Poker is perhaps the most popular card game in the world, and over the years it has undergone changes that have adapted it to the technological boom of modern society. That has led to the proliferation of online poker rooms, creating a loyal community of players who enjoy the game from the comfort of their homes from their smartphone or computer.

But, how exactly did online poker come about, and how has it evolved since the early days of digitization? Read on to find out.

How long is the history of online poker?

The history of online poker began in the 1990s, ushering in a revolution in the way people play poker. Although poker has been played in various forms for centuries, the ability to compete online completely changed the dynamics of the game. The first online poker platform was established in 1998, when Planet Poker launched its website. This event marked the beginning of a new era in the poker world.

During its early years, online poker-faced significant challenges, such as lack of regulation and players’ distrust in the security of transactions and the fairness of the games. However, as technology improved and stricter regulations were established, online poker began to gain popularity.

Who is Chris Moneymaker and why is he important for poker online?

The year 2003 was a turning point in the online poker history. This was the year that an accountant from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.

His victory was an extraordinary event because, instead of qualifying through an in-person tournament, Moneymaker had gained his entry into the tournament through an online satellite on PokerStars. His triumph inspired thousands of players to follow his example and play online poker.

Chris Moneymaker’s online poker player history lies in the importance of the fact that his victory proved that anyone could compete with the pros and win. His success story inspired numerous online poker players to pursue their dreams in the game. In addition, his path to victory began with an online qualifier, which further emphasized the impact of online poker on the poker scene.

His online poker player history has got a huge legacy: the well-known “Moneymaker effect”, which has translated into a massive increase in the popularity of online poker. Many players began playing online in hopes of replicating his success. This led to an explosive growth in the number of online poker websites and platforms. The media exposure Moneymaker received also contributed to the online poker boom.

Differences between online poker and conventional poker

Conventional poker, played in physical casinos or at gatherings of friends, has significant differences from online poker. Below, we explore some of the key differences and we explain some of the most important online poker facts you should have already learnt:

Accessibility

Online poker is extremely accessible. Players can participate in games anytime, anywhere, as long as they have an Internet connection and a compatible device. This means there is no need to travel to a physical casino or stick to a fixed schedule to play.

Variety of games

Online poker offers a wide variety of poker variants, from Texas Hold’em and Omaha to Seven Card Stud and more. This allows players to experience different styles and rules of play, which may be less common in land-based casinos.

Anonymity

In online poker, players can maintain a certain degree of anonymity. This can be beneficial for those who wish to avoid public exposure or keep their identity a secret.

Speed of play

Online poker tends to be faster than conventional poker. Hands are developed more quickly, as there is no need to shuffle cards or count chips manually. This allows players to participate in more hands in a shorter period of time.

Safety and fairness

Although there were initial concerns about security and fairness in online poker, technological advances and proper regulation have improved player confidence. Online poker platforms use random number generators and advanced security measures to ensure fair play.

Social interaction

Conventional poker encourages in-person social interaction, with players sitting together at a table, allowing communication and reading opponents’ reactions. In contrast, online poker is played in a virtual environment, which can limit face-to-face interaction. However, many online poker platforms offer chat and real-time interaction features to compensate for this lack of physical presence.

Pocket52 Poker Sports League Season 5 – Bigger and Better Than Ever!

Posted by Laksh Pal Singh on 2023-08-23 at 9:41 PM

That was what the Poker Sports League management promised us this year, and that is exactly what was delivered. This edition of PSL was grand in many ways, and I’d first like to thank everyone who made this event possible.

Nitesh Salvi – founder and CEO of Pocket52, title sponsors of PSL, Pranav Bagai, Siddharth Mishra, and Prajit Gambhir, the three musketeers who started this wonderful concept of PSL and have worked endlessly over the last five years to grow this mind sport!

