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Page 1: From Zero to Hero - Online Poker Rooms, Bonuses, · From Zero to Hero: ... player holding the best hand wins the pot. ... (Check out our exclusive Which Poker Hand Wins Calculator
Page 2: From Zero to Hero - Online Poker Rooms, Bonuses, · From Zero to Hero: ... player holding the best hand wins the pot. ... (Check out our exclusive Which Poker Hand Wins Calculator

From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Table of contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................3The Insider’s Introduction to Hold’em Basics .......................................................................... 4Hand Ranking Table ................................................................................................................................6How to Determine the Winning Hand(plus Two Common Hands That Cause Confusion) .................................................................7Ready-Made Which Hand Wins Calculator ..............................................................................10How Betting Works in No-Limit Hold’em .....................................................................................11Two Big Adjustments to Make When You Shift from Cash Games to Tournaments .......................................................................................................... 12How to Look Like You Know What You’re Doing at the Online Tables .......................... 14Five Simple Pointers to Give You a Head Start in Your First Game ................................16Where to Sign Up ....................................................................................................................................18About PokerListings ..............................................................................................................................19

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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IntroductionWELCOME TO THE WILD WORLD OF ONLINE POKER.

Every day thousands of players log on to bet, raise and bluff their way to victory.

With hundreds of online poker sites, dozens of sign-up methods and a lot of different variations of the game, it can be intimidating to get started.

But this guide will defi nitely make it easier – and, we hope, start you on the right track to becoming a winning poker player.

We’ve collected strategies and tips from some of the best players around (they hang out at PokerListings.com too). What we’re sharing in this guide and the course that follows is all the stuff they wish they knew when they started out.

By reading this, you’re getting the combined benefi t of decades of poker experience.

I can tell you I wish I had this guide when I started playing online poker. Instead, I learned the hard way: by dumping hundreds of dollars online and, well, losing all of it.

It wasn’t until much later I realized that wasn’t necessary. If you learn even a few of the fundamentals of the game (which you’ll fi nd in this guide) you can easily avoid the same pitfalls.

We’re also going to share some equally helpful but much less-discussed topics in online poker − like how to pick the right online poker site for you and the easiest and fastest ways to make deposits and withdrawals online.

With a little luck, you may just go straight from this starter’s guide to being a winning player in short order.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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The Insider’s Introduction to Texas Hold‘em − Basic Rules and Game Play

Texas Hold’em is a community card poker game, with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played.

Although the rules and game play remain mostly the same, the end goal is slightly different depending on if you’re playing a cash game or a tournament (we’ll discuss that a bit later).

A standard Texas Holdem cash game is typically played on a single table with one deck of cards and two to 10 players.

You win a round of play by having the best hand at the end of the last round of betting. This is called the “showdown”. You also win if all the other players “fold” (give up their cards and stop betting) before the showdown and you’re the last one standing.

The money that players stake against their hand being the best goes into the middle of the table and is called the “pot.” The goal is to win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.

Before getting any deeper in explaining how to play, I should say that the easiest way to learn this is to actually try playing a few hands on the play money tables. It can be hard to imagine all this going on!

A STANDARD HAND IN TEXAS HOLD’EM GOES LIKE THIS:

First, the dealer shuffles the deck. In some games, players take turns being the dealer. If there’s a permanent professional dealer at the table or you’re online, a “dealer button” indicates the player who would be the dealer. We’ll refer to the person with the button as the dealer from here on.

The two players to the left of the dealer have to pay some forced bets to start things moving. These are called the “blinds.” The first player to the dealer’s left pays the “small blind.” The next player pays the “big blind” – typically twice as much as the small blind. Starting at the player to his left, the dealer deals every player two cards face down. These are called “hole cards” and you don’t show these to anyone else.

Now the betting begins properly. The players who put in the blinds started things off, so the next to act is the player to the left of the big blind.

Each player acts in turn and has three options: “call” (put in the same amount as the player before him), “raise” (put in more than the player before him) or “fold” (throw his hole cards into the middle and declare himself out of this hand.) See more about your betting choices later in this guide.

