Learn to Play Poker Online

Monday, February 8, 2010

Learn to Play Poker Online

So; I have just written about my fun time playing online and thought I may as well write an immediate follow up article. Learn to play poker online! My prior blog about playing poker online for fun prompted me to think of almost a decade back – ok almost 7 years (wow I feel old) to when I first started learning. I played online for fun and boy did I learn a load!

Play Money! What better way to learn! No risk, no worry no fear is what learning is all about. Playing on a play money site can teach you a load accompanied with some strategy information from a site such as funandpoker.com or a forum such as the funandpoker forum where you CAN ask questions and people such as me or poker pro and veteran Robert Border will answer.

Many newbie poker players make fatal mistakes when they learn to play poker online for the first time! They play with real money having no clue on how the game works, how the poker software works or what to expect. They purchase poker strategy books which teach them to play the way ONE person plays rather than learning their own game and well; they fail. This failure costs them a lot of money which could have been used for a bankroll to fund their online poker account to learn to play poker online. Let me give you a classic example of a loser! -> ME

My first year of playing poker I hit the play money tables but thought I would also hit the real money ones and purchase a library of books! BIG MISTAKE! I should have played on play money cash tables, gone in freeroll tournaments, been involved in a forum and read non biased and straight shot poker strategy online. This mistake cost me $1200USD in my first months of poker! I, alike others learnt the hard way. Hopefully I am prompting you to do it easy!

Learn to play online poker the right way:

Find a great poker site with various play money games and freerolls and stick with it! This will ensure when you switch to real money you have a grasp of the software operations and can concentrate on your game.

Become a great community member on a forum, don’t pretend you know it all, be prepared to ask what may even sound to YOU as a stupid question. One of my questions was why am I not getting cards? ;)

Read free online strategy, start with the rules and work your way up. There are beginners to advanced strategy across a wide range of sites. You don’t have to pay for books, at a beginner’s level that’s insane!

Play poker! Play, play and play. Relax, kick back, chat, enjoy and play. Again, risk free!

Jot down any big issues you have with the game of poker that you are playing (Holdem, Omaha, Razz etc) and ASK, RESEARCH and RE-TRY.

Learning to play poker online can be very different than playing live so even if you are switching to online play, take some of my advice. Even the software functionality and features can give you an edge if you use them properly. I have attached a play money lobby screenshot so you can view the multitude of games and tournaments available, there’s no missing out on a friendly learning game anymore.