One phenomenon which has emerged with the dawn of the computer age is “online poker,” by which poker enthusiasts can play poker games over the internet for fun or real money. Online poker is now so big that based on Christiansen Capital Advisor, worldwide online poker revenue jumped from $365 million in 2003, to more than $1 billion in 2004. In December 2003, revenues were estimated at $34 million every month. And by March 2005, approximately 100,000 people were playing for real money at the many pokers rooms at peak times.

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

Many large online poker sites provide certain attractions, including entry to real life poker tournaments for online winners. Other features for example “collusion detection” abilities also enable web sites to detect certain frauds, that are not available in conventional casinos. This better security attracts more players.

Another factor is 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 is not possible in conventional casinos the place you could have to take time-consuming notes after each hand. Combined with these factors, many good online casino poker poker software programs are user friendly and are often automated as outlined by specific needs and actions, for example prompting when it is a player’s turn.