Gambling and playing online poker on the internet has some different risk factors to think about. One of those, which you might take for granted, is your internet connection.

When you are playing casino games or poker online, the only thing more frustrating than taking a bad beat is losing your internet connection. You know the feeling…when you start to wonder why the hand is taking so long. Then you notice the time clock is not counting down on your opponent whose action it is. You hastily open up a webpage and notice it won’t load. Crap, you’ve disconnected.

Most times, a player is allotted a pretty large amount of time on a disconnect; Maybe a minute or two. It’s enough time to click your wifi off and on again, or run a quick power cycle on your modem and router. Sometimes though, you’re screwed. Your internet dropped, your neighbor’s networks are all password protected.

I’ve had this happen a lot of times, and the worst is when I’m in a super turbo tourney on cake. These short-handed sit and go’s have 2 minute blind levels, and missing a minute or two could cost you a lot in blinds and antes. I’ve emailed support about this and they said that their server was not an issue and that that is the risk I am taking when playing a super turbo. Years ago I was in a big tourney on Full Tilt and their server crashed. We were in the money, but just barely. I was losing my mind, and could not log back onto the site. The next morning, I had an extra hundred bucks or so. They ended up paying players out in the rank they were in.

My friend was playing a $60 turbo 6-handed sit and go the other day. He lost connection preflop with AK suited, and got back in time to see that he would have flopped the nut flush draw. He also found out he would have missed the draw and felt consoled by the fact that he saved money. He ended up taking 2nd in tourney, which he might not have if he was connected for the AK hand. But he might also have won an uncontested pot with a continuation bet, who knows. Something that is important to think about, if you are a serious online poker player, is having a backup internet connection, like a telephone land line. In times of technological woe, you might be able to snail through a few hands as opposed to missing them completely.