Poker is a wonderful hobby and an engaging form of entertainment. Although many times in the past you may have found that you wanted to but were dewapokerqq not close enough to a casino to just hop in your car and run on in to take a seat at the poker table. This is where online poker gaming comes into the picture. Online poker is an increasingly popular way of playing poker from within the confines and comfort of your own home.
As you are able to play many different types of poker games at casino establishments, online poker websites also make this type of variety with regard to poker games available to its poker players. Playing poker online via an online poker website is different in a few ways from playing in a physical casino environment. It is important to focus on those differences thereby enabling yourself to make the decision of whether or not playing poker card games online is the right option for you.
Have you heard is a lot of fun? Indeed poker has a perfect combination of a social friendly circle or club versus battling wits and adrenalin of winning. When getting started with poker some people rush out to deposit a considerable sum at a biggest online site they can find. They usually quickly lose their deposit, sour on the game and leave. There is a better way and it is more fun. Instead I recommend starting at any quality free online poker sites. There are many out there to choose from.
Learn Poker Rules
While poker rules are simple, the game is fairly fast paced. Usually you have less than 30 sec to make a move. Thus it is critical to be able to quickly grasp at least what cards you have, how they combine with community cards and all different ways you can win. Do you want to learn all that when you have your real, hard earned dollars on the table? Perhaps you do. As for me – that would make me nervous and where is fun in that? Free multiplayer poker sites, where you play against other people online, are perfect for learning these basic poker rules. You will learn them with no pressure and no hit to your wallet.
Do Not Be a Patsy
There are reasons why many sites encourage you to make a cash deposit as soon as possible. The most important one is to bring new money into the game. Poker is a zero sum game. That is what someone won someone else must have lost. New inexperienced players are called “fish” or “patsy” in poker parlance. Good players purposely seek them out. Poker is a game of skill after all. The better you skills are the better and more consistent your payday is. You are certainly not a patsy. Since you are reading this article you are already ahead of 90% of poker newbies. You have mastered poker basics on safe play money poker sites for free. So when you are ready to play for real cash you enter the game with some confidence. You are not intimidated or confused by a strict dealer and quick pace at casino tables.
Learn What Not to Do
Some poker experts believe it is detrimental for your poker skills to train on free, that is play money, poker sites. They explain that when there is no real money on the line players modify their behavior. In other words players have no fear of losing their money and become maniacs raising every hand just to see what happens. I agree with that observation. Play money sites often feature reckless, hyper aggressive even maniacal players who never stop for an instant to think what they are doing. Well, they are easy to beat if you have a minimal discipline and not engage in the same over the top playing style.
Poker has what is called a perfect strategy – strategy which guarantees to win the most over the long term regardless of what cards you are dealt. The closer your play to perfect strategy the bigger your edge becomes. Think of it this way – if you cannot beat a free poker game, why do you think you would prosper in cash game where players, on average, are much more competent? Make sense? This way of thinking goes further. When you can consistently beat a free poker game, it is a solid indication that you are ready to move up.
Observe and Adapt
There are at least three fundamental skills you must learn before you go on a roll in Las Vegas. Obviously learn the cards. That is understand how cards combine into winning combinations in Texas Holdem poker. How different combinations rank against each other. Most of the players you will encounter do know that. But those hours you spent online will pay off there. Since you played for free you could afford playing more hands. More practice made you faster and more comfortable running card combinations in your mind. The other two skills are being observant and adapting to current playing style. What is there to observe online you might ask? Even in online poker you can observe a lot. Watch how much time your opponents take to respond.
Make mental notes how they respond to different situations. Discern patterns in their play. It sounds like a lot of work. That is because it is but so is walking. You do not consider walking hard because you learned it once and it became you nature through constant practice. It works the same with poker skills. Finally, adapting means adjusting your game to take maximum advantage of specific individuals seated at your specific table now. You cannot play mechanically applying “best practice” rules like raise with your good cards and fold your junk cards. I want you to do better than that. Here your sharp observation starts bearing fruit.
You will notice that a raise from maniac means a lot less that a raise from a tight, cautious player. Betting out into four players after a raise on previous round says a lot more that an automatic bet on the flop. You have to adjust your play by loosening up and tightening down as opportunities come and go. There is one thing I learned well – playing poker is fun and playing is the important thing. But playing and winning is even more fun. Spend a little time preparing then you can enter on your own terms and be a dangerous opponent not a fish.
