Somehow I've gotten caught up in playing "Texas Hold 'em" online at Pacific Poker. I'm completely addicated already. (Admittedly playing for pretend money at the moment.) The game's quite simple to learn and the tutorials at the Pacific poker school are excellent, not only at explaining the rules of "Texas Hold 'em up" but also some of the strategies.

The software downloads and installs onto your harddrive and once you sign-up you're given some free "fake" money and are ready to go into the betting rooms. The set-up looked slightly intimidating to start with, but as you're not forced to chat it's a very private affair and really easy to get going. The interface presents you with a lobby showing all the different tables and how many people are at each. If you double-click on one then you're taken into that room but, the good thing is, you can watch for a while before you play. This really takes away any doubts you might have about how easy it is, and it's easy to see why they're so successful.

So far, I wouldn't exactly say I'm going to be making my fortune at poker: after an hour or so last night I came out with about $50 of fake money more than I went in with. That may not sound too bad, but I'm pretty sure the people playing in the real money poker rooms are going to be a lot harder to beat. I know I wouldn't be quite so free with my own cash!

All in all, I can't recommend Pacific Poker enough.

Pacific Poker
Pacific poker school