Poker is the most popular card game, which has many derivatives also known as poker variants. They are: Texas Holdem (and derivatives), Omaha Holdem (and derivatives), Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw, Razz, etc. In other words, poker is a large family of card games that usually have identical betting rules and, in most cases, share hand rankings. The difference between these poker games usually relies in how the cards are dealt, which (high or low) hand wins the pot in a showdown, they way hands may be formed and so on. Professionals say that its unique betting structure distinguishes poker from other gambling games. Wise people choose to play poker, because although the outcome of cards is determined by chance, skillful and experienced players always win in the long run.

Why Play Poker?

You don’t need supernatural powers to do extraordinary things. You can be just an average lad, just sufficiently motivated, to achieve your goals.

Besides of only enjoying the game, why people have to play poker for real money? This question is rhetorical for most people out there, but what about you? And why people choose to play free games, if they can go watch a football game, or hang out with their friends? In fact, each player has his own reasons to play poker, but in general, all these reasons can be divided into several groups. Most people play poker just for fun. Another group of players gathers around tables to communicate, make new friends and become a part of community and improve their social skills. A lot of players enjoy playing poker, because its unique structure presents an opportune game for mathematical and strategic analysis. In other words – poker is a really interesting and challenging intellectual game. Besides of this, large share of global poker auditory are real money players. Real money players can be also divided into several groups. These are: people who play poker time to time, players that earn at least 1\2 of their income at the table and poker professionals that become millionaires winning world poker tournaments such as WPT or WSOP.

How to play poker

In order to begin a successful player career, you need to patiently and carefully pass through several basic steps. Don’t start with advanced and expert poker guides and articles, because you can miss some of important basic concepts of the game. Choose one of popular games (for example – Texas Holdem) and start with its basic rules, learn basic strategies of the selected game and take enough time to read poker tips. Besides of this, you must know the difference between land-based card room games and online poker. There are certain differences in style of play, environment and applicable strategies, when you play poker online or in brick-and-mortar casinos.

Where to play poker

If you have decided to play poker online, then you will have to choose one or several poker rooms and register player accounts. Though there are hundreds of rooms out there, it is better to choose one (or several) rooms based on expert recommendations of reputable poker portals. The purpose of poker portals is real-time monitoring of top online poker rooms based on different criteria, which includes safety, security, quality of customer support, average skill level of the auditory, usability of the rooms’ software and subjective player rating.

Tip: remember, that just as it is only possible to become a skillful football player, playing against the strongest teams, it is only possible to become a strong and winning poker player, playing against the sharks (poker professionals).

Besides of this, you need to consider choosing an online poker room supporting your language and payment methods available in your region. For example, US residents can only make deposits in few US poker rooms.

Learn to play poker

If you are ready to begin your poker education, then you can start it by reading our step-by-step guide, completely dedicated to learning Texas Holdem, the most popular poker variant played in land-based casinos and online rooms across the world. Besides of this, you should consider reading other useful poker articles and professional tips available on this portal.

You can play poker for free

Unlike in land-based casinos, in online poker rooms it’s not necessary to pay in order to enjoy your favorite game. Online rooms recommended by our portal offer free poker (play money) games. However, you should remember that play money poker games are only suitable for the beginners and people who play poker just for fun. The point is that if you are planning to play poker for real money and become a winning professional, then you shouldn’t play free poker games, because strategies and tactics applied in play money games are completely different to those, applied in real money games, so therefore you can fall into bad habits of play money players and spend a lot of money and time to rebuild your vision of a game.

Meet you at the tables.

Sincerely, Ronald Norris

Also recommended:

1. Paying for Information in Texas Holdem
2. Play Money
3. Imperfect Information and Implied Odds in Holdem
4. Quantifying the Value of Information
5. Another Opportunity to Gather Information