Beginners Guide to Poker

It is an exciting way to pit your wits against other players, with the added attraction of earning you significant amounts of money if you are skilful enough.

Unlike other forms of gambling, poker is not really about luck. Although it does play a part in the game in the short term, in the long term it is always the most experienced and knowledgeable players that win consistently. A good player may have the odd bad night at the tables, but over weeks or months luck tends to even out and it is skill that wins the day.

There are many forms of poker: draw, stud, Texas Hold`em and Omaha being just a few. No Limit Texas Hold`em is by far the most popular these days, with probably ninety per cent of games in casinos and online poker rooms being in this version of the game. For a beginner it would be wise to focus on this variant to start with. It also has the advantage of being perhaps the simplest and easiest game to learn. Beware, though: it has been said that it takes minutes to learn and years to master. Before starting to play poker, it is vital to know about bankroll management. This is a way of making sure that you don`t lose more money than you can afford and that you have enough to ride out the ups and downs inherent to the game.

Set aside a sum of money that you will use only for playing poker. It should be a multiple of the buy-in for the game you want to play. It`s best to be conservative about this, so make sure you have at least twenty times the initial buy-in. Texas Hold`em is a very straightforward game. Each player is dealt two cards face down, known as the hole cards. There is a round of betting at this stage, allowing you to either fold, call or raise, depending on the strength of your hand. The best hands are high pairs, such as aces, kings, queens. This is followed by the flop, where three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. There is another round of betting now, followed by two more when another card - called the turn - is dealt and then the last card - the river.

The beauty of the game is that you can make a five-card hand using one or both of your hole cards together with any of the cards on the table. A weak starting hand can turn into a strong one by the time the last card is dealt. When you begin playing poker, it`s a good idea to just stick to strong hands. Once you have mastered the basics, you can get a bit trickier by playing weaker hands and bluffing other players out of a pot. Whether you are signing up for an online poker site, joining a casino or buying a poker table, cards or a set of poker chips, look out for any special Groupon deals available.