Learn to play online poker

The basics
It is fairly easy to learn to play Poker. It can be accomplished after playing a few rounds. In short, Poker is played with a standard, fifty-two card, deck of cards. There are some variations of poker that require either more than one deck, or at least the joker cards.
Each of the four suits in a pack has equal value. In each of these suits, the cards range from an ace to a king. The ace can be valued as either higher than the king or less than the two. A wild card, or joker, can be used to substitute any suit or rank of card. In some instances, the joker will be the wild card, in others, the wild card will be determined by the game.

How to bet in poker
Poker is the most popular game of luck, chance and psychology on the planet.
In order to participate in the game the player must first place his bet. Then he will be dealt cards. The bet or ante, will differ from one game to another. Next, the players are required to bet into the pot. The game is concluded when only one player is left. This is the player with the most valuable poker hand, or the player who hasn't folded. This player wins whatever is in the pot.

The round begins with the person immediately to the left of the dealer and the game is played in a clockwise direction.
At each player's turn he has a choice of actions: He can either place a bet which goes into the pot and must be within the game's limits; or the player can call.
Calling means that he chooses to bet the same amount as the first player has bet. Another option is to raise.
To raise is to bet the amount from the first player and then to add to it.
The final option is to fold. A player folds when he believes he has no chance of winning and therefore does not want to add money to the game.

Your odds and rank
The objective of the game is to acquire a hand of the highest possible rank. A player must therefore know what the odds are for building such a hand.

The highest poker hand possible is "Five of a Kind", a hand where all five cards are of the same suit. The chances of achieving this are 1 in over 600,000. This hand is generally only possible in games that include wild cards.

The next best possible hand is a "Straight Flush". It includes five cards in consecutive numerical order all from the same suit. An example of this is: 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H. The possibility of building this type of hand is 1 in about 72,000.

The next most valuable hand is four of a kind. It includes four cards of equal rank and from each suit. An example of four of a kind is 7S, 7C, 7D, 7H. The chances of this hand are 1 in 4,000.

The next ranking hand is a full house. This includes a three of a kind plus a pair. A full house may look like 2D, 2S, 2C, QS, QH. The chances of constructing a full house are 1 in 694.

Next comes the "Flush". This consists of five non-consecutive cards from the same suit. The possibility of constructing a flush is one in 508.

A hand of five cards in numerical succession is called a "Straight". The cards don't have to be from the same suit.

Three cards of the same rank is called a "three of a kind".

"Two pairs" is exactly as it sounds - two pairs of cards of differing value.

While "one pair" or "a pair", is the lowest in value and of the highest probability.

Limit, No-Limit, Fixed Limit and Pot Limit
It is important to know the meaning and the implications of set limits. This section is crucial for the strategies and psychologies of playing.

"No limit" means that there is no limit to the value of the bet a person can wager. However, a player's personal limit will be the number of chips he has.

"Pot limit" means that there is a limit to the bet's value that a person can make.
"Fixed limit" means there is a certain structure to the betting. A fixed limit may look like £5/£10. This means the initial wager cannot exceed £5 and wagers following this cannot exceed £10.

Low hands
In online poker there is a system of weighing up players' hands. The following method is the most commonly used. In this system all the values are inverted. The basic things to bear in mind are the following:

Firstly, hands with pairs and triplets are looked down upon - a hand with no pair will win over a hand with a pair. Similarly, a hand with one pair will win over a hand with two pairs.

In addition, cards of superior rank are less in demand than those of lower ranks. Therefore one of the best hands would be A,2,3,4,5. This hand is known as "a wheel". Other desirable hands are lower ranking cards with little order, no sequence and no connections between suits. The lower the rank of the sequence the more desirable the cards.

The high low split
This is a similar variation of the same theme. This is generally a home game and casinos are not known to host it. To qualify, a player needs a low card, generally considered around an 8 or a 9 high. Should a player hold this hand, it is quite possible that he will take home the upper and lower half of the pot. When this occurs it is usually known as "scooping". In some place it is also called "hogging the pot".
As previously mentioned, the classic example in these types of games is the A-2-3-4-5. This hand can be played as both a high straight flush and a low one. The chances of attaining this hand without a joker or wild card are almost impossible.

Community card poker games
There are many variations of poker which are played as community card online poker games. The most popular of these is currently "Texas Hold'em" poker. The game was born in the 1970s. Today, it has already undergone several modifications. Its popularity is thanks to principles which are easy to understand and follow. Nevertheless, luck and strategies are still the major requirements for winning.

There are several versions of the game in this category:
Texas Hold'em Poker
Omaha Hold'em Poker
Pineapple Poker (and Crazy Pineapple, Tahoe)
Double-Board Hold'em Poker
Pinatubo Poker
Iron Cross Poker
Tic Tac Toe Poker
Cincinnati Poker
Lame Brain Pete Poker
Six-Pack Poker
Courcheval Poker
Manila Poker (Seven-Up Poker)

In all these games, each player is dealt a hand that is incomplete - or has "hole" cards. These hole cards must be taken from the community cards on the board. Thus a complete hand will be a combination of the dealt cards and the community cards.

Community cards are laid in straight line on the table, or they may be laid out to a particular pattern.

Each new round is started when the dealer deals the cards, starting with the person immediately to his left.

Limits vary from game to game. Casinos are known to have fixed limits. Home games, on the other hand, tend to spread their limits. And then there are "no limit" games. However, "no limits" is very rare - although it does make for interesting games. The general rule is that earlier betting has lower limits than the later betting.

In most community card poker games, lowball game cards mean losing the round. In some cases, a high-low split may give a player some luck and advantage to the player in winning both halves of the pot. In some cases a minimum qualifier hand is expected from the high-low split.

