Introduction to Online Poker

Are you interested in playing online poker?

You’re not the only one. According to these 2007-2009 (pre-Black Friday) stats, more than 15 million people in the United States play poker online for real money. Which is about 2.5% of the entire adult population.

Can you blame them? I can’t – online poker is FAR better than playing live. Here are just a few of the many reasons I prefer it:

I could go on and on. There are so many reasons to give online poker a shot, even if you’re a diehard live player.

But, getting started is scary. Especially if you’re brand new to poker.

And the internet adds an extra level of anxiety. Is it safe to play poker online? Is your information secure? Are the games rigged? Is it legal? Where do I play? How do I get started? I’d be surprised if you haven’t at least asked yourself one of these questions.

The good news – we totally get where you’re coming from. We were once new to online poker, too. But now we help poker players like you, new or veteran, get started online.

What you’ll find on this page is an introduction to online poker. Below we cover the details we feel ALL players should know and have an understanding of if they wish to play online.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

By the time you’re through you’ll have all you need to start playing today.

Before you play a hand – heck, before you create an account – you should read the following guides. You’ll learn how online poker works, how to choose a poker site, how to play poker, and more.

More specifically, you’ll learn:

With all that knowledge under your belt, your next step is to play. And to do that you’ll want to follow these 3 steps:

I wanted to say you needed to choose the ‘best’ poker room.

However, some people say that ‘best’ is relative. That there’s no best poker room, but instead a poker room that’s right for you might not be right for me, and vice versa.

That’s true …but only to an extent.

There are some poker rooms better for one player than another. These are rooms that cater to a specific type of player.

However, there are staples that all good rooms have.

We’re not playing casino games. You need at least two players for a game to run. So, the less traffic a poker room has, the less likely there are games running.

But traffic only does you so much good if the majority is seated at holdem cash games when you prefer to play omaha. Or, if the site offers nothing but tournaments when you’d rather player cash games.

The same goes for stakes.

The point? You need to find a room with traffic to the games and stakes you want to play.

Every poker room should have a VIP program. Again, we’re not talking about playing at online casinos where it might make sense to have an account at multiple casinos. With online poker it truly pays to be loyal – and I think you should be rewarded for that.

So, you need to join a room with a good VIP program. One that offers cash back, insurance, tourney seats, prizes, expedited support, and more.

You want to join a room that runs fair games, and who will pay you your winnings.

No duh, huh?

You’d think so. But many players make the mistake of choosing a 3rd or 4th tier poker room because they heard the games are softer or that the bonuses are better. Both are probably true …for a reason. It doesn’t matter anyway, since the room will likely stiff them.

The bottom line? Choose a poker site from our list of recommended sites.

Those are the staples.
However, there’s one more variable you need to think about before you choose a site, jump to the next step and create your account.

Some poker sites cater to all players (PokerStars or Full Tilt). However, many rooms (Bovada and Bet365) have been tweaking what they offer to cater more to the beginner or recreational player. This means beginner tables, lower stakes and prohibiting pros from playing too many tables, tagging you (to harass you later), and from using software designed to give them an edge.

If you’re a recreational player I recommend joining one of these sites. The games will be a touch easier. You’ll probably have a better time.

And if you’re a (semi/wannabe) pro? You’ll probably want to avoid these sites, unless you like playing no more than 4 tables with anonymous players and no software.

Armed with this knowledge, I suggest you take a quick break from this page to read our poker room reviews. Then choose a room to join.

Once you’ve made your decision, your next step will be to create an account.

The next step is to create your account. This is an easy process.

Once you land on the poker room’s website, you’ll want to find their join now link. This is usually a button or link at the top of their site, above their navigation. Sometimes they’ll have their links in various spots throughout the body and in the footer, too.

That link will take you to a special page where the poker room asks for some information. This will vary from room to room, but here’s the common stuff they ask for:

• Your name
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Your desired screen name
• Your password

Once you fill all that out and submit your information – assuming there’s no problem – you’ll have an account. The only thing left to do now is to check your email, as most rooms send you an email with a link you need to click to ‘confirm’ your account.

Once you do that you’ll be able to log in and fund your account.

Your next step is to fund your account. Each room is different – more so if you compare a US-facing room to one that accepts players from all over the world. But mostly only in the banking options you’ll have.

Here are the most common payment methods poker rooms accept:

• Credit/debit cards – this includes Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.
• Prepaid cards
• Bank wires
• Checks
• Money transfers – this includes MoneyGram and Western Union.
• Bitcoin
• E-wallets

Some options are for deposits only, cash outs only, and some can be used for both. And, it often depends on where you live.

To make your deposit, all you’ll need to do is find the bank or cashier link. It’s usually a big button in one of the corners of your lobby window. But, when in doubt, you’ll find it in the main navigation. Then choose your option and plug-in your details.

Deposit limits vary from site to site, but most poker sites will let you deposit as little as $5 to $20. The max will range from the hundreds to thousands. Enter how much you want to deposit and click submit.

Again, it depends, but deposits can clear within seconds to long as a few hours – even a few days if you’re sending a check or something.

But once your money clears you’ll be all set to play.

One thing you’ll notice about online poker is that you have LOTS of poker games and variations to choose from. Far more than you’ll ever have offline. There are a couple of reasons why that is:

There’s no space restrictions online. An online poker room can offer as many games and tables and variations as they want without taking up much space. And if they ever need more room, it’s far cheaper and easier to get more space online than it is to get more square footage offline.

Two, offline rooms are going to offer only what’s most popular. And for most casinos and poker venues that means holdem cash games and tournaments, with maybe the random omaha or dealer’s choice game mixed in.