The betting continues until each player has either folded or put an equivalent amount of money into the pot.

Once the first betting round is over, the dealer deals one card face down (the “burn card”), and three face up in the middle of the table. This is called “the flop”.

Armed with the knowledge of their hole cards and the flop, the players begin the second round of betting. Now the first to act is the player to the left of the dealer. Again, there’s more about the betting choices later in the guide.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Once the second betting round completes, the dealer deals one more card face down, and one more card face up in the middle. This is called the turn.

The third betting round functions the same as the second betting round. Once the betting round completes, the dealer deals one final card face down, and the

final card face up in the middle. This is called the river. Now there are 5 face up cards in the middle of the table.

The final betting round functions the same as the previous two betting rounds. All players still in the hand at the end of the final betting round enter the showdown. The

player holding the best hand wins the pot.

The button moves to the next player on the left and the next hand begins.

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Poker Hand RankingsROYAL FLUSHA-K-Q-J-T all the same suit

STRAIGHT FLUSHAny fi ve-card sequence of the same suit (For instance 7-6-5-4-3 of hearts)

FOUR OF A KINDAny four cards of the same rank

FULL HOUSEAny three cards of the same rank combined with two cards of the same rank

FLUSHAny fi ve cards of the same suit

STRAIGHTAny fi ve-card sequence of any suit

THREE OF A KINDAny three cards of the same rank

TWO PAIRTwo cards of the same rank combined with a different two cards of the same rank

A PAIRTwo cards of the same rank

HIGH CARDAny hand not in the above-mentioned hands

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How to Determine the Winning HandOne of the things you’re obviously going to need to know is how to determine the winning hand.Seems simple at fi rst, but it does take a bit of time to get the hang of reading the board and understanding which hand wins in every scenario.

Before we go any further, the best thing you can do is print out or memorize the order of poker hands above. Once you know that a fl ush always beats a straight and three of a kind always beats two pair, you’re off to a good start. Past that, the majority of poker hands are simple to determine a winner from.

If one player has a fl ush, and no one else has a fl ush or better, it doesn’t take much thought to fi gure out who’s the winner. It’s once things get a little bit more complex that people start to get confused. First, you want to remember these rules:

You must make the best hand possible using exactly fi ve cards All fi ve cards are used to decide the strength of the hand No cards outside of the best fi ve have any bearing on the strength of the hand

If you’re playing Texas Hold’em poker, players are allowed to use any combination of cards from their hand and/or the board cards.

This means if the absolute best fi ve-card hand they can make is by using the fi ve cards on the board, then that is their fi nal hand (this is known as playing the board).

SOME COMMON AREAS OF CONFUSION

TWO PLAYERS (OR MORE) HAVE A FLUSH

If more than one player has a fl ush, you award the pot to the player with the highest fl ush. This includes all fi ve cards, for example:

Board

Player 1 Player 2

In this scenario, Player 1 wins the pot. The reason is that when you look at all fi ve cards, Player 1 has the higher fl ush.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Player 1

Player 2

All the cards are the same, until the fi nal fi fth card. Since #7d is higher than #6d, Player1 wins the entire pot.

If instead of the #2s on the board, that card was the #Td, both players would have the same fl ush (playing the board) and the pot would be split.

TWO PLAYERS HAVE TWO PAIRS

When two players each have two pairs, it can sometimes be confusing for people to know who won. Take this example:

Board

Player 1 Player 2

In this scenario, Player 1 wins the entire pot. Two pair is always ranked by the value of the highest pair fi rst, and only if that is the same do you rank by the second pair.

If both pairs are the same, it will be the kicker that will decide the winner (the highest-value fi fth card is the kicker).

Because the deuce paired on the river, Player 1 has two pair − #Ad#Ac#2s#2c with the kicker #Kd − while Player 2 has the lower two pair − #Kd#Kh#Qs#Qh with the kicker #3h.

Aces are higher than kings, so Player 1 wins the entire pot.

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WHO WINS?

Board

Player 1 Player 2

Take a second to fi gure it out. This is a bad beat for sure, as once the river falls both players now have four of a kind, nines.

