Anyone play online poker?

[flobadob]

When we first got broadband in about 4 years ago I played online poker for a while. I eventually stopped playing as I felt that a lot of times it was set up in some way, for example a lot of times you would be winning until the last card came out and then you would lose on the last card. I know that this is a reality of poker, but I also play real poker and the occurances of this happening when playing for real were far outweighed by the occurances when playing online.

I'm thinking of putting 50 quid into a poker site for over Christmas but I am not sure which site to use. There's pokerstars, full tilt, pkr etc. etc. the list goes on. I'm just wondering has anyone used a poker site that they enjoyed playing on and that they would recommend? Thanks.

[ll_billym]

I don't play much anymore but I played very regularly for a few years on PokerRoom (now Bwin I think) and I still have an account on PKR.

I like PKR, not just because it looks nice but because it allows people to show emotions and that makes some people are easier to play against (if you play on there don't use emotions). Also it shows you if people re-look at their cards which is another thing you can use to your advantage. It is the most like 'real' poker I have come across but as you know there is a vast difference between playing online and in real life.

My main gripe with online play is that you really don't know who you are playing against and what may be a big bet (or tournament fee) to you is peanuts to somebody else so it's difficult to bluff properly or know where to pitch bets.

I don't think that poker sites are rigged, the site makes money whoever wins the hand. Take a look at exactly what the hand was, there are plenty of times where the winner seems to win on the last card but actually had a lot of outs. A genuine bad beat i.e. where a person makes a hand using the last two hands dealt are fairly rare but I think it comes down to the players and a lot of people will just call things on the offchance and sometimes they hit where in real life people would probably fold so as not to look stupid.

[flobadob]

I know what you are saying about outs and I can deal with people calling with 5 or 6 outs but mostly its the annoyance of someone calling stupidly and hitting. When it happens regularly it's hard not to be suspicious. I tried PKR but found that it really slowed my PC down so much so that I could do nothing else on it if I was using PKR without everything freezing up.

[naomi24]

I know someone who got himself into pretty serious financial problems by playing poker on-line. Just a word of warning.

[flobadob]

I get bored of it quite quickly so I wouldn't worry too much. Also I play low stakes, usually £30 will do me a few months on and off.

[ELVIS68]

Personally I wouldn`t play poker online for money as you don`t know who or what you are playing against

I`m not saying you won`t ever win but the odds on you making a profit are slim to say the least

[squarebear]

I used to play on a few poker sites but many people use programs to play for them. One bloke was playing at over 10 tables on one site at the same time I was there, so now I don't trust them.

[cazzz1975]

I knew someone who worked out the rotation of the computer program that they used on the online poker, he also noticed that the odds of winning were heavily stacked towards new players as to give them a false sense of their poker ability and encouraging them to play for real money.
poker played for fun is okay, but for real money is a total mugs game, there are no winners other than the poker company.

[jomifl]

Give your money to a charity, it will make you feel better and you probably won't be cheated ... much

[Lonnie]

I've never played online, but play quite a bit for real, (Texas Hold'em), and that River card, (last one) is a real killer, I've seen so many supposed winning hands lose out on the turn of that last card, so I would hazard a guess that what you've experienced, isn't a set up.

jomifl, good suggestion, may I suggest the British Legion?.

[Mc-G]

Hi mate, I know your question is old but I just wanted to let you know that a certified poker/casino operator is required to meet a set minimum of payout ratio, meaning that they have to prove to the regulator that certifies them how much of their earnings they paid back to their customers as winnings. I know that the brick & mortar casinos in Las Vegas pay back something like 80 cents of each dollar they make. Casino Las Vegas are supposed to have an exteremely high payout ratio of 97.3% (I read it on http://www.3dpokerinf...as-vegas-video-poker) so you might want to check if they have poker as well.

That being said, the percentage of players who actually profit from online poker is minuscule, and if you want to develop some conspiracy theory on the subject - maybe they pay all the money to their sponsored players and declare it as "payout total"...

My suggestion is only play online poker if you ran out of opponents for real-life poker (if you are THAT good)

[Mc-G]

Sorry, the link is http://www.3dpokerinf...as-vegas-video-poker/

[jazzie07]

I'm really all for online poker and there are so many tools available now to help have a better strategy. It's not as bad as sitting at a table with your wife wondering what time you'll be home, or whether or not you are bringing home the bucks or an empty wallet. I had used a poker software http://acepokersolutions.com