How to play online poker
Millions of poker players around the world dream of hitting a high-stakes pot worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at an online poker game. As the popularity of poker continues to improve, more poker players are making that dream come true. However, even the best poker players today had to start somewhere, and most began by learning how to play poker online.
Learning Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular internet poker game, and if you are interested in learning how to play online poker, chances are you are specifically interested in the game of Texas Hold’em. Texas Hold’em is developed in the following steps:
Players to the left of the dealer post a big blind and a small blind. The small and big blinds are mandatory bets that must be placed to start a game of Texas Hold’em. The big blind is the minimum bet amount, while the small blind is usually half that amount.
Two hole cards are dealt to each player. Keep your hole cards to yourself and you will refer to them later in the round.
The first round of betting will resume with the player remaining from the small blind. You can check, place your own bet, match the previous player’s bet, or lose by folding.
The first three community cards dealt are called the flop and then a second bet is made.
The fourth community card, called the turn, is dealt face up and a third round of betting begins.
The last community card in the river is dealt and the last betting round follows.
Then a showdown occurs where the remaining players show their cards. You can combine your hole cards and community cards to make the best 5-card hand that corresponds to the standard poker hand ranking system.
Tips for learning to play online poker
Finding out the play structure of poker games like Texas Hold’em is just the tip of the iceberg. The real reward comes from learning how to get better at the game of poker through experience.
For example, play a couple of rounds of online poker and you will quickly discover how important your starting hand selection is. Receiving a good starting hand such as a pair of jacks, ace-queen, or king-jack can automatically improve your chances of winning by 15-20%. Eventually, the true test of your knowledge and understanding of poker will come from how you fare with mediocre or bad starting hands. Learning when to fold and how to get the most out of mediocre or bad hands in poker will make you an expert poker player.
You will also quickly realize the importance of table position when learning to play online poker. For example, you will always be able to make more informed poker decisions when you are one of the last players in the betting round because you have been able to see the actions of previous players. Betting positions rotate after each round of online poker, so you will eventually learn how to play online poker while keeping your position at the table, as well as the strength of your starting hand in mind.
You will not discover any variations of online poker in the first two rounds. Almost all online poker games are packed with strategy, mathematical odds, odds, and sheer luck, so there is almost always something new to learn from each round of online poker.