So, you have decided that you want to play online poker, and your hunting for the perfect site has begun. But unfortunately, there are hundreds of poker sites on the internet. How do you discriminate all available sites, to find the desired site? There are several main criteria that you must know, in your search to find the perfect poker site for you. Understanding these criteria, and can use it as a basis for comparison, it will significantly simplify your selection process:
Free poker – If you want to play poker online for pure recreation, and not for money, make sure that the site you are interested in accommodates “free” players. Most online poker sites serve free players.
Download software vs. Web-based – mostly, if not all, online poker sites require you to download their poker client software to your computer system to run. If you are detrimental to download the software to your system, then you might want to check to see if the poker site as an alternative has a web-based poker interface, which lets you play poker on the site from in your browser. Installing software runs the potential risk of viruses and / or adware that are loaded into your system (although most leading companies will never do that), but software installs on your computer generally runs much faster than a web-based session. Installing software utilizes your local PC CPU power, while the web-based interface depends on downloading every real estate update screen through the internet while playing. This can be slow, especially, if you run a slow internet connection (eg, dialup lines). Therefore, if you are after speed, choose the local software installation; If you are worried about your computer safety or unable to buy disk space used by software installation, select Web-based poker sites.
Method of deposit / withdrawal – If you plan to play poker for money through the internet, it is very important to consider the deposit method and withdrawal that the poker site supports. Many of these sites allow the main credit card to use, which seems to be a universal deposit mechanism of choice. Others allow the use of bank transfers, ACH transfers, checks and wire transfers from banks. Most poker sites also support several forms of 3rd party ewallets, which provide intermediaries between banking institutions and poker sites themselves. The main criteria for views are: 1) What deposit / withdrawal methods are supported by the poker site, and how many of these methods are supported by the local you live in?; 2) Is it legal to fund / pull into the poker site, from the jurisdiction you play?; 3) What is the cost associated with the third party ewallet company that you can use, and how reliably they (this last question can be studied on some poker message forum boards)?
Local restrictions – some poker sites limit playing for money (and even playing free sometimes), based on your local, and the law gambling in your local gambling. You must check with your local jurisdictional law and check with the poker site, to see if there is a forced limit, based on your local.
Support – You must see the support method offered by the poker site. Poker sites generally provide one (or more) support methods which include: telephone support, fax support, email support, and direct chat support. The more than this offered the Poker site, the better. For telephone support, check and see if the poker site offers pulse support from your jurisdiction or not.
Game variations – Depending on the level of your poker play skills and your interest in variations, it is important to determine which type of game supports the poker site. Almost all sites offer Texas Holdem, but depending on your level of interest, you must check to see if they offer g