And the last reason – there are just some variations you can’t play offline. Variations that require software to work. The easiest example I can think of is fast fold poker. There’s simply no way to offer a live version of that.

So, if you’re into trying different poker games, online is definitely the place to be.

With that in mind, I thought it’d be helpful to give you a rundown of the most common games, variations and betting types you can choose from online.

The most common poker games you can play are:

• Texas Holdem
• Omaha
• Stud
• Razz
• Mixed Games – These are games that usually rotate through 2 or more games. For example, HORSE is holdem, omaha, razz, stud and stud hi/lo.
• 5-Card Draw
• Pineapple
• Badugi

More games exist. It’s just that if they’re uncommon, you won’t see them offered at every poker site (unlike the games above – most, if not all rooms offer them). Chances are the more obscure they are, the less often you’ll find a game to join, too.

Every poker site will offer games in no limit, pot limit and fixed limit betting. The most popular games played are no limit, though, followed by pot limit.

From here you’ll have your pick of cash games, tournaments and sit and go tournaments (sngs). If you’re not sure what these are, or what to choose, then you’ll have a better idea once you read our summaries and pros and cons for each.

These are the games shown mostly on TV.

The general idea behind a tournament is to buy-in for a set sum, say $10+$1. The $10 will go to the prize pool and the $1 covers your fee. Then each player is given a stack of chips. The amount depends on the tournament.

The tournament ends when one player has collected all the chips. Your goal is to be that player.

Tournaments pay out prizes based on the number of players who’ve signed up and the amount of money in the prize pool. Sometimes only 1st pays, while in other cases the top 3, 10, 50, 100, 500+ will pay. It just depends –
there’s no fixed number. And you’ll know once the tournament has stopped taking registrations or re-buys.

That’s the general idea, anyway. Now for the pros and cons.

Sngs are similar to tournaments. The biggest difference is that sngs start when a predetermined number of players have bought in. So, if you signed up to an 18-man sng, it’ll start once 18 players have bought in. Otherwise it’s pretty much the same as a tourney.

The general idea behind a cash game is you’ll choose the game and stakes you want to play, say 5/10 no limit holdem. Buy-ins vary, but the standard max buy-in is 100 big blinds. For 5/10 that would be $1,000.

From here a cash or ring game is just one perpetual poker game that doesn’t change. The blinds will never go up. And the game won’t end until the room closes or no one’s playing anymore.

What separates cash games most from tournaments is that the money you bring to the table is the money you play, win or lose with. Which means you can win or lose money much faster than what’s possible in tournaments.

Here are the pros and cons to cash games.

So, which one is best? Which type of game should you play?

Honestly, there’s no right or wrong (although some would disagree with me). The best game or variation is whatever best fits your budget, you’re most interested in, and have the most time for.

That said, if you have a low budget and time to kill, I’d recommend sngs. Then use the money you make beating those to play tournaments. Once you have a large enough bankroll (min 20-50 big blinds), then start playing cash games.

But that’s just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Now, the last thing I want to cover are all the poker variations you can play. Most of them will only apply to tournaments, though you’ll find a few for cash games. But you’ll want to know what these are since most games contain at least one of them.

The most common variants include:

That’s a good start. And you’ll notice that many games have a combination of variations. For example, a deep stack knockout tournament, a turbo fast fold cash game, a short stack turbo tournament, and so on.

And again, there’s no right or wrong. It’s just a matter of finding a game and variation you like to play. Most poker rooms will offer the variations I listed above. That said, it will vary from room to room. So, if there’s a specific variation you want to play, the best thing you can do is read our poker room reviews to see who offers what.

I want to wrap this section up with a few tips. Just a few ideas to help make sure your experience online is the best it can be.

Here we go – in no particular order:

• Try different games and variations. Every poker game will be different in terms of strategy, time needed, payouts, potential hourly rates, volume, etc. The only way to know what works for you is to choose a few different games and play them. If you’re worried about hourly rates you can always join a forum for ideas. I recommend 2+2.
• Practice at low stakes. Low stakes (< $3/game or < .10/hand) is the best way to learn. The games are soft enough where you should be able to quickly learn the nuances and tactics for beating that level, but without having to risk losing your shirt. You can even play for free if you don’t want to risk real money yet.
• Join the beginner tables. Many poker sites offer a beginners-only table. Often these are only available to new customers for the first 30-90 days after they create their account. And you’ll only play against other new customers, which means you don’t have to worry about better players preying on you.
• Play with all the features. I recommend you play a few free games or hands to get familiar with the software before playing for real money, especially if you plan to multi-table. Learn where all the buttons are. Figure out what color scheme is best. Add the features that help you play better (like multi-colored decks, no chat, or showing the bets (in text) everyone makes).
• Is the poker room compatible? This is becoming less of an issue nowadays, but one thing you do want to keep in mind when choosing a site is that not all poker rooms have a Mac download. Instead you might have to play from your browser. And, in fact, some rooms only offer browser software.

This also goes for mobile – not all rooms have apps. This is something to pay attention to when reading our reviews if that sort of thing (playing on the go) is important to you.

Wow, we covered a lot. And, honestly, we’re only covered the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to online poker than this.

So. Much. More.

But we’re afraid that if we throw everything plus the kitchen sink at you, you’ll spend most of your time reading and not enough time playing. You won’t take action. Yet, taking action -actually playing poker- is where you learn the most.

Once you’ve done that, stop reading and get to playing. Log a few dozen tournaments or a few hundred poker hands.

After that, we encourage you to come back to learn more in-depth poker strategy. To improve your game so that you can make more money playing poker online.

We’ll be here waiting for you.