Playing poker online is fast replacing the traditional home poker games with friends. Many people find playing online poker to be fun and financially rewarding, but still find themselves missing poker night. Before online poker became so popular, many people would host a poker night at their house for their friends, and they would all sit around and play. A lot of online players miss this opportunity to play and chat with their friends.

Many online poker sites now give players the option to have private poker tables. You log on, setup the table, and only allow the players that you invite in to play. It still isn't exactly the same as playing at home, and it does require you to get your friends into playing poker online, but many players find it just as pleasing as the old at home games. It is much easier to setup an online poker game for your friends than to host one at your home. By playing online, you have no mess to clean up afterwards, and no food to provide, and less time invested in setting up the game and more time in playing the game.

One site that offers players this option is Party Poker. Their software is very user-friendly, and on average it takes most people about 15 minutes to setup an online private game. You begin by loading the Party Poker software on your computer, enter the bonus code FREE25DEP to receive $25 free, then go to the options menu at the top of the screen. From this point, you will click on the create private tables option. The program will then prompt you to select the kind of game you want to play, and the stakes for that particular game. It also will ask you to make a password for your table, which allows you to control the people that have access to your game. You decide whether you want to play a limit game, or no limit game.

Once you have selected all the options you want, and create the table, the game will give you ten minutes to have all players seated at the table. To actually find your poker table you created, go to the menu on the far left of the screen. It is sectioned out into five different categories: real money, party poker million, sit and go, tournaments, and play money. Each one of these categories has its own drop down menu under it. Go to the real money section and click to access the drop down menu. Click on the name of the game you selected, and the stakes you entered when you set up your table. Find your table name in this list, and click join table.

Once you have completed the above and your friends have joined you, you are ready to play the game.

It is important to remember that the system only gives you a ten minute time frame to set up your table, get your friends to that table, and start playing the game. It helps if you have pre-selected a time to play the game, rather than calling everyone at the last minute and getting them online to play. Remember that you have to give your friends the table password, or they will not be able to get into your game. You will also need to send all potential players directions as to how to find the table you have setup for the game.

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