Playing poker on the Internet is a tremendous way to gain experience and also a less expensive way than traveling to a card room. In addition, you play many more hands per hour playing online because there is no wasted time shuffling and there are time limits for each player to act.

Internet based poker rooms are fairly new in comparison to brick and mortar rooms. The first ones were available in the late nineties. The early ones were slow with many technical difficulties. However, like all technology, online poker rooms quickly improved and are currently fast, efficient, pleasant looking, safe and technically sound.

For players who are just learning to play poker or are learning a new game they have little experience with, online poker offers a great way to increase skill, knowledge of the game and hopefully build a bankroll at the same time. Most sites offer the opportunity to play poker for free using play money. Some sites even have "free rolls" which are tournaments that you may enter for free that pay out real money to the winners. In addition, many sites offer real money limits as low as .01/.02. The play at the free money tables is not very good and I recommend only using them to get a feel for the gaming software and/or to learn a new game. The smaller games of .01/.02 up to .25/.50 (often called micro limits) offer a slightly more realistic feel to a poker game as they are for real money, but most of the players are terrible. As you climb in levels, the play improves, but some games as high as 3/6 and even 5/10 can have some bad players, just like at a live poker room.