Poker Gambling

Poker Gambling Online in the UK Today

Poker Gambling

As far back as the late 1990’s IRC poker was available online and these were free games, but this started the phenomenon which is now recognized as one of the most widely played online games. The first game to be played online for real money was dealt on the first day of January 1998 in the Planet Poker room and the rest as they say is history.

Online poker is played world-wide and players from the UK, European Continent and quite literally anywhere else in the world in which the game is allowed; may find themselves all seated at the same table playing the same game for the prize pot.

Today in the UK, poker players have a wide variety of sites to choose from, most of which are very reputable, and some of the best include Ladbrokes Poker, Titan Poker, Bet356 Poker, Betfred Poker, Full Tilt and 32Red Poker. These sites all offer incentives for new and existing players to join and continue playing at their sites; and some of the most common features include tournaments and freerolls.

Tournaments vary, and start off with satellite games, many of which offer the poker player opportunities to win buy-in to live poker tournaments with large prize pots. This is how Chris Moneymaker as well as many other brilliant players got started. Chris caused a shockwave to ripple through the poker playing community when he was entered into the 2003 WSOP (World Series of Poker), by winning an online tournament. He went on to win in the main event, and by 2004 four of the players at the WSOP final table were online poker players. This has changed the face of poker tournaments for ever; Greg Raymer also won WSOP from playing in an online poker room!

The freeroll is also a very popular feature in UK online poker rooms. These are basically tournaments with no entry fee. They act as promotions to draw players and are very good games to play to get tournament practice. If a poker room advertises a £500 freeroll game, it means a tournament with a £500 prize which the poker room has put up and players don’t have to pay an entry fee. "Freeroll" may also be used with reference to a particular type of poker game where two players have the same hand, so it is important not to confuse the two.

Playing poker in online venues is considerably cheaper than playing in casinos, this is because overheads are not as expensive. But on some of the pro sites you are able to watch (or play) in some sick games with very large prize pots. So online poker caters to players across the board, from low-rollers to high-rollers, and everyone in-between!

All good UK poker sites have a poker school where lessons, free games and glossaries can be found. These are brilliant for new players and changing trends have also seen many women take to this game like ducks to water! Don’t believe for a second that women in the UK only play online bingo; this couldn’t be further from the truth.