Poker has been played for almost tow centuries but its Internet version is a recent craze. Sportsbooks preceded online poker sites, as they went online during the mid-90s.
Planet Poker has the distinction of being first poker gambling room online launching its operations in 1998. Paradise Poker was created a year after and was followed shortly by Poker Spot. The first online poker tournaments were ran by Poker Spot. However, Poker Spot was involved in a scandal, which eventually resulted in its demise. The company failed to award the winning of its players when its credit system became faulty.
Party Poker and Poker Stars burst into the scene on 2001. Party Poker is behind the hugely successful Party Million Poker and the World Poker Tour.
However, online poker was never the same after Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker. Mr Moneymaker paid a $40 entrance fee to a satellite tournament of Poker Stars. He eventually qualified for the World Series and bested 839 other online poker hustlers and took home the top prize of $2.5m. The “Moneymaker Effect” was a bonus for an industry that was already starting to gain momentum.
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