Because many poker sites are run by offshore companies, they can be shady so keep your eye out. In general, you should only aim for the most reputable and largest sites. Lesser sites may not only have bad software, but also try to cheat you out of your money, or make you jump through loopholes to get your money
Pages that have information on the poker sites
http://www.twoplustwo.com/ <<== the forums on that site give reliable information and the community actively deals with privacy issues concerning poker sites. They also seem to be moderately aware of the threats of spyware.
http://liquidpoker.net is another poker information site/forum that I would trust.
From the sites that I have played on:
http://www.pokerstars.com <<--- Probaly the most reliable site; they have excellent support by email, so you can ask them like about any of your concerns. The 2nd biggest site. This site seems to hassle people the least. Their software is widely considered to be the best.
http://partypoker.com <<-- The biggest online site. NOTE: They have been known to "hook" your keyboard and monitor your computer activity. So far as I have known, it is for the sake of game integrity, and nobody has found any possible privacy violations... yet. Also, if you withdraw money from their site, you will have to make a phone call. Technical support is generally pretty bad. Despite all these quirks, many people do play on this site without too much hassle. Once again the community I brought up above has been monitoring this site pretty actively, and nothing particularly disturbing has been found. But it's a good idea to let you know. Other Warnings: The minimum cash out is $50, for some bizzare reason you cannot play on the lowest stakes for more than 90 days. I wouldn't recomend starting here, but maybe sometime in the future if you manage to build up a bankroll. I suppose one cute thing about the site is that after your first deposit, you will recieve free money bonuses, if you don't play on their site for a while. ;p
http://www.ultimatebet.com Overall, the site seems fine; the technical support is slow but there's not much overall hassle. The graphics are ugly though. It's not too bad of an idea to start here, as they offer a large bonus for first time depositers.
Some of these poker sites will offer Blackjack, or other casino games.
DO NOT PLAY THEM unless you hate money. There is often an option to hide such games. Generally, the integrity of poker games is pretty reliable, since you do not play against the house. The house makes money by taking a "rake" from the pot. However, if you were to play against the house, well, I just can't trust that.
Other Notes:
All sites have free "play" games. It is best to play those until you can get used to the software. The three I listed above also have "freerolls," free tournaments where it is possible to win money without depositing anything.
If you do deposit money, do not deposit so much. There are certain risks involved obviously. $50-100 is probaly on the safe side. And play on the lowest stakes as possible so you do not go BUSTO and ruin the experience. As a general poker rule, you should have 20 times the maximum buyin for No Limit games, and if the game is fixed limit, you will need 300 times the big bet. These are arguably the minimum requirements.
Paypal does not help with these sites. You will need another way to do it. I use Neteller,
http://www.neteller.com -- You need to call them to verify your idendity though.
It should be known if you are to play for money, that you will have to divulge quite a bit of personal information. It is important that you keep all passwords safe. It also becomes important to keep Windows and your browser updated and scan for spyware.
Many Other sites, like I said above, ask for a LOT of information. I trust the above sources enough to trust my money with them. And oftentimes, sites do not ask you about their "policies" until you want to take money back out. Some even demand you fax them a utility bill or ID. Avoid them like the plague.
It is important, if the site does start to do something questionable, you should be very assertive. Fire off emails clarifying that you demand explantions. Surpsingly this actualy works more than you'd think. Many issues are due to their incompetence rather than actual malice. Do not take anything without a fight!
But don't let this scare you. Fun and caution are not mutually exclusive. After all, from all that we've read about malware, the internet seems to be scary but we still use it. Good luck.
This post has been edited by Archon_Wing: 18 June 2006 - 06:55 PM
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so just considered playing poker online. After googling 'poker' and carefully picking sites to visit using SiteAdvisor I realised that most places to play poker demand you to download their software. To me this really rung alarm bells...and although I understand why I have to have the software and I must say that a number of the sites looked respectable I really don't want to break my 2 year run of no pop-ups.
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