One of the most popular games in land-based casinos is poker. Â This game is also available, and can be played online, at an online casino. Â This game is very popular, and has lead to an increase in the number of poker players, because it is much easier and faster to play poker online than in a land-based casino. Â Online gambling is growing in popularity with more people are playing poker. Â Recent estimates show that the online poker industry grossed $1.4 billion in revenue in 2004.
Land-based casinos have a lot of disadvantages.  For example, if you’re a new player, they can be very intimidating.  There are not many land-based casino with poker rooms, so customers might have to travel very far to get to a casino, maybe even as far as Las Vegas, when they could simply play in the comfort of their home with an online casino.  Land-based casinos prefer to promote other casino games rather poker, because it is difficult to make any profit from poker.  Though the rake in land-based casinos is high, the land-based casinos could make more money just by removing the casino tables and putting in slot machines instead.
Online poker has many advantages, for example, the casino has no major overhead, such as rent, electricity, water, etc, to pay, since it is computer based.  Online casinos offer players the chance to play low-stakes games that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to play at land-based casinos.  For example, some online casinos have games with stakes as low as  two cents.  They also offer free-roll tournaments where you enter the game for free, but stand a chance of winning.  Online-poker rooms also attract new players who are still new to the game and can learn and gain experience cheaply or even for free on the free games on the poker site.  Since online casinos attract a lot of novices, they are a great place for experienced poker players to go “poker fishingâ€.  This is a term used to describe a situation were an experienced player goes to an online casino to play against amateurs who he stands a good chance of winning against.  Online poker is very exciting to play, because there are many exciting features and promotions at the site, for example, there are poker tournaments and private poker tables.