Prajit, you legend. God only knows how many roles you have at PSL! From being COO to the auctioneer to commentary to ensuring that the show goes on every single time, big shoutout to you, brother, and to Vidur also for making sure every pre-show and every stream was super smooth. Sid and his production team, wow, man, I don’t even know what to say. You guys are so good at what you do! This year the production team of PSL has really outdone themselves. From every reel to every Instagram story to every update, I have to say the content was fabulous.

Obviously couldn’t have done it without your ever-so-talented team! Dashank, Madhur, and Pandey Ji, big shoutout to the three of you for doing such a great job and just being awesome people in general. I’m really fond of the entire PSL team and of course the man himself, the mastermind Pranav Bagai for making this happen on Jio Cinema- working day in and day out to achieve his vision for poker in India.

I want to thank all the owners for supporting this league every single year and spreading their love and passion for poker. This league would not be possible without you!

The Experience

Pocket52 PSL Season 5 was something else only. Everyone together on land in the same resort under the same roof, with no hassle of going onto the ship, everyone bonding and interacting.

Personally, for me, the highlight was interacting with the qualifiers from all teams, it’s really nice to talk with someone when you know they look up to you and whatever you’re saying has an impact on them.

It was really heartwarming to meet the Massani brothers, these boys were the heroes of PSL, and that’s another story to tell. Taking a domestic flight for the first time, these two brothers have come from Bhopal and won all our hearts. What gems of human beings, so much confidence, so much energy, I just loved it, to be honest. I had a great time with all my friends and all the other captains who I’m so close to off the felts!

The competition was heavy, and everyone was so passionate and into it. So yeah, GG to my boys – Dirty (Dhaval Mudgal) and Shardul (Parthasarathi) for also taking podium finishes, I had already told Shardul I was going see him heads up and win this time.

Big shoutout to Gaurav Sood, one of the best poker players in India, for playing the finale like an absolute boss man and ensuring I’m shitting myself on the rails while he’s reducing the chip deficit. Love you, Mozzie unlucky one, and you’ll be back stronger we all know it.

Shoutout to Romit (Advani) and Vaibhav (Sharma) for being fantastic team leaders- you win some, you lose some, and I am sure we will see you guys in the top 3 next season!

Now coming to my team, oh man, I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a sense of comradery and team spirit in my life. PSL adrenaline just hits differently. I’ve played a lot of tournaments in my life and hit a lot of one-outers for big money, but I’ve never jumped the way PSL made me jump and shout and scream, and it’s a different kind of excitement altogether.

Bringing a team format and making an individual sport a team game is honestly a genius concept! I would like to thank my team owners, Mr Puneet Mehra, Mehul Shah, and Rishi, for trusting me to lead this team again despite a not-so-great performance the previous year. Special shoutout to their families as well, Toral ma’am Divyansh and Prerna, for cheering on the Mumbai team and making sure our rail was the loudest and full of energy. Really happy that Mehul and Rishi also came down and really felt it with the team and were involved and there from start to finish.

Speaking about my team, I want to say I’m so proud of you guys – every point earned by each of you was crucial to us winning and reaching the finale. I remember the day we reached Goa and had our first team meeting, I was really impressed with Puneet sir because he gave a really inspirational team talk on Day 1 itself, which had a big impact on our team. I have to say one thing about my team, though, everyone was really into it, The togetherness and team spirit was really evident, and I think from Day 1, we manifested the win when we took that picture near the trophy.

Humaara wildcard kaisa ho, Alok Birewar jaisa ho! I think the best decision I made this PSL, other than my obvious retentions of Akshay Nasa and Honey Bijlani, was to sign Alok as my wildcard. I knew Alok wouldn’t do it for the money; he wanted to play PSL, he loves strategizing, he was railing every table every tournament, his team spirit was unparalleled, and the best in the league, so kudos bro I’m proud of you, and you did a great job.

