Online poker has created some of the most hardcore and loyal customers of any online industry. Since its inception in the late 90s, it’s provided its customers with loads of fun, a challenging hobby and even a way to make extra income. Despite sharp declines brought on by the incompetent depredations of the U.S. government and its corporate overlords, which have laid waste to the U.S. online poker market and caused severe reductions in its global health, online poker still enjoys considerable popularity. For instance, Indonesia has a huge online poker market, see poker online terpercaya. In 2017, thanks to poker’s online variants, the game is still played by far more people than at any time prior to the 21st century.

Let’s take a look at three reasons why online poker continues to be an awesome experience that gets players hooked.

It’s a hell of a rush

There are too many variants of online poker to list them all. But normally when people talk about online poker, they’re referring to No Limit Texas Hold’em. This variant, more than any other, is hands-down the most exciting card game ever devised. That’s because the pressure is always set to the max. If you have $500 worth of chips in front of you, in No Limit Holdem you can potentially lose all of it at any moment. Your opponent can always put you to a decision for all your chips. The combined possibilities for huge wins and crushing losses that this aspect of the game creates make for an activity that raises adrenaline levels to fight-or-flight levels and holds them there. Many players compare the sensation of playing No Limit Holdem to jumping out of an airplane or being involved in a bar fight. Few other activities can compare to the extreme stimulation it generates.

It’s one of the most complex games ever devised

Chess, a game with the reputation that only geniuses can master it, was essentially solved way back in 1996. No Limit Texas Hold’em, even the one on one variety, isn’t currently remotely close to being solved. That’s because even modern supercomputers don’t have enough computing power to fully enumerate its astronomical game tree. This makes for a game with deep strategy and many possibilities for skilled players to gain huge edges over their less skilled competitors. The importance and complexity of well-designed strategies add an attractive element to the game, making it a convincing test of skill and wits. Few other games and no other card game can claim to be as strategically deep or as challenging to master as No Limit Hold’em.

Good players can make money, a lot of money

This is the part that seals the deal for so many. At the end of the day, online poker has remained popular because the ability of the best players to make six-figure income has endured. Granted, online poker is nowhere near where it once was. In 2006, the best players could expect to make at least $1,000,000 per year. Now anyone who’s not absolutely world-class is lucky to break the $100,000 mark. But $100,000 a year to play cards is still a pretty sweet deal. And the best of the best are still hitting yearly numbers quite a bit higher than that. Even for players who stand little chance of ever making serious money, the mere possibility that they could is often enough to keep them playing and trying to improve.