Only Player 1, who up until this point had nothing special, now has the highest kicker with an ace.

Even though Player 2 fl opped a full house − #Ks#Kc#Kd#9s#9c − once the fourth nine fell, he was now playing four-of-a-kind nines, with a king kicker.

So Player 1 wins the whole pot.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Which Hand Wins CalculatorIf you’re still a bit confused by the above scenarios, we’ve actually built the perfect practice tool for reading the board and helping understand which poker hand wins.

Just plug in your hole cards, your opponent’s hole cards and the cards on the board and the calculator will do all the work for you.

(Check out our exclusive Which Poker Hand Wins Calculator here.)

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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How Betting Rounds Work in No-Limit Hold’emPeople are drawn to No-Limit Hold’em poker because of its unique mix of skill, chance and action—and especially because you can bet all of your chips at any point during the hand.

In No-Limit Texas Hold’em, players are always given the choice between one of three options:

Check (or call). Bet (or raise). Fold. (In a scenario where you can check, folding makes no sense but it’s still an option.)

To call means simply to match the previous bet made (a check is the same thing except when no bet has been made before you; in other words, a check is a call for free).

Folding means throwing your hand away and waiting until the next deal to play again. Folding is always free.

If there has been no bet made yet, you have the option to bet. Once a bet is made, players to follow now have the option to call the bet or to raise the bet.

In No-Limit poker the minimum bet is equal to the size of the big blind and a maximum bet is the total amount of all of your chips. (Only chips that were included in your stack before the cards were dealt for that hand count, meaning you can’t add (or remove) chips during a hand.)

Once a bet has been made, the minimum you can raise is the size of the last bet. So if your opponent bets $5, the minimum raise you can make is $5 (for a total bet of $10). Again, the maximum raise is the total of whatever you have in front of you.

How big a No-Limit Hold’em cash game is played is determined by its blind size. A $1/$2 game will have $1/$2 blinds, and the buy-in will vary from poker room to poker room.

Generally the minimum buy-in will be 20 big blinds (so $40 in our example), and the maximum will be 100 big blinds ($200), though there are some casinos that spread games with no maximum buy-in.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Two Big Adjustments to Make When You Shift fromCash Games to Tournaments

Tournaments are a very different monster from cash games.

They use the same 52-card deck and the same general rules of poker of course, but your style of play can vary dramatically from one mode to the other.

Most players start with cash games and then switch to tournaments, although there’s absolutely nothing wrong if you start the other way around.

Just know that regardless of which way you started, you defi nitely have to make some adjustments to your thinking when you switch over if you want to remain a winning player.

HERE ARE THE TWO BIG ADJUSTMENTS TO GIVE YOU STAYING POWER IN ANY TOURNAMENTREMEMBER YOUR STACK IS FINITE

This is by far the biggest mental obstacle to overcome for cash-game players making the switch to tournaments.

Your chip stack is now fi nite: meaning when your chips are gone, you’re out of the tournament.

In cash games, you can rebuy to your heart’s content. But in a tournament, you get the chips you start with and it’s up to you from there.

When you lose them, that’s it.

Because you only have a fi nite number of chips, optimal play is obviously different.

In tournament poker you’re forced to play a tighter overall game because there is no freedom to rebuy. You can’t splash around with chips because chips are your lifeline − you must protect them.

This is the essence of tournament poker. Occasionally you will have to fold in a spot for all your chips where you may be a slight favorite.

In a cash game, getting your money in as a favorite is almost always the right play. But calling and losing in a tournament can knock you out and stop you from making bets in which you have an even bigger edge later on.

REMEMBER THE BLINDS INCREASE

The blinds in a tournament increase at set intervals − anywhere from every 15 minutes to every two hours. This is done to force the action so players can’t just sit around waiting for aces all day.

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Increasing the blinds obviously makes a player’s stack-to-blinds ratio go down. This in turn causes players to play more hands to keep up with the rising blinds, which of course knocks people out of the tournament.

What that means for you is that as the blinds go up you will need to become more active. If you come from cash games, you might only be used to playing with a big stack and waiting for premium hands to make your moves.

