The majority of new players will not be sufficiently confident or willing to deposit amounts of $600 or more – even though that is what makes the most sense on paper – and their reticence to deposit these sums of money without experience is absolutely justified.

In order to reach those goals you have set yourself, you will have to become a competent player very quickly, and what you really should be aiming to do is double your initial bonus and then double it again through winning at poker. Effectively, this means that if your first target is to have $1.000 in your poker account, you need start with no more than $250.

Thereafter, you should be maximising the player points you have been awarded for your initial games by entering tournaments and valuable “Sit `n` Go” qualifiers. Some sites also offer “reload” bonuses to encourage you to make further deposits with them. All of these, once added to your initial deposit, bonus amounts and winnings, should double your bankroll yet again in a short space of time.

So, you can see from this, that it is not necessarily the biggest initial deposit bonus that will make the start to your poker career successful, but the standard of the other players in the games which you choose to play, and the ongoing bonuses and promotions offered by the poker room to which you subscribe.

Determining the biggest poker bonus is not particularly difficult. Pretty much all of them are listed on a multitude of web sites, each offering links through to the most lucrative opportunities. A little bit more research is required to find the poker rooms and tables that will provide you with the greatest earnings. These are the sites that have a high percentage of players per flop (a statistic that is advertised in most cash game lobbies) and are where the loosest players abide. It is the players on these tables who will provide the majority of your funds provided you stick to “ABC” poker against them. Finally you have to consider the ongoing loyalty bonuses that the web site offers to players for remaining with them.

In this respect, we have identified a superb opportunity for new players. Lucky Ace Poker is part of the 888.com casino network that has over a decade of providing a consistently solid gaming experience. This site has a very loose standard of player (very many tables consistently showing higher than 50% players/flop), from whom it should be possible to win regularly. Furthermore, it offers a cashback facility to players based on the amount of rake they pay during their games and a fast-track method to VIP status. Their initial 2x deposit bonus is limited to only $400, but as demonstrated above, it should only take $250 initial deposit to reach $1.000 in little time AND Lucky Ace Poker immediately credits your account with 25% of the deposit bonus, so there are no qualifications you have to go through to release it.

Overall Lucky Ace Poker offers the new poker player the best opportunity to fast-track to a substantial poker bankroll, and for more information about how you can get involved  and create one in super-quick time, please click here >>>>>>>

The article continued that switching on your computer and logging into your favourite poker room because you are bored and have nothing better to do, is equally as detrimental to playing under the influence of alcohol when you have not slept for a week. The author correctly pointed out that, if you have gone to your virtual games room in a non-winning frame of mind, then guess what – you won’t win! S/he concluded the article by writing that they wondered if there were any more good reasons not to play.

Well, there is. When you stop going online to learn how to play poker, that is when you should stop playing poker. The world’s greatest players confirm this every time they write a book. Do you think they actually need the £11.95 that we will happily fork out to read their latest musings about the game? Of course not. Writing about poker for the poker pros of this world is both cathartic and educational. They get to analyse their own play, identify their own weaknesses and use the opportunity to improve their game.

This is what every player, no matter what their standard, should do every time they enter a game. Inasmuch as the ultimate aim of your participation is to leave the table in profit, you should also have learnt something about the game and the other players who were involved with you. You should be trying different strategies, playing different starting hands from various positions and identifying others players traits and weaknesses. You should be using every opportunity to hone your game and increase your skill level until it is time for you to write your own book!

The cause of this problem can often be due to having spent too much time online recently, in which case it is better to give it a break and come back to the game when your enthusiasm is rekindled and your desire to learn has returned. For failing to do so displays an arrogance that will damage your game, and eventually your bankroll.

The percentage paid to players varies from site to site and effectively means that the more you play, the more you get paid. Clients who have signed up for a rakeback account can monitor the funds being paid to them and the poker sites providing this incentive normally add the funds to your account at the end of each month. It is possible to have rakeback accounts with more than one poker web site – although some may not allow you to convert an existing account with them, nor pay you if you open up a secondary account just to receive rakeback.

Rakeback is an excellent concept which is becoming increasingly popular amongst the online poker web sites. Irrespective of whether you play a lot of poker or not, if you are not involved in a rakeback scheme where available, you are not getting the full value you should be. Below is an example showing just how much money you could be leaving at the tables. .

An average rake from a low limit game of poker is 4%, usually capped at around $3 and a standard percentage of rake that an online poker site will offer to return is 25%. Therefore if you were playing on a $0.25/$0.50 table, with an average pot value of $10, the rake deducted would be $0.40 per game. If you played 80 games an hour, and won 10 of them, you have had a total of $4 deducted from your winnings in rake, of which you will get $1 back.

If you only play poker at this low level for five or six hours a week, the value of your rakeback will be about $25 at the end of the month, which is well worth having as a bonus for something you are already doing anyway!

Some online poker rooms (ie Ladbrokes and Pokerstars) currently only offer rakeback to their VIP clients, so you will need to study your sites´ requirements, to see if you qualify. We have identified a good rakeback scheme available through Lucky Ace Poker. It offers 27% cashback on rake, plus a means to fast-track to VIP status and the benefits of having a VIP Account.

If you are interested in finding out more about rakeback and the bonuses available through Lucky Ace Poker, please click here

Although poker tournaments are being televised they are on quite late at night and in mid-week, which makes it difficult for working people to watch them, also they never show the whole of the event, which is hardly surprising when they can last for days!

If you go to most casinos they do have poker tournaments, restricted numbers of course, and they always seem to be well attended, but again it isn’t every night of the week, mainly weekends.

Online poker however is another matter, it has an appeal of its own, you can play for free or for any amount you can afford, if you do not possess a poker face it doesn’t matter, who is going to see you! You can shout and scream all you want at your opponents, no one will hear you, except maybe your neighbours, and of course you can comment in the chat boxes, the site will keep track of your statistics and you can look at them any time you want.

You don’t have to ask how much any other player has left, it’s displayed there in front of you. and on most sites it will even tell you what hand you are holding, as if you cannot see for yourself. That particular aspect is not always welcome because it could make for a lazy player, which would not be good should you be in a live tournament.

So poker is alive and well on the internet, that much can be ascertained by the number of poker sites to choose from and it is a very good way of playing without the effort of going to a casino, but again laziness can creep in.

As good and easy as internet poker playing is, it really does not compare to the thrill and anticipation of a live tournament, the words, “Shuffle up and deal”, can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. A couple of comparisons can be, it can be like casting your fly on the river and waiting for that elusive bite that anglers dream of, or hearing the starter say, “Gentlemen start your engines”!.

So to sum up. Maybe live poker may well have lost some of its appeal, but it may just be that it has reached that plateau that most games reach after they have been going for a while, but internet poker is definitely on the up.

Some internet players do make a successful transition to the live tournament, so it can be a good breeding ground for future poker stars, and of course the rewards can be very high indeed.