - it's all offered free, but some you have to download, while others use browser plug ins. What's the best technology? Ever consider what makes the card simulation in an online poker room fair? Which rooms have the best support and customer service? What is it that makes for realistic gameplay - is it graphics, sound effects, and avatars? In short, here's what you need to know that's not obvious until you start looking under the hood.

Online Poker Room Software

We don't really think about it when we visit a poker room, but online poker requires some very sophisticated technology to put together all the elements that make for a successful online poker room. In addition to the game performance and delivery, which by itself is significant, there are tons of little details that need to be present before we get to have fun. Stuff like random number genteration (RNG) is needed to ensure that the cards are properly shuffled. Among the most innovative online poker concepts recently implemented is something called player aggregation. Behind the scenes, it's companys like this that are developing and maintaining the software infrastructure that supports the current boom in online poker. Here are some of the leading online poker software developers:

CryptoLogic

Arkadium

Software For The Online Poker Player

This is a relatively hot new area. Many players are starting to rely on software aids to help their performance in the game. Sometime the aid is in the form of gameplay suggestions, and sometimes its in the form of technical support - like analyzing competition based on previous performance. There's also tons of software to help you improve you game, evaluate your betting priorities, and calculate the probabilities of achieving winning hands. These links take you to poker player support software:

Texas Holdem Assistant

Hand Analyzer

Poker Tracker

Online Poker Cages

The cage functions like the bank for online poker players - it's how you convert your money into chips and visa versa. So honesty and reliability are everything here. Most ethical online poker enterprises are built around at least one rock solid cage partner. To learn more about cage functions and their role in online poker, follow these links:

Victor Chandler

Doyle Brunson

Gambling Federation

Online Poker Customer Support

How important is client support? When there's a problem, it's everything. The best systems have 24/7 customer support on multiple levels, including chat, email, and telephone availability. We recommend that you never play in a room if it is not obvious that customer service is a high level priority. Try checking out that phone number, just to see if someone really picks up the phone on the other end. Good customer service means prompt dispute resolution, recovery from crashes (we're playing on computers, remember?), and easy transactional procedures. These are some of the rooms with the most attentive customer support staff:

Royal Blue Poker

PokerBarkada.com

Doyles Room

Online Poker Tournaments

Tournaments are a big deal in the online poker world. Playing for fun is one thing, but the tournaments is where the real action is, and where the real opportunities for recognition are born. There are all kinds of online poker tournaments based on both single table and multitable models.

PokerListings

TournamentMonitor

Online Poker Leaderboards

This is a relatively new phenomenon, but is catching on with a lot of established online poker providers because of the incentive it offers to achieve notariety. By playing in tournaments, players can earn points toward rank and prizes on a leaderboard not dissimilar to those used in some sporting events, like golf and skiing. What's cool about these measurements is that performance is recognized publicly, so high achievers can earn verifiable bragging rights. Online poker leaderboards add legitimacy as well as fun to the game.

UK-Poker.co.uk

Blue Diamond Poker

Pure Gold Poker

Platinum Poker

Paddy Power Poker

MultiPoker

Online Poker Game Diversity

Some online poker rooms are part of large online casino operations and offer a wide array of other games in addition to poker. Some rooms specialize in a few kinds of poker, most notably Texas Holdem. Most offer a sampling of a few types of games combined with diverse betting structures to make things more interesting. Here are some informational sites that reveal the real diversity of the online poker world:

UK-Poker.co.uk

Blue Diamond Poker

Pure Gold Poker

Online Poker Room Environment

In the brick & mortar world, the furnishings, lighting, and the crowd set the atmosphere of the poker room. In online poker, it's the graphic look and feel, the sounds that accompany the gameplay, and a couple of other player related attributes. For example the colors on the screen, the size of the table, the avatars or animations used to represent players, and the way the game play unfolds. Dealer comments and player chat can also enter into the mix. But the point is that there are many factors that contribute to your experience in an online poker environment. These are rooms we recommend with the best combination of qualities that make the overall experience a positive one:

Platinum Poker

Paddy Power Poker

MultiPoker

Online Poker Chat

This and dealer comments are usually streamed live onto a small area of your screen while the game is in progress. Reminders of time limits for making betting decisions, as well as explanations of winning hands can be crucial. Many players find chat too much of a distraction to be fully engaged, but experienced players will tell you there are good uses for it. For some, it's fun to make comments while playing hands. Reading the comments of your competition may not be as reliable as reading a face across the table, but there's an analogy here if you look hard enough. Check out the interactive comment capability of these chatty rooms:

Dr. Pauly

Love & Casino War

Mean Gene

If poker is your passion, PokerIssues.com is your ticket. Online poker is where the action is, and valuable, objective online poker intelligence is what we provide. We explore poker, in all its forms, especially online poker and related internet gaming trends. Whether you're looking for a poker game, a poker room, varieties of poker games, like badugi and Texas Holdem, or whether you're interested in learning more about this new industry, we've got something to hold your interest. Whether you want to play poker, or study the market leaders (like Party Poker) we cover the big Texas Hold Em events, like the World Poker Tour, the World Series Of Poker, and every poker tournament of significance. We'll point you to the best internet poker action, help you find a suitable online poker game, or show you what to expect from a good online poker room. We can teach you to play Texas Holdem Poker, locate a poker tournament, discover free poker and free poker software. It's all here in one place. PokerIssues.com - providing your online poker intelligence.

More Sites With General Information About Online Poker:

Card Games: Poker | PokerPages | PokerTips | Wikipedia: Online Poker
PartTimePoker | Online-Poker-Rules
Google | PokerTop10 | OnlinePokerReview | DMoz | Yahoo