But it is not just a fun game played with luck, it takes skill, a lot of skill to make yourself a top poker player. You have to know the rules, the odds, when to make a big bet, when to fold. Also position is one of the most important things. How do you learn all this fast and while playing? The answer is: use poker calculators and tools to help you improve your game and get insight into other players. Some of these tools just calculate what the best next move is on the table. But most of them also track players and tag them so you know what you are up against.

Magic Holdem is a great poker odds calculator, with over 100 poker rooms supported. Customize it by adding or removing the stats that you want to see. A lifetime license costs only $119,90, or you can get a free license when signing up with a poker room they promote.

Texas Calculatem is one of the best poker odds calculators, with more than 100 online poker rooms supported and already more than 50,000 users worldwide. Know your odds and get advice on your next move with this clean and easy looking tool. One year license goes for $69,95, or use a one year free license when signing up with one of their featured rooms.

Poker Crusher is another amazing poker calculator. After opening Poker Crusher you have information on millions of hands, it displays icons next to each player’s name saying their style like shark or fish. They have very useful introduction video on their website. You can buy one license from $4,95 to $29,95 a month, and they have a free 5 day trail available.

Sit & go Shark gives you real time stats and hints on how to play any sit-n-go. It can be used on any type of sit-n-go tournament and has over 20 supported poker rooms. Get a one year license for $49,95 or for free by signing up to Party Poker on their website.

Holdem Genius is another great poker odds calculator, where you can see your hand strength and related odds in a blink. You can customize how you want to use it, and they have over 120 rooms supported. One year license goes for $99,85 or it is free by signing up to one of their promoted poker rooms.

This is a blog about the game of poker, especially online poker. This Web based game has changed the way people think about games. Modern technology allows such real time multi-player games to be conducted within online poker rooms that can host thousands of tables at the same time.

As online poker involves real money (we are not interested in so-called play money poker games involving no money at all), this new online poker industry that has emerged in the past decade has to rely on a robust infrastructure.

The software, servers and IT teams must be able to handle the large simultaneous connections from thousands of poker clients all over the world. This activity is “seasonal”, with burst of bandwidth consumption when a large tournament or a special promotion takes place. The front-end has zero tolerance for failure because for example if the system were to crash in the middle of the day when numerous games are taking place, it would be a nightmare to calculate the amounts of money due and a catastrophic public relation event.

Similarly the entire infrastructure must be safe from thieves and cheaters.

As online poker players leave part of their bankroll in the hand of the online poker room for total balances in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the largest rooms, their money must be as safe as humanly possible. In addition poker cheaters must be detected and banned as soon as possible. Attracted by easy gains, all sorts of cheaters are trying to get a share of the poker pie and any reputable poker room must create and implement a policy to make sure that Internet crooks stay outside their confines.

This is a bit of a boring introduction to online poker and you do not really have to worry about this if you only play at the top established poker rooms. Poker and especially online poker is a great game with strategy and action, combining math and psychology. You, my poker friend, will have a great time with it.

May the God of Luck be with you.