Online poker has become a global phenomenon over the recent decade, and has exploded into mainstream success over the last five years. Hundreds to thousands of new players join daily. Massive poker juggernauts like PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate-Bet, and Absolute Poker have dominated the online landscape since the turn of the millennium. Millions of us are eyewitnesses to what online poker is today, but how many wonder how and when it all began?
IRC and Virtual Poker
Virtual poker first became a reality in the early 90s when Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was used to play poker. Former WSOP World Champions Chris Ferguson and Greg Raymer were among the educated and dedicated. In the beginning, games were slow and technologically primitive compared to today’s streamlined poker software. Commands had to be entered directly into the program, and then would receive a command back from the line in charge of the program.
As graphics vastly improved, so did the quantity and quality of the players. This was aided by the fact that IRC poker used virtual money so novice players could gain experience and learn without having to risk money. Perhaps this was the early primer to today’s free money training sites, but before these countless .NET sites came to be, there came Planet Poker.
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