So, you’ve just finished watching the World Series of Poker—or one of the other dozens of poker shows on TV—and have heard countless stories about Internet players that have made big money playing and you’ve finally decided to join the millions of people already at the tables. So now what? You’ve seen dozens of commercials and read plenty of e-mails advertising a number of online poker sites, but which is the right one for you?

There’s no quick and easy answer to that question, but with a little research you can make sure to join a poker room that is fun, safe, and maybe if you do your homework, profitable.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
If you’ve got a problem with your account, you’ll want to get it fixed right away. A great poker site will have numerous support options all available 24/7. The best poker sites will give you fast phone support with very little hold time, e-mail support, and online chat support so you can converse with a real person without ever having to get up from your computer.

DEPOSIT OPTIONS
The best sites offer tons of options for making your deposit and all of them should be quick and easy. Before joining a poker room, make sure it offers the deposit option you prefer and look at all the fine print before making that deposit. If a site allows deposits through credit card or a reputable cash transfer company like Moneygram, they are usually on the up and up. Please note that some sites will charge fees for some deposit options.

PAYOUTS
What’s the point of making big bucks at the poker tables if you can’t get your winnings? Some sites make it a lot easier for you to turn your virtual bucks into cash. If you plan to request regular payouts, make sure a site offers you preferred payout methods before making your deposit. If you want a check mailed to your door and the site does not offer that service, it’s your own fault for not finding that out before you handed over your money.

MANAGEMENT
Any business is only as good as the people that run it. It is important that supervisors, managers and company executives are readily available should you need to speak to them.

Management’s approach to fraud should be paramount to your decision in choosing a poker room. Strong management teams will identify and quickly deal with fraudsters and colluding players. The best poker rooms actively combat fraud and prevent players with the same IP address from playing at the same tables.

SECURITY
One of the biggest impediments involving online transactions is security. There is no doubt that you want to make sure that your credit card and personal information do not fall into the hands of others. All reputable poker rooms offer secure credit card transactions, so you don’t have to fret about some hacker grabbing your personal details and going on a shopping spree on your dime.

crITICAL MASS (PLAYERS)
You don’t want to join a poker room and then find out there’s no one else there to play against. There should be a minimum of 500 concurrent players and 100 games playing at once. The more players at a specific site, the more games to play in. This means no long waits for a tournament to fill up or hoping that maybe tonight there will actually be some players at the Omaha tables. An abundance of players usually also equates to an abundance of new or bad players, which is a plus for your bankroll.

NETWORK INTEGRITY
This is a no-brainer… do you want to play on a network with a bunch of sharks that will take a big bite out of your bankroll, or would you prefer playing with a bunch of guppies that are just learning to swim and don’t know their way around the pond yet?

First of all, you should find out if the network you’re planning to play on is made up of mostly U.S. or European players. A recent poll of poker operators revealed that on average European players had much better success than their American counterparts. In general, it would be advisable to find a site for yourself that is targeting U.S. clientele as it’s much more likely that you’ll find more guppies than sharks.

Likewise, most people don’t realize that there are many unscrupulous poker site owners out there that just aren’t happy enough with their portion of the rake they’re making on each hand you play. They want you to lose your money to them as well! It’s widely known to industry insiders that many—if not most—poker sites use robots and “props” (professional players) to beat lesser skilled players out of their hard-earned cash.

Just this past year, two of the larger Internet poker sites were caught defrauding players. Members of their management team had built their software so that they could see the hole cards of people that they were playing against in real-time. As a result, they stole millions from unsuspecting players until they were finally caught.

We at Insiders’ Betting Digest have taken the time to do extensive research on this and have eliminated all sharp networks and sites using robots and props so you are not required to do the research yourself.

GAME ENVIRONMENT (SOFTWARE)
If you plan on playing lots of hands and spending lots of hours online, you had better like the software. If the look of the poker room makes you sick or the table sounds are driving you insane, it’s probably not the poker room for you. Some rooms offer very fast game play, while others seem to move at a snail’s pace. If you’re looking for specific options such as live chat or personalized avatars, you may have to do some searching to find exactly what you’re looking for. Remember, poker software differs from site to site, so check out a few and decide which you prefer. If you’re not happy with the software, you are probably on the road to losing your chip stack before you get dealt the first hole cards.

FREE PLAY & TOURNAMENT PLAY
There are more than 100 poker rooms on the Internet, and all of them want your business. This competition has created an environment of perks, bonuses, free cash and big-money tournaments. After you’ve narrowed your search to a few poker sites, check out what they offer new players. Most poker sites offer some kind of bonus on a player’s first deposit. This can be anywhere from 50% to even 200% of your initial deposit. Don’t automatically jump at the biggest number though. To get that free money, you usually have to play a certain number of raked hands. Make sure you know what that number is and make sure it is plausible for you to actually play them and get the free money.

Other bonuses and special offers to check for include freeroll tournaments and reward points. If you’re going to be reloading your account regularly, then a reload bonus could help boost that account by a few more dollars. Freeroll tournaments have become exceedingly popular lately and can be a fun way to add free money to your account with a little luck. Many sites now have some form of frequent-player reward program. Most are based around points that you collect for playing raked hands and you can use them later for tournaments and other prizes. Some have better reward programs than others do, so read the fine print to see just how good or bad they really are.

LIMITS
One thing a lot of players forget to look at before signing up is limits. If you’re new to online poker, you probably will be looking for a low-limit game. Make sure your new site offers the cheap 5/10-cent game if that is what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for high-limit action or big buy-in tournaments, you might want to look into that as well before depositing your cash.

Now that you know what to look for, start searching and researching. Make a list of sites that are attractive to you and check out the action. You may also want to download the software and give it a try in the play-money section. This will also allow you to look at their tables and see how many people play there, what tournaments they offer and whether or not there are games available in your desired limits.
After our in-depth research evaluating more than 100 different poker rooms on each of the ten categories above, we’ve made our selection for our Top Ranked Poker Site for 2008. Please visit page 54 to see who gets this year’s top honor.