Did you know...
In order to move money to and from your poker account you will need an e-wallet. These e-wallets are free to have an account at and form the link between your bank account and poker accounts. As a European there are two well known e-wallets you can use: Neteller and moneybookers. Funding methods for American players are not discussed in this article.
Both Neteller and moneybookers are widely used by poker players. They are safe and reliable provided that you take the precautions necessary to keep your password for yourself. It will take some time to get an e-wallet account fully up and running with all the options (including moving money to and from your bank account) as this will involve an address and bank account verification and, with Neteller, an ID-verification.
When opening an e-wallet account the choice for either of the two mentioned isn't a very important one: both are safe and widely supported by most of the poker rooms as a funding method. Neteller offers the option of a NET+-card, a sort of a credit card that can be funded directly from your Neteller account, which could be a plus if that suits you. If you start bonuswhoring and earn so called PokerSavvy points at PokerSavvy (a kickback affiliate), then moneybookers can be used to convert these points to cash through the moneybookers coupons in the PokerSavvy store.
A more important choice to make is the currency you would like your account to be in. Currency conversion can be a problem with varying exchange rates and fees charged. Especially when you move money around frequently (in order to bonuwswhore for example) this can become quite costly. Considering most of the poker accounts will be in US dollars, an e-wallet account in this currency is advisable.
Having two currencies at your disposal however, can be very handy. Because you can only have one account at a certain e-wallet, you could choose to open a moneybookers account as well as a Neteller account, one of them being in US$ and one in, for example, euros. This way currency conversion won't nearly as often be an issue when moving money to and from poker accounts. If you were to take advantage of the NET+-card of Neteller, make sure that your account at this e-wallet is in your country's currency as any transaction with this card involving a conversion will be charged with a fee.
