A lot of people love to play poker, but going to a casino is sometimes difficult and may involve crossing over into another state. Luckily, it is still legal to play poker online, however the industry has changed. Outright online gambling has been outlawed because of it's propensity to lead to abuse, and due to the problems it caused when poor players lost everything. This has been replaced with subscription-based systems which do not involve betting actual money, but instead involve just betting virtual poker chips. This means that no real money is won on the hands, only virtual chips, but the subscription fee is used to fund virtual tournaments, with real cash payouts for the persons who perform the best. This eliminates the problem of persons losing everything when they lose hand after hand, yet still rewards skilled players. It also gets rid of the nasty legal ramifications of true gambling, while only losing a little of the thrill of online poker.

Not all of these new sites are wholly clean, however, and there are still many online poker sites preying on the gullible. As such, it's important to know that no legitimate online poker service will actually have cash payouts except for non-gambling events such as tournaments. As for other online poker services, it is best to check out various reviews and rip-off listing sites to ensure that the site is positively reviewed by current and former users. Dead giveaways of a rip-off include a poorly laid-out site, claims of unusually large or unusually frequent payouts, and having the site declined by a credit card issuer. There are many groups out there dedicated to playing poker and developing fun online communities, and so browsing their websites, blogs and forums will help to isolate the good from the bad.