One phenomenon that has emerged with the dawn of the computer age is online poker, in which poker enthusiasts can play poker games over the Internet for fun or real money. Online poker has become so big that according to Christiansen Capital Advisor, worldwide online poker revenue jumped from $365 million in 2003, to more than $1 billion in 2004. In December 2003, revenues were estimated at $34 million per month. And by March 2005, approximately 100,000 people were playing for real money at the various pokers rooms at peak times.

There are many factors that contribute to this extraordinary upsurge in the online poker industry. For one, online poker rooms are much cheaper than casinos because they have very little overhead cost in comparison to conventional casinos, and they are more player friendly. For example, the introduction of freerolls (where there is no entry fee) attracts a lot of novice players.

Many large online poker sites also offer certain attractions, including entry to real-life poker tournaments for online winners. Other features such as collusion detection abilities also enable websites to detect certain frauds, which are not available in conventional casinos. This better security attracts more players.

Another factor is the ability to easily track detailed statistics of your play in online poker, made available by ""Hand Histories"" text files, which track every action both you and your opponents made during each hand. This is not possible in conventional casinos where you would have to take time-consuming notes after each hand. Combined with these factors, many online poker software programs are user friendly and are often automated according to specific needs and actions, such as prompting when its a players turn.

The online poker industry is growing, and worldwide revenue is expected to reach more $2.4 billion in the coming years.