Akshay Nasa, my player, said I am born ready when I asked him if he was going to play the finale. Our strategy was simple, get 250 BB in the finale, send Nasa, and ship it!! Shoutout to Ankit, our 2nd pro, for a great performance joining Nasa in the finale, and also getting the ever so-crucial points in the live MTT, but also for declaring that we’ve won before the league even started.

Honey Bijjlani, for doing more work than the captain, bhai this team would not have won without you, I openly state that you are going to be retained every year for Mumbai Anchors. Nitin Gulati for his passion for this team, getting merchandise and hoodies made for the entire team, thank you, bhai! Simran Malhotra, my fellow Pocket52 team pro, for never disappointing me, for being the number 1 woman player of the league, and for her spirit and love for the team.

Dhirendra Kumar and Avinash Tauro for being on top of things, speaking to the new boys, railing watching the stream making notes, top top performance guys. And of course the new boys Shravan and Nikaas, who I couldn’t believe, played live poker for the first time. They both killed it and got super important points for the team. Every single point contributed by each of you was crucial to this team’s success.

It was a rollercoaster of three days, with ups and downs and highs and lows; the excitement and energy were high, and it was the best three days of my life. Humne bahut chipkaaya, 3 straight days chipkaaya, but you gotta spike to ship, and there was no way Mumbai was not winning this season. Also, a big shoutout to my first mentor and dear friend Sahil Mahboobani for top-notch performance and taking down the Player of the Series, so happy for you, bro!

Lifting that trophy was a great feeling and something that’ll stay with me for life, I hope to recreate many more memories with PSL and Mumbai Anchors!

GG everyone, until next time!

Aaamchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Mumbaiiiiiiii

Même pour un joueur qui connaît déjà parfaitement les règles du poker, le concept des nuts au poker pourrait être surprenant et encore plus la façon de les utiliser de manière stratégique au cours d’une partie. Avoir les nuts veut dire avoir la main la plus haute possible autour de la table à un moment donné du jeu, rendant ainsi ses chances de gagner très élevées. Ceci ne veut toutefois pas dire qu’une telle partie de poker ne pourrait pas être le témoin d’un retournement de situation inattendu offrant un final dramatique et contre tous les pronostics, mais une telle volteface ne serait due qu’à la chance pure et non au talent de l’adversaire.

Le terme de nuts a une étrange origine qui remonte à plusieurs siècles auparavant, quand les cowboys américains sillonnaient le Vieil Ouest. Déjà au cours du XIX^ème siècle et au début du XX^ème siècle, on jouait au poker aux frontières des États-Unis. Il n’y avait rien de surprenant à y trouver de petits tournois entre amis dans les auberges des villages, et des parties de cartes étaient souvent à l’ordre du jour autour des tables des saloons. Jouer au poker était une manière de passer le temps, mais aussi un moyen d’effacer ses dettes.

Ainsi, les mises des cowboys ne se faisaient pas qu’à l’aide de pièces sonnantes et trébuchantes mais aussi avec des objets qui leur permettaient de prolonger leur présence autour de la table. Ce qui était le plus cher aux yeux des cowboys était l’élément basique de tout gardien de vaches, à savoir leur charrette. Les charrettes étaient hautement considérées à cette époque, et elles avaient pour habitude de disposer d’un écrou dans leurs roues que l’on appelait le « nut ». Sans ceux-ci, un chariot ne pouvait tout simplement pas avancer. Et c’est pour cela que les cowboys les utilisaient comme garantie autour de la table, la garantie que personne n’aurait le moyen de fuir si le jeu tournait en sa défaveur.

Et c’est aussi pour cela que, si un joueur déposait ses nuts sur la table, ses opposants pouvaient être certains que celui-ci disposait de la meilleure main imaginable. Ils se montraient immédiatement méfiants, bien qu’il pouvait toujours s’agir d’un énorme coup de bluff. Tout dépendait de la « poker face » du joueur misant ses nuts. Cette histoire de nuts a ensuite traversé les époques pour devenir un terme récurrent du poker actuel. Un concept aussi bien important dans le poker en live que dans les tournois de poker en ligne et qui, comme toujours, dispose d’une stratégie propre.

La stratégie des nuts

La première chose à avoir en tête est que jouer les nuts est a priori très simple, du moins en théorie. Si un joueur a la meilleure main possible, ses possibilités de victoire sont énormes et donc son objectif sera de faire en sorte que ses adversaires paient. Pour cela, il faudra savoir garder son calme et attendre le bon moment pour dévoiler ses intentions, sinon tous les autres joueurs vont se rendre compte du pot-au-rose et se coucher immédiatement. Et tout ceci dépendra toujours du type de joueurs se trouvant autour de la table, sachant qu’il y en aura souvent un qui pensera aussi avoir les nuts. Contre lui, vous pourrez vous montrer offensif dès le début et sans la moindre réserve, car il paiera.

La théorie la plus simple nous dit qu’il faut réaliser un mouvement de diversion lors du pré-flop ou du flop, de faire une petite mise lors de la turn et d’y aller à fond à la river. Avec des nuts en main, la logique veut que le tour se termine par un all-in. Bien que pour ceci, il faut encore faire une distinction entre les nuts. D’un côté, il y a la nut actuelle, qui est la meilleure main possible à un moment précis de la partie, mais qui n’enlève pas la possibilité qu’elle puisse être battue par surprise par une autre main grâce à une river imprévue par exemple. Et d’un autre côté nous avons la nut absolue, qui est la meilleure main de tout le poker, est qui est la quinte flush royale et non pas le carré d’As. Pour tout cela, savoir classer les mains de poker sera primordial.

Là où les nuts seront clairement incertaines sont les mains où les cartes communes à tous les joueurs semblent offrir de nombreuses possibilités de couleur ou de full house. Dans ces cas-là, il sera fondamental de bien analyser la situation pour déterminer si, oui ou non, nous disposons des nuts en main ou si au contraire cette très bonne main a au final de grandes chances d’être battue. Et savoir reconnaître les nuts dans les mains d’un autre joueur sera aussi essentiel. D’ailleurs, il existe quelques joueurs qui aiment à fanfaronner en clamant qu’ils ont les nuts. De deviner s’ils disent la vérité ou non sera votre unique objectif.

Et, le plus important, ce qu’il ne faut surtout pas faire est de continuellement penser que notre adversaire dispose des nuts et qu’il est impossible de gagner contre lui. Psychologiquement, un tel raisonnement ne pourrait que nous démoraliser. Et il faudra savoir aussi analyser différemment la situation en fonction du type de nos rivaux, entre ceux qui jouent beaucoup de mains et ceux qui suivent les standards du jeu soft.

The problem is that banks and traditional financial institutions have always been uncomfortable with the concept of online gaming. So, while payment solutions like PayPal and Apple Pay were perfected for the rest of the internet, online poker has largely been ignored. Fortunately, crypto was born and allows a greater degree of freedom on where you want to spend your money.

When it comes to online poker, the freedom that crypto offers are unmatched. There are many reasons to use crypto for online poker but today we’re looking at the top three in our estimation:

Top 3 Best Things About Crypto for Online Poker

1. Crypto Doesn’t Involve Banks, Can’t Be Blocked

I’ve been in the game long enough to know that dealing with banks or credit card companies rejecting my attempts to transfer money to an online poker site is a common headache. Some banks outright ban online poker, while others can be unpredictable, approving some transactions and canceling others without any clear explanation.

But here’s the game-changer: Crypto transactions are immune to these roadblocks, plain and simple. While there are some drawbacks to using crypto (we’ll discuss those shortly), you’ll never have to put up with a third-party dictating where you can or cannot send your money.

You can’t beat the ultimate freedom of crypto when it comes to online poker.

