IHAD always thought it would be complicated, but in fact it was almost disturbingly easy. With two clicks of my mouse and a brief registration process, which involved handing over my credit card details, I was off and away, the latest addition to the burgeoning ranks of Britain's army of online poker players.

The first question I had to resolve was just how lucky I was feeling. Did I want to play on a table where the "blind", or initial bet, is a whopping $60 - necessitating having $2,000 or so to gamble with in total - or should I start more cautiously with a group putting down blinds of $1 a game? (Because it is a "global" game, the online currency is the dollar). I plumped for the latter, and found myself on a table of nine players - five men and four women - with poker names such as Three Spots, Carla69 and GiulioB. Electronically seated at the top of the virtual table, I was rather pleasingly decked out in a brightly coloured mid-Eighties suit of the kind once worn by Duran Duran.

Less than five minutes after accessing partypoker.com, it was time for my first slice of the "action", as poker folk call betting. It's an astonishingly simple concept, and one that looks like netting the handful of shareholders in PartyGaming, Party Poker's owner, around Pounds 5.5 billion when the company lists on the London Stock Exchange later this summer.

For the online poker virgin - I had only ever played the game in casinos before - there's something oddly disorientating about playing cards when you can't see the people you're competing against. I was also discombobulated by the speed with which the game takes place. No time for chewing on your cigar and thinking things over here: the powers-that-be at Party Poker decree that you have a measly 10 seconds to make each decision.

Fortunately, I immediately hit a run of form which precluded the need for choice. First up, I "hit" pocket aces (two aces) and cleaned up. Next hand, I pulled out a nigh unbeatable "quad jacks" (all four jacks) and gave Carla, Giulio, Three Spots and the rest of them another hammering.

Having started with $30 in reserve, I was now up to $60. My pulse was racing.

By the time I made my grudging exit a few hands later, I was hooked. And that is the beauty of online poker. No need to stray from your sitting room, but all - well, almost all - the adrenaline and mental challenges that you'd look for if you were playing the game "live" in a Las Vegas casino.