Online poker - How to get started

Deposits and cash-out options

There are several real money deposit options including; VISA, Mastercard, various UK debit cards (Switch, Delta, Solo), Moneybookers, FirePay, Citadel (US only), SFPay (US only), Western Union, wire transfer, bank drafts and cashier's checks. Once you have deposited real money, the money stays in your player account with the online internet poker room, just like in a bank account. When you win your balance increases and when you lose your balance decreases. You are free to cash out at any time, with a few exceptions regarding pending " bonus dollars" where you must play a certain amount of times before you will have normal access to your " bonus dollars". Some of the offered bonus deals may require that you don't cash out at all (including your deposit) within a specific period of time in order to get the online internet poker room bonus. However, you always have the right to withdraw all funds and forfeit the online internet poker room bonus.

The poker rooms vary significantly in how quickly and in what way they transfer your cash outs. Many poker rooms offer transfer of money directly into your bank account (while only a few have an automatic set-up where you do not need to contact the support to do so). Almost all poker rooms offer checks and online payment solutions like Moneybookers or FirePay also known as "web wallets" . Web wallets, in turn, can be directly connected to your bank account and you can also have a debit card connected to them, for cash out at ATM-machines. Web wallets is the most practical way to withdraw funds at most online internet poker room and sometimes also give you a better online internet poker room or re-load bonus as the transaction cost is lower for the online internet poker room. The lead time when transferring over money to your Moneybookers account from your poker room account is maximum 2 days but most of the time quicker. If you plan to play a lot of poker room games online, you should strongly consider opening up a paypal / Moneybookers account. It will make life easier for you and likely earn you some extra bonus!

VISA and MasterCard cannot be used for cashing out winnings to US players (and sometimes other online internet poker room players as well) and, at the moment, often not even to transfer back the original deposit amount from the credit card itself. The reason is strict policies for online wagering, due to the legal gray zone in the US and also disputed credit card charges from online internet poker room players in the US.

Automatic all-in protection

Most online internet poker rooms offer an "all-in protection", which is a feature that puts a poker player, who is involved in a pot, all-in whenever that poker player is disconnected. If you choose this it means that you will stay in the pot but will not be able to bet or call any further bets in the poker hand. These bets will then create a side-pot which you are not part of. Because of this you will from time to time win pots (because you stay in with a hand that you would have folded) and also lose pots occasionally (because your bets or raises would have won the pot for you) without having to commit additional money in the pot.

Depending on your long-term and short-term history of used all-in protections you will have no or several protections left going forward. Many online internet poker room have abolished the all-in protection at specific poker tables and poker tournaments, due to an ambition to create environments where abuse of the all-in protection will not corrupt the game. The downside of course is occasionally lost pots, in particular if you are on a shaky dial-up connection. You should absolutely not use the all-in protection too much, as this is a very direct form of cheating. Moreover, you will very frequently be reported, which after a few incidents often leads to you being banned from the online internet poker room. If you see or suspect online internet poker room players of abusing the all-in protection, don't hesitate to write support and report these online internet poker room players.

Randomization of card distribution

The customer support service at online internet poker rooms is still of highly varying quality, but steadily improving. On top of the email support which can be found everywhere, more and more online internet poker rooms have added telephone support as well as live chat. The problem with a lot of the support staff is that they are not knowledgeable about online internet poker room games and are not well informed about the online internet poker room's policies for more detailed issues. In particular, the support often lacks exact details regarding current promotions and their respective requirements. When it comes to special online internet poker room bonus deals from special affiliates like ourselves we have often encountered online internet poker room staff telling customers that our special promotions does not exist even when a promotion has been up and running for several months.

As the highly profitable online internet poker room industry is getting more competitive and standardized, the customer support quality will be improving and a lot of the online internet poker room networks are starting to put more resources into shared support teams.

If you are treated badly by online internet poker room customer support, do not hesitate to put pressure on them. As a paying customer, you should expect great service and support. If your problem involvs money and is not swiftly resolved you should demand communicating to a manager. Remember to save all correspondence you have sent and received. An effective means could also be to inform the support staff that you are taking part in several online internet poker room forums and that you will not hesitate to publish your bad experiences there.

Lastly, if you signed up via ThePokerOracle.com links (then you are with 98% certainty tracked to us, unless you use an external bonus code) we will assist you with any serious issues that could not be resolved with the online internet poker room. As one of the world's largest online internet poker room guides we have a significant leverage.