Choosing a Free Poker Site - Download

You might think that picking a Free Poker Site would be pretty simple but unfortunately it is not quite that simple and there are a number of aspects you should consider -

Download - All Free Poker Sites, run on some kind of software platform. In other words you often have to download something, or allow something to be installed for you, in order to begin playing for free. The better sites have a Preview section that shows you snapshots of what their poker games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play. You should check them out, as you can learn a lot with a little bit of browsing. Most Free Poker Sites will offer the player two choices - a download package for the full suite of full-featured games or an instant-play option based on the Flash or Shockwave applets that normally reside on most of our computers. Option 1 (download package) gives you all the bells and whistles while Option 2 (an instant-play) means you do not have to install any software and you can play right away. The choice is yours of course but it is recommended that unless you have got a particularly slow internet connection the download packages almost always offer the better gaming experience.

Choosing a Free Poker Site - Support

Some Free Poker Sites offer toll free numbers but those are now less common than call-back or online service options. Many poker rooms now out-source their Customer Service so it is recommended to try out your poker room’s Customer Service as soon as possible in order to give yourself the peace of mind that you are going to be handled in a manner that suits you if something goes wrong. Remember, these guys are the only life-line between you and your game so it is up to you to make sure that the help is going to be there for you if and when you need it.

Choosing a Free Poker Site - Licensing and Legalities

Generally speaking online poker sites regulation has been a self-regulation issue. In other words, the site plays fair if it wants to play fair. Fortunately there have been some serious steps forward in terms of licensing and regulation zones around the world and that is a very good thing, for example the United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Cyprus, etc have all emerged as stable licensing bodies with committed governments behind them to ensure fair play and reasonable conduct. As to the legalities of internet gambling it is a country-by-country or state-by-state issue. In some parts of the world it is wide open, citizens are free to play when and where they see fit and elsewhere it is not so. In the United States for instance seven states have outlawed internet gambling entirely while others simply forbid the casinos to be run within their state boundaries. So that players are advised to check their local laws before choosing their Free Poker Site and start playing.