Beginners Guide - An Introduction

Thanks for taking the time to visit our beginners guide to playing poker.

It is only in recent years that the ease of which people can play online poker has become so popular on the internet. Many actually believe that online poker only kicked off when we witnessed the start of the boom of the internet game. The truth is that poker online has been about for some time, it’s just that not everyone knew about it.

The emergence of televised events such as the World Series of Poker and more recently the World Poker Tour, this was the perfect momentum to turn a popular game in parts of America into one of the most popular games worldwide. Televised events have soared in popularity as the producers of the WPT and WSOP events took the decision to use cameras to show the public the hole cards (cards in hand). This really had an enormous effect on the public and they really took to it. It is a decision that really made sense as to involve the audience more. You can see their point – it doesn't quite have the same drama if you don’t know who is holding what!

Believe it or not there are hundreds of different poker games that you can play but only a few really popular ones. For the purpose of the guide I will sing to the masses and stick with the most popular of them all - Texas Hold’em.

Hold’em – The Game

The numbers of players at a table can vary from two (heads up – one against one) up to 10 players (generally). Each player at the table is initially dealt 2 hole cards. These are the cards that only the player will see – they remain hidden for the duration of the hand.

The objective of Hold'em is to make the best possible 5 card poker hand. Now as you have only been dealt 2 cards, you initially only have these cards to work with and must decide whether to continue in the hand. This is probably a good point to mention the blinds. Imagine a table where everyone sits down and gets their 2 hole cards – they don’t like them and they throw them away – players could potentially just keep doing this until they hit two really big cards which they would play and be in much better shape to win the hand. To ensure that there is an incentive in every pot (and in every hand), there are 2 mandatory bets that have to be made called the big blind and the small blind. A dealer button is used on any poker table to indicate who is on the big and small blind. When the game starts, the dealer will deal everyone a card face up and based on the value of the card will determine who is first to be on the big and small blinds. After this the dealer button will move round the table clockwise so that everyone is treated equal and pays 1xbig blind and 1 x small big blind per round.

So after the first two cards being dealt, each player has to determine whether they want to play. The decision to play would at this stage be based on the strength of these 2 cards alone. As a minimum, to stay in the hand you must match the amount on the table, in this case it would be the value of the big blind assuming that no one had raised the pot up.

If you wanted to get away from the hand you would simply fold and throw (not literally) your cards to the dealer to indicate that you no longer wish to play in the hand.

For all the player that are in the hand and have matched the biggest bet by any one person, three cards are dealt in the center (face up) of the table, called the flop which are cards available to all players (known as community cards). There is usually a burn card dealt first - this is a card face down which dealt face down at the left of the flop. Once the flop is dealt you will have a better idea of how strong your hand is as you will now have 5 cards (3 on the flop and 2 in your hand). There is another round of betting and then a fourth community card is dealt, called the turn card (again burning a card before you deal this card). Now you will have 6 cards to choose the best 5 card hand. It may be you will not have made your hand already, but you should have a better idea of what cards that you need to catch to make your hand. This will help you make the decision on whether to call a bet (match the betting amount), raise the pot of fold.

After another round of betting, the fifth and final community card is dealt and one further round of betting.

The idea is to stay in the hand if you believe the best 5 card poker hand. After the final round of betting there is the showdown and the person with the best 5 card poker hand wins the pot (all the money that has been bet by all players in the hand).

Poker Objectives

The objectives are simple - win with the worst cards and win with the best cards. The beauty of poker is that unlike more traditional forms of gambling (casino games) and sports betting, poker is a game of skill. Yes, luck helps, but you don't need the best hand to win the pot so it stands to reason that a great deal depends on your actions and your betting amounts as to whether someone will fold. Remember, if someone has a big hand that they believe is best, they will not fold so you must bet amounts that only tests whether they have the best hand.