Professional Poker Players: Today’s New Celebs

If you believe what the new Celebrity Apprentice Joan Rivers says, poker players are “beyond white trash.” But I think there are millions of people who would beg to differ. In fact, poker is incredibly popular at the moment and so are its practitioners. This is evidenced by the fact that professional poker stars such as Annie Duke, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil Gordon and many others have achieved enormous celebrity status in the last decade.

This surge in popularity has caused many to try their hand, so to speak, at making a living playing on on-line poker sites. The results have been good for some and because of this many more people have become online poker millionaires. These poker successes are not always who you would expect them to be, because they’re often very young and not seasoned pros. But for every group of successful poker players, there are also plenty of people who are victims of Internet poker scams. These scams happen to mostly new players, because they don’t know how to check a gambling site’s bona fides.

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 have professional-looking graphics and technology, play somewhere else. 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 money 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.
• Make sure the site has 24-hour support with a toll-free phone number and e-mail.
• If the site looks professional, is an IGC member and has good contact info, do a few small transactions as tests before you put up any major money. These will reveal a lot about the quality 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 any success you achieve won’t be spoiled by regret.

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