Poker is all about wits, strategy, and skills. It is a psychological game which challenges a player’s mental abilities such as focus, emotion control, and decision-making skills. Other than the combination of your cards, your confidence and patience determine your chances to win the game. Poker has been around for centuries, but it has gained substantial momentum in recent years due to the technological advancement in the field of online gaming. Now gaming enthusiasts can enjoy playing unlimited poker games on their smartphones, tablets, laptops without stepping out of their homes. As an increasing number of people in India are displaying their interest in playing the game, it is gradually getting popular and becoming one of the most preferred mind games as well.
Poker is an excellent recreational activity as well as a great opportunity to make big profits. You can participate in online cash games and tournaments and win fabulous prizes. All popular variants of poker games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Crazy Pineapple, Hold’em ++, etc are available online around the clock.
Online poker has become prevalent in recent years and a lot of people choose to learn this highly entertaining game online. If you want to learn how to play poker, here is a step by step guide for you.
Objective
Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. The objective of the game is to win the pot by making the strongest five-card poker hand as per the hand ranking rules using two hole cards and five community cards.
How To Play
Poker is a community card game which can be played between a minimum of 2 and maximum of 10 players.
One player acts as a dealer who makes his move after every other player in a betting round. After a hand, the dealer button moves clockwise and the player sitting left to him becomes the new dealer.
Small blinds: The player sitting immediate left of the dealer posts the small blind. Blinds are forced bets made before the cards are dealt to start the betting action.
Big Blinds: The player sitting left to the small blind player posts the big blind.
Betting Actions
Every player has the following betting options – bet, fold, call, or raise. On the basis of the strength of hole cards, a player can either continue playing or leave the hand by throwing his cards anytime he wants during a betting round.
Betting Rounds:
After the blinds, each player receives hole cards (face-down cards that are not visible to other players).
- Pre-Flop: The first round of betting begins with the player sitting immediate left to the big blind player and continues clockwise. You may check out a trial at BeastsOfPoker.
- Flop: Once the first betting round end, the second round begins. The dealer reveals three community cards face up on the table, and the betting continues.
- Turn: After Flop, the third round commences. The dealer unveils the fourth community card on the table, and the betting resumes.
- River: The last betting round is River. The last community card is dealt face up on the table, and betting continues.
- Showdown: Once it ends, players reveal their hand, and the player with the best five-card combination wins the pot.
Poker is an “easy to learn and play” game but requires practice and training. You can play free online poker games to learn the basics of the game without investing money from your pockets. Once you acquire a good level of game knowledge and experience, you can switch to play real money poker games online and start making big profits.