The Basics of Online Poker

The Games

Texas Hold’em

There are many different types of poker being played out there in home games around the world but we’ll concentrate on the two most popular games at online casinos and poker rooms. The most popular version of poker currently is Texas Hold’em. It is a game played with 2 personal cards dealt face down called The Hole Cards, and 5 community cards dealt face up in the middle of the table.
The game play is pretty straightforward;
1.There are two mandatory bets placed first, called The Big Blind and The Small Blind. The Big Blind is the full mandatory bet and The Small Blind is half. The purpose of these bets is to ensure that there is money in the pot even if nobody bets anymore along the way.
2.Next, every player gets dealt 2 cards face down that only they can see, and then players can bet or check if they like or fold if they must. This is the first round of betting.
3.The dealer now places 3 cards, called The Flop, on the table face up that every player can use with their hole cards to try to form a hand. Again the players bet, check or fold.
4.The dealer next puts down the fourth community card called The Turn, or Fourth Street face up on the table. The players bet, check or fold.
5.Now the dealer places the fifth and last community card, called The River, face up on the table and the last round of betting commences.
6. After the betting is finished it’s time for The Showdown. The remaining players turn over their Hole Cards and whoever puts together the best 5 card hand with personal and community wins the pot.

Seven Card Stud

Another, although slightly less popular, game of poker played at online casinos and poker rooms is Seven Card Stud. Even though the betting and game play is different from Texas Hold’em the point of the game is still the same, to put together the best 5 card hand out of all the players at the table and not be bluffed out of the game. In all poker games the ranking of the hands remain the same.
The dealing and betting in Seven Car Stud differs from Texas Hold’em in several ways but the most important is that in Seven Card Stud there are no community cards.
Again the game play is not terribly complicated.
1. The dealer deals every player two cards face down and a round of betting takes place.
2. The dealer then deals the next four rounds, one card face up to each player per round and after each round the players have the opportunity to bet, check or fold.
3. The seventh and last round is dealt one card per player face down and there is one more round of betting.
4. Just like in Texas Hold’em, after the last round of betting comes The Showdown.

Summary

These are only two of the most popular poker variants out there but if you learn to play one or both reasonably well you can sit at the table for as long as you wish and hopefully when you walk away, you’ll have a big stack to cash out.
Good luck!