A lot of new players tend to think of using software as a form of cheating. The truth of the matter is that the software simply gives you a suggestion or what move would be best for you, based on mathematical playing theories. Using the software is no different from manually working out the best choice in your head based on the same math.
When choosing software, you’ll want to find one that has been confirmed as acceptable for play on your preferred poker room. The software will generally use screen scraping methods or read local text log files to work out what cards are on the screen. It then does a little math magic and advises you on what you should do with your hand.
There’s also software that will let you easily play in multiple rooms at the same time. This is useful if you’re just a hardcore player who is in it for the pure mathematics and potential profit. It takes awhile to get to this level of play and you need to be willing to make hard decisions based on math and not luck or feelings.
Different poker rooms have different variations of poker games that you can play online. If you’re looking for the type that you generally watch on the TV, then you’re probably looking for Texas Hold’em, but there are many other variations such as Heads-up Poker, Omaha, Stud poker and so on.
If you’re an experienced poker player then you’ll want to experiment with the different variations and see which you’re most comfortable with. You’ll also want to look at the finer details of each site, such as the starting frequency, free rolls and availability of multi-tournaments.
One of the less usual variations is Razz which is Seven-card stud in reverse. Whoever holds the lowest hand will win the pot. This game is usually played with a fixed betting limit and can be a great distraction from your regular hold’em games.
Most large poker sites have editors which rank poker rooms based on their overall features, signup bonuses and so on. I don’t have time to check every single poker room out, so I’ll focus on the biggest and best.
The things you want to consider when choosing a poker room is the number of players it has online at any one time. A quiet poker room is no fun for anyone, so look for a site that is very active during your usual playing times. On average, expect to find 3,000 to 15,000 users online at any one time.
Next you want to consider the signup bonus. Since the competition is so fierce between rival poker rooms, they often try to out-do each other with the size of their signup bonus. So look around and find the best one for you. It’s not uncommon to get a $500-$2000 signup bonus that can be used to gamble. Just be sure to read the small print as to the limitations of the bonus.
