So there are now 4.3 million results on Google for "3d poker". Perhaps that means 2007 is going to be a whole lot different to 2006 when it comes to burning through a few chips at 3am on a Friday night..

Here's some of the big boys from that search on the almighty G:

• Live Poker
• 3D Poker Room
• PKR
• The 3D Poker

Personally I haven't played on any of them, but with the lines between TV, DVDs, video games and the internet becoming ever increasingly blurry - I don't think that virtual reality poker is far off.

I have so far avoided the lures of a more physical poker table because I think it will seriously distract me from the mechanics of actually playing the game.

Sites like PKR boast that you can customize your avatar and their actions, which leads to a worrying thought.

Instead of worrying about whether or not the Terminator sitting across the table from me is bluffing or not, I'll be concetrating on how effectively he is disembowelling the puny human sitting beside him.

With more and more players moving offline, will this beefing up of the online scene bring them back? It strikes me as being an effort to make online poker more like offline (or live) poker, to try and make playing online feel less geeky and solitary.

Do you play on the 3D sites? If so, how is it? Do you get distracted by the wittering avatars, or do they bring a much needed sense of realism to the game?