1.

Do you already have experience playing poker in a casino or card room setting, or in a long-running home game? (If you're a rank beginner, you're not ready to play for cash online, but you may benefit enormously from the free play-money preparatory games offered at many established Internet cash games sites. Therefore, don't be discouraged if your answer to this question is "no. ")

2.

Are you comfortable doing things on the Internet you once did only in person, such as making new friends in chat rooms or forums? What about more complex tasks such as banking or shopping? (If you're computer literate and already making purchases or doing financial transactions online for business or pleasure, you're ready for play-money games and will quickly be ready to test your mettle in small limit online cash games as well.)

3.

Are you allergic or otherwise adverse to cigarette smoke, erratic ventilation systems, noise, or other physical conditions prevalent in casinos and many home games?

4.

Do you consider any of the following behaviors prohibited by most casinos to be an essential part of poker: Smoking cigars; playing shirtless (or without any dress code whatsoever), or indulging in whatever vulgar or animalistic utterances spew from your mouth when your opponent makes a one-out draw?

5.

Would you prefer having invisible (but highly competent) dealers and cashiers to handle all aspects of money and chips, including tracking pots and verifying change, rather than make necessary calculations and handle germ-laden chips and bills yourself?

6.

Are you a multitasking Type A who'd like to spice up the workday by combining a live poker games with spreadsheets, routine correspondence, lines on hold, frustrations of incompetent office help, and other aspects of the daily grind? Or merely a Type A wannabe who'd simply like to squeeze in a few rounds of stud during lunch hour or when the boss isn't looking?

7.

Conversely, are you a Type B or confirmed couch potato for whom home-delivered pizza, remote-control access to favorite sitcoms, and the most lenient of dress codes are obligatory before you'll ante up?

8.

Do you live too far from a real casino, card room, or juicy home games to justify the flight or drive?

9.

Is your favorite game, such as hold'em or stud or Omaha, unavailable in your area? Or if it is, has the easy money dried up to the extent that the game is but a futile stroll in a rock garden?

10.

Are you troubled by rude opponents, those who seem to live at the poker table and rarely bathe, pests who ask for a deck change every round, or space hogs who always seem to have their elbow in your chips or a knee slanted sideways into your turf?

11.

Do you find yourself annoyed by the inevitable delays in real casinos - the time consumed waiting for a table or better table, the obligatory dealer shifts and financial tallies, disputes requiring floor intervention, and run-of-the-mill time-hogs like the dealer's duties of dividing pots, making change, verifying raises or re-raises, and tabulating all-in side pots?

12.

Would you like to find a game where you can skip to king the dealer without nominating yourself for jerk Dom?

13.

Would your husband, wife, or significant other tolerate your poker passion more easily if you never had to leave the house and could even participate in routine conversations, babysitting, or chores without missing a hand?

14.

Are you infirm or bedridden through age, accident or illness? Saddled with small children, elderly parents, or a business that keeps you housebound? Or simply a misanthropic introvert who loves poker but hates company?

15.

Would you - for whatever reason - like to play poker in total anonymity without donning a disguise. In an environment where all your opponents' see of you is a generic icon or cartoon caricature or as deceptive a photograph as you'd care to submit, accompanied by a made-up pseudonym or "handle" that protects your identity?

16.

On the other side of the coin, would you enjoy playing poker against opponents who may be anywhere in the world, whose only tells are deceptively unnatural pauses or accelerations in action, and whose true identities are likely to remain unknown to you?

17.

Have friends said you exhibit costly tells (unconscious physical or verbal mannerisms giving opponents clues to your holdings) in face to-face play?

18.

Would you like the opportunity to play in more than one games or tournament at a time?

If you've answered yes to any or some of the above, you're at least ready to consider playing poker online. But wait - here are just a few more questions:

19.

Are you reluctant to give out personal and financial information online? (Though there are ways you may deposit funds at Internet poker sites without giving out a credit card or bank account number, it slows the start-up procedure considerably, and you'll still be required to give your actual name and a mailing address for taking cash-outs.)

20.

Are you concerned about being cheated or swindled in online games through collusion, hacking, programming glitches (unintentional or otherwise), or access to your financial records?

21.

Are you concerned that you may wind up a victim of financial malfeasance or outright fraud if the online casino suddenly files for bankruptcy, has its funds frozen by court order, or simply disappears overnight - taking your money with it?

22.

Are you concerned about the legality of playing online for money?