SETTING UP TO PLAY ONLINE

To play poker online, you would need

2 A computer

3 A software package called a Web browser

4 A connection to the Internet

Sid has made some general comments on all of the above, especially, how your choices would have related to games.

It hasn’t been his intent to review specific computers or making recommendations. Consumer choice has changed weekly and there have been thousands of publications on computers, software, and accessories for those who have needed guidance. Computers: Personal computers have been available in two basic types that have been defined by their operating systems. The operating system that would appear when you would first turn on the computer and would allow the user to perform all the basic tasks-launch application programs, manage files, connect to peripherals. The Window ® operating system that has been published by Microsoft has run on more than 90% of the personal computers that have been manufactured. The macintosh ® operating system would run solely on computers that have been manufactured by Apple ® Computer and would account for less than 10% of the market.

There have been operating systems (for example Unix and its variants), but most poker players would rarely encounter them. Windows has dominated the market therefore most online poker rooms have needed the use of a Windows-based computer. If your primary purpose for owning a computer would be for online activity, poker or otherwise, a Windows-based computer would give you more online options. The mackintosh operating system has been used heavily for education, graphics design, and desktop publishing (this book has been produced on Macintosh). If you had an Apple computer, you could still play online poker, but your choices would be limited.

While all online poker rooms have worked on Windows machines, not all have worked on Macintosh. The online cardroom profiles in Chapter 10 would specify which ones would be macintosh compatible.

Web Browser:

The software that would allow you to download and view Web pages is called a Web browser. The most popular browsers would be Netscape ® and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer ®. While these two browsers would be slightly different in appearance, they have been nearly identical in function.

Most computers have come with at least one of these browsers (often both) preloaded. Once you have been using a browser to surf the Web, the difference between the Windows and Macintosh operating systems would not be readily obvious. From the user’s point of view, Internet Explorer has worked close to the same way in either operating system. The same would be true of Netscape. Once your Web browser has been launched, you could go to specific Web sites by typing the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) into the window at the top of the screen.

The URL is the Web address that would usually begin with http://www.

For instance http://www.sidburns.com would take you to Sid’s Web site of poker provided you were to have established an Internet connection.

Internet Connection:

By itself, your computer would not connect to the Internet. You would have to subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) so as to have access to the Web and other Internet features such as e-mail. There would be two basic kinds of Internet service: dial-up and broadband. Dial-up subscriptions would range between fifteen dollars to twenty-five dollars perspective month and would work over your existing phone line. You could connect the cable that would go into your phone, into your computer instead and program the computer to dial the phone number that would be provided by your ISP.

Dial-up connections would be inexpensive and simple to set up. The disadvantages would be that they would tie up your existing phone line and would be slow,unstable, and unreliable. For real time poker, the transmission delays and sudden disconnects in the middle of hands would be a nuisance. Online poker games would be programmed as a courtesy to automatically put poker players ‘all in’ if when it would be their turn, they didn’t respond within thirty seconds. What going ‘all in’ would mean is that a poker player would not have to match further bets to contest the pot.

If the disconnected poker player’s hand were to be the winning hand, his or her account would be awarded the fraction of the pot present at the time of the disconnection. Bets that would be placed after the disconnection would go into a side pot and would be awarded to the second-best hand. However, the ‘all in’ courtesy would normally be extended only once perspective day to avoid intentional disconnects motivated by poker players who would want to finish the hand without paying. Broadband connections would be faster and more stable.

However, they would be more expensive (forty dollars to sixty dollars per month), would be more difficult to set up,Would not available in all areas of the country, and would not be completely free of glitches. Your broadband connection would also experience sudden disconnects, though it would not be as often as a dial-up.

Broadband ISP’s would include providers that would connect through the local phone company by using ISDB (Internet Services Digital Network) or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) services. You should find out what services are available in your area and their set-up costs and procedures. Set up of a broadband connection would be more complicated than plugging the phone line into your computer and entering a number.

Often the set up would take several weeks and would require an on-site visit from a technician. Unless you were living in a densely populated area, dial-up might be your only choice. If broadband were to be available and you were to try it, you would quickly get addicted to the increased download speeds. You would also not tie up your phone line. If you are a serious Internet user, you should consider getting broadband.

The extra cost (compared to dial-up) would be about the cost of the extra phone line that you may have wanted if you were to spend hours online using a dial-up connection. If you were to be just getting started, you should try dial-up first and find out what the Internet is about. One final note on Internet service for users of Web TV would deserve mentioning. Televisions would not have computer processors and hard drives and therefore would not download and run poker-playing software. Web TV users would be only to view (browse) sites. You could not play in any online poker room that would require a software download unless you were to have a computer.

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