Site Contents
Learn To Play Poker:
Online Poker Bonuses:
News:
World Poker:
Poker Articles:
© HTTP 2012
Playing poker on the internet can be lots fun and its even better when you win. How To Play Poker contains all the help and advice you need to take you from a complete beginner or intermediate to a well rounded winning player.
So let’s learn to play starting with the basic rules. Hand rankings lists the different value of hands in poker from strongest to weakest and gives a definition of each. The blinds section explains how the forced pre-flop bets in poker work.
Poker Headlines
Pius Heinz Wins 2011 WSOP
The 2011 World Series Of Poker main event has been won by 22 year old German pro Pius Heinz. The PokerStars sponsored pro became the first player ever from Germany to win the main event title scooping a massive $8.7 million is the process.
Online Poker Back In The USA
US poker players may be allowed to start playing online poker again next year. The state of Nevada will begin accepting licence applications for online poker sites in February 2012. For more information click here.
Full Tilt Poker Close To Being Sold
Poker Site Full Tilt which has been closed since June 2011 looks soon to be sold to French company Groupe Bernard Tapie. This is pending approval by the US Department Of Justice, the price of the sale is rumoured to be around $80 million.
Poker Players Alliance Backs Native American Tribes in Future Legislation of Online Poker
Speaking at the recent Senate Committee hearing on Indian Affairs, PPA chairman Alfonse D’Amato voiced his support for Indian tribes playing a role in any future online poker legislation. D’Amato stated the PPA would like to see Indian tribal gaming companies take on roles as both licensed online poker operators, partners and affiliates.
PokerStars 10 Year Anniversary
PokerStars are currently running loads of special promotions to celebrate their 10th year of running. These promotions include huge prize pool freeroll tournaments, new cash game leaderboard prizes, trivia tournaments and live event entry packages. These promos are running now and will continue through December 2011.
The Rules Of Poker
In Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker which are the two most popular forms of poker today (especially in online poker) they play with a deck of 52 cards using no jokers.
Here’s what all the letters and colours represent:
Ace - A, King - K, Queen - Q, Jack - J, Ten - T
Suit = Spades, Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs, Suited = The same suit
Rank = The value of the card (lowest to highest) - 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T J Q K A
In a standard deck of cards the hearts and diamonds are red, and the spades and clubs are both black. To make it clearer here we have written the diamonds in blue and the clubs in green so each suit can be identified uniquely. This is also an option when playing poker online, it makes it must easier and quicker to see what suits the cards are, especially when you are playing more than one table at a time.
Hand Rankings
The first rules of poker you should learn is the hand rankings. Once you have learned the rules for how different hands in poker are ranked you will be to judge better for yourself the relative strength of your hand compared to what your opponents may have and how best to play your hand. In general, the higher up this list your hand is, the more you should be willing to bet and call with it.
1 Royal Flush: Ace King Queen Jack Ten all the same suit A K Q J T
2 Straight Flush: Like a royal flush but it can be any five in a row suited 4 5 6 7 8
3 Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank K K K K 7
4 Full House: Three of a kind and a pair 8 8 8 5 5
5 Flush: Five cards in any order all the same suit A Q 9 7 4
6 Straight: Five cards of any suit in a row Q J T 9 8
7 Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank Q Q Q J 8
8 Two Pair: Two pairs of cards of the same rank A A Q Q 7
9 One Pair: One pair of cards of the same rank A A K J 8
10 High Card: None of the above hands A Q 9 5 2
The higher the rank of the cards, the stronger the hand e.g. A pair of Kings beats a pair of Jacks, a Queen high flush beats a nine high flush and a Ten high straight beats an Eight high straight. After a short time playing you will learn how to judge the relative strength of your hand against what your opponents hands much better. This will help you work out if you have the best or worst hand and is a key skill in poker.
The Blinds
This is a fairly simple area of the rules of poker which will become very clear when you first start playing but it’s important to understand.
The blinds are basically bets that players are forced to make before each hand begins to ensure there is money in the pot at the start of each hand for the players to compete for. In most forms of poker including Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hold’em two players are required to post a blind each hand called the big blind and the small blind. The big blind is usually double the amount of the small blind. So for example if the small blind is 50c then the big blind would be $1. There are also times where what’s known as an ante must be put into the pot by each player every hand regardless of if they are posting a blind or not. This increases the size of each pot and has the effect of creating more action in the game, it also effectively raises the stakes of the game. In cash games the size of the blinds and antes stay the same no matter how long the game goes on for but in a tournament they gradually increase over time at pre-determined intervals such as every 15 minutes. This is to ensure the tournament doesn’t for too long.
Variations Of Poker
These are the various different types of poker games played most today both in live games and online including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud and Draw. Here we explain how the rules differ for these types of poker games.
Texas Hold'em
Texas Hold’em is certainly the most popular variation of poker currently being played online, in home games and in casinos. Texas Hold'em is played with between 2 and 10 players. This poker game is very common all over the world due to it’s fairly simple rules and is usually the first type of poker a person learns when first starting in the game. A hand in Texas Hold'em has four rounds of betting. In a hand of Texas Hold’em players receive two cards dealt face down (their pocket or hole cards) then five community cards are dealt face-up which all players are able to use to improve their hand. The player who is the last one in the hand after all others have folded their cards or the one who has the best five-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot. Texas Hold’em can be played using either the no limit, fixed limit or pot limit betting variants with no limit being by far the most popular type played today. Fixed limit used to be more popular but in recent years it has lost out to No Limit. Fixed Limit is often said to be a science and No Limit an art, No Limit certain gives you much more freedom and opportunities to vary your play including bluffing. Basically you get to express yourself more whereas Fixed Limit is a bit like Blackjack, there's usually one correct play to make and you could programme a computer to play an optimum winning strategy. Another big reason for the surge in popularity of No Limit is it makes a far better game to watch on TV which has been used to great effect in getting more people interested in poker.
