Recreation and sports

If you believe what the new Celebrity Apprentice Joan Rivers says, poker players are “beyond white trash.” But I think there are millions of people who would beg to differ. As a matter of fact, poker is incredibly popular at the moment and so are its practitioners. This is evidenced by the fact that professional poker stars such as Scotty Nguyen, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil Gordon and many others have achieved enormous celebrity status in the last decade.

This surge in popularity has caused many to try their hand, so to speak, at making a living playing on online gambling Web sites. Some have actually been very successful and because of this many more people have become Internet poker millionaires. These successful poker players are sometimes surprising, because they’re often quite young and not seasoned professionals. Unfortunately, for every new batch of successful poker players, there are also those who have been victims of online poker scams. These scams happen to mostly new players, because they don’t know how to verify a poker site’s bona fides.

To make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to you, the following points can help you determine whether a site is a scam:

• If the site doesn’t look professional, don’t play there. Low-quality construction could be the sign of a quick-buck artist at work or at the very least, a cash-strapped operator.
• Determine whether the site is a member of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC). IGC members pledge to follow a code of ethics.
• Make sure the site has 24-hour support with a toll-free phone number and e-mail.
• If a site passes the first three requirements, do several small test transactions before you do any major gambling. These will reveal a lot about the quality of the site.

Everyone has to start somewhere, so there’s no reason why with a little luck and a lot of practice you couldn’t become one of online poker’s stars. Just be sure to do your due diligence first, so any success you achieve won’t be spoiled by regret.