Online Poker is one of the most popular card games on the planet, with millions of people playing it for real money every day. There are many different variations of the game, and it is important to understand them all before playing. It is also helpful to have an understanding of the unwritten rules and etiquette involved in online poker, such as respecting other players, keeping the game moving, and not discussing strategy in chat.
The gambling ecosystem that supports online poker has changed a great deal since the first online cards were dealt on January 1, 1998, at Planet Poker. It has expanded from free poker on the Internet to regulated, licensed operators. This has attracted the attention of individuals with illicit intentions, and has created a need to ensure that only those who have passed screening are allowed to gamble on these websites.
This study focuses on the behavioural and demographic characteristics of the top 1% of online poker players, to understand how this group is evolving over time. The results show that there is a growing divide between the trivial many, who spend relatively little and lose less, and the vital few who differ dramatically in their gambling behavior and probably play at much higher stakes.
The distribution of countries of residence among the analytic sample in this study was significantly more concentrated than that of the 2009 study conducted by LaPlante et al. This may be due to changes in laws relating to online poker (e.g., some countries ring-fencing), or changes in the marketing efforts of regulated poker operators, such as the closure of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Cereus Poker Network (Absolute Poker/Ultimatebet) due to the United States v. Scheinberg criminal case against the founders of these companies for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.