In tournaments, you will be forced to master many different stack sizes and get used to playing a wider range of hands.

As the stack sizes change, your basic strategy must too.

REMEMBER THOUGH: IT’S STILL JUST POKER

Though there are subtle differences between the two forms of poker, when you get right down to it, it’s all just the same game… a game of playing solid cards, strategizing based on position and paying attention to your opponents.

If you make better decisions than the majority of your opponents, it really won’t matter what form of the game you’re playing: you’re probably going to be a winner.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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How to Look Like You Know What You’re Doing at the Online Tables

Everyone has to start somewhere, but there are a few actions that are frowned upon by experienced players. Whenever possible try to avoid the following moves:

FALLING BEHIND

Try to stay away from the high-speed tables when you’re starting out in online poker. Be sure to take your time thinking about a hand, but don’t spend two minutes on a hand you know you’re going to fold.

NOT USING THE AUTO BLIND FEATURE

Always set the blind options to auto. Experienced players hate it when someone takes 30 seconds to chip in the big blind.

MIN-BUYING

As mentioned in the Betting Rules section, this just refers to how much money you sit down at the table with.

There is usually a minimum or maximum buy in for cash games based on the size of the blinds. For $1/$2 games, for example, the minimum buy in is usually 20 big blinds ($40) and the maximum is usually 100 big blinds ($200).

Min-buying just means sitting down at the table with the least amount of cash you can. This isn’t against the rules and will happen frequently at the lower stakes, but as you progress through the ranks players begin to frown more on the so-called short-stackers.

Essentially short-stackers can change the dynamic of the game because the small stack size usually gives odds that lead to a fold or all-in strategy in most hands. It’s up to you to decide how you feel about “short-stacking,” but be warned you might catch some fl ack later on for it.

DISRESPECTING OTHER PLAYERS

This goes for any stake or skill level.

A lot of people love poker for the social element and the back-and-forth banter, but remember name-calling, berating opponents and acting like a jerk will not earn you any friends online.

It’s not just a matter of etiquette either. Profanity or racial remarks can get a player banned from a site.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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SITTING OUT EXCESSIVELY

It happens to everyone: sometimes life gets in the way of work. It’s during these moments that you’ll want to sit out of the action for a few hands.

That said, you will want to avoid sitting out as much as possible. In a cash game it’s irritating to everyone else, and in a tournament you’re just losing value.

BLAME THE SOFTWARE

Poker software, as a rule, does not make mistakes. But there are always players who rant and rave for hours after getting one bad river card.

When you’re learning how to play poker you should really just assume the software is correct and instead of complaining, take that time to analyze what happened in the hand.

99.99% of the time the pot is shipped to the correct player. If not, send support an email ASAP!

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Five Simple Pointers to Give You a Head Start in Your First Game

1. TIGHT IS RIGHT

Only the best hand wins at showdown, and you want to plan to have the best hand at showdown before you put a single penny in the pot. As a rookie, it all begins when you’re dealt your two hole cards.

You want to play only the best possible hands before the fl op because they make the best hands after the fl op.

Generally you want to be playing around 18-20% of your hands at a full nine-handed poker table. It doesn’t seem like many hands, and it isn’t, but it’s the best way to show a profi t when you’re starting out.

Hold’em is often just as much about the hands you fold as the hands you play. If you play too many hands you simply won’t be able to profi t because you’ll be throwing away too much money with weak hands to make it back with your good hands.

So play tight. Tight is right.

2. LOOK FOR LOOSE GAMES

A “loose game” is one where most players at the table are doing the opposite of what we talked about in point 1 – meaning playing A LOT of hands.

Online, if you look at the table stats in the lobby, it’s very possible to fi nd games where the “view fl op” percentage (meaning how often a hand progresses at least to the fl op being dealt) is at 70% or higher. These are the games you want to be in.

When you play that many hands, you just can’t have good cards most of the time. And when your opponents play weak hands before the fl op, they tend to make weak hands after the fl op.

Weak hands are always second-best hands and your opponent’s second-best hands are going to make you money if you play your tight strategy!

