Online poker is a popular pastime for many people and a significant source of income for some. It can be played on PCs, tablets or mobile phones and is regulated by the states in which it is legal. It’s important to understand the rules and be wary of unregulated sites that may not have basic consumer safeguards and may shut down without notice.

While online gambling is not as regulated as traditional casinos, most state-regulated operators have rigorous security measures in place. Players are required to provide personal information, including identity and financial details, which are used to verify their accounts and to limit the amount of money that can be wagered. The games are also heavily audited and supervised. The regulating body will often require that all winnings be paid out within certain time frames, and most states have laws against underage gambling.

Despite this regulation, some states still prohibit online gambling, and some players use offshore poker sites that do not have these strict rules. It’s important to play on a site that is safe and secure, and one that offers a variety of payment methods.

The online poker industry began to explode in popularity after a Tennessee accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker main event in 2003. The story was widely covered on ESPN and other TV networks, and millions of Americans began to dream that they could be the next Moneymaker. The advent of hole-card cameras made live tournaments more watchable and allowed the viewer to see what the opponent was holding in their hand, further boosting interest in the game.

As states jumped through regulatory hoops to bring regulated online poker to the market, players saw the potential of playing for real money on their computers. This, in turn, created a large pool of potential customers for online poker companies.

In addition, players benefited from the fact that they could play a lot more hands than they would in a live casino. This meant that they experienced much larger swings, or “variance,” in their results.

This accelerated their experience of bad beats and other negative results, which made it appear that they were losing more than they were winning. In the long run, this accelerated their learning and gave them a better overall result.

However, it is important to realize that variance is artificially accelerated online because you are playing so many more hands in a short period of time. In a week of online poker, you could log 10 times the number of hands that you’d play in a live casino for the same week, and this significantly affects what you’re seeing in terms of variance.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is over, online poker remains a popular activity for both professional and recreational players. It has been speculated that these players have been directed to online poker by the sudden dearth of live gaming options, particularly during the pandemic.