Playing online poker (온라인포커) has drawn many South Koreans into the fold of recreational gamblers playing for fun in legitimate Internet-based poker sites. Poker in this Southeast Asian country actually became popular via the card game called “Badugi,” which became a favorite among local Korean punters during the 70s era.
The game follows the same principle of Western poker, although the winner is the player who ends up with the lowest hand. However, as the online gambling industry flourished in the years thereafter, online casinos expanded by offering casino card games, including poker.
Over time, stand alone poker software were developed to function as online poker rooms , which emerged as the most popular gambling option worldwide. Mainly because it’s a traditional card game that Americans play while having rounds of drinks. Actually, culture plays an important role in influencing how people gamble.
Since Asians are known to have a deep-rooted fascination for staking bets on outcomes of important sports events, the Western online gambling industry extended its online casino and sports betting offers to Asian gambling enthusiasts. Eventually, Southeast Asian countries became viable online gambling markets, despite the anti-gambling laws imposed and enforced by some Asian governments like South Korea.
South Korea Offers Citizens Gambling Concessions
The South Korean government granted certain gambling concessions by operating a Sports Toto site where citizens can buy lottery tickets, and place bets on horse, boat and bike races.
Moreover, the desire to experience casino gambling was met with a legislation that allowed Koreans to engage in casino gambling.
However, gambling can take place only at Kangwon Land Casino. It’s a casino-resort complex located at the foot of a mountain in the remote province of Gangwon-do in South Korea. Playing in this venue is regarded by many Korean citizens as impractical because of its remote location.
How Poker Online Works
Online poker is very similar to how live poker games are played in standard sessions. The online poker games that South Koreans are fond of are technically live games, but using only avatars to represent real players playing poker in real time. This is different from the one-on-one casino poker game in which a player competes against a computer.
A poker software operated by an independent entity, enables each player to stake wagers based on what they believe is the worth of their hand in terms of rank. Each player can call a bet to match the bet of players who were ahead of him in a clockwise turn.
He can raise the bet if he believes that the rank of his hands is higher and possibly unbeatable, Otherwise, he can fold or concede a loss if his hand is not worth staking bets on.
Another option, which some players use as strategy is to bluff his way in to win the pot. He does so by raising the bet to make his hand appear stronger and hard to beat. The winner then is determined after the betting round ends, including the overcalls made to counter raised bets,
When all players have matched the most recent bet, the winner with the highest value card based on rank will be declared as the winner who will rake in all the bets staked on the poker table.
In events when no player calls or raises a bet, the player who made the uncontested or unmatched wager wins the pot; consisting of the blinds or the initial bets placed by players who joined a poker table.