As with most new things, especially on the Internet, online poker history has humble beginnings that few paid attention to. It’s rooted in those early web days of unlimited potential and eye-searing design. Let us tell you a small tale.
The online poker world started almost unnoticed at first. Just one or two small websites providing real money games to the online poker real money players. None could have predicted the monetarily volatile, thrilling world containing a massive amount of heroes and villains which would eventually grow to be contained within its boundless virtual walls.
The history of online poker so far has been short, but punctuated with compelling stories and significant dates.
The beginning
Online Poker first began in the nineties when IRC was used as the interface for the game. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and it is the way that many of the former World Champions used to make some money. The technology at first was very primitive and the games were really slow to play. The way that the software worked was that individual commands had to be entered in one at a time and then an answer would come back from the head line.
Over time, however, graphics and user interface improved and this brought with is a number of new online gambling prospects. Online Poker initially just used fake “virtual” money so that players could gain experience without risking their cash. It wasn’t until 1998 online poker real money was brought into existence. It was first introduced by Planet Poker, which was created by Mike Caro. Mike was the initial creator of the site and was very outspoken about it. The first Texas Hold’em, game with real money was held on the site and gave way to a whole new type of gambling.
The next part of the tale
Once Planet Poker took off, it was soon followed by other sites that wanted to get into the action. This includes Paradise Poker came out in 1999 and Ultimate-Bet was founded in 2000. These other sites offered a variety of games like Seven Card Stud and Omaha. It ultimately turned into large, multiplayer tournaments where big money could be put down. In 2001 major poker tournaments were starting to be held online and people were rushing to the online tables to try their chances at this new Poker medium.
To keep up with the initiation of all these new users, the software had to be updated. Software was created to handle multiple tables and also the payment of cash through internet lines. Party Poker developed some software capable of those parameters and it has taken off from there. Since then, best online poker sites have the capacity to entertain and meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of online customers without having to worry about the system crashing.
The software has come a long way and continues to be improved as technological advancements are made. We may look back in another decade and reflect on how primitive our current methods are. Either way, online poker has made its way to the mainstream and looks to only increase with time.
Happy playing!