Fritz Allison

slm 521 sp03

4/15/03

Online Games

The game I chose to play online was poker on Yahoo games. It is amazing how many people are playing these games at any hour. I started playing the game at 12:30 in the morning and there were still a couple of hundred people in the different poker game rooms. I started out given 1000 imaginary dollars to start out with. I started out in one of the beginner rooms with five other people playing with me. It took a few hands, but I then won my first hand and the winnings were $280. I won a few more hands for a total of $1232 and decided that I wanted a taste of some bigger betting so I moved myself up to the intermediate level. I did not fare so well there, and ended up losing a total of $224 at that table. One aspect of playing a poker game online is that it is fun to make and raise the bets like you are a big time gambler. I would never think of making some of the wagers if I where playing in a real game of poker, so it is fun to act like you have hundreds or even thousands of dollars to throw around.

Another aspect of online gaming is the banter that goes on back and forth between the players. You find yourself going between paying attention to the game and reading the comments going back and forth between the players. They use a lot of abbreviations during their messages and since I was only an online game novice I did not quite understand all of the abbreviations that they use. I just observed the discussion until I won my first hand and then I had to rub it in a little, which resulted in some friendly banter from the rest of the table. One mistake I learned is that the other players get mad if you hold the game up too long. The game moves rather slowly and I found myself either reading the messages or watching the television until it was my turn. They get mad at you if you take too long to decide what to do in the game. On the other hand, it is annoying when you are on the other end and have to wait for someone else. All in all, playing the online game was enjoyable, but could get to be very time-consuming if you play very often.