One of the enjoyable things about poker is the social aspect of the game. Although the Internet is very different than live play in this aspect, the chat feature adds a unique dimension to Internet poker. Of course, you can chat in live games, but if people said the same things in a live game that they sometimes say on the Internet, there would be a lot of bloody noses sitting at the table. Although some players abusethe chat feature, in general it adds a great dimension that allows you to talk to players from all over the world.

Internet chat has created a lot of jargon to shorten the amount of typing required.

One of the most popular is lol or Laugh Out Loud. Most players use this to laugh athow a hand developed usually in a bad beat situation, but it can also be used as a laugh in general. Arg is another common term used when someone is not happy with something. Some other common terms you will see include:

Smiling face

Frown

vnh Very nice hand

brb Be right back

tx or ty Thanks

woohoo Celebration

zzzz Going to sleep from the slow play

t Testing or time

Connectivity
How often does the game crash due to server issues at the online
poker room’s end? How bad are the delays in transfer of info?
What about disconnection’s? Are they repeated? Anything that
disrupts game play on a regular basis is going to be an annoyance
and a major problem (at the worst if the stakes are high and you’re
on a streak). We realize problems can occur at the player’s end
(with their computer and their particular ISP) but there’s no
denying some sites are more reliable and offer less “downtime”
and other such irritations than others.

Cashouts
How much money have players won at their poker games? How
easy is it to cash out your winnings? Do they credit your credit
card? What charges are applied? How long does it take to receive
Insiders Secrets To Texas Hold’em Poker Online by Theo Cage 173
winnings? You shouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out
how to cash out what you’ve won and whether extra charges,
delays, etc. are worth it. Or have the patience of a saint. And we
like features such as e-mail confirmations of the withdrawal
transactions verifying request, dates, and amounts.

Free Play
Testing out poker game play, environment, percentage, etc. helps
to familiarize yourself with what to do in the event of server
crashes, how well you’ve understood the written rules of play at
the particular online poker room, and the mixed quality of other
players you may encounter.
This is an important feature of any good poker site – playing
first for free – although we recognize that people play very
differently when they’ve got real money on the line.
Some sites make it easier than others to identify how to get in on
the free play action without submitting heaps of personal
information in advance.

Some sites will let you choose a character image which becomes
identified with you. Others will track your game play statistics for
you. Some provide no charges for certain kinds of cash outs. Some
track the top players. Some allow you to beta-test new games or
poker tournaments in development. Others offer good poker
resources in terms of celebrity columns, advice, links, etc. We like
both access to quality information that’s useful to us in playing
poker as well as convenience.

Online casinos offer players bonus incentives to come play at their
casinos. These are know as casino bonuses, casino promotion, free
chip offers, and although there are several other terms used to
describe the free money given to players by the casinos the bottom
line is that it’s free money. Outlined below are a few descriptions
of the different types of bonuses offered by online casinos.

No Deposit Casino Bonuses
This type of bonus is offered to players just for trying and
downloading and trying the casinos software out. In general this
type of casino bonus is in the range of $10 and $22.

Online Casino Match Bonuses
With a casino match bonus the casino gives players additional cash
to play at the casino upon making a first deposit. If a player
deposits $50 in a 100% match bonus situation the player would get
an additional $50 to play with at the casino.

Alternative Banking Bonuses
Since online gambling transactions made by players may
encounter some rejections by credit card companies many casinos
have resorted to alternative payment solutions. These include
NETeller, FirePay, PrePaidATM and others. Some casinos offer
players additional bonuses on top of their existing no deposit
bonuses and match bonuses for deposits made through these
alternative-banking methods.