The online poker is a rather new developed industry. Basically online poker short history starts only about twenty years ago but the recent years are marked by an accelerated expansion. The number of both poker rooms and poker players increased exponentially reaching unexpected levels. The online poker market consists of two different components: the major poker rooms market and the small poker market.

The major poker rooms such as Poker Stars and Full Tilt promoted themselves worldwide and now have millions of players registered while smaller poker rooms attract only few thousands poker players which are more interested in rakeback offers.

Banned poker rooms

On April 15th, 2011 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) made public the charges against the founders of major online poker rooms, accusing them of fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.

Based on the Illegal Gambling Business Act of 1955 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 the Department of Justice made various allegations against 11 individuals that represent major poker rooms such as Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker.

In the past, the game of poker was mainly played by men, the women being only observers or lucky charms. With so few female poker players actually playing, the number of famous female winners in important poker tournaments was very small. In the recent decades things started to slowly change a more and more women discovered the magic of poker.

The poker tournaments or poker shows broadcasted by important television channels brought the game of poker in the spotlight attracting so many players, men and women. On the other side, the incredible growth of online poker industry also created an opportunity for women to get in touch with the game and to practice their skills.