Possibly the greatest thing about online poker is the ability to play 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For poker junkies everywhere a few clicks of the mouse can provide instant access to a veritable cornucopia of cash games and tournaments. The night owls of Europe can find a rich variety of games against North Americans way into the small hours, and during sociable European hours there’s no shortage of action against irrepressibly aggressive Scandinavians.

This accessibility has arguably been the most crucial factor in the growth of poker. The problem with this, however, emerges when this accessibility of games starts to become a threat to the players themselves...

As I discussed last month, poker, on the whole, is a series of peaks and troughs, the best players spending the majority of their time riding the crest of a financial wave.