Free poker online has been cropping up more and more with the advent of the Internet, and it’s led to some unexpected consequences. It’s easy to overlook gambling addiction as having existed previous to the advent of free poker online, but never before had gambling been so easily accessible for so many people, and never had it been more costly than with the free poker being offered by so many websites. Free poker seems innocuous enough, if for no other reason than because it’s free. If you don’t input your credit card information, then there would seem to be no danger to online poker. But free poker acts, in a way, as a gateway drug, teaching players all the behaviors necessary to get them started on a terrible addiction.
Essentially, the very nature of free online poker is designed at conversion to full-fledged, paid poker, as is exemplified in so many similar poker tournament strategies. Having great prizes, great offers, and ease of access are all designed to lure the online poker player from playing free poker to playing with higher stakes. True, a lot of paid online poker is illegal, thus making free poker one of the only available ways to spread poker amongst players in America. But this doesn’t stop paid poker sites from extending offers to those who have already come to play and enjoy free poker online. Essentially, it is as if someone were coming to tell a player that a game he has played a great deal of, and believes he has become proficient at, will suddenly start paying him money back for playing, if only he’ll risk a bit of his own money first.
As an example, PokerStars.net claims to be the best source of free poker online that is out there on the Internet. It’s one of the top hits when one searches for free poker online on a search engine. The website proclaims consistently that it offers free poker, along with free poker advice and the like. But a bit more examination makes it clear that the poker offered at PokerStars.net is not free, not by a long shot. It seems that because way because technically, you are spending money in order to buy online chips in a PokerStars.net game. You are not directly spending your money within the games offered by PokerStars.net; you are instead purchasing a false currency which you can use to play PokerStars.net games. The fees may not even be terribly large, but they are still there, and they are still costing players something. But, on the other hand, they are offering a return to players of actual money.
Free poker online can offer a good, fun way to while away some time, without losing money, when it is used moderately. The problem arises with the fact that free poker online is used as a way of luring players in to games where they have the potential to earn actual money. After a player considers himself skilled or trained from having played free poker for a while, that player may then decide to risk some money on paid poker online. If the player wins, then he will think all that free poker has transformed him into a good poker player, and he will continue to play. Sometimes, this works out, and the player actually does have the necessary skill and talent to become successful at paid poker. But far too many times, players who think they have the potential to become the next poker champion wind up losing vast sums of money to the debt they accrue in paid poker games.