Online Poker in South Africa has really taken off. We have now joined the ranks of the global community meaning that South African poker enthusiasts from all over the country now have the opportunity to play their favourite games and more importantly we can now play in our own currency at 3 Pigs Poker, South Africa’s very own Rand supported online poker room.

Online Poker exploded in 2005 as televised tournaments made their way into the living rooms of hundreds of thousands of people, significantly increasing the awareness of the industry in the process.

Why 3 Pigs Poker?

* Online Poker can be played against other players from all over South Africa
* FREE download software that's easy to install
* Play for FREE as a quest for as long as you like
* Play in RANDS
* Safe and secure purchasing for REAL players
* Quick and reliable payouts
* 24/7 support

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE 3 PIGS POKER ROOM

Online poker venues such as the 3 Pigs Rand supported Poker Room , are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online rooms tend to be viewed as more player-friendly. For example, the software may prompt the player when it is his or her turn to act. Online rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1c) and often offer poker freerolls (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners.

Differences with conventional poker

With Online Poker there are some important differences to conventional person to person or land based gaming. One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across from each other, removing any ability to observe others' reactions and body language. Instead, online players learn to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time, speed of play, use of check boxes/auto plays, opponents fold/flop percentages, chat box, waiting for the big blind, beginner's tells, and other behavior tells that are not physical in nature.

In brick and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards,shuffle, and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is around thirty hands per hour. However, online casinos do not have these delays. The dealing and shuffling are instant, there are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons (where the player selects his action before his turn).

Online poker players are effected by this large difference in rate of play. In the brick and mortar casino, the only real way to increase your earnings is to increase your limit. In the online world players have another option, play more tables. Unlike a physical casino where it would be nearly impossible to play multiple tables at once, most online poker rooms allow this. Depending on the site, a player might play from 4 to 10 tables at the same time, viewing them each in a separate window on the computer display. For example, a player may make around R10 per 100 hands at a lower limit game. In a casino, this would earn them under R4 an hour. After dealer tips, the player would probably barely break even. In an online poker room, the same player with the same win rate could play four tables at once, which at 60 hands per hour each would result in an earning of R24/hour. Some players even play eight or more tables at once, in an effort to increase their winnings.