Because of gaining popularity, Online poker games and online poker gaming sites have considerably increased in numbers ever since it began some years back. When did we actually start playing poker games online? The first recorded poker online game took place in the mid-1990’s but was commercialized in 1998 via Planet Poker and continues to grow in popularity among younger players today. The exact date of the first online poker game was not exactly accurate, but it happened in 1994 according to many unverified sources. It was done via IRC or internet relay chat, kind of the precursor to yahoo messenger back then. It was widely popularized that it was all about play money but who knows what hardcore players actually did right?
Planet Poker was the first real online poker site and it still exists today. It was expected to survive before because it was the only one. But after 20 years? Wow! However, the design stuck and most of the online player games today have similarities to their software. It was the first “real money” players website and this started it all. There a couple of big names after Planet Poker, namely Paradise Poker and UltimateBet, however the first change in the Industry was offering online tournament play.
This more than anything has added to online pokers popularity. Plus newer and more aggressive companies are pushing major advertisements across platforms that are available at that time. 2003-2006 is known as the golden age of online poker Gaming – largely because the government left the industry pretty much alone ever since its inception. Making easier deposits and withdrawals. Pro players are celebrated as rock stars and became very popular. This has been that way before but now there are very strict regulations when it comes to online gambling.
We have been playing poker for a long time, but doing it online has been two decades already. In a way, this added OR took away some elements. You cannot do your “poker face” online anymore unless you do it via video. What it added though is a whole new dimension, you can literally play against the whole world. It added new dangers too as most online players now have their accounts amounting to thousands or even more dollars. This can be very tempting for online scammers and hackers. While online play can be relatively safe because of where you are, it is of the utmost importance to exercise caution and due diligence when gambling, online or otherwise.