From Vegas to Hollywood: Poker Players are Today’s New Celebs

According to Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice Joan Rivers, professional poker players are “beyond white trash.” But I bet you could find millions of poker fans who disagree with that assessment. In fact, poker is wildly popular right now and so are its practitioners. This is evidenced by the fact that poker players like Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Mike Matusow and many others have achieved huge celebrity status in recent years.

Poker’s star-making ability has inspired many to try to make a living on Internet casino websites. The results have been good for some and as a result, poker has created a whole new wave of online millionaires. These successful poker players are sometimes surprising, because there are almost as many teenagers and people in their early-twenties as there are seasoned professionals. Unfortunately, for every new batch of successful poker players, there are also those who have been victims of casino gambling scams. These scams befall mostly new players, because they are lured by the promise of easy money and don’t do their homework first.

To make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to you, the following tips can help you assess whether a site has the potential to be a scam:

• If the site doesn’t look professional, don’t play there. Sub-standard construction could be an indicator of the work of a quick-buck artist or a cash-strapped owner who may go belly-up and take your winnings with him.
• Check if the site or its owners are members of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC). IGC members pledge to follow a code of ethics.
• Don’t register with a site that doesn’t have 24-hour support with both a toll-free phone number and e-mail addresses.
• If the site looks professional, is an IGC member and has good contact info, do several small transactions as tests before you put up any major money. These will reveal a lot about the integrity of the site.

Every poker player got his or her start somewhere, so with some luck and a lot of skill and practice, you too could become one of online poker’s new stars. Just be sure to do your due diligence first, so your success won’t be tainted by regret.

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