There is no doubt that both online poker and live poker have a place in modern poker. Anyone who has experienced the buzz of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Vegas can deny that live poker is fantastic for highlighting the skill of the game but for millions of poker players worldwide online poker provides an easily accessible and relatively low cost option for new and experienced players to play poker. With deposit bonuses and rakeback deals one wonders how poker live can retain its popularity against the massive financial rewards on offer at online poker rooms.
Until the widespread access of the Internet poker was always played as a social game played anywhere with a flat surface in bars, clubs, trenches, ships, etc. The most recent stereotype and the focus of Hollywood is the slightly seedy image of Casino Poker and the Western showdown. Thankfully neither of these two representations are an actuate reflection of modern poker clubs and live poker rooms in Casinos.
Live poker requires players to have a great grasp of reading poker tells and a high level of concentration as tournaments can last for several hours. Online poker players new to the live poker circuit often comment that the slower pace of live poker can be frustrating.
Online Poker has not only reignited the popularity of poker it has also made playing the game more accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Online poker rooms have been clever in setting low stakes and many freerolls for new players to develop their poker skills and to build bankroll making online poker less of a financial risk with massive rewards. These rewards come from the ever-increasing tournament prizes offered to draw players to one particular poker site. Full Tilt Poker recently broke the world record for the biggest pot won 3 times in 24 hours!
Another advantage of playing online is that the software on sites such as Full Tilt rakeback, Cake Poker rakeback and Betfair allow players to play multi tables. A key strategy for building bankroll and rake resulting in online poker players turning a small sign up deposit into thousands of dollars within a few months.
The biggest incentive for poker players to compete online is the financial benefits offered by online poker rooms. Live casinos do not offer you free money just to walk through the doors and they certainly don’t pay you money back if you lose. Due to the fierce competition between the big five online poker rooms, players benefit from larger deposit bonuses and better rakeback deals.
Rakeback is a fairly new concept which makes online poker almost risk free. Industry insiders predict that poker rooms running competitive rakeback deals such as Full Tilt Poker, Cake Poker and Absolute Poker Rakeback will see a huge rise in the number of players once rakeback becomes more widely understood.

By David Brett
David Brett is a highly experienced IT professional and a well known SEO consultant who has successfully ranked major websites into leading positions in Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc