Play Poker

Start Playing Poker – A Guide for Beginners

The chances are that by now, you’ve probably become almost familiar with the game of poker without even realising it. It’s a good bet that one or two work colleagues meet up to play regularly, or some of your friends have made a few dollars playing the game online.

You may even have seen the game being played in your own home. Poker is grabbing more TV time than ever before as the most famous faces in poker slowly but surely become household names.

You may even have considered playing the game yourself, but simply didn’t like the idea of having to lose some of your hard-earned money while you learned the rules.

By following our comprehensive guide for beginners, you’ll soon have the rules of poker firmly embedded to memory so you can join in with the poker revolution whenever you’re ready. We’ll even show you where to play for nothing while you learn!

The most popular version of the game by far is called Texas Hold Em – There are other versions of the game such as Omaha, 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw. While these are good games in themselves, we recommend learning Texas Hold Em first as this is the version you will see played on the TV and it will provide you with a good reference point while you learn how to play.

Texas Hold Em takes place at a table with a varying number of players. In real-life games that you see on TV, this is normally six although you could be playing with up to nine other players at any one time at an online site.

All players start with an equal amount of chips and these are used to bet with depending on the strength of the hand of cards each player has. The object of the game is to be the last remaining player at the table having won everybody else’s chips.

Everyone is dealt a single card and the player who draws the highest card is designated as the dealer. He is given a button, similar to a chip, that his placed at the table in front of him to show he is the dealer. After each round of poker, the button moves around from player to player in a clockwise direction so every body has a turn to deal.

The cards are gathered up, and before play begins the two players sitting to the left of the dealer must place a blind each. A blind is a set amount of money designed to generate betting.

The player to the immediate left of the dealer posts a small blind and the player to his immediate left posts a big blind that is double the amount of the small blind. At the start of a game these are small amounts but the size of the blinds increase at fixed intervals of time to increase the intensity of the game. The game is now ready to begin.

Each player is dealt two ‘hole’ cards. These are dealt face down and once everybody has their cards, they are allowed to look at their cards without other players seeing what they have been dealt. Betting starts with the player to the immediate left of the big blind. A player can meet the size of the big blind with his bet or raise it higher. Alternatively, he can fold his hole cards if he deems them to be too weak and is out of the game until the next round is dealt.

Betting continues until all remaining players have levelled the highest bet on the table. The dealer will then place three community cards in the middle of the table (The Flop) that can be used with the hole cards to produce as strong a hand as possible. Because five community cards will be eventually dealt in total, a player must keep in mind that he has to produce the best five-card hand possible from a total of seven.

Another round of betting takes place until the pot is levelled, then a further single card is placed with the other community cards (The Turn) and players go through a further round of betting based on the total of six cards they have to play with.

A final card (The River) is dealt into the community cards and a final round of betting takes place. Any remaining player must then show their cards (The Showdown) and the player with the strongest hand wins the entire pot.

Hand strengths begin with a single high card and move progressively upwards with a pair, two pairs, three-of-a-kind, straight, flush, full house, four-of-a-kind, a straight flush and, finally, a royal flush.

A new round then begins with all players taking part again. The dealer button is moved one place to the left which subsequently rotates the blinds as well. The game continues until one player remains and he is declared the winner.

Many poker sites offer the chance to learn the game by offering play money accounts. This provides a wonderful opportunity to settle into the world of poker without having to risk a single buck of your own hard-earned cash. Sites such as Casino Euro Poker, Red Kings Poker and Pacific Poker even offer a no download version of their software to make things really easy for the new player that doesn’t want to fully commit to spending too much of his own money!