Online poker is quite different from playing with your friends or in poker tournaments. It has some marvellous advantages over traditional poker. You can 'sit' at a table anytime and even more importantly you may leave at any time. Your opponents will be from a pool of many thousands of safe online poker gambling site players who 'sit' at tables at random. Sometimes you shall see the same 'faces' i.e. their pseudonyms. It's totally impersonal. In traditional poker you can actually take a dislike to some players as a result of their mode of play or their expressions etc. but in online poker you leave all those emotions behind you.

There's a notion around that playing online poker exposes you to fraud. I think this really is false.
People at your table don't know you and it is unlikely you know them. Two people cannot play from the exact same computer. The exchange platform will not allow it. You are playing for yourself only. I think it will be impossible for two people to 'rig' a game. Assume two people were in contact by mobile device. What information can they give except what is in their own hands. They cannot see yours or anyone else's. Should they attempted to raise the stakes that may be their undoing if someone else has a red hot hand! And after that think of the expense of the phone calls.

Online poker (or any poker for that matter) is just not for fools. You need to focus on what you are doing. In the event that you are in a penny ante game (and you will discover plenty on the betting exchange) learning the way to play poker then treat that game as if you were in a 'big' money game. The guidelines are exactly the exact same as well as the strategies that work in small games will work in big games.

The most popular game is Texas Hold 'Em. While you probably are aware you are dealt two cards and after the first round of betting three cards are flopped by the computer. Everybody uses those cards in conjunction with their own to make the most effective five card hand. After the first three cards are flopped by the exchange computer there is yet another round of checking or betting. Then another card is flopped and another round of checking or betting follows. Finally the fifth card is flopped through the exchange computer as well as the final round of betting or checking takes place. The top hand will be the winner. The very best hand is determined by using a couple of cards through your hand and three or four cards from the table. In certain cases the cards on the table constitute the winning hand on their own and the pot is divided by the players remaining in the game.

Let's assume you know the typical rules of poker e.g. the rankings of hands - best hand a Royal Flush (10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of same suit) down to one pair or maybe if there is absolutely no pair then the hand with the highest ranking card from the Ace down. In Texas Hold 'Em I feel you should not play unless you are dealt a combination of cards from the 10 to the Ace or perhaps a pair. Of course if you were to rank those sets of two cards the very best set would be two Aces, then two Kings down to a pair of deuces. After them an Ace as well as a King are the best and after that an Ace and Queen, Ace and Jack, Ace and ten. Should you have an Ace and any other card they too are worth playing with. But if you want to be clinical about this game don't play at all until you get a combination as described above. Do not be tempted to play with two of a suit unless they are among the combinations described within this paragraph.

Bluffing is part of poker. There's no doubt about that. But I think it's less crucial in online poker. The main reason I take this view is this. Within the traditional game of poker you played the other players and also playing the game. You read their expressions and their body language. You may sense if a player was bluffing. This is not the situation with online poker. There are actually no faces and no body language. I have found that when people bet, and more importantly once they look at a bet, they usually have strong hands to back up their actions. You could occasionally try the short corner - if everybody has checked and there is only you and one other person left to check or bet then you could try a bluff. You only have one individual to fear since the other players might have bet if they had anything worthwhile. Of-course this is not always the case and folks who check might just be waiting for a bluffer to use. The only way you will find out is to try a bluff.

Poker, like fishing, requires a lot of patience. You cannot make cards win. You can't force your luck. Some days you will get cards that leave you second best on numerous occasions. Those will be the worst possible cards. You won't win every time you play but if you follow the simple rules above you will win a lot of the sessions. Stay calm and be patient. There is no use cursing at your computer!

How long should you play for

This really relies upon your stamina. Some players can play for many hours but I would advise everybody to take breaks. I think that after one hour you begin to lose your focus or get bored. Stop - sit out and take a break. Walk around the home, go to the loo or have a drink or snack. The cards will still be there whenever you come back. If you feel sleepy and it's getting late pack it in.

We have all seen the movies where the good poker players happen to be able to down their whiskies and still win. My advice is do not try this in front of your PC. Drinking alcohol slows down your thought processes. Of-course drinking alcohol may have a relaxing effect but over indulging could make you make wrong decisions. I sometimes play after dinner having had a couple of glasses of wine but in general I would advocate not drinking alcohol at all prior to playing poker.