David Wood swaps his cards for a mouse and takes on the big players in cyberspace
`How can you play with crap cards like that?” asks “Aces” from Indian Wells, after witnessing my awful starting hand develop into a big winner.
And he was right. If “Aces” were sitting next to me at home or in a real casino, I would feel slightly embarrassed to win with such terrible cards. But he’s 9 600km away from me as we play poker over the Net for real dollars (at www.planetpoker.com or www.deltacasino.com).
Also in the game – “Bobby33” from Montana, “Swede” from Stockholm (great sense of humour in Sweden), MaryJane from Baltimore and five others from various points of the globe, mainly West.
Poker is my game, or at least I like to think so, and I’ve lost thousands of pounds playing it to prove just how skilful I am.
Now, when the poker rooms of my local casinos are closed and when my Switch card starts emitting a high-pitched whining noise I can turn to the Net, withdraw some e-dollars from my credit card and carry on gambling.
Not that I’m addicted or anything (info@ gambleranonymous.co.uk), but if I were, the Net would pose me some problems. Among the 5 000 or so gambling sites (see www. gamblinglinks.com for a comprehensive list) there are some 400 virtual casinos, a number growing by more than 10 per month.
God knows how much money they’re generating, but here’s a clue from one of the many gaming software companies based in Canada (which is still undecided on the issue of Internet gambling after two years of debate).
The company, Go-Call of Ontario, provides virtual blackjack, craps, roulette and slot machines to subsidiaries operating through servers in the Caribbean (strangely reminiscent of sex-chat lines). The company generated more than $2-million in January this year – not a fortune, but more than double what it made the previous month.
Casino games aren’t the only types of gambling on offer. The British bookmakers have been on the Web for quite some time, and those offering “spread betting” are particularly keen to promote their sites.
If you’re a city trader (where spread betting originated), following the fortunes and changing prices of your selections over the Web makes the days, and the pounds, fly by.
So, as Larry said to Dustin, “Is it safe?” Well, it is and it isn’t. You’ll have to send your credit card number over the Internet if you want to play for real dollars at the online casinos. It’s as safe as any form of e-commerce – and you can read a hundred other articles to find the answer to that argument.
Some of the foreign sites will accept cheques and/or bankers drafts, but you’ll end up paying plenty for the transactions. The British bookmakers will take cheques or Switch/Delta cards depending on the type of account you hold.
But are the games fixed? The poker games certainly could be, and that discussion has been running for years on my favourite newsgroup, rec.gambling.poker.
It would be very easy for one person to play as two players in the same game – or even two friends with mobile phones or an Internet chat programme to relay information.
As for the other types of games, it would be so easy to fix them that it is undoubtedly going on somewhere. But, like real casinos, the virtual ones seem to be doing very nicely thank you without having to resort to foul play.
Let’s face it: most gamblers know they’re going to lose, but they gamble anyway.
You should regard it as you do any form of entertainment: possibly costly but enjoyable.
There are also plenty of gambling sites which use “fun” money. But back to the game …
“Big Bertha” bets $10 and I raise “her” (who knows what she/he is – there seem to be more women playing poker on the Web than in real life) another $10.
By the end I’ve still got exactly what I started with – a handful of dreams. So here goes nothing: I try to bluff her with another $20. I’ve obviously fooled her so completely that she calls, and wins the pot of $150. How delightful! I’ve lost $70 in 70 seconds without even moving from my chair. Thank God I don’t have an integrated systems digital network connection. I could lose even quicker.
This small setback doesn’t put me off in the least, but I have gone off Internet poker for the simple reason that it’s too boring.
It’s quite easy to win but you don’t get the tiniest fraction of the feeling of playing real people face-to-face, and enjoying the banter and bullshit that goes with it.
And the worst thing is I didn’t even feel bad when I lost money over the Internet. Now that is scary.
David Wood is a freelance journalist and gambler