Online poker is pretty much the easiest way to get into playing poker while not risking too much money, and actually garnering a fairly good understanding of the game. The pace of play is admittedly very quick, there is less room for bluffing, and you will certainly not have those epic stare-offs with your opponents as you would at, say, the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Okay, but is this really important? What matters here is your ability to make real money from playing poker online – and you can do this and so much more if you just know how to go about the whole thing. Today, we will take a look at what steps you ought to follow in order to get yourself set up online when you want to play poker.
#1 Find a Great and Trusted Website
The first thing to do is to of course find a website that you can trust. There are tons of great cardrooms out there. You have PartyPoker, PokerStars, and a ton of other worthwhile options. These websites and card rooms have been established as the industry’s standard when it comes to providing you with some of the best conditions.
This includes fair rakeback, excellent functionality, constant access to real money poker games, a vast selection of tournaments and table limits, and generally – the whole poker shebang. You will have the opportunity to play online poker with money any time of the day, accessing all your favorite versions of the game.
It doesn’t matter if you want to play Omaha Hi-Lo or Texas Hold’em – you will find both games available at some of the leading online poker rooms, and we are here to help you figure out what you should do next.
#2 Check the Bonuses But Careful
Poker is famously a game of skill – a game of cat and mouse where you just need to be better than the other person to win. There is no way to tell whether you are better until you have played against someone, too. This is important because online poker actually has something that in-person poker does not – bonuses.
You can get a nice bonus to get you started. Now, there are several good things about a poker bonus. It’s a good way to increase your overall bankroll. You will release your bonus based on how much rake you have generated and the winnings will be released in increments, which means that you will always have access to your funds and unlock them one hand at a time.
Still, there is no obligation to accept a lump bonus. Poker is a game where you can let your skill and understanding speak for themselves. You can similarly just opt for a free ticket that will grant you access to a tournament – and start there, providing that the card room you have joined supports this type of promotion.
#3 Explore the Low Stakes Options
No matter what your skill level is, if you are going to be playing online poker for real money, you want to start easy and start small – go after the low-stakes games first and see what the dynamic of the card room is. Although there are clear similarities between in-person and online poker, the gameplay at an Internet site is definitely not the same as you would find at a tourney table in person.
So, no matter how good you are, you want to focus on getting acquainted with the dynamic first and see how people play and behave. The low-stakes games are usually the safest to try as you won’t be risking too much of your bankroll at all.
Besides, you are also joining with the ambition to win so there is no saying that you should not win when you play low stakes. Just to the opposite, many of the best players play in the medium and high stakes range, but low stakes are how they all started with every card room they are present at.
#4 Check for Satellite Events
Low stakes are actually a good idea especially if you are going to scale up your presence in a card room. Websites are running an excellent variety of satellite events which will allow you to start small but potentially make it big. Remember the historic win of Chris Moneymaker, the man who joined a small satellite event online to go and win the World Series of Poker Main Event more than a decade ago?
Yes, this is the type of thing you can expect from satellite events. These tournaments will allow you to compete online and for hefty prize pools as well. Players will have the opportunity to start once again small but then – through skill and skill alone – climb up the pecking order, and possibly make it into multi-million tournaments off a single small buy-in that cost them a few dollars at the most. So far as ways to play online poker go, this is definitely one of the best.
#5 Pace Your Play
The next thing to know about online poker is that it’s very easy to get a little carried away a little too soon. After all, the pace of play is definitely quicker than what you would normally experience at a tournament where everyone is watching everyone and trying to figure out a bluff from a really strong hand.
Now, because online poker eliminates that face-to-face time you will notice that there are more games being played per hour, and more hands, of course. You must remind yourself that you should be focusing not on getting more hands in, but rather – on making absolutely sure that you understand when you should be playing hands and when you should not.
Take your time and think about your hand before you play it. Even if you start with small stakes, this is a habit you would love to have when you are playing higher-level poker as well, and when the stakes are higher as well.
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