How to Play Online Poker
Online poker has taken a simple card game and turned it into an intellectually stimulating, socially engaging, money-making activity for players of all skill levels. It’s accessible to everyone, from young children to retirees and offers the ability to play for just about any stakes imaginable, anywhere in the world – all at a time of your choosing, from the comfort of your own home.
The best online poker sites are highly regulated and provide strict consumer protections. They process thousands of secure transactions per day and are monitored by government and financial bodies to ensure that games are fair, transfers are safe and players’ data is protected. Licensed sites will also offer a variety of deposit and withdrawal methods, including credit cards, prepaid cards, eWallets, bank transfers and even good old-fashioned checks.
Before you can start playing for real money at an online poker site you will need to download the software and register an account with your chosen poker room. You will then choose a screen name which you won’t be allowed to change, and you will be asked for your bank details so that you can deposit funds and begin play.
Once you’ve registered an account at an approved poker site, you’ll need to choose a game and the stakes you want to play for. Some sites let you play for free with virtual chips before you start betting with real money, which is great if you’re new to the game and don’t want to risk your own cash.
When you’re ready to start playing for real money, most poker sites will allow you to make deposits and withdrawals via a variety of methods, including credit cards, eWallets, prepaid cards, bank transfers and even third-party eWallets. Most sites also have their own apps that can be downloaded onto smartphones and tablets, so you can play anytime, anywhere, on whatever device you have to hand.
Poker is a game of skill, not chance – and the top professionals spend as much time studying the game as they do playing it. If you want to get serious about winning money at the game, it’s worth signing up for poker training sites such as Upswing Poker or Chip Leader Coaching, networking with other successful poker players and brutally analyzing your own play after every session.
The minimum requirements for a computer to play poker are quite low compared with other online gambling activities such as casinos and sports betting, and any laptop or desktop from the early 2000s should be more than powerful enough. And these days, almost all poker sites have mobile apps available for both Android and Apple devices.