Opening an Online Account

There was a time when playing poker online was new and many players were hesitant about giving it a try. With in the last year the number of online players has grown ten fold from the year before.

The better players are making a lot of money from the inexperienced players who have not learned how to play winning poker. The majority of online players are playing for entertainment only and have no clue as to how to play correctly.

Many players new to online poker wonder about opening an account for the first time. The process will be essentially the same for most of the sites as well.

The first thing you need to do is to download and install the software on you computer. Go to the site where you want to play. Click of the download button and it will ask you if you want to run the software of save it. You can save the file to your desktop or any other location where you save files. Just remember where you saved the file to.

Once you completed the installation process, the site will open automatically and you will be asked to log in. Click on “Sign up - Open Account”. From here, you will enter your account/ screen name, password and e-mail address.

Your screen name must be unique. No two players can have the same name. It is usually best to have a few choices as many names are already used. If you pick a name that is in use, you will be promoted to choose an alternative. Usually they will give you variations of the name you wanted. For instance if you choose “Big Flop” it may say that name is in use and suggest you use “Big Flop 10” or something along those lines. Choose a name you like as most sites will not let you change your user name once you sign up. I suggest that you have several names that you would like to use. That way if your first choice is taken you can keep trying until you find one that is available.

After you choose your screen name, you will need to validate your account. They will send a validation number to the e-mail address you supplied. You will need to enter this number in the box before you can continue

Once you sign up you can play at the Play Money tables for free. If you want to play for real money you must fund your account.

When you start the Poker software, the log in screen will appear where you will enter your screen name and password. Once you are logged in you can open a money account by clicking on the cashier or banking tab on the top of the tool bar or This will take you to the player registration page where you will need to enter your name, date of birth, address, and phone number. After you enter this information click the continue button and it will take you to that page with the options for funding your account.

One option you will see is for using a credit card. If you live in the United States, you will probably not be able to use this option. Most credit card companies will not allow you to use their cards for any online gambling activities.

The other options are what they call ACH which is a term used for electronic checks. These are money holding companies. You register your bank account with them and they transfer money to and from your account.

To register an account with one of these companies you will need you bank account number and the aba routing number that your bank uses. The routing number is usually listed on your checks. It is the first series of 9 or 10 digits before your account number.

They process when you use one of these companies is that they will make a small deposit into the account that you register. It is usually something like 10 or 20 cents. You then confirm the deposit and they activate your account. They can only do this during normal banking hours and it may take a day or two if you sign up on the weekend. It is helpful if you have online banking because you can check your account to see if the deposit goes through without having to wait until you get a bank statement or calling the bank to check on the deposit.

Many players are a little leery of linking their primary bank account to one of these online companies. Instead, they choose to open a separate bank account with just their gambling money in it. I have never had any problems but it is a smart idea to maintain a separate gambling bank account and this is an ideal excuse to get one started.

Two of the most popular transfer companies that deal a quite a bit with online poker rooms and casinos are Neteller www.neteller.com and FirePay www.firepay.com

Opening an account is free however, there is a service charge on some of the transfers.

FirePay will charge you a transaction fee when you deposit money from your bank account. It is either $3.99 or $5.99.

Neteller will charge you 7 or 8 percent if you want to transfer money instantly into your account however, there is no charge if you transfer money using the 5-day option.

If you have any problems at all setting up your account, mast sites offer live help 24 hours a day. You can reach them by e-mail or by phone.