How good is your poker face?

How perfected is your poker face? If it is up scratch then maybe you can follow in the successful footsteps of Chris Moneymaker and compete against the biggest names in poker for your chance to win $2.5 million.

By its very nature, gambling means there are always winners and losers. Back at the start of the 21st century, poker went online and then most of the winners were usually the players. But as it caught on, the industry grew rapidly and the winners are now the online poker companies.

Estimated revenues for online poker rooms in 2001 were around $83 million. Pretty massive already, but by 2005, they were a whopping $2.4 billion. Not bad for an industry that has very few overheads.

Unlike traditional casino poker, online poker appeals to a broader audience because of the anonymity. Beginners and women can become involved without embarrassment or the fear of high losses. Additionally, online poker rooms are often better equipped to deal with fraud than real poker rooms, because of their collusion detection abilities and IP address checks.

Entry into real life poker tournaments is one of the possible prizes that can be awarded to top players. This allows novices to mix with professional players and in the 2004 World Poker Series there were three times as many players as there were in 2003.

The industry is big business and in 2008, there were only 40 stand alone poker networks. Many of the smaller ''card rooms'' have been acquired by larger companies meaning the industry is dominated by just a few giants.

In the UK, the online gambling industry is now completely legal, which has lead to some worries over increased gambling addictions. However, statistics have yet to prove this. In fact, a survey, carried out by the UK Gambling Association, found that there had been a 4% drop in gambling rates from 1999 to 2007 suggesting that there has been no significant change in the number of problem gamblers.

A further worry was increased debt, but online gambling companies make credit checks on their players as it does them more damage if the house loses.

Online poker now attracts a rather large and loyal following and many of the major players have developed a name for themselves within the industry. TV shows now turn successful internet players into TV stars meaning the online poker industry is becoming as glamorous as the casino industry. Maybe the house in Vegas might not always win.

Article Source: http://www.smartfindsdirectory.com

Wilber Khlok is a professional player who play online and real poker since 2001. He recently found a real deal poker website, where you can play poker with a real deck of scrambled and shuffled cards.

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