Poker craze keeps online parlours shuffling

Illegal or not, online poker rooms are changing the face of the game Mark Twain once lamented as “unpardonably neglected.” Four of the finalists in this year’s World Series of Poker earned their tournament seats by playing at PokerStars.com, one of more than 200 virtual poker parlors that have sprung up in gambling havens such as Gibraltar and Costa Rica. That’s only added to the huge rise in activity that began with the 2003 edition, in which a Tennessee accountant with the unlikely name of Chris Moneymaker walked away with over $2.5 million. Moneymaker, it turned out, had never played a single game of “live” poker. He learned everything he knew about no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em sitting at his computer.

The prospect of becoming the next Moneymaker is irresistible to millions of otherwise law-abiding Netizens. PokerPulse, a Canadian company that tracks the industry, says virtual poker rooms pull in more than $3 million a day with their “rakes,” or take of small amounts from each hand. That’s up from about $300,000 in January 2003, before Mr Moneymaker’s championship. In the last year, the amount wagered at the major poker sites has jumped from $54 million to $144 million. Players arriving at popular sites such as PartyPoker.com may be greeted by 40,000 or more rivals from all over the globe.

Players quickly learn that cyber poker requires a new mindset. To get an edge, many use analytical software. Others create robot, or “bot,” players that use formulae and algorithms to dictate their wagers. “In person, you can get a style and project that style,” says Jim Bucci, a poker pro who coaches online players on PokerCoaching.com. “Online, it’s much more difficult. All these young people who started coming through the last couple years, I don’t know what some of them are doing.” Chances are, neither do they, says Dan Mezick, PokerCoaching.com’s executive director. “People who think they have skills find out they don’t have all they need when they get online.”

Games on a computer network are twice as fast and twice as dangerous when wagering real money. Seated at the green felt of a Las Vegas casino, competitors average about 30 hands an hour. Online, they sometimes play 60. There’s no time for deep thought. The network times each player to keep the game moving. Wait too long, and the game will rush right past you, grabbing your virtual chips. There is no guarantee that any poker room is legitimate. The offshore companies running virtual casinos are poorly regulated — if regulated at all — by host countries. It’s best, experts say, to stick with large sites where signs of crooked games or slow payouts are most likely to be detected.