Getting started with Internet Poker

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So you’ve decided to take the plunge. Poker is everywhere and you want to get in on the action. What’s the best way to go about it? The short answer is do a little research. There are several things you can do before you start your internet poker career that will give you a head start on your competition. I’ve been playing internet poker for six years, and in this article I will pass on some of the things I’ve learned along the way. Tips and strategies to get you started, saving you both time and money. Why would I do this? The answer is, as always, money. The advertisers here at BigPoker.ca pay me to refer new players to their sites. I only refer players to sites that are honest and have good reputations. In the poker site reviews section, you will get a candid review of all the sites that I have chosen to promote. Each site has its strengths and weaknesses and I will do my best to match you up with the poker site that best fits your needs and interests.

The first thing you want after you have chosen a site from the poker site reviews section, is click on the banner and download the chosen site’s free software. While creating an account, put some thought into your screename, as you will probably be stuck with it for the life of the account. There is nothing worse than picking something like “Arod sucks”, just to see him get traded to your favorite team. Pick something amusing, or maybe a name that you think might intimidate your opponents. To each their own.

Secondly, spend an hour or two playing in the free games that most sites provide. This will give you an idea of how the particular site’s software works. You will also quickly be able to figure out such tasks as how to configure the options and when it is your turn to act. Nothing worse than jumping into a real money game and having your hand folded as you run out of time looking for the raise button.

After you are comfortable, its time to deposit and start playing for real. Choose which sign-up bonus fits your particular goals. If you want to start small and play mico-limit, choose a bonus like partypoker’s free $25 bonus. If you are going to be playing a little higher, you might be better off using a bonus like partypoker’s 20% deposit bonus, up to $100 free. Most sites have a great bonus to start but picking the best one is important. See our poker site reviews page for first time bonus information on each site. After you have opened an account, come back to Bigpoker.ca often to keep on top of all the re-load bonuses.

Your best bet for making cash deposits at most internet poker sites is Neteller. It’s an online bank that is publicly owned and very safe and secure. A lot of poker sites do not accept credit cards as they did in the past, due to a large amount of fraud. Neteller allows you to use a credit card to deposit into your Neteller account, which you can then deposit directly into your poker account at your chosen site. The transfer is immediate and you will be ready to play poker as soon as you complete the transfer. When cashing out of the poker site, your money will go back to your Neteller account. You can then either attach your bank account info to Neteller and transfer the money to your main bank account, or order a check in the mail directly from Neteller. If you choose not to use this method and have a credit card that works (some still do) at your chosen site, you will be charged a fee at some sites. Most of them will re-imburse you the charges after you play a certain number of hands. There are other choices for depositing funds as well and each site will detail their chosen options.

When you start playing, make sure to play a couple levels below what you would normally play in a brick and mortar casino, just to get a feel for the online game. Combine the fact that you can play in more than one game at a time with the fact that you will get about twice as many hands per hour, and you will quickly see more hands than you are used to. Bad beats will come fast and furious, making it seem like the online card distribution is skewed. It isn’t. The sheer volume of hands makes it seem like your opponents always have a flush, for example. All the major sites that I promote here have been audited for irregularities. The example I use is that in a casino, I will generally get somewhere between 30 and 40 hands per hour, depending on the speed of the dealers and if they use shuffling machines. Online, I play 4 games at a time, in which I generally get about 240 hands per hour. Every hour I play online is like playing 8 hours in a casino. As you will quickly see, online poker is very lucrative to those that play well.

Visit our pokertips area of the website for further instruction or send an email in the ask the poker pro section. Never stop learning.

Getting started with internet poker