To answer question 1- you don't usually give the sites your credit card directly. You can go through a paypal-type middle man which makes it safer and easier. I've used FirePay and have had no issues.

Most of the bigger sights seem to be very reputable- ultimatebet (where I play) has a some big names from the poker world endorsing it, so there would be a lot to lose if they started playing fast and loose with people's money.

UB has been very good about refunding money when technical issues arise (a tournement freezes midway through) except for recently- they just did somekind of server upgrade and have been swamped with technical issues. This, in turn, has made them slow with responding to emails and such. So I'm actually trying other sites until they get things straightened out. So far I've tried FullTilt (which I hated) and PartyPoker (which was OK). I've had such good experience with UB that I'll be back as soon as it's all working and stable again.

The one issue that always comes up is random number generation. There are ALWAYS players complaining when cards fall against improbably odds, not realizing that if you play enough hands, the improbable is certain to happen. From what I've read, some sites are better than others about random number generation- though I have to believe that by this point most of them would have it figured out by now. If you want a real interesting read, go to www.ultimatebet.com and read about the way they do random number generation. It's pretty cool (I can't link a "gambeling" site from work so you'll have to find it on your own).

It would be very cool, however, to play some games with empeggers if anybody was ever interested. I've played a few games with people at work and it's always more fun that way.

One thing I will say to those who might be interested in casual play- the "play money" games are NOT FUN AT ALL. Don't even waste your time. Best case is that they will teach you how to play the game very badly and you'll lose a lot of money if you ever trying playing in a real money game with those bad habits.