How to play online poker

So you want to learn how to play online poker?The objective of Poker is to win the pot. The pot is the collection of money, chips or other bets made by the players during a hand of poker. Poker is complicated in some ways but simple in others and there are bascially only two ways you can win:

1) Have the highest ranking hand - (learn about your poker hands)

2) Bluff the other players into folding by making them believe you have the winning hand. It is from this strategy that made the "poker face" famous.

As in other casino games, there are strict rules to abide by. But if you want to learn how to play online poker, it is very important to know the specific poker hand rankings and if you want to get even more detailed to have some knowledge of poker hand probabilities. The lower the probability of getting the hand, the higher the rank and the stronger the hand, the better chance you have at winning the pot.

The game starts with the dealer handing out the cards clockwise from his or her left. As soon as the cards are dealt, the players are left with four options. You may check the bet (bet nothing but still remain in the game), call the previous bet (bet the same amount as the previous bet), raise the previous bet (increase the amount of the previous bet), or fold (giving up a chance to win the pot by not matching a bet). You can only check when no other players have made any bets and it's your turn in that round.

There are usually only three rounds of betting allowed in poker. When a player makes his or her bet, the next player has three options, they can call, raise, or fold. To stay in the game you must at least match the previous player's bet. However, you can always forfeit your chips or money by folding. As in all organized games, there is a betting structure in poker. For example, if you're playing at a R2-R5 table, you can only bet at increments of R2 until a player has a pair showing or until the bet has gone around the table once or twice (depending on which online poker room you are playing at).

Only at that point can the betting increments be raised to R5. Since all the players are trying to win the pot, they are virtually all playing against one another (unlike Blackjack). The online poker room makes money by charging a percentage of the pot for each hand of poker. The maximum house take on the pot is usually set at R3, although that maximum can vary by poker room and by table, depending on the betting increments.

Now you are on your way to learning how to play online poker. Click on "download poker" below to register for free and play for fun or for real.

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