2. It’s Fast and Cheap

Crypto is arguably the most transferrable asset in the world. You need exactly one thing to send crypto to another person or entity: A crypto address.

A crypto address is simply a string of numbers and letters that’s generated by a wallet. It can be a personal wallet or a company.

Once you have an address you can send crypto anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes. It removes the need for banks or payment processors like PayPal or Venmo.

Generally, the transfer fees are quite low on cryptocurrency networks and far cheaper than traditional wire transfers.

It’s worth noting that crypto fees can vary depending on how busy the network is for that particular coin. However, you can wait for lower fees during quieter times. While you might expect to pay a few dollars for popular cryptos like Bitcoin or Ethereum, there are other cryptocurrencies with even lower transaction fees.

3. It’s Historically an Appreciating Asset

It’s your choice whether you want to actually hold crypto long-term but Bitcoin has arguably been the single best asset to hold over the last decade.

To put things in perspective, if you bought $1,000 worth of Bitcoin in 2014 and held it all the way to the time this article was published (2023), you’d have over $30,000. That beats gold, silver and every stock.

It’s unlikely those gains will ever be seen again but Bitcoin has always been a winner over the long-term.

Of course, that legendary volatility also has some downsides, which lead us to our next segment on the 3 worst things about crypto for online poker.

Top 3 Worst Things About Crypto for Online Poker

While crypto is incredibly useful for playing online poker there are also some negatives you should understand before charging headlong into crypto.

Here’s the three worst things about using crypto for online poker:

1. Crypto is Somewhat Difficult to Acquire

This might seem like an obvious one but if you want to use cryptocurrency for online poker, you need to have some cryptocurrency in the first place.

But here’s where it gets tricky: Getting cryptocurrency can be a bit of a hassle, especially if you live in a place where crypto exchanges aren’t easy to find. Some countries and states don’t have exchanges readily available.

To start, you’ll probably have to sign up for an account with a crypto exchange. This involves a process where you verify your identity by providing things like your address, driver’s license, or government ID. It can take a few days, and there’s a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to set up your account and send crypto.

On the other hand, if you have a friend or family member who already has cryptocurrency, they might be able to send some your way, skipping the exchange step. But there’s a catch: If you ever want to turn that cryptocurrency back into cash, you’ll still need that crypto exchange account.

2. It’s Highly Volatile

Remember how we said Bitcoin is one of the fastest-appreciating assets of the last decade? Well, it hasn’t all occurred in a straight line.

Bitcoin is one of the most volatile asset classes in the world. It’s not uncommon for BTC to gain or lose 10-20% in a single day. That means you might lose a significant chunk of your poker winnings while waiting for a crypto exchange to convert your Bitcoin to cash. Of course, you could also gain that much as well.

On the positive side, all online poker sites will convert your crypto to fiat currency like USD so that you can avoid that volatility while you’re playing online poker.

3. You Can’t Spend It Like Cash

Although there are a few places that do accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment, it’s important to recognize that this is more of a rarity than the norm.

While you can use crypto to send money to others and, in some cases, pay for specific services, it’s relatively uncommon to find retailers or businesses that readily embrace cryptocurrency as a direct method of payment.

There are a few solutions for this issue. You can use crypto to buy gift cards. You could also apply for a credit card that works with crypto. But most of the time you’re going to be taking an extra step of sending crypto to your exchange of choice, converting it back to cash and then getting it send to your bank account. That will likely take a few days at best and it’s an extra step that you just won’t experience with cash.

My Conclusion

In the world of online poker, cryptocurrency is your winning ticket, offering unparalleled freedom, speed, and potential for growth. However, it’s not without its challenges, from acquiring crypto to navigating its volatility and limited acceptance. As you step into this exciting game, remember that knowledge is your greatest asset. Embrace the advantages of crypto while keeping an eye on the risks, and you’ll play your hand wisely, enjoying all that this innovative technology brings to the table.