Learn How to Play Poker – Play Poker Games Optimally – Guide on Playing Poker

by Jack Jakob  |  September 3, 2018

When it comes to learning how to play poker it can often make your head spin, for there is so much to learn you really are going to have to set aside a huge amount of time to both research the basics of playing, and then set about learning how to play poker optimally, using the very best strategies!

However, what I will be doing in the following guide is to give you a basic grounding as to how you play poker. I will keep things nice and simple in this guide, so please do read on!

If you are interested in learning the much more strategic aspects to playing poker, then I have also compiled some much more informative and in-depth guides throughout this website, that will help you learn how to play poker in the optimal way and also let you know about unique and often winning poker playing strategies too.

Finding a Game That Suits Your Style

As you are going to very quickly discover as a first time or fairly novice poker player, there are in fact a huge variety of different poker game variants on offer to you, and it is often going to be the case that the poker sites, poker app or the poker venue at which you choose to play is ultimately going to determine just what poker game variants are on offer to you.

However make no mistake about it, there is going to be at the very least one poker game variant that you are going to find much more appealing that all others.

Therefore is really is going to pay dividends for you to make sense of the way in which every single possible variants you will have the opportunity of playing in any playing environment works and has been designed too.

As you will then be able to choose the one that best suits you, your bankroll and much more importantly your own unique playing style too.

Adopting the Best Strategy

It is always going to be the case that a player that is prepared to learn how to adopt their own unique playing strategy when playing poker is going to have more chances of winning when playing absolutely any poker game variant.

However, one thing that I should make sure that you are fully aware of, all professional poker players and successful poker players too are always going to be prepared to adapt and change their own unique poker playing strategy as and when the need arises.

Play Cash Ring Games or Poker Tournaments?

Now you do need to be fully away when you set about playing poker for the very first time, that there are going to be two quite different ways to play your favourite and chosen poker games.

You can opt to play them as what are known as cash ring games, or if you prefer you can enter and take part in lots of different poker tournaments too.

Just be aware that when playing cash ring games the way each poker game variant and poker table that you will have access to will be using a different set of blinds and some to those games are pot limit games as well as no limit games too.

When playing in a poker tournament however, you simply need to pay an entry fee, unless the tournaments are free to enter, and you are then given a set number of poker tournament chips.

The aim of a poker tournament is for you to remain in them for as long as is possible, and by being one of the last players standing so to speak you will then win one of the cash prizes as per your final position on the poker tournament leader board.

Getting Your Bankroll Together

The amount of poker that you have set aside to play with is known as your poker playing bankroll, and you will at all times need to treat it with the maximum respect, for without a bankroll you cannot play poker for real money!

If you are on a small modest and limited bankroll then it should be the poker games that have the smallest and lowest valued buy-ins and blinds that you play, and also the low cost poker tournaments if it is poker tournaments you are looking to play.

Locating a Poker Room or Poker Site or App

The hardest decision you are going to have to make when you wish to play poker online or when you want to set about playing poker via a mobile poker site app, is just which sites and apps you make use of.

With that in mind there are always going to be some major benefits of you only ever playing at poker sites or when using poker apps that are licensed and regulated, as those sites do of course adhere to the very highest of industry standards at all times.

Look out also for poker sites that have the fastest pay-out times listed on their banking pages, as you could find some poker sites and poker apps that pay out their winning players instantly, when making use of some payment option such as web wallets and e-wallets for example.

It does of course go without saying that to have the ultimate and best poker playing experience you need to stick to playing at poker sites that are offering you as a player the exact type of poker game variants you want to play, so always add that onto you check list of wants and demands too when comparing many different poker sites and apps!

Consider Claiming and Using Poker Bonuses and Poker Comps

As I have mentioned in this guide it is your poker playing bankroll that is always going to be the one thing that will ultimately determine whether you can actually afford to play poker online or not.

There are ways that you will have of being able to increase the value of your bankroll, and those will take the form often of poker bonuses they can be given away on an ongoing basis by some poker sites and poker apps and many such sites and apps will also give you a high valued sign up bonus when you sign up and make a deposit.

So do consider claiming them if you are looking to get the maximum amount of value of out your bankroll, and also look out for and play at poker sites and on poker apps that have generous poker comps and loyalty schemes too, for even more poker playing value!

Setting Your Limits

Most licensed and legal poker sites and the companies that operate mobile poker site apps are required by law to ensure that their players have access to a range of different tools that are always going to allow them to gamble responsibly.

Therefore when you log into most poker sites or launch and then log into most poker apps these days you are initially faced with a pop up box that will allow you to set any time limits on how long you can play poker in that site or on that mobile poker app.
That pop up box also asks you if you would like to set any deposit limits over any given and chosen time periods too and will also ask if you want to set your own personal set of loss limits too.

It is always vitally important for you to set your own limits when playing poker for real money, so please do ensure that is something you do, as that way you are never going to be put in the very tempting position to make additional deposits into a poker site or poker app that you may not really be able to afford to do so!

Keep on Learning How to Play Better

It doesn’t matter how long you have been playing poker, you always need to be of the mindset that you will continually be learning, no matter which poker games you choose to play.

Therefore when you do have some spare time and are not playing poker it will be very beneficial for you to read some poker related books or what some poker training videos online, as that way you can often find yourself learning new strategies and will also discover just how other poker players do too.

There are also many poker training tools apps that you can download onto your phones or table devices, so if you are for example on a long card, train or even plane journey you could fire up those poker training apps and learn new strategies and ways of playing any type of poker games.

As long as you are prepared to keep on learning, then you will eventually master playing poker, and the better you play any form of poker game the more winning chances you will ultimately have at the poker tables, so always do be prepared to learn new and innovative ways of playing poker!