Steve Badger, author of “Winner’s Guide to Internet Poker”  is a poker analyst. As a traditional brick and mortar poker player, he is in search for secure online poker rooms . However, he realized that it is harder to secure poker games in casinos and poker rooms than in online poker venues; therefore Badger concluded that playing poker through the Internet would be more cheat-free.

He stated in his article that several mechanics in online poker are very much different from brick and mortar poker so  you should have basic knowledge of online mechanics.

Badger also advised reading poker magazines and books will give you tips on how you can secure yourself during online poker games.

Other tips from Badger to help you secure yourself during online poker events are:

• Playing the level you can afford to play; 
• Taking  a good set of starting cards; and basically
• Concentrating  or focing

Learn from the pro, so you’ll be safe from any cheating online.

Good news, there is! Softwares for online poker are available. These give online poker players an advantage for a better play.

• Party Poker is the largest online poker software and  hosts the best online poker tournaments. It provides first class online poker software service.
• 888 Network is another online poker software with its primary brand, Pacific Poker. It used to be a private online poker software, but when it did go public, this online poker software focused mainly on 888 poker and a number of casino brands. Paradise Poker was the first online poker room to open no-limit Texas Holdem.
• Ultimate Bet was the first online poker software to incorporate players that are considered to be of high profile, like Phil Hellmuth. With this online poker software, you do not to strain your eyes from the frustration of waiting because Ultimate Bet runs quickly and very reliably.
• Ladbrokes Poker is an online poker software is one of the busiest European poker rooms.But this is strictly for European poker players, Americans are not allowed to play here ! The reason is because the mother company of this poker software, Ladbrokes, is a leading UK sportsbook. It’s nothing discriminatory, okay.

Maybe, there are other poker software that you can share especially for the beginners.

If you’re new in playing online poker or would want to improve your self to become a professional poker player, several poker tools can be found helpful in the internet.

• Rec.gambling.poker and 2+2 forum. These are online poker tools or resources consisting of beginners, experts and professional online poker players too. These tools could be home poker; online poker ; irc or even at the real casinos.
• Pokenum, a poker hand analyzer is excellent determining the win percent of your opponent’s hands against the win percent of your hands.
• The evergreen poker club, poker source and the university of Alberta’s computer poker research group are perfect for online  downloadable codes. Information from online publication from the university can be obtained at Alberta’s computer poker research group.
• Chessandpokerdotcom offers a wonderful limit strategy guide.  This will certainly make you more aware of the basics of the online poker game you are playing and how to improve yourself.
• Irc poker is another online poker tool that can aid you in getting started. It contains faqs or the frequently asked questions to have explanations about the main concept of irc as a real-time network of online poker games, of which you can definitely play for free.
• Pokernews.com has  a forum section with specific target questions. These target questions more usually come form experienced online poker players. the answers are also oftenly provided by professional online poker players with the experience and skill to offer sound advice

When you’re new at something, you need to do a lot of research to learn more about it; so why not learn about playing online poker from some of the best poker sites? Here are some of these sites:

• www. cardschat. com – Cardschat.com Poker Forums features a poker and a general card game message board where poker players can actually view the various forum discussions on this website.
• www. learn-texas-holdem. com – Learn Texas Hold’em  is available for beginners. Various articles about the rules of hold’em, also about the poker hand rankings, and also the basic and advanced poker strategy are featured here. Also included are poker tables on odds and probabilities, tips about poker playing, and a question and answer section about poker. 
•  www. bravotv.com/ Celebrity_Poker_Showdown – Celebrity Poker Showdown is the official site for Bravo’s TV series. This comes complete with video clips and recaps.  It features an interactive Flash video complete with the rules on how to play the Texas Hold’em poker. It also features the professional poker player Phil Gordon. 
• www.poker-babes. com – Poker Babes  includes profiles of the female champion tournament poker players. This is the best online poker site for women who play poker. 
• www.pokeronlineguru. com – Poker Online Guruis a resource for various poker game rules, poker strategies, the history of poker, poker tips, vocabulary, and much more. This website can also be judged by beginners as the best online poker site.
• www. pokernews.com- Poker News.Com may be the best online poker site because it offers reviews of several poker sites that are unbiased. It helps to guide users to the tournament poker room that suits them well.
• www.conjelco.com/pokglossary. html –  Glossary of Hold’em Poker Terms is the  website for the beginners and novices. It offers various poker slang, terms, and definitions for the basic poker play. 
•  www. lowlimitomaha. com – Low Limit Omaha Strategy and Tactics is a website that provides beginners and novices all the starting poker hands and poker play strategies for the low limit Omaha hi/lo split games.

With all these sites for you to learn poker, you’ll surely get information and strategies to improve yourself in the online poker game.

Which one will you prefer, high stakes online poker or a brick and mortar poker game?

Compare the High stakes online poker and brick and mortar poker game. Then see which is better.

1.  High stakes online poker is less expensive because of a smaller overhead cost by the operators or site owners including the staff. On the other hand,  a brick and mortar casino must have an adequate budget for running the business and making it fully functioning. In a high stake online poker can easily add a virtual table online as requested by a player, less cost!
2.  High stakes online poker is more player friendly. It uses a an online poker softwarethat  is automated to regularly notify a player if it is his turn or about the status of the game is.
3.  Their reactions cannot be seen by the opponents. Players of high stakes online poker or beginners for that matter need not fear that they can not manage their reactions during the game since the game is played in a virtual space and either player could see their opponent physically.
4.  Lower stakes. High stakes online poker allow the poker players to bet  at a very low stake. It also usually offer poker freerolls that further attracts beginners.