Texas Hold'Em
The most popular poker version being played today is Texas Hold'em Poker. It is literally sweeping the world and Texas Hold'em tournaments are aired on television. Its basics are simple to learn.
The Texas Hold'em game is designed for up to 10 players. It entails four rounds. These are known as: "pre-flop", "after flop", "after turn" and "after the river".

There are several additional terms which should be learned:
o Dealer button: This is usually a white "puck". The dealer button indicates which player was the last one to play a particular round. The dealer button is moved at the beginning of each round one step to the person on the left.
o Blind structure: Those bets wagered before any cards have been dealt.
o Small blind: The bet made by the person sitting immediately to the left of the player with the dealer button.
o Big blind: The player located immediately to the left of the small blind.
o Under the gun (UTG): The term referring to the first player who makes a move in the first round of the game.
o Fold: As in regular poker - when a player decides his hand is not good enough to win or to even continue playing, he throws in his cards or "folds". This is done by placing the cards on the table. A player who folds automatically loses any bets he may have placed.
o Option: When the big blind chooses to play without placing a bet first.
o Fourth Street: The term for the 4th card that is placed on the community board. This takes place after the flop round.
o Fifth Street: Just like the 4th street, this is the fifth card on the community board. It is also placed after the flop round.
o Rake: This occurs when the house takes a commission from the winnings. It is usually a set commission.

The game proceeds as follows:
Before the dealer deals any cards, the big blind and small blind place their bets. If the big blind bet is set at twenty dollars then the small blind bet will be ten dollars.

The Pre-Flop:
The first round is known as the "pre-flop". In this round each player receives two cards. The player immediately to the left of the big blind is the first to act. He has the option to raise the big blind's bet or to fold. If he folds, he loses nothing.

Following this, each player gets their turn in order of seating. This carries on until the play returns to the Big blind. The Big blind is the final play of each round.

The Flop
The second round, known as "the flop", then begins. The dealer button is shifted one place to the left and this time each player is dealt three cards. These cards are dealt on to the community board. Each player receives his turn until the circle is completed.

From now on the small blind is the first person to play and the player with the dealer button is the final person to play.

The Turn
After "the turn", also called "the third round", the fourth card, also known as "Fourth Street", begins. The card is dealt onto the community board. The betting then follows in the same manner as the previous rounds.

The River
The fourth round, known as "after the river", then commences. In this round the fifth card, or "5th street", is placed on the community board. The betting then takes place.

The end of this round is the end of the game. The cards are all displayed and the player with the highest hand wins the pot.

Pineapple Poker, Tahoe Poker and Crazy Pineapple
The above three games are variations on Texas Hold'em Poker. The basis of these games is similar, but the play has some slight variations.

For example: players are dealt three cards at the start rather than 2. In Pineapple, they then have to discard one of these cards.

In Crazy Pineapple, following the second round, the third card is then thrown out.

In Tahoe Poker, players can keep all three cards until the end of the game but they cannot count all three. They have to use a certain number of cards on the community board to calculate their outcome.

Draw poker
This is a slowly diminishing game that now rarely appears in casinos or tournaments, but is still played at homes. It is a game designed for anywhere between two and eight players.

Several examples of games that fall into the draw poker category are:
Spit in the Ocean Poker
Shotgun Poker (Roll'em Out and Skinny Minnie)
Q-Ball Poker
Johnson Poker (and Jacks Back)
Four-Before Poker
Draw Poker Variations
California Lowball Poker
High/Low with Declare
Pass the Trash / Anaconda Poker
Double Draw and Triple Draw Poker
California High/Low Split
Gardena Jackpots (Jacks to Open)

All the online poker games commence with the dealer dealing the cards. They are dealt face down, to each player and one at a time. The dealer begins dealing to the first person immediately on his left. Once the cards are dealt players are able to inspect their cards while being careful not to divulge any signs of their hand to the other players. After this the betting commences. There need to be at least two players at the end of this round in order to reach the draw phase.

The players that intend remaining in the game are expected, at this point, to replace those cards they want to exchange. The cards the player discards, known as the burn cards, are set aside. Play then continues. Players all maintain the same number of cards throughout play.
Online Casinos follow the practice of not giving an individual player more than four consecutive cards. So if a player elects to draw five cards, he will first be dealt four, then the other players will receive their cards, and only after this will he be dealt his fifth card. In cases where the other players don't want cards, a burn card will be discarded before giving a player his fifth card.

It is also taboo to deal the last card in the deck, because other players may have seen the bottom card and remember it and use the information for their benefit. When the situation arises that the bottom card would normally be dealt, the player is given the option of randomly selecting the card from the deck of cards cast aside.

Stud poker games
In stud poker games, the cards are dealt face up and face down according to a series of combinations that occur during the various betting rounds. But unlike most other poker games, the player that begins play is the one with the best combination of face up poker cards.

The number of betting rounds affects the various structures for setting up stud poker games. The higher the number of rounds, the better it is to play with a spread limit or fixed limit structure. Those with lower number of rounds can be played with a pot limit or no limit at all. Stud poker games are named according to the number of cards in a player's hand.

The five card and seven card version of stud poker is the basis of several other poker games that fall into this category.
Others include:
General Stud Poker Variations
Auction Stud Poker
Chicago Stud Poker
Cowpie Stud Poker
Baseball Stud Poker
Kentrel Stud Poker
Mexican Stud Poker
Mississippi Stud Poker
Razz Stud Poker (and London Lowball Poker)
Six-Card Stud Poker
Draft Stud Poker (or Socialist Poker)
High-Low Stud Eight or Better