Hundreds of thousands of people are playing poker online. New online poker websites are cropping up every day. You may have played poker at home, watched it on T.V., or even tried your hand at a casino once or twice. Still, you may be wondering, is online poker right for you? What are the plusses of online poker?

1. Its Convenient.

When you play poker online, you can always get a game. Whether its late afternoon or three in the morning, there are open poker tables waiting for you online. Most poker sites are open 24/7 (with the occasional brief shutdown for a few hours for scheduled site maintenance). This makes online poker perfect for those of us with 9 to 5 jobs who cant get to the casino as often as wed like, or people who have kids to watch or other responsibilities that prohibit them from spending hours at a casino. Be careful, though. The ease of getting online and playing makes it easy to forget that this is a real casino playing for real money. Dont let poker become just another video game.

2. Its Accessible.

If you live in the United States, unless you are in one of the few states where casinos are legal, or you live near an Indian reservation, going to a casino to play poker can entail quite a trip. Theres no reason not to play online instead. The games and their rules are all the same and in fact, because poker sites are not limited by the number of dealers or tables they can physically provide, youre likely to get a seat faster than at a casino.

3. They Have Your Game.

Whether its .25/.50 Omaha Hi/Low, 30/60 Seven Card Stud, or 2000 buy-in No Limit Hold em, most poker sites have just the game and just the limits, that you want. They also offer tournaments of varying sizes and buy-ins every day. Your average casino cant say that.

4. Promotions.

These days most online sites offer bonuses of additional money in your account when you make a deposit. You wont get any bonuses for buying chips at a casino! Also, many sites now offer player points, awarded for frequent play, which can be exchanged for tournament entries or poker merchandise.

5. Satellites.

A Satellite is a small buy-in poker tournament where the winner or winners earns a buy-in to a bigger tournament. Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, won his seat in the Main Event by playing satellites online, starting with only $40! Many online poker sites, especially the bigger ones, offer numerous opportunities to satellite win your way into major poker events for a relatively small buy-in.

6. Fun.

Like all forms of poker, online poker is great entertainment. As long as you stay within your limits, dont bet more than you can afford to lose and accept the occasional bad beat as part of the game, youre guaranteed to have a great time playing poker online.