There are a lot of benefits of playing poker (or any other casino game) online.

For starters online poker is a lot faster some full tables deal over 120 hands an hour, where in real poker rooms you should consider yourself lucky if the dealer deals over 40 hands an hour. If you are a winning player, the more hands you play the more money you win.

Secondly online you are allowed and able to play multiple tables. Once you get the hang of playing online poker and you are winning, you can consider playing more than one table, which is very doable up to 4 tables in our opinion. This will of course multiply your hands played and thus money won by you.

Another advantage is that your “overhead” costs will be lower. Since most of us don’t live in a casino, getting there and getting in will cost you. Here are some example costs and trust me they can add up. Travel costs: gas, parking, taxi or plane. Casino costs: entrance fee (in Europe), drinks (or tipping for drinks), tipping the dealer and in Europe the rake is usually a lot higher than online. Time cost: getting there, time you have to wait to sit down and the time it takes to dress up. These may not seem costs but if you could spend that time playing and winning $30 an hour this also can really add up.

Bonuses are another big advantage. Online sites almost always give deposit bonuses or reload bonuses or have some other promotion with no extra charge. There are some live poker rooms that have some kind of loyalty program, but that will usually be between 1 and 2 dollars an hour.

You will also be able to control your atmosphere. What I mean by this is that at home/online you decide the dress code, whether or not it is a “smoking” poker room.
You decide what kind of music is played and what chair to sit on. Also you have no one invading your space.

Also the relative anonymity of just having a screen name and a city or country displayed has some great advantages. Like not running into your boss or people you try to avoid. Also this makes it less threatening for new players to start, since if they make a fool of their self no on will know who they are except of course the online poker room. Another advantage of just a screen name is that it will take players usually longer to remember you. A face is easier remembered than a screen name.

Online poker also allows you to play with people from all over the world at the same table instead of just the regular locals at your hometown poker room. Another direct advantage of this is that you can play big tournaments with 6000 players or more since the whole world can be a potential costumer of online poker sites.

You also have a broader choice of casino’s/ poker rooms online because most rooms are accessible from your home (some countries have some restraints).

I am most likely missing a lot more benefits, but these are probably the biggest and will give you a good insight on why online poker and gambling has grown so big and is still continuing to grow. Be sure to take advantage of this great time in Poker history.