Online poker guide - Beginner's guide to playing poker
This short guide will give you a basic
understanding of the game of poker and introduce
you to a few different variations of poker, all
of which share some basic similarities.
The aim of poker is to win money from the other
people you playing with by betting on the cards
that you are dealt.
Poker follows this basic format:
* Players are dealt a hand of cards, some or all
of which are concealed.
* Bets are made on the strength of the cards in
rounds of betting.
* The hands develop as more cards are dealt.
* Finally the strongest hand wins a showdown or
all players but one have folded.
One of the most important things to know is the
ranking of poker hands. These are the same in
all poker. If you don’t know what strength of
hand you have then you can’t confidently bet on
it.
Poker uses a standard pack of 52 cards with the
jokers removed. The ace is usually high but
there are some hi/lo games where it can be
either high or low and used at either end of a
straight.
The game moves around the table clockwise, and
each player must act in turn. The dealer is
changed each hand, again moving clockwise, this
is usually represented in online poker games by
a ‘dealer button’. Position is important and it
is more advantageous to sit to the right of the
dealer (“late position”), this way you can
collect more information on the other players’
hands before you have to act yourself. However
as the dealer changes with each hand every
player gets the chance to sit in the more
advantageous positions.
The two players to the left of the dealer both
place blind bets to get the pot started. These
are often a small blind, for the player
immediately next to the dealer, and a big blind
for the player to the left of them. These blind
bets get everyone interested and each player
must then decide whether he wants to continue.
If he does he must place a bet equal to the big
blind in order to continue in the hand. With
each turn you have the option to check, bet,
call or raise. Players can fold if they like but
relinquish their right to claim the pot.
Additional cards are dealt at the end of each
round of betting depending on the game you are
playing. As players raise the bets the others
have to call to equalize the stake or they can
re raise if they want. Some games have limits to
the number and value of bets etc, others have no
limits.
Players are only allowed to use the chips in
play at the beginning of a hand. You are not
allowed to get extra funds in the middle of a
hand. You are however free to get more chips
between hands.
The specifics of what happens at each betting
round depend on the individual poker game rules.
If you’re a beginner start with low stake, limit
games to help you learn the game without losing
too much money. Once you’ve learnt the game you
can then begin to move up to higher stake games
and tournaments.
Bluffing is misleading your opponents into
thinking that you have a hand different and
usually stronger than the one you actually hold.
This is a vital part of poker. If the best hand
always won, then poker would be a simple game of
chance. The keys to being a winning poker player
are strategy and bluffing …knowing when to play
hands to begin with, and using your judgment to
gauge when to push ahead with a less than ideal
hand to bluff the other players out of the pot.
