Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. It has become an enormous multi-billion dollar industry with money coming in from all over the world. Online poker is fun and exciting, but it is important to know where to play safely and that your games are fair. The top rated poker sites will not cheat their customers. They have a reputation to uphold and they understand that cheating will cause them to lose millions of dollars a year.
There are a number of ways to fund an online poker account, including credit and debit cards, prepaid vouchers and web wallets. Many of the best sites also offer a variety of promotions, bonuses and rewards for players. These incentives can be used to maximize your bankroll and get more value from your poker experience.
Compared to live poker, online poker has a higher level of variance. This is because players log a lot more hands when playing online and that can have a huge impact on your short term wins and losses. In addition, the speed at which you play online can artificially alter what your variance is.
While poker rules are the same whether you are playing live or online, the game does require a different set of skills to play. Online poker is less about reading physical tells and more about using a computer to size up opponents and figure out their tendencies. Having access to a wide range of statistics that provide intimate insights into your opponent’s game has been a tremendous boon for the online poker community and has led to a constant dialectic on poker forums as thinking players battle to develop the optimal lines of play.
The best online poker sites will offer a wide variety of tournaments and cash games. They will have a large selection of NL and PL Hold’em games, as well as Omaha Hold’em, Stud poker and other variations. Some will even have freeroll tournaments where you can win real cash prizes for no risk. This is a great way to test out a site and get a feel for how it works before investing any of your own money. There are also a number of sites that have anonymous tables that allow you to play your favorite poker games without giving away your personal information or allowing opponents to use Heads-Up Displays to track your play. This is especially valuable for newer players who want to avoid shark-ridden waters. Ignition poker is one of the best sites to offer this feature.