3. POSITION IS THE HIDDEN FACTOR

Position is one of the most important factors in Texas Hold’em. Position refers to your position in relation to the dealer button, which identifi es which player acts last during the hand.

Acting last is a huge advantage in poker because you have more information. When you act last you know if your opponent wanted to check or bet. You get to see everyone’s actions before you decide what to do.

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Nobody can see the next card or showdown until you say. You are in complete control.Because of that, when you’re in position you can play more hands than you normally would because you will have the inherent advantage of position.

4. AIM FOR PROFITABLE SITUATIONS

Remember your goal. You want to have the best hand by the time all fi ve community cards are out and the betting has fi nished.

There is no clear-cut answer as to what hand is good enough to take to showdown. It always depends. But by playing tight you will ensure that you’ll make more best hands and less second-best hands.

During each hand you have to take into account the cards that are on the board and the possibilities that they offer. Think about what type of opponent you’re playing against and how the hand has played out.

Poker is a game of information. Be a sponge; soak up as much as you can and use it to your advantage.

5. THINK LONG TERM

Though poker is a game you can beat in the long term, it’s still gambling to some degree.

You make the best decisions you can, but still random cards come out. You control when you put money in but you don’t control the deck.

It’s that element of luck that makes the game interesting but it’s also that element of luck that can make the game extremely frustrating.You can make every decision right the entire night and still lose the session. You can make every right decision all week and still lose.

Conversely you can see some idiot in seat 10 play every hand and win a ton. It’s the nature of the game.

It’s what keeps the fi sh interested, so embrace it. Look at each situation individually and make the best possible decision.

If you do that every time, you will be a successful poker player in the long term. Try to downplay the importance of short-term results.

And last but not least:

HAVE FUN. POKER’S A FUN GAME, SO DON’T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY.

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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Where to Sign UpThere are lots of options out there for beginner poker players looking to get started online, but after years of practice I’ve found there are some poker sites better than others for beginners.

We’ve provided a quick start guide for you further on in this guide. This will help you through the download and registration process and get you into your fi rst game quickly.

Try the game out now if you can (play-money tables are available at every poker site) as it’s important you familiarize yourself with the rules and the way the software works so you’re ready for the next stage in the course.

When you start playing with real money, you’ll want to be relaxed, comfortable with the game mechanics and how the software operates – and ready to focus only on playing your best game.

SUMMARY

If you understand the concepts mentioned above, then you’re already ahead of where I was when I stated to play online poker.

If the last section moved a bit too far ahead for you, don’t worry. We’ve got 15 more articles of easy-to-follow, step-by-step beginner poker training lined up that will answer all of your questions.

FIRST UP:

Before you can learn how to be really good at poker, you’ve got to learn, well, how not to suck at poker fi rst.

Starting with the next email, we’ll show you everything you need to know to stop sucking at the game—like using position, reading the board and counting your odds, etc.

We’ll then move on to building your bankroll, the top fi ve hands you should avoid, keeping track of your results and more.

Finally, we’ll cover more advanced topics like the top fi ve ways beginners go broke and how you can fi nd and use more advanced resources to improve your game.

Next week we’ll start with the single most profi table piece of advice a beginner can learn in poker: play fewer hands. We’ll tell you exactly which hands you’ll want to play and how to play them.

Make sure you’ve practiced before then!

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From Zero to Hero: Getting Started in Online Poker

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About UsPokerListings is the world’s largest online poker guide.

We’ve been online since the early days of online poker and our business was built on guaranteeing the highest sign up bonuses for our players at the best online poker sites.

Since then, PokerListings.com has expanded to include daily poker news, in-depth reviews of all major poker sites, live poker coverage from tournaments across the globe, over 500 strategy articles across all skill levels, countless videos and interviews with the game’s best players, essential tools for poker players and much, much more.

Still, we pride ourselves on offering the best poker bonuses in the world and ensuring new players have access to the most essential information they’ll need to succeed.

In short: we hope PokerListings.com is always your first stop for anything related to online poker. We think you’ll like what you find.