Online Poker Beginners Guide

Poker is one of the oldest card games with its origin found in the 16^th century. In the recent past, poker has made its entry into the online gambling world and has become quite popular amongst casino players. Poker is considered a game of strategy and skill.

In this guide, you will know about learning poker online and the best online casinos in South Africa to play poker for real money.

Several Versions of Poker

If you are a beginner and haven’t yet tried playing poker, you must first decide the type of poker you wish to play. There are several versions of poker and they are classified into four main types.

• Straight Poker: It is the oldest version of poker where players are given a complete hand and they are required to place the bet in one round. Players are not allowed to raise and re-raise.
• Stud Poker: In this version of poker, the cards are distributed in a pre-set manner of face-up and face-down. There is a bet round as well. The popular version of this poker is a seven-card stud.
• Draw Poker: Players are dealt a complete hand face-down in this version. The distribution of cards is followed by a betting round and the players may decide if they want new cards and discard the old ones. The common example of this version is the five-card draw.
• Community Card Poker: Players receive an incomplete hand of face-down cards. Numerous community cards are dealt face-up and placed in the centre of the table. Players are allowed to use the community cards along with their own cards to create a five-card hand. The simplest and the popular version of this type is Texas Hold’em.

How to Play Your First Hand at Poker?

So, you have finally decided on the type of poker you wish to play but you are not sure of what you must do and how you should play. Don’t worry, read on to know the basics of playing the first hand at poker.

The main objective of poker is to create a hand with more value than the other players at the poker table. This doesn’t signify that you require an excellent hand each time but it should be good as compared to others.

Different Types Of Poker Styles

If you are playing at land-based casinos or online casinos, you must decide on the type of style of poker you will play. Here’s a list of common types of poker:

• No-Limit: In this style of poker, the players can place a bet of any amount.
• Limit: In this poker style, the raises and bets are limited to a definite amount.
• Pot-Limit: Here, the players have the option to bet the amount they want, but only up to the existing size of the pot.

What You Should Know About a Good Hand?

When you are playing online poker for real money, you will need to create sets of cards with the cards of the same suit, value, or rank. A good hand comprises of a pair such as two Aces, or the cards of the similar suits in a successive order such as five, six, or seven.

At the beginning of the hand, the players will make small bets to add some cash to the money pot. These bets are also referred to as the blinds and they are created by the two poker players who are on the left side of the dealer. The two blind bets have one bigger bet and the other smaller bet.

When playing at an online casino, the players receive cards through a computer dealer. Since we are discussing Texas Hold’em version of poker, the dealer will distribute two face-down cards to the players. These cards can only be seen by the players.

The game round starts with the players sitting on the left of the dealer. The ‘position’ of the players is decided by where you are sitting. The players sitting a bit far from the dealer enjoy the best chances as they know what other players have.

In the first round, the player will have several choices to make such as:

• Fold: This signifies that a player doesn’t want to proceed further in the game and wants to surrender. Once they choose to ‘fold,’ they have no chances to win the game.
• Call: A player will call the current bet by placing a bet to match this bet.
• Raise: This means that the player has the option to raise the current bet to a bigger amount. When playing a no-limit style, the raise must be equivalent to the amount of the last bet.

Types of Winning Hand

• Straight flush: This hand consists of five cards of successive ranks and the same suit.
• Straight: This hand consists of five cards of successive ranks.
• Full House: This hand consists of three cards that are the same, and a pair of another set of cards.
• Flush: This hand consists of five cards of the same suit.
• Three of a kind: This hand consists of three cards of the same rank.
• Four of a kind: This hand consists of four cards of the same rank, such as four kings.
• One Pair: This hand consists of two cards of the same rank.
• Two Pair: This hand consists of two cards of one rank, and two other cards of another rank.
• High Card: In some cases, the hand is ranked by its highest card.