I tried some online Poker for the first time yesterday and I'll make some observations if only to give this poker forum some activity.

I'm a relative newbie to poker having only played home games in the past (limit hold'em 50c/$1.00) so... there you go... Anyway, online I found it difficult to determine who raised the pot - the online game is played so fast and a players betting action flashes up so quickly on screen it's hard to get a handle on. It's not impossible mind, so I'll need to practice some more before playing for $$$ because it's an important part of the game.

It was a VERY loose agressive game (obviously as no money was involved) with plenty of calling stations so bluffing was not an option. Initally I played quite tight folding 75% of starting hands but I loosened up as I got tired of watching other people play and got comfortable with surroundings. Ultimately I only folded about 1 hand in 6 and I was still tight compared with the rest of the table! Against such appalling play I managed to double my bankroll from 500 to 1000 (or more realistically from $0.00 to $0.00) but it took me, like, 3 hours or something as I was dealt some very ordinary hands early on.

The other folks there were friendly. They didn't complain when I forgot it was my turn for 15 seconds. The banter was very funny - well it appealed to my sense of humour as some dude was just there to chat up the chickies and they got all ********ed off and he backed off just the right amount then BANG! He was at them again and yeah, he was humourous and I laughed. Aaaah... Funny. You had to be there.

Hey, if someone can tell me how much tighter a 5c/10c or 10c/20c game is compared to the free games I'd appreciate it because after a little more practice I'll be there.

"Hey, if someone can tell me how much tighter a 5c/10c or 10c/20c game is compared to the free games"

I don't think playing them will be worth it (it's basically playmoney). Do the play money games until you are totally comfortable playing online. Read as much as you can. Develop your skills and experience by hitting bonuses. You'll soon have a large enough bankroll and enough skill/experience to move up in limits.

hi mr j.

please explain what u mean by hitting bonuses. thats new terminology for me

He means getting the new account bonuses and activity bonuses that poker sites give. If you join via the links on this site you get US $100 free money from Party Poker when you become a 'real money' player. That buys you quite a bit of practice!

The only thing is that there is a time limit on how long you have to play the number of raked hands to claim the bonus, so don't join as a real money player until you have enough time set aside to play a fair bit for a week or so.

I've played, and I'm good enough to play for $$$ (the freeplay players are really really bad and they don't get better they just keep getting worse). So I go to deposit using credit card and it won't let me! What a joke. All the other options for payment to the poker site are either for USA only or expensive ($25 deposit fee! no thanks).

After some investigation i think the reason why the credit card transaction was declined is because providing interactive internet gambling to Australians is illegal. It's not illegal to be a customer, only a provider, but the banks obviously are able to block payment to eGambling sites.

This is just plain ridiculous and wrong. It's MY money... so why? F***ing government regulations interfering with my life! I don't need it!

Yeah, so anyway I'm pretty grumpy now (I'll get over it) but if anyone can tell me anything that'd cheer me up please do.

Something doesn't add up. I funded my Party Poker account with a normal Westpac Visa card and have made other deposits since with the same card to grab reload bonuses. So I think there is some other reason your card was rejected.

My suggestion is that you ring Party on the toll free help line and find out for sure.

Thousands of Australians are playing poker online, so if it really is illegal for poker sites to allow Australians to join then they're ignoring it.

By contrast, 'in play' betting definitely is illegal for Australians and sites like Betfair are quite strong about trying to stop Aussies from betting after the event has started. I find it very unlikely that Betfair would be taking one law so seriously and all the poker sites just ignoring a similar law.

I wouldn't give up, as you sound like someone who should do well. Let us all know if you find out more.

Thanks Gat, I'll check

If you are interested here's the government act regarding online poker I found - betfair does have an opinion on the matter if you go to the review section: http://www.dcita.gov.au/broad/onlin...online_gambling

Excellent! Thanks.

That link led me straight to the final verdict. It is NOT illegal for any of us Australians to play poker online but it MAY be illegal for poker sites to offer the service to us!

Clearly that is their problem and not ours. From my own experience Party Poker, Empire Poker and Pacific Poker at least are happily offering their services to Australians and obviously feel they are either not flouting Australia law or don't give two hoots anyway. (And good on them in my opinion!)

It could be that they are simply willing to take the risk and see whether the Australian Government prosecute. After all, how would our government run such a prosecution? Would it have to be through some international criminal court? Would such a court agree that Australian law can be applied to companies based outside Australia? What would happen if Party Poker and others just ignored the summons and kept on trading? Who would come and arrest their executives? The UN? :-)

To me the Australian Interactive Gaming Act is like the demonstration by King Canute of telling the tide not to come in. It has no hope of isolating Australians from the rest of the world. Are they going to arrest everyone who provides online poker? If there is a demand and a supply and the supply is not even physically in the country then I think the Australian Government are fighting a hopeless and in any case stupid battle.

As I live in the wilderness of Australia, it is great to find somewhere to talk about gambling. American forums are useless as they all seem to be chasing bonus's and them complain when the dodgy Carribean operators rip them off.

I was rejected by Canbet for being Australian (more to do with Mark Read's ownership I think) but am playing at Ladbrokes. The players there are very good so its hard yakka. No trouble with a Westpac Visa card.

PartyPoker play tables are completely useless. I suspect its all kids lured by WSOP. THe play tournaments are a bit better if you sit out the first few hands and let the morons raise themselves out. It is actually quite fun trying to beat the lucky winner of the first few hands.

I am interested in playing at Partypoker becuse the real games seem to have a lot of beginners. I would like to hear from anyone who has experience with them as I have heard they employ a lot of dubious tactics.

What sort of dubious tactics? Do you mean Party Poker or the players who play there?

I haven't encountered any dubious tactics that I've been aware of, just some rude players who make personal attacks when they get upset at losing money. (But you can always turn the chat off and be blissfully unaware.)

With 60,000 players or whatever they have and talk of a 4 to 8 billion dollar float in the US, it seems highly unlikely to me that the operator would use any kind of underhand tactics. Would you jeopardise your share of that kind of money?

With poker taking off the way it is, companies like IGlobalMedia who own it are going to become the biggest gambling companies in the world if they're not right up there already.

In the end, genuinely good games like chess, go and poker will dominate the internet because they have far more complexity and challenge to the human mind and have stood the test of time...they will never get boring like flash in the pan video games which can be mastered after a few months.