If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play poker in a few simple steps, you’ve come to the right place. This useful how-to-play poker guide for beginners can get you going in no time.
You can play online poker against other players at hundreds of dedicated poker sites, or you can play alone or against the dealer at equally as many fully licensed online casino sites.
What is poker?
Poker is a popular card game that can be classified as both a game of chance and a game of skill. It’s a comparison game, and the main aim is to try and beat all other players with the best possible hand.
In most poker games, such as Texas Hold’em poker (one of the most popular variants), players take turns in a clockwise direction to either place a wager, match the current wager, or add more on top of the current wager to stay in the game.
Alternatively, they can lay down their cards (face-down) to exit that round and wait for the next new round to begin.
If you match the bet, it’s known as ‘calling.’ Adding more chips than the previous players to increase the current bet is called ‘raising,’ and staying in the game without adding more chips is called ‘checking.’ When you no longer want to stay in the current round, it’s called ‘folding.’
Is it important to learn poker tells or how to bluff?
When playing poker with real people at an actual venue, yes, it’s essential to learn the most common poker tells. It’s also important to learn how to bluff and try to figure out when other people are bluffing.
It can also be applied when playing online poker. However, it’s much harder to tell when someone is bluffing online, especially when you can’t actually see the person to read their reactions, gestures and body language.
Online, you can only tell if your opponents might be bluffing based on how they have played their previous hands.
Which are the best online casinos where I can play poker?
Some of today’s best online casinos where you can enjoy playing a wide range of popular poker games are the following trusted sites:
- Trada Casino
- Bet365 Casino
- Videoslots Casino
- TonyBet Casino
- Mr. Play Casino
- BetVictor Casino
- LeoVegas Casino
- Casumo Casino
- Hello Casino
- Energy Casino
These trusted online casino poker sites have games from some of the world’s leading online casino/poker game development studios and software providers. You can find live dealer games, video poker games, slots, progressive jackpot games, lotto-style games, and much more.
Honourable mentions
For those of you who are looking for somewhere else to play online poker or casino games, then you may also like to consider signing up to PlayFrank Casino, HeySpin Casino, 888 Casino, Paddy Power Casino, Unibet Casino, 777 Casino, 32 Red Casino, PlayOJO Casino, or Betsafe Casino.
There are over 1,000 sites to choose from, and you can find the latest reviews on the official AskGamblers.com website. These fully licensed casino sites are controlled by responsible operators with superb reputations, and they are all available on desktop and mobile.
They accept multiple currencies and a wide range of perfectly secure online payment methods (for deposits and withdrawals), and they are all currently offering each new player who signs up today a guaranteed sign-up bonus.
Popular online poker games to play at online casinos
Some of the most popular poker games you can play at online casinos today are Live Dealer Poker Games. Examples include Live Casino Stud Poker from Playtech, Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em from Evolution Gaming, Live Casino Hold’em and Live Caribbean Stud Poker, which are also from Evolution Gaming.
If you’re not too bothered about live dealer games, then you may like to try Progressive Jackpot Caribbean Stud Poker from Play’n GO, Lucky Showdown Hold’em Poker from Microgaming, and Heads-Up Hold’em poker from Playtech.
If that’s not enough to keep you going, you also have Casino Stud Poker from Play’n GO and Aces and Faces video poker from Microgaming.
Final note
Poker is a really easy game to learn how to play. After you have learned how to play one variety, all other poker games will be just as easy. However, it would be best if you took the time to learn the basic poker rules before playing, and don’t forget to memorise the different winning poker hands.
You may also like to watch some video tutorials on YouTube or at least practice playing in the free-play demo mode until you get good. When you think you are ready to switch to the real money mode, you can.