No, I like playing online, but I don;t do it for money. Yeah, it may be cheap, but I have the same qualms as you. Besides, now there are stories (Bainbridge has a post on it) about programmers making poker robots to try to cheat the system.

It is a big risk--even with games that are pos. expectation in real-world casinos. The only sane bet I can think of (I don't bet online) is a sports bet with independent verification of odds via checking the Vegas casinos, your personal bookie, etc. for whatever bet you are going to place (line, money line, over/under, whatever) with a site that you trust will pay.

The rub would be/is finding that trusted site. 'Course you could simply keep your bets four figures or smaller so you can't be really burned.

Otherwise it makes no sense as Ace writes. No thrill of the others, no sensational clubs, foods, experiences, shows....

One of the guys I worked with in Vegas would always want to borrow $10 for gas... 3 days after payday.

He was hooked on video poker machines.

I heard he lost his house and is living on the street now.

MoS

Once you reach 35 if you still have the bug, you are on thin ice just like the previous post.
I feel like a big enough hermit online without sliding down that 5th ring of hell.

G*mbling is nonsensical, anyway. If you can't afford to lose, you shouldn't play, and if you can afford to lose, well then it isn't really g*mbling, is it?

Entertainment, really. Casinos are ace for people watching, but sometimes you want to go and none of your friends are around, and screw going alone. Someone's gotta tell you when the sun breaks the horizon.

As ever, never play with more than you're willing to lose. I always assume I'm going to lose everything I bring. Of course, I've never actually lost. So, uh, no one should listen to me on this subject.

You have one thing incorrect: Putting money on a well known poker site is less risky than using ebay.

First, you use a middle man site for transactions like Pay-Pal or the same sites used for ebay. Second, once all information for the transaction is made ~ around three or four working days later an "intent" for withdrawl is posted on the account.

There is an odd amount of change added to the withdrawl intent. This change amount is the password for the paysite. This has to be entered correctly and you only have two shots before the password shuts you out. Several working days later the money is posted on the paysite.

You still have to get the money to the poker site which has an extra set of passwords and confrimation to make a valid withdrawl from the paysite. The entire transaction takes about a week and requires your email, access to your checking accounts and valid transactions and passwords all the way through.

It is the same system used for ebay or Amazon. The system is very secure. (Using the top reputible sites)

Major sites like "PokerStars" which host the world series of poker, are huge buisneses. They can't afford to have a cheating system. It is just like anything else on-line ~ stay with the reputible companies.

Whoa, thanks for the link, Dave.

Another reason not to gamble online is that I could spend the free time for much cheaper mowing down the marauding aliens of planet Zornkog with my fully-automatic grenade launcher in gloriously rendered stereo 3-D. Which, unlike going into a casino, is something I'm not able to do whenever I feel like it in real life.

While the discussion of the reputable sites is interesting, there is nonetheless usually a regulated and licensed alternative not too far away that I would trust more.

The real danger of online poker isn't that the poker site will defraud you. It's that you can never know if your opponents are colluding against you. If three guys play together in an online parlor and collude via conference call they'll clean the floor with you every time, and there would be no way to prevent it.

It's hard to collude in real life, but if your opponents aren't sitting in the room with you, how could you tell?

I'd second what David said -- I really enjoy playing online poker. You can play for hours at $.01 tables if you like and gather some great experience. You don't have to get everyone together and you don't have to shuffle a single card.

In real life, going through a 4000-person tournament could take days, while online you can work through one in just a few hours. You can come and go as you like, and the atmosphere is far more relaxed than at a real casino. You just play the odds, you don't have to watch your tells, etc.

Personally, I love it. And like David said, you would never use a site that requires a credit card number. Sites like PokerStars are quite reputable.