Learn How to Play Poker | Strategy, Terms & Betting

Are you new to poker and feel a bit overwhelmed by its seemingly complex rules?

We’re here to help you learn the basics so you can join millions of others playing this amazing game.

Find out more about:

• Different poker variations
• Hand rankings
• Game limits
• Buy-in rules
• Betting
• Raising

We promise that you’ll pick up poker in a jiffy, and then you can learn some strategies and work on mastering the game.

How to Play Poker for Beginners

To get a grasp of how to play poker, you must first start from the basics. Poker is played with a standard 52-card pack. In general, poker is a one-pack game, but nowadays almost everyone plays with two packs to speed up the game.

If you happen to sit on a poker table that utilises two packs, the procedure is as follows:

• While the croupier deals one pack, the other is reshuffled and prepared for the next deal;
• During the card dealing, the previous croupier gathers all cards, shuffles them, and places them to the left;
• When the round finishes, the next dealer takes the shuffled deck and starts dealing the cards for the next round.

In most poker games in which two packs are used, the dealer’s left-hand opponent cuts the pack, as opposed to the right-hand opponent which is standard for a one-pack game.

Poker Strategy Resources

If you want to take your poker game to the next level, we have a great range of strategy guides for both the beginner and advanced players listed below, take a look

Texas Hold’em Guide

Texas Hold’em is still by far the most popular poker variant in both online and land-based circles, which is why it’s our primary focus.

If you wish to learn everything about Texas Hold’em, from basic rules to different strategies, Top10PokerSites is the place to be.

Free Poker Academy

There are plenty of sharks out there, so you can’t survive as a fish for long. Our poker academy is here to teach you about all kinds of poker strategies used by some of the game’s top players.

How to act pre-flop, when to raise first, and how risky is double-barreling after the turn? We go over all sorts of scenarios and use plenty of examples to pinpoint the effectiveness of each strategy.

The best thing about our academy is that it’s absolutely free. You won’t have to pay a dime, yet you’ll gain invaluable knowledge that can earn you some serious dough once you hit the tables.

Patience is key! Some of these techniques can seem confusing at first, so learning them can be frustrating. But just keep grinding, and we promise your efforts will pay off.

Tips & Tricks to Play Poker Better

In the long term, poker is a 100% game of skill. With that in mind and with a proper strategy, you can win more than you lose. Here are a few tips that might help you get over the hump.

Glossary of Basic Poker Terms

If you’re a poker rookie, it’s important to learn the vocabulary of the game. Below, I’ve listed the most significant terms used in poker:

• Blinds — Before any card is dealt, two players (on the left of the dealer) are forced to put the blinds. The “small blind” is worth half the minimum betting amount and the player who puts it sits to the immediate left of the dealer. The “big blind” is worth the full amount of the minimum bet, and the player who puts it sits two places to the left of the dealer.
• Button — In casino games with a house dealer, a button is a marker that indicates the player who acts last on the deal. This plays a significant strategic role. It’s often synonymous with dealer.
• Hole cards — Also called “pocket” cards, hole cards are the first two cards dealt to each player.
• Community cards — Community cards are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared with all players. Players combine their private hands with community cards to form the strongest hand possible. Community cards are dealt after three actions — the flop, the turn, and the river.
• Flop — Flop refers to the first three face-up cards on the board.
• Kicker — This is also called a side card, and it’s used to break ties between hands of the same rank.
• Turn — The fourth community card in poker, dealt after the flop betting round.
• River — River is the last card dealt.
• Suited — When you have two cards of the same suit. “I had 7-8 suited”

These are the most commonly used poker terms. If you come across some words that are unfamiliar while playing poker, take a look at this guidebook that contains all the poker popular terminology & slang.

How to Play Poker Tournaments

Aside from a variety of poker games and betting variations, there are also different game formats. It’s of the paramount significance to understand the differences. The two main formats of playing poker are cash games and tournaments.

Here are the main differences in poker tournament play and cash games:

• Cash games are always played on one table. Tournament games can be played on multiple games.
• In cash games, players exchange money for chips, and there are a minimum and a maximum buy-in amounts, depending on the stakes. In tournaments, all players receive the same amount of chips.
• In cash games, players can quit at any given moment and exchange the chips for cash. Tournaments end when only one player remains. Players are paid depending on their placement in the tournament.
• In cash games, the blinds remain the same, and they depend on the stake. In tournaments, the cost of the blinds increases, usually every 15 minutes.
• If you lose all the chips in a cash game, you can buy in and continue playing. In tournament games, if you lose chips, you’re out.

Clearly, there are some fundamental differences between tournaments and cash games and you can learn more about them in our top Poker Tournaments page

How Does Betting Work in Poker?

Learning how betting works in poker is essential. After all, poker is a game of chip management. In one poker hand, there will be one or more instances in which players can place bets on their hands. The goal is to minimise losses with lousy hands and to maximise profits with good hands. Of course, that’s easier said than done, but it is the core principle of betting in poker.

Before the cards are dealt, each player is required to put an initial contribution, called an “ante” Depending on the position, the ante is worth one of two chips.

After the initial cards are dealt, the first betting interval begins. A player is allowed to bet one or more chips. Then, each player on the left has three choices:

• Call — put the same amount of chips on the pot as the player who placed the initial bet;
• Raise — put more chips on the pot than the player who placed the initial bet;
• Fold — forfeit the round by deciding to put no chips on the pot.

When a player folds, they lose only the ante. Unless you’re willing to put into a pot at least as many chips as the preceding player, you’re out of betting until the next deal.

Poker Sites to Practice Your Skills

Apart from explaining the game and providing tips on how to win, we’ll also share a list of sites that we think are the best places to play online poker for real money.

These sites are hand-picked by our poker experts, who have spent the last couple of decades playing on various online platforms. They know how to spot a worthwhile poker room by looking at key performance indicators such as:

• Software quality
• Player traffic
• Rake
• Range of games
• Number of freerolls and tournaments
• Player promotions, and more

The most important thing to remember is that all poker sites we recommend are perfectly safe to join. Just choose a poker room from one of our lists, sign up, download the client (if necessary), establish a bankroll, and start winning!

My list of the best poker sites which I consider to be the best rooms to play in 2024:

Poker Blog

Our blog is where you can keep expanding your poker knowledge by reading through various interesting topics regarding terminology, myths, controversies, trends, legality, and more.

Conclusion

There are those who believe that poker is simply a game of chance and that skill plays a minor role in it. Well, they couldn’t be more wrong. In the long run, poker is 100% a game of skill. Luck plays a short-term role in poker and, in order to become a long-term money winner in this game, you have to be a patient student.

Hopefully, this guide will kick-start your journey to becoming a poker player who makes tons of money on professional tournaments and cash games. Should there be any poker issues that need to be clarified, please contact me in the comment section below.

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