Online Casinos - Great Place for Poker Newbies

You read stories about poker players like Annette Obrestad (also known in poker circles as Annette_15) who learnt to play poker online and now not only make their living from poker, but are right at the top of the poker playing world. While you may not approach the game with that sort of ambition the first time you sit down, it’s kind of nice to imagine that you can at least make a profit from playing.

It’s much easier these days to learn how to play poker than it used to be, thanks to the presence of so many places to play online. You don’t have to leave the house to learn how to play poker. As long as you have broadband and sign up to a casino or poker site, you can start playing immediately and learn the rules as you go.

There are out and out poker sites, but it’s often better for a new player to join a casino site when they want to learn how to play poker. Many of the different casino sites like 888casino, 32Red and Genting Casino offer a number of poker games where you’re playing the computer and not other people. This gives you an idea of how the different poker variations are played, without the pressure of facing other people at the virtual poker table. Casino sites often include entry to freeroll poker tournaments as part of a welcome bonus for new players. At 32Red when a player signs up to play poker, and makes their first deposit, there’s the possibility to earn a welcome bonus that’s worth up to $1,000. And every time you play poker, you get 30% rakeback instantly. The bonus you earn is determined by the amount you play during the first 30 days of signing up to the site and the number of Redbacks (loyalty points) you collect playing Cash Games, Sit & Go and Scheduled Tournaments.

The freeroll entries are really useful for players new to poker. When you play a freeroll, although it costs nothing to join the tournament, you can still compete for a decent cash prize – compliments of the casino. At 32Red, new poker players get six weekly entries to the Wednesday New Player Freeroll where there’s €500 to play for. As you’re only playing other novices, the chances of you winning that pot aren’t that slim either. There are also six entries to the New Play Turbo tournaments which have a guaranteed prize pool of €500 and only cost €1 to join in. The new player tournaments are only open to players in the first six weeks of joining the site, which means that the competition won’t include poker pros who could take new players’ money from them too easily. Once you’ve downloaded the software and accessed these tournaments that are exclusively available to new players, you’ll be able to test your poker skills out for real.

As well as playing real games of poker, another way to improve your poker strategy is to watch online poker tutorials and youtube clips of different poker games. You’d be amazed at how much you can learn from watching other people play poker.

Of course, as poker is a game of strategy and skill, it’s something that you should really only play when you’re feeling in top shape. Don’t play poker when you’re tired or under the influence of alcohol. In either of these cases, your judgment may be impaired and you might make decisions that you wouldn’t make with a clear head. One of the benefits of playing poker at a casino site is that you can dip in and out of other games whenever you need a break from poker. Sites like the 32red casino have such a huge selection of games for their players that they’d never really need to play anywhere else. For those times you just want to unwind and play without thinking too hard about it, then go for the slots. Slots are always entertaining and, as you can’t influence the outcome of the spin in any way, they’re probably the least demanding of all online casino games.

For those times when you want a quick burst of casino gaming, roulette’s always a great choice as you don’t have to wait for a game to start, as is the case with poker. You can fill five minutes playing roulette and you might just add to your bankroll in the process. Similarly, a quick hand of blackjack is a great way to spend a few spare minutes while you’re waiting for your next poker game to start.

When you first start playing poker, you’ll probably lose more often than you win. But as you build up confidence and experience, as long as you keep your bets at a conservative level, you should gradually move away from feeling like a complete beginner. You may never consider yourself to be a poker pro, but getting to grips with the game online is definitely the best way to begin a poker-playing odyssey.