Being one of the many, many people who play Texas Hold em poker online. You may have seen it on TV, you may have friends who have introduced you to the game. Maybe you saw the movie ‘Rounders’ with Matt Damon and Edward Norton and thought Texas Holdem was the coolest thing you could do. The lure of huge prizes all at the turn of the cards is hard to resist even for the not hardened gambler. But to play Texas hold em online poker successfully you have to get the hang of a few things in the first place.

The obvious things to get started with online poker – make sure you are of the appropriate age to play and that it is legal to access these sites in your area. Once you’ve chosen a site that fits your pocket and experience level, decide how much you want to spend. This may sound too obvious but separating your gambling money from day to day cash is one way you can play Texas hold em poker online without worrying about when to quit. Less stress too. You don’t want to have to tell your kids why Santa only got them Cheetos this Christmas.

And then games. The basics of Texas Hold em poker online is that you join a table, with real or virtual players, and wait for the posts of small blind bets from people to the remaining dealers. The big blind is then placed by the next player and finally some cards are dealt! The oh-small blind is half of the set minimum bet, and the big blind is the full minimum bet.

Each player is dealt two cards, face down, to their eyes only. Now you are trying to evaluate how good your hand is potentially even though you don’t know what other cards you can join later in the game. After one round of betting, the dealer then moves to the flop, provided no one raises the bid and then the dealer has to wait for another round of betting to pass the table.

The next part of playing Texas Hold em online involves the dealer dealing three cards face up at the table – the ‘flop’. These are called community cards because they are available for everyone to use. Here comes the part where you try to add value to your hand by using what is put in front of you.

More raises, bets and folds (out of hand!) occurs when the first one card is turned over – the turn – and finally the last – the river. At this point, kick bluffs and double bluffs as you try to judge the strength of your hand against all of your opponents. As the bidding process progresses, the real fun of Texas Hold em poker online really becomes apparent. Adrenaline rushes in and it all goes downhill to see if it was your hand that brought the pot back into your corner.