As a gambler of vast experience who has been playing long before online gambling was even possible I will now share my expertise with you.

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

There's a notion out there that playing online trusted poker online exposes you to fraud. I think this is false.
The individuals at your table do not 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 would be impossible for two people to 'rig' a game. Assume two people were in contact by smart phone. What information can they give except what is within their own hands. They can't see yours or anyone else's. Whenever they attempted to raise the stakes which could be their undoing if a person else has a red hot hand! And then think of the price of the phone calls.

Online poker (or any poker for that matter) isn't for fools. You need to focus on what you are doing. In the event you are in a penny ante game (and you can find 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 and the strategies that work in small games will continue to work in big games.

The most common game is Texas Hold 'Em. While you probably are aware you are dealt two cards and after the very first round of betting three cards are flopped through the computer. Everyone uses those cards in conjunction with their own to make the very best five card hand. After the very 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 most effective hand will be the winner. The very best hand is dependent upon using one or two cards from your hand and three or four cards from the table. In some 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 if perhaps there is no pair then the hand with the highest ranking card from the Ace down. In Texas Hold 'Em I feel you must not play unless you are dealt a combination of cards from the 10 to the Ace or a pair. Of-course if you were to rank those sets of two cards the very best set could be two Aces, then two Kings down to a pair of deuces. After them an Ace and also a King are the best and then an Ace and Queen, Ace and Jack, Ace and ten. Should you have an Ace and some other card they too are worth playing with. But if you want to be clinical concerning this game do not 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 one of the combinations described in this paragraph.