Poker Software

Search:

Casino Archives

The Web

Make this your homepage

Way back when...

Poker has been well ingrained into the culture of many nations around the world, yet it is online poker that has made the beloved game accessible to everyone and allowed the industry to really boom. The origins of online poker trace back to the 1990's IRC Poker - an Internet Chat Relay poker server that was developed by Todd Mummert and Greg Reynolds. The IRC Poker program allowed people to play online poker using play money and a series of simple commands via the internet for the first time, and has been acclaimed as one of the best free money online games ever. Despite that most of its users were 'geeky' poker enthusiasts, the program managed to generate a succession of poker experts, including Jap Siplestein, Perry Friedman, Steve Brecher, Paul Philips and Greg Raymer. IRC had 3 poker variations on offer, as well as regular poker tournaments.

Yet real money online poker didn't make its debut until after the sudden success of Chris "Moneymaker" Ferguson, who became the World Series of Poker Champion by practicing online at IRC. His major success stood as proof to the effectiveness and influence of online poker, and sparked many industry investors to bring a real money poker platform to the internet for the first time in history.

This was achieved by Planet Poker in 1998. Credited as the world's first online poker room, Planet Poker was for some time the only operating online poker room around. After several months other companies began launching online poker websites, yet the rake structure invented by Planet Poker, 5% up to $3 max, was adopted by others and has remained until today as the standard rake structure.

Other online poker rooms start to appear

In 1999, Paradise Poker made its debut on the online poker scene, and quickly became an industry leader. Its debut was soon followed by Poker Sport by poker professional Dutch Boyd. Poker Spot became one of the most successful online poker rooms, namely because of the technology that allowed it to offer players real money online poker tournaments, yet the company went under several years later due to financial issues. This was the first and last time that this would happen to an online poker site.

2001 saw the rise of the most dominant and successful online poker rooms yet, Poker Stars and Party Poker. Party Poker eventually took over Paradise Poker's leading role in the industry when it released a series of TV adverts in 2003. The site continued to advertise into the World Poker Tour events, and today hosts approximately half of the entire online poker playing market.

In 2003, following the unrivaled success of Chris Ferguson, even more industry leaders began to splash onto the scene. Pokertips.org became the first ever online poker information portal, and Noble Poker and Full Tilt Poker also managed to make their debut. In 2004, Paradise Poker was purchased by Sportingbet for $279.5 million.

Online poker technology

Online poker quickly became an industry of its own, and unique technologies were needed in order to advance it. In 2002, Cryptologic created the first ever online poker software, which sparked many other online casino software developers to venture into the same field. The most significant technological developments in the history of online poker software are:

Random Number Generators (RNG) - ensures the randomness of card dealing.
Encryption Algorithms - ensures the privacy of all a player's data and personal information.
Cheater detection - to rat out possible cheaters who ruin the game for legitimate players.
Security - in downloads, legality, financial security, privacy, etc.
Online poker Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) - the way online poker software looks must be easy to use, allow for customization, and be visually pleasing to the player. GUI's can make or break a poker site.

There are also a range of programs that have been developed in order to help train poker players in becoming champions. Some are downloaded, some are bought, yet each provide the player with statistics and detailed reports on his/her game, plus extensive odds and calculations in order to aid the player in making wise poker decisions. Examples of such programs include PokerStove, Poker Tracker and DD Poker.