Online poker is legal in Nevada, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, among others. More states will likely join the fray soon. Here are some tips to keep in mind before you begin playing. Make sure you are over 18 years old or at least of the legal gambling age in your jurisdiction. In addition, you should also check whether you are eligible to play poker online. Many sites may ask for your age to confirm your eligibility to play. While these requirements aren’t as strict as those required by most states, they do help protect consumers from fraud.
Some sites may require you to convert your funds before playing, so make sure you know your local currency. You can find poker sites that will accept payments in a variety of currencies, but you may want to stick to U.S. dollars. Despite these differences, they add up over time. If you play often and are constantly “top-up” your chip stack, you won’t have to worry about rounding issues. However, they can add up quickly.
Most sites will offer a sign-up bonus, which is basically money that is matched up to a certain amount. These bonuses can range anywhere from a free $10 to a huge $1,000. While you may be tempted to deposit money into a poker account right away, you should know that these bonuses do not come instantly. Instead, they require you to play a certain number of hands in the first couple of weeks to qualify for them.
One of the benefits of playing online poker is that the game’s limit is much lower. This is because the marginal cost to open an online poker table is so small. This means that online poker games are much harder to beat than their live counterparts. Besides, the player pool is much smaller, making them more difficult to win against. Moreover, live players tend to put more money into the pot, regardless of the hole card. Online games, on the other hand, are less restrictive, with multiway pots becoming more common.
Another benefit of playing online is the lack of overhead expenses. Unlike brick and mortar casinos, online poker sites don’t have the big venue costs and hundreds of employees to manage the games. These factors allow these websites to offer free games to players. While beginners start playing free online poker, they can progress to low stakes and high stakes as they gain experience. Furthermore, many online poker websites have tournaments that are cheaper than those held in conventional casinos. In fact, winners of online poker tournaments may sometimes win real-life entry into the corresponding real-life tournaments.
As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge increase in traffic to online poker. Since the outbreak, many live gaming venues across the globe have been closed for the duration of the pandemic. This lack of live entertainment options has prompted many casual players to turn to online poker as an alternative. Some operators have reported double or triple the number of players compared to the previous period. There are many factors contributing to this spike in traffic.