As recently as 20 years ago, poker was a game which was known and played primarily around kitchen tables at home, and in a few scattered casino card rooms. In the last couple of decades, poker has started to grow quickly, and now in the internet era online poker has become wildly popular.
Poker’s meteoric rise began when famous poker tournaments such as the World Poker Tour and The World Series Of Poker began televising some of their final tournament tables. When players saw real poker players competing for millions of dollars on TV, they became intrigued with the game and many wanted to learn more, and play themselves.
Soon online poker rooms began opening to help meet that need, and online poker was an immediate and resounding success. Online poker rooms offered players a way to learn the poker basics while putting little or nothing at risk. Many players took advantage of the free play with pretend money which poker sites offer, and then progressed to real money play as they grew confident in their skills.
One such player was named Chris Moneymaker. He is known today worldwide as a poker celebrity, but back in 2003 he was just an average guy who put up $40 to enter an online poker tournament. He was just learning the game and mainly played to have fun, but it soon became a major payday for him as well. Moneymaker used that $40 to enter a satellite tournament to the World Series Of Poker. He won that small tournament, which secured him entry into one more tournament. With his win in the second tourney, he was given a prize package which included not only cash but also a seat in the famed $10,000 buy in event at the WSOP.
Moneymaker went on to win the WSOP with that entry, and took home 2.5 million dollars as a result. When his success story became public, people all over the world became fascinated with poker, and the opportunities online poker can give. Even those who were dedicated casino poker players started playing online, because the tournament and live game offering were so good.
Online poker offers a chance to play a fun and interesting game from the comfort of your home. It can be considerably less expensive to play online, and it’s even possible to take a small stake and turn it into really big money. Chris Moneymaker was the first to do it, but thousands of winning online players have now followed his example and some have even retired on their online poker winnings.
Both new and experienced online poker players have learned about another advantage of online poker play: free poker money. Many online casinos offer sign up bonuses which can be as much as $600 or more! Most of these bonuses are given as a deposit directly into your poker account. Sometimes, you can even get a 100% match of your deposit amount. That means whatever you deposit, the online casino will match.
Online poker offers many opportunities to home players, and this has helped it to continue to skyrocket in popularity. There is no other way that you can play poker from home, as you sit in your pajamas, at any hour of the night or day. You can be a high roller and play for big bucks or you can start small and turn a little money into a big bankroll. Good luck, and see you at the tables!