One phenomenon which has emerged with the dawn of the computer age is “online poker,” through which poker enthusiasts can play poker games on the internet for fun or real money. Online poker is becoming so big that in accordance with Christiansen Capital Advisor, worldwide good online poker gambling agent (use open.mit.edu here) poker revenue jumped from $365 million in 2003, to more than $1 billion in 2004. In December 2003, revenues were estimated at $34 million per 30 days. And also by March 2005, approximately 100,000 people were playing for real money at the various pokers rooms at peak times.

There are various factors that contribute to this extraordinary upsurge within the online poker industry. For one, online poker rooms tend to be cheaper than casinos since they have very little overhead cost in comparison to conventional casinos, and they tend to be more player friendly. As an example, the introduction of freerolls (where there is absolutely no entry fee) attracts a whole lot of novice players.

Many large online poker sites offer certain attractions, including admission to real-life poker tournaments for online winners. Other features such as “collusion detection” abilities also enable websites to detect certain frauds, that are not obtainable in conventional casinos. This better security attracts more players.

Another factor will be the ability to easily track detailed statistics of your play in online poker, made available by “”Hand Histories”” text files, which track every action both you and also your opponents made during each hand. This isn’t possible in conventional casinos in which you would have to take time-consuming notes after each hand. Combined with these factors, many online poker software programs are user friendly and are often automated according to specific needs and actions, such as prompting when it is a player’s turn.