Poker Profit has gathered several of the standard questions from around the internet poker faq’s available online today to help you get answers that would apply about online poker anywhere.

What is a poker bonus?
Online poker rooms will offer players first deposit bonuses. These typically match a percentage of a bonus. Players do not usually receive this bonus in cash. There is a point requirement to clear the bonus. Points are typically tied to rake. Most bonuses expire 30-120 days after being accepted and release in certain increments. Make sure to read the Safest Poker Sites reviews and the online poker room?s bonus terms and conditions to understand the exact rules for clearing a bonus.

The Basics of Deposit Bonuses
You can’t visit the homepage of an American poker site without seeing a deposit bonus advertised in big, bold type.? Deposit bonuses are a staple of all online poker rooms, and they work like this: You deposit a certain amount of money and the room gives you a bonus based on that deposit.? The bonus money is separate from your regular funds and is restricted – you can’t cash it out or use it for play.

As you play at the room, you will gradually convert this bonus money to regular funds that can be cashed out or used for real-money play at the site.? The rate at which this conversion occurs, along with the size of the bonus you can get, differs from one US poker room to the next.? Terms of bonuses are analyzed in all of our US poker site reviews.

What is the best online poker room ?
At PokerProfit.com we only rank the sites we have listed, which we have done by various methods. Each site listed has been personally visited by Poker Profit and these are our opinions on each.

Are poker sites able to see what is on my computer?
Kind of….Part of the user agreement with basically every poker site includes a bit about how they are allowed to monitor what is going on your computer while you are playing on their site.?They are looking for applications that are running that may be allowing you to cheat the game. If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, and their scans are meaningless.

But if you have any?Instant Messenger open and you’re talking to your friend who has IM and is at the same table – you will get your account flagged and an investigation may occur.

Is it Legal to Play Online Poker?
In general, laws concerning gambling (especially online gambling) are aimed at the businesses conducting the games, not the players. Also, poker is frequently treated differently than other forms of gambling like sports betting or casino games. Finally, there are very few instances of individual poker players facing some sort of criminal penalty for playing real money games online

Are My Online Poker Winnings Taxable?
The correct answer to this question varies depending on where you live.? Your most prudent course of action is to ask a tax professional about gambling winnings and the proper way to handle them in terms of tax filings.? While it may seem like an annoying task (surely you’d rather be playing poker), you’re likely to be out only a few hours and a small bit of money – both absolutely reasonable prices to pay for quality information that could help you to avoid serious problems down the line.

I Heard Rooms Stack the Deck to Generate More Action.? Is This True?
No.? That’s a persistent myth with no basis in fact.? It also has no basis in logic, and overlooks some key facts about how online poker rooms (and the online poker industry) operate.? Such a scheme would be easily uncovered through even casual observation at the room.?The myth arises simply because players don’t fully understand just how many extra hands they see online versus live play.? Even playing a single table, you will see two to three times more hands online.? That means you’ll also see more suckouts, more bad beats – more of everything, a phenomenon that has led some to erroneously conclude that online poker rooms must be “juicing” the deck.? There has never been one iota of evidence to support this theory, and players should be skeptical of any source that espouses it.

What is rake?
Rake is how poker rooms make money. Online poker rake tends to be 5% of the pot, where live poker typically rakes 10% of the pot. Tournament rake online is usually 9-10% of the prize pool. Live casinos typically charge at least twice that.