Omaha
Omaha or to give it it’s full name, Omaha Hold’em is a variation of poker which has been commonly played in Europe for a long time but in recent has become popular throughout the world and especially online. Again it can be played with as few as 2 players or as many as 10. The basic structure of the game is the same as Texas Hold’em with four betting rounds. The biggest difference is each player’s dealt four hole cards instead of just two. The five community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table which all players can use. Players must use only 2 (no more and no less) of their hole cards and 3 community cards to make their best 5 card hand. Variations of Omaha include Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and Fixed Limit Omaha, these are both forms of Omaha Hi where simply the highest ranking 5 card hand wins. Omaha 8 or better and Omaha Hi-Lo use the same basic game structure as Hi but instead of the highest ranking hand winning the whole pot, it is split in half with one part going to the high hand as usual and the other going to the lowest. The lowest ranked 5 card hand possible is the wheel:
A 2 3 4 5. Both Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo can be played in fixed and pot limit variations.
Five Card Draw
Draw poker is one of the oldest forms of the game and was popular in the Wild West. A game of five card draw is played by between 2 and 5 players. The hand starts with all players being dealt 5 cards face down after which there is a round of betting. There are no community cards used in draw, instead after the first betting round of betting the players remaining in the hand are given the chance to discard any of their cards they don’t want and get dealt new replacement ones. This is to try and improve their 5 card hand. After this there's another betting round then if there are still two or more players in the hand they go to a showdown where the best five card hand wins.
Seven Card Stud
Seven-Card Stud has traditionally been played more in the USA but with the online poker boom of recent years it’s now played more worldwide. Stud is played between 2 to five players. The reason some poker games can only be played by a maximum of five players is there are only 52 cards in a deck so there are only so many cards to go around, also you don’t want each hand to take too long. The betting in Stud requires an ante from each player before they are dealt their initial first 3 cards, this is followed by betting after each additional round of cards are dealt. In Seven Card Stud each player gets 3 cards dealt face down and 4 face up which all other players can see. Out of their 7 cards players try to make the best five card hand to win the pot. Variations include Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo, also called Stud 8 or better (S8B). In Hi-Lo players try to make the best high 5 card poker hand to win the high pot, or the best low hand to win the low pot.
The Rise and Rise of Online Poker
Real money online poker has come a long way since its beginnings in the late 1990’s, things really took off when Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP main event in 2003 triggering the poker boom. The reason this had such an effect on the popularity of online poker was because Moneymaker was just an average guy who won his entry into the event through an online qualifier at PokerStars turning $40 into a massive $1.5 million. Previously the title of World Series Of Poker Main Event Champion had been exclusive to top professional poker players. Seeing that a recreational player could go from playing for a few dollars online to winning the biggest prize in the game inspired millions of people across the globe to get online and play. The popularity of poker also grow thanks to the success of the film Rounders which stared Matt Damon.
Since then Moneymakers success has been replicated a number of times with amateurs winning the main event title regularly. Online poker has continued to grow massively over the last few years based on its own merits and convenience. Players no longer have to travel to a casino to play, instead you can play from the comfort of your own home, you can also sit at multiple table at once. You pay less rake than at the casinos, you have a wider choice of stakes and games to play, and you can play anytime you want 24/7.
Although people in the USA are not currently allowed to play poker online the industry still continues to grow throughout the rest of the world with poker showing great popularity throughout Asia, Russia, South America and many other countries. This combined with the promising signs that online poker may be returning to the USA very soon means the future looks bright for the internet game.
Choosing which poker site to play on can be a big factor in determining how much success you have and how much fun you have playing. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a site including how good the sites software is, how good the other players are and if the site is offering any kind of bonus deals. Here at How To Play Poker we try out loads of different poker sites to find out what all their strengths and weaknesses are and see which are really the best. We also work hard to get you the best possible bonus offers which you wouldn’t normally find.
For new players who want to learn how to play online poker all the poker terms and phrases can seem very confusing and even a little intimidating. Our poker dictionary explains all these terms in simple, easy to understand English. Having access to this list of terms and phrases will make learning how to play the game of poker much simpler and easier to understand.
To get a great 30% Rakeback deal when you join PKR click the PKR Rakeback banner at the top of the page. This is by far the best sign up deal available with PKR Poker.
Can’t Deposit Money at a Site?
You can still sign up to sites for just a play money account for free and then enter Freeroll’s to win REAL money. Sites like PKR and PokerStars run loads of Freeroll’s everyday! This can be a great risk free way to play poker online.
In our Poker Tips section we give you important tips and advice on how to profitably play poker. There are certain mistakes in poker that lot’s of players make which cause them to needlessly lose money and enjoy the game less. By learning how to avoid these common errors you will avoid any stress from playing poker which will allow you to fully enjoy the game as it should be, making a nice profit while you play. There’s a lot of bad players out there and making money from online poker can be easier than you think.
Real Money Facebook poker
Real money poker games could be coming to Facebook in 2012. The owners of the social network site Facebook are currently in talks with existing poker sites like 888 and PokerStars with a view to offering real money games to its users. Facebook already offers play money poker.
PokerStars Granted a Gaming License for Denmark
The online poker site PokerStars has just obtained a gaming license to operate in Denmark. They will begin operating from the beginning of January 2012 giving Danes the opportunity to join the millions of players who already play at Stars.