Beginner’s Introduction : Playing Poker Online

Online poker websites have gained enormously in popularity among fans of this card game. Poker is a fascinating game, popular around the world today, which is not surprising as it offers entertainment at the highest level. Beginner US online Poker players from around the world can be found meeting at online poker tables to battle it out to see who would win.

How to play Online Poker :

Online poker, like any card game has specific rules in regards to betting limits and poker hand rankings. To start the game, each player must know the basic hierarchy of poker hands, which varies depending on whether you’re playing high or hi/lo.

When playing normal high poker games at the head of the hierarchy is a royal flush consisting of ten, jack, queen, king and ace all of the same suit. Next, is a straight flush consisting of five cards ranked in order and all of the same suit. Then, four of a kind consisting of four cards of the same value, a full house consisting of three cards of the same value and another pair of cards. When playing normal high poker games at the head of the hierarchy is a royal flush consisting of ten, jack, queen, king and ace all of the same suit. Next, is a straight flush consisting of five cards ranked in order and all of the same suit. Then, four of a kind consisting of four cards of the same value, a full house consisting of three cards of the same value and another pair of cards.

Next, is a flush consisting of five cards of the same suit in any sequence, a straight consisting of five cards of any suit in sequence, and then three of a kind when you have three cards of the same value plus two other cards which do not form pairs. And then finally there is two pairs, a single pair, and then non paired hands, in which case an Ace is good enough to win the pot.

Online Poker Game Variants

One of the best things about playing poker online is that at all of the top online poker sites you can expect to find an incredible diverse collection of poker games including the following poker variants: Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, Razz and Five Card Draw, but it is Texas Hold'em poker that is the most commonly played poker game over the Internet, especially the No Limit version of the game.

Texas Hold’em

In Texas Hold'em, each player receives two hole cards face down, which are visible only to him. Five community cards are then lined up on the center of the table during the flop, turn, and river betting rounds. All players in the game use these community cards in conjunction with their own hole cards to make the best possible five-card online poker hand.

Texas Hold'em poker generally has three different variants, differing in each betting limits. They are Fixed Limit Texas Hold'em (in each betting round there is a predetermined betting limit), No Limit Texas Hold'em (a player can bet any amount, limited only by the amount of chips in front of them), and Pot Limit Texas Hold’em (a player can bet up to the amount of the current pot.)

Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo

Omaha Poker is very similar to Texas Holdem games. Each player in Omaha is dealt four hole cards instead of two. It is also a community card game and five community cards are dealt on the table. To create the best poker hand in Omaha, each player must use three of the five community cards and two of their own cards, but because players are dealt extra hole cards, it means typically a player will need a stronger hand in Omaha to take down the pot.

Omaha is played in Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit Omaha. Omaha Hi/Lo, also known as Omaha High Low or Omaha 8-or-better is extremely popular among Omaha players because there is lots of action and players have to compete for the high and low portions of the pot. The players holding the best high hand and the low hand split the pot, and if there is no winner for the low hand, the high hand scoops the pot. Omaha Hi/Lo is played according to rules 8-or-better, which means that the low part of a winning pot can not be worse than 8-7-6-5-4.

All of the aforementioned poker games are offered on cash tables and tournaments typically in three currencies: euros, dollars and pounds, and each game is recognized by the currency in the games lobby, although the player currencies will vary depending on the poker site you’re playing on.

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