Right now, poker must be about the greatest game on television for excitement and drama. I’d guess that you are probably one of the vast number caught up in the drama of Texas Holdem and eagerly watching the action unfold on TV. Now it would be only natural that you would want to get yourself involved with poker and playing the game for real after seeing the world’s top professional poker stars fight it out in front of you on the small screen.
So you want to be a poker player! What is your best first step? There are basically two options; you can either get some friends together and play a game of “real” poker, or alternatively play on the internet against the multitudes of online poker players.
Now playing real live poker at home is an excellent way to get started, it’s great to get a bunch of your friends around and play some poker over a few beers (or whatever you like!) but you will run into problems. Most people are very busy these days and it is very hard to get all the crowd round at a time that suits everyone.
Picking the game can be just as hard, there are a lot of variables to consider. Whilst some of your friends might want to just risk a few dollars, others will want to play for tens or maybe hundreds of dollars. How can you please everybody?
On the other hand internet poker is live and instant and you can always find a game that suits your pocket with people ready to play against you. You can even play for free until you get your confidence up and you’ve learned the basics of doing it for yourself, rather than watching on TV.
Fast forward: You decide to play poker online – what options are there for you now? Online poker can be basically divided into three categories; money games (where you play for cash), play money games (where you can practise for free) and the third game – the poker freeroll. Poker freerolls are unique to online poker and are a mixture between cash games and play money games. Some people consider them to be the best of both worlds.
In freerolls, your entry to the game is as the name implies free. You don’t need to pay any money at all – but you will need to become a member of the poker room by filling out a simple form. If however you win or are well placed in the tournament, you will win an actual cash prize.
As is usual with anything that offers something for nothing, online poker freeroll tournaments are of course very popular. You will need to get in very early to sign up for each game and if you do you will be able to play for real money – without risking a penny of your own.