Where to Go Online
This is a brief section because the answer is easy. Find a site with Fixed Limit and No Limit poker which loads fast and its graphics are functional but sparse. I find that many gambling themed sites are heavy on flashy in-your-face graphics which confuse me and turn me off. You want to avoid those and seek out poker rooms where graphics are simple, functional and basically “get-out-of-the-way” for you to focus on poker. You have plenty of choices from feature-rich, downloadable software by large commercial online cardrooms with an excellent support for Windows and Mac. On the other end of spectrum is free software playable in a web browser. Such no download clients still offers full-featured Texas Holdem poker yet playable even on iPad or smartphone.
Where to Learn Poker Strategy
The pointers I gave in this article are only bare basics that get you started on the right foot in poker. However there is plenty more if you wish to improve your game. Depending on your personal way to learn and how you digest information you can go one of the two ways. Either spend a lot of time on poker forums interacting with fellow new players and learning via social group.
It can be fun and pretty motivating but be prepared to spend some time. Another way is buying a book and really working through it. For the best value I recommend Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller and David Sklansky. The book is solid, methodical yet readable and covers all aspects of winning in poker.
Enough Talk – Go On and Play Some Poker
Now it is time to put everything into an actionable plan. Here is how I recommend you to proceed. Start out by playing poker for free online. After you have learned the rules buy a book. Read it once. Play more poker while staying observant. Think of the hands you played after the game is over. You will automatically return to the book. Reading it second time will not be boring at all because you get deeper meaning based on your own experience at the tables. After you are beating a free game online you can pay a visit to your local casino and play some Limit Texas Holdem.
Starting out with No Limit is a sure way to lose your bankroll quickly. Continue on playing micro stakes online as well as low stakes in a casino. Inevitably there will be moments when you have lost control and made stupid mistakes. It is never wrong to go back to the previous level to rebuild confidence. Even poker pros do that often. Keep building you bankroll and saving for a trip to Vegas. I will see you there.
One way in which playing poker online and playing poker within a casino differs, relates to the betting limits which are imposed on the poker players. When playing poker online by way of an online poker website, the online poker player may not be required to put up as much money for an ante as the poker player that is playing this type of card game within the casino limits. This is one of the many advantages of playing poker in an online setting.
Many individuals just want to play poker for fun or to make a little spending cash perhaps and are wary of risking large amounts of money in the process. The various online poker websites will allow the prospective online poker player to bet smaller amounts of money than the casinos will at times. This is an attractive feature of the online poker websites. If you are looking to spend small amounts of money, this might be the type of gaming situation for you. If money is no object, then maybe you will prefer to go to a physical casino. However, keep in mind that certain online poker websites will host higher betting limits.
Another way in which playing poker on an online poker website differs from the casino atmosphere is the lack of other players in your physical vicinity. Casinos can make a person become a bit claustrophobic after awhile and if you are the type of individual that likes his or her own space, then online poker gambling on a poker gaming website might just be the answer. When you are playing poker online you are playing against other individuals; however, the upside to this is that you are not crowded in a small.
Stuffy area with those other players breathing down your neck, trying to get you to hurry up and make a move. Not only can this type of player behavior on the part of your peers be obnoxious but it can also make you decide to play in a way which you would not have done had you been given the time and space to think the move through. This is a definite plus to playing poker online as opposed to in a casino. If you are keen on the idea as well, then again, maybe online poker playing is your cup of tea.
A third way in which an online poker website may be right for you is if you enjoy excitement and would like to play more than one game at one time. By playing the poker game in an online setting, you are able to play more than one game at one time. This is not possible in a physical casino setting since the only way an individual could be playing at more than one table at one time would be if that person had really long arms, which is highly unlikely. Therefore, by utilizing online poker websites you are able to play two or three games at once. The choice is up to you. If you have the concentration skills to pull this off, then this would be another attractive detail that might pull you into playing in an online poker game setting.
A final way in which playing poker games via an online poker website might be right for you is if you want the convenience of not having to leave your home in order to enjoy some gaming entertainment. Online poker websites are extremely convenient for a number of reasons. First of all, you do not have to drive anywhere in order to play poker. You simply log on to the internet via your internet provider, connect with a specific online poker website and get down to business. A second reason why online poker websites are extremely convenient is that they allow you to jump right into a game without ever having to wait for a seat to open up.
Lastly, online poker websites are extremely convenient options for the avid poker player in that they enable you to pay money and collect money via a few quick touches of the keypad. Payment systems companies that act as a go between from online poker player to online poker website enable money to be transmitted quickly and efficiently from online poker player to online poker website thereby ensuring that either or both individual(s) are paid in a swift manner.
Online poker websites are a wonderful alternative to the casino businesses of the past. Not to say that casinos are out of date, this is just to provide an alternative to poker players that may be interested in checking out this different type of gaming avenue. If any of the aforementioned items seem of great interest to you, then maybe online poker playing is something that you should take a look at. It never hurts to give it a try. It may just be something that you are happy to have discovered and will change your impression of gambling forever.
