Q: Is it safe to play poker online for REAL money?

Yes - if you keep to the major reputable poker sites. They are simply making too much money dealing hands that dwarfs the profit they would make if they just closed up shop one day and disappeared with everyone's bankrolls. Party Poker makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. It's just not profitable from them to run off with a few millions in deposits.

Q: How do I deposit and withdraw money from poker sites?

There are a variety of ways to deposit funds to a poker site. Many credit cards allow deposits for online gambling (although some don't), or you can deposit using web sites such as Neteller, Firepay, or various money transfer sites. Check out the poker sites for more details. I personally recommend Neteller, as you can link your Neteller account to your chequing account at your local bank. This allows you to make very easy deposits and withdrawals. For my first deposit ever, I used my CIBC Visa card. However, my buddy tried to use his Royal Bank Visa, and they wouldn't let him deposit to a gaming site.

Q: Is online poker rigged?

This is basically the question to end all questions. Short answer: No.

Long answer: Here's the general argument for online poker being rigged - A poker site rigs the deal to make more money. They want to maximize the amount of rake that they take. So they help bad players by giving them miraculous turns and rivers to keep them from busting out quickly. This in turn lets them play more hands, and thus pay more rake before losing all their money.

If a poker site did this, while being incredibly hard to code (what if two bad players played against each other? Who gets the river card then?), it would be revealed in statistical analysis of the cards dealt. Since bad players play worse cards than better players on average, there would have to be an abnormal percentage of bad card dealt on the flop, turn, and river. Many studies of tens of thousands of hands at the major sites show a truly random distribution of cards to players and to the board, disproving this theory.

Q: Can't players cheat by sharing hands via Instant Messaging or over the phone?

Yes. Players can share hands through external communication. However, this only gives them a slight advantage over the rest of the players. Some poker sites have software that automatically flags any suspicious folds (such as AQ or higher pre-flop). Of bigger concern is players sharing hands, then betting and raising each other to maximize the bets others have to call. For example, one player could have AA, but the partner in crime raises with 27o, so the player with Aces can reraise. Also, they can raise and reraise each other to increase their chance of winning the pot.

Whenever something doesn't seem right you should report the suspected players and the hand history numbers to the poker site, as they cannot watch every table, but will investigate any complaints of cheating.

Q: Are the cards dealt randomly?

On the major sites the answer is completely 100% without-a-doubt yes. There was a case in 1999 of a poker site being cracked by a team of computing students, but nothing like that has occurred in 5 years. The Random Card Generators used by the major sites have been stable for literally billions of hands. Many professional players have compiled thousands of hands in tracking software, and they all have confirmed the randomness of the deal.

Q: So why do I see more "bad beats" online?

It is true that you see more bad beats in online poker than in live play. The main reason for this is that you see many more hands online than in live play. Live play averages about 30 hands per hour, while online you can see up to 60 hands per hour. Also, you can multi-table (play more than one table at once) and see literally hundreds of hands an hour. Therefore, you should see at least twice as many bad beats online than live.

Q: What poker sites are out there?

There is a group of about five online poker sites that do approximately 95% of online poker traffic. We recommend playing only these sites, as they have a proven track history, a large player base, and are dependable. These sites are Party Poker, Poker Stars, Paradise Poker, Pacific Poker and Ultimate Bet. Also Party Poker has a couple "skins" - alternative poker sites that are essentially different doors leading to the same tables as Party Poker. These are Empire Poker and Intertops Poker.

Q: Is online poker legal to play?

In Canada and the US, yes. There has been a movement in the US to either regulate or ban online gaming but nothing has come of it as of yet.

Q: Is there a "cashout" curse?

No. The "cashout" curse is supposedly the poker site discouraging cash outs by giving players a bad run of cards after a cashout. There is no evidence to support this theory, and anyone noticing this effect is likely just going through a normal downswing, or perhaps is playing differently (i.e worse) after making a cashout.

Q: What do I need to be a winning online poker player?

Primarily patience and dedication. You need to constantly strive for improvement, and be honest with yourself and your ability.

Email any questions you might have to admin@604poker.com