Of all the amazing online casino card games, online poker remains the king. Hands down, pun intended, online poker offers the most variants for hardcore poker enthusiasts and card game fans to explore. Just like their traditional poker game counterparts, the allure of online poker remains winning in high fashion with impressive payouts like flushes and straights. However, if you’re new to online poker, consider this guide your stepping stone towards mastering and falling in love with the numerous online poker variants.
How to Play Online Poker
If you’re familiar with playing Stud Poker, Omaha, and Texas Hold’em, for example, the rules, for the most part, carry over to the online versions. One of the main differences is that you have to purchase virtual casino chips at real money casinos before you can play any online poker game. For social casinos like Zula and McLuck, you must first purchase or freely earn gold or sweepstakes coins before you can play any online poker game.
Online Poker Guides
If you’re new to online poker, you might be at a loss for where to start. Fortunately, leading online casinos have built-in strategy guides to help shed some light on how to play, including proper etiquette if you’re playing with live dealer poker. Also, you might be able to play some practice play at online casinos that support practice play. Of all the online poker games, video poker games are the leading candidates for free play.
The Different Online Poker Variants
Now, to the fun part, all the different and rewarding online poker variants await you. While poker games share the same winning payouts, the game rules might differ slightly or entirely. So, before settling in, you might want to read about these exciting choices waiting for you at many reputable online casinos.
Three Card Poker
If you’re new to online poker, perhaps Three Card Poker is the best place to start. It doesn’t come with complex gameplay, and the action moves at a quick pace. Before playing the hand, players place an ante bet, a small percentage of the playing pot. The players and the dealer are given three cards. However, the dealer’s cards remain face down while the player’s cards remain face up.
After the cards are dealt, players use strategy to fold or bluff the other opponents into folding their hands. To continue, the players must make a play wager, which is normally the same value as the ante bet.
Texas Hold’em
Most online casinos have some form of Texas Hold’em, usually as Ultimate Texas Hold’em or a branded casino version. Texas Hold’em is one of the most romanticized poker games in blockbuster films like Casino Royale. Also, Texas Hold’em is usually available for live dealer play and tournaments.
In Texas Hold’em, players are given two hole cards. Hole cards are dealt face-down so that only the particular player can see them. After that, five community cards are dealt face up so that each player can see if they can use them to build better playing hands. Texas Hold’em challenges online poker players with a series of flops, turns, and river rounds leading to the showdown.
Omaha
Like Texas Hold’em, Omaha poker is the game of choice for competitive online poker tournaments. It follows many of the same rules as Texas Hold’em. However, one of the main differences is that players are dealt four hole cards instead of two. Players can still use three of the five community cards to help build a winning hand.
Omaha is so popular that you might have online spinoffs like Omaha Hi and Omaha Hi-Lo. In Omaha Hi-Lo, players strive to collect with the highest hand while still winning a good chunk of change with lower-paying hands.
Read More About Investigating How Casino Bonuses Influence the Psychological Behavior of Players
