If you want to play on-line then ParadisePoker.com (PP) is a site you'll certainly want to visit. A nice aspect of PP is that you can initially watch the games before joining in with play money. This gives the opportunity to become familiar with the site, the protocol of playing and to assess the games on offer before you hand over your credit card to start playing with real money. Exchanging money for chips is a straightforward process and your chips are available within a couple of minutes.
The range of games is impressive. Texas Hold 'Em is the most popular, not surprisingly, but if Omaha or Stud is more to your liking then these are available in various forms. The games range from 50c/$1 to $20/$40. There is the option of playing one on-one, if you fancy your chances against a single opponent.
One of the most popular games is tournament play. Until recently, tournaments were only available for 8 hours a day but PP have recently extended this to 16 hours, midnight to 4am EDT which equates to 5pm to 9am GMT. Taking Texas Hold 'Em as an example, each tournament has a maximum of 10 players, each having 800 chips. These chips have been exchanged for the buy in fee which range from $5 buy in + 1 fee to 100+$9. The top three players win a share of the prize money. In the $5 game the top placed player receives $25, second placed player, $15 and the third placed player, $10. In the 100 game the prizes are split $500/$300/$200.
The last time I logged onto PP (about 10am GMT), there were 2802 players on line and 349 real money tables in action. It's a busy site and well worth a look. If you have any experiences (good or bad), let me know and if you know of other good poker sites get in touch at gxk@cs.nott.ac.uk.
Graham Kendall can be contacted at gxk@cs.nott.ac.uk.
Last Updated 21st Jan 2002