With the exposure that poker has received from television and
print media in the last few years, thousands of new players are
playing online every day. However, if it weren't for a few
things holding some players back, there would be many more new
players. A few of the things that are causing fear and/or
apprehension are the safety of your hard-earned money at an
online room and exactly how to set up accounts not only at a
poker room but also to fund the account. These are what this
article is about, so if you want to play poker online but
haven't started, read this short tutorial and you'll be started
in no time.
The first question I am often asked is about the safety of a
player's money online. Drawing from my personal experience, I
have been playing online for about two years and have never had
a poker site cheat me or steal the first cent. One of the
reasons for this is I have followed these rules, which I
recommend to you. When I started, I only played at the larger
rooms online. (There are over 250 rooms so even restricting
yourself to the top 30 or 40 rooms is safe and gives you plenty
of options.) My reasoning was that the rooms with the most
players must have players that were receiving cash outs in a
timely manner. Also, the larger the room, the more they had to
lose by cheating players. The way poker is designed, rooms will
make more money by being honest than by stealing from players
who will never come back. I also read reviews about the
different sites in order to become comfortable with my choice of
a site, then downloaded the free software and practiced at the
play money tables before depositing.
The next question is the best way to get money in and out of an
online poker site. Here are a few simple and safe steps to get
started.
1. Find a poker room you would like to try on this site and
download the free software.
2. Open a checking or savings account with a local bank. (You
probably already have one, but some players open a separate
account for poker.)
3. Go to
www.neteller.com
or
www.firepay.com and open
a free account and link it to the bank account from step 2. I
have used Neteller and their service is safe, fast and free. You
can transfer money from your bank to Neteller and then into any
online poker room for free. Then any money you take out of a
poker room will go back to Neteller and then back to your bank
if you so choose. By using this method, you don't have to worry
about the safety of a credit card online and most rooms don't
use credit cards anyway.
4. Set up an account at the poker room from step 1. Usually you
will click on "register" or "cashier". You will enter a screen
name and password as well as some other information.
5. Either practice at a play money table or make your first
deposit and jump into the live action. Good luck!
About the author:
Wes Young runs a poker web site at
http://www.pokermonger.com
where you can find information about poker strategy, poker room
reviews and unique poker articles. He also publishes a weekly
poker column. For information visit thepokercolumn.com
