How to get starting playing online poker. Starting your bankroll and picking the right poker sites.

New Players Guide to Online Poker

The growth of online poker has been amazing over the past few years.  More and more people are playing online poker.  Not only is it fun to play, but you can make money at the same time.  Unfortunately, the options for players from the US has changed over the years.  There are still plenty of places to play at but getting your money on the site is confusing.  Hopefully this guide will help you get started.

New Players Guide to Online Poker

To get your money onto an online poker site you can use a check, a credit card, or e-wallet.  An e-wallet is an electronic wallet.  Pay-Pal is probably the best known e-wallet.  There are many e-wallets available on the internet but not all of them allow you to fund an online poker account.  Credit cards are also hit or miss when it comes to funding your online poker account.  With checks, you have two options.  First you can mail the check to the poker site.  This takes longer to get funded and requires some extra work, but it is very reliable.  Second, you can use an electronic check.  You give the poker site your bank's routing number and your checking account number and they submit an electronic check to your bank.  I know what you might be thinking, "Isn't it dangerous to give someone my routing number and account number?"  You actually do that everytime you give someone a check.  Those numbers are on the bottom of every check you write.

When I started to create my online bankroll, I wanted a way to keep track of my money.  I decided to open a brand new checking account just for my online poker bankroll.  It took some extra effort but I got a nice new umbrella in the process.  If you can find a bank that will give you a free credit card, that is even better.  While it is possible to get your money onto a poker site by a check or credit card, in the long run you will want to use an e-wallet to make your withdrawals and deposits.  There is very little delay to withdraw your money from a poker site to your e-wallet.  And there is less of a delay when you withdraw from the e-wallet to your bank than when you withdraw from a poker site to a bank.

You won't get charged a fee for depositing directly to the poker site.  Try a credit card or e-check first.  You will get charged a fee for adding money to your e-wallet.  However, the e-wallet give you the most flexibility to move your money on and off different poker sites.  And there are no fees for transferring from poker site to e-wallet and the transfer is fast.  You could withdraw from one poker site to your e-wallet and within minutes deposit from the e-wallet to a new poker site.  This is key to maximizing your bonus.

First Deposit Bonus

All poker sites offer a first deposit bonus.  Whatever you deposit, the poker site will match with bonus money.  You have to play raked hands to release the bonus.  For example, if a site offers a 100% deposit bonus and you deposit $200, the poker site will add $200 to your bonus account.  When you play real money hands, you will earn (or release) money from your bonus account.  Poker sites have different requirements from how much rake you have to earn before you release a $1 from your bonus account.  Some are easier than others.

Once you have released your bonus you can use your profits to get another bonus at another poker site.  This is a great way to build your bankroll.