How to Play Poker for Beginners – Comprehensive Guide

 The Comprehensive Guide to Poker - How to Play Poker For Beginners

Gamblers love to learn poker. But, it can be difficult and tedious to learn the basics. We're going to teach you how to play poker in this "poker beginner" guide. We'll be focusing our attention on Texas Hold 'Em, which is the most commonly played form of poker.

We will begin with the basics of poker: how to play, hand rankings, etc. Then we'll get into the mathematics and strategy later in this tutorial. You can find a "how do you play poker for beginners guide" here.

Poker for Beginners

The goal of poker is to have the best possible poker hand and beat all players around you. The poker hand rankings will be discussed in the poker guide later. But first let's look at how poker is played.

After all players have gathered at the table the first decision is to determine who will act as the dealer. This can be done either on a voluntary basis, or by handing out cards to everyone. The dealer is the card with the highest value. Once the dealer has been chosen, a "Dealer Button", also known as a button, will be placed in front of them.

The dealer button is the player who acts last in all betting rounds, except the preflop. This gives you a great advantage since you can observe what everyone else does before you make your final decision. So, the dealer button rotates clockwise to the next player at the conclusion of each hand. This ensures that everyone is in the same advantageous position.

The dealer button in an online casino or real poker does not physically deal the cards. Instead, it signifies to everyone, including the dealer that the dealer is the 'nominal' dealer for the hand. This allows the dealer know who to deal the first cards to (the first player to leave the dealer button) and also who acts last. Except, as we have already said, in the preflop phase where the big blind determines who is to act first.

Once the dealer button has been placed, the first player to the left will have the small blind' and then the next player the ‘big blind. You can read the next section for a better understanding of 'blinds. It's now time to deal the cards.

The button's first player is dealt one face-down card. This process is repeated clockwise until all players have two face-down cards. Once all players have been dealt 2 cards, the first round, also known as the "preflop" betting round, begins.

Preflop Betting Round

Once all players are given their hold cards they must now look at them and decide what to do. The player who is closest to the bigblint is the first to act. Next, the action continues clockwise through all players, returning to the bigblin in a clockwise fashion, so that everyone has had the chance to act.

When it's your turn, every player has the exact same choices: Fold, Call, Check ('Check' in case of the big blind), or Raise.

Depending on the actions taken by the other players, the big blind has several options.

If everyone has 'called' their big blind, they can 'check' (add one more bet) to remain in the round. Or he can 'raise,' which adds more bet (usually at least twice the amount in the big blind). In this case, betting continues around each table until everyone calls or raises again. Each cardroom will have a limit to how many reraises may be made in a single betting round. It is usually three or four.

If someone has "raised", then s/he will need to "call" the new bet amount or reraise.

Finally, they are also allowed to 'fold'. The player can also 'fold' if the big blind has been called by everyone else. This is because they don’t have to put any money into the pot. Therefore, they should continue to play until the next round.

Once everyone has had the chance to act at minimum once, and everyone who has not folded has placed the same amount, then the current round ends.

The Flop

Three new cards face up are dealt in the center, and are known by "the flip". Each player can use as many of these community cards as they wish to improve their hand. After the deal is complete, another round begins.

Like the previous round everyone takes their turn, but with two minor differences.

The first difference is that the initial player to initiate the betting round, is now the first active person to the left of this button.

The second difference is in how you choose to perform the actions. The first player can either "bet" (since there are no blinds and therefore no live bets), or "check", which allows them to initiate the betting round by placing the first bet. Depending on what the players do, they can also continue to play the game until the play is over. The next betting round begins if everyone has checked. If someone had placed a wager, the first player who checked the game will be required to call the bet or raise it.

Once everyone has had an opportunity to make at least one bet and everyone has wagered the same amount, or none, the game will move on to the next round.

The Turn and the River

Another card is dealt face down, the turn. This round is identical with the previous round. The next round will see the fifth and final card dealt face-up.

The Showdown

If more than one player remains after the river wager round, the players will be allowed to enter the showdown stage.

The person who started the river round of betting is usually the first to reveal his cards. Next, the clockwise order is reversed so that all remaining players can also reveal their cards. A player who has a losing hand can not show their cards. They can instead "muck" their cards into the discard pile.

If no one has placed a wager in the previous round of play, the first player left of the button to reveal their hands must be the first.

The player who has the best hand will win the pot. In the event of a tie the pot is divided between the players with the best hand.

Who is the winner?

Other than the one remaining player before the showdown round, there are other ways to determine who the winner is. The winner will be the player who has not folded in any previous betting rounds.

Blinds for both large and small windows

You might have heard about blinds in both "big" and smaller sizes before.

The No-Limit Hold'em system includes the small and big blinds. These are tiny bets that the dealer forces onto the two players left. The big blind is typically the minimum bet at the table, while the small blind equals half of that. For example, if there were limits of $1/2 on a poker table, the bigblind would be $2 and the little blind would be 1.

You might wonder what the point is of blinds. There are a few reasons that they are present at most poker tables.

They encourage action. Players are less likely to wait for high-quality hands because there is always money in the pot.

They are essential for tournament structure as players without them could refuse to play their hands until they had either pocket Kings or ace.

Antes

High-stakes cash game and later stage tournaments are where you will find antes. Antes are similar to the small and large blinds in that players do not have the option of putting an ante in. Again, this is done to encourage action and to ensure that players are not waiting to get premium hands.

A beginner's guide to Bluffing

Bluffing is an essential component of poker. It's also the one you might be most excited about or the most nervous about.

As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't try to fool a new player by bluffing. This is pretty clear. There's a good chance that you will be playing against experienced players. You don't want them to have an advantage where they might see right through you and beat you.

While this has its uses, many people won't expect that you will bluff. However, it is worth taking your time before going too crazy.

What then is a bluff anyway?

Bluffing refers to the art of convincing your opponent(s), to fold a hand better than yours in order for you win the pot. Let's say you were hoping for a flush but you lost on the river. If you had a good amount of money in the pot, then you would likely try to fold your opponent's hand by making a small bluff.

You could be chasing a flush or your opponent could be re-bluffing you if they're a good player.

This is where things get a bit complicated. How to play poker