The Birth
The very idea of electronic poker originated long before the advent of the internet. In the early 1980s, famous poker theorist, and Poker Tells expert, Mike Caro wrote a program for heads-up games in Limited Hold’em on an Apple II computer.
In 1988, the first IRC chat networks were created, and in 1994 scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh created a script that allows IRC users to play poker against each other. The first real money online poker was played at Planet Poker on January 1, 1998.
In 1999, Paradise Poker took over the lead with improved software and graphics and PartyPoker opened in the summer of 2001. In 2002, PokerStars established the World Champion of Online Poker (WCOOP) the online equivalent of the World Series of Poker featuring 110 events and prize pools totaling $80 million!
Online Poker Explodes
The year 2003, was a turning point when a PokerStars satellite tournament winner Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event. By 2006, attendance at the WSOP Main Event increased 10-fold to 8,773 and 1,600 players were through PokerStars’ satellites. Today, PokerStars is the largest online poker site in the world with over two-thirds the online market.
U.S. Online Poker
April 15, 2011, three U.S. online poker sites, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker were shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice for illegal gambling. The day, forever known as "Black Friday," was arguably the most devastating day in poker history. The federal authorities took over the domain names resulting in hundreds of thousands of players unable to play poker or have access to their funds. On July 31, 2012, the US government dismissed all civil complaints against PokerStars after coming to a settlement with PokerStars which includes PokerStars purchasing Full Tilt Poker.
Future Legal Status
Following Black Friday, several states began exploring the possibility of legalizing online poker. As of 2023, online poker is legal in Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Michigan. It’s likely that more states will legalize online poker in the coming years, as legislation is being considered in several states across the country.
Poker Origins