Internet Poker

Internet poker is a rich, complex game that combines skill, luck and intense psychological warfare. Every player competes against and interacts with every other; each player's actions influence each other player's actions.

In other casino games, you play against the house and its pre-determined, unchanging rules. Internet poker does have similarities to sports and race betting where your success comes from outsmarting the odds-makers and the rest of the betting population, but in internet poker it’s personal.

The opponent you need to outsmart sits at the table with you.

Whether played as a casual recreation or as a cutthroat profession, internet poker endures as America's most popular card game.

It's been estimated that 70 million Americans are familiar with the standard rules of poker, marking it as quite the socially acceptable gambling activity. The game is incredibly adaptable, and the growing popularity of internet poker attests to that.

Free Internet Poker Games

Internet Poker hosts the popular poker games such as Texas Hold'em, Omaha High, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo.

Free Internet Poker Tournaments

Internet Poker has daily sit & go poker tournaments dealing Texas Hold'em, Omaha High, and Omaha Hi/Lo. Multi-table poker tournaments are also available mostly dealing Texas Hold'em with an occasional Omaha or Seven Card Stud tournament.
Buy-ins for most tournaments are in the $5 to $20 range. Active players who have accumulated a minimum number of Reward Points have the ability to set up private poker tournaments. Internet Poker also offers daily satellite tournaments to various land based poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker, The World Poker Tour Championship, and others
Play Internet Poker: Posting, or waiting for the blind

To play internet poker like holdem, players take turns paying the blinds. To make sure everybody pays their fair share of blinds, new players have a choice to make when they sit down. As a new player, you can either wait a few hands until the blind comes around to you naturally, or you can “post” an extra blind and get a hand immediately.

If you post, on the hand after that you are a regular player and the dealer continues to deal you in.

When you post, the chips you post are "live" (they counts for you as a bet), so if the action is unraised when it reaches you, you will not need to bet any more chips to stay in the hand. If someone raises before the action reaches you, your post counts as credit toward calling the bet, if you wish.

Stud games have antes instead of blinds and you don't have to wait. The dealer will ask you to post your ante on the very next hand after you sit down.

Play Internet Poker: Your cards and the board

When you play internet poker, once you are dealt in, your own cards will be displayed in front of your seat and other players' cards will be displayed face-down in front of their seats. This way you can see who is dealt in. After a player folds, their cards disappear. You'll have to remember yourself who was dealt out, and who was dealt in and folded, just like in real life.

In holdem internet poker, the dealer places the community cards, or board, face up in the middle of the table.

Play Internet Poker: Betting

When it's your turn to bet, buttons appear marked as you play internet poker like "Fold", "Check", "Bet", "Call", "Raise", and so on. In a no-limit game, you will also have a slider and/or text box that you use to choose the amount of your bet or raise. The slider can take some getting used to and some people just always use the text box.

You can also make an "advance action" before it is your turn to act. This is most useful when you know you are going to fold no matter what happens between now and your turn. You will see little checkboxes that say "Fold to any bet", "Call $3", etc.

You can change you mind any time before the action reaches you. If the action reaches you as you play internet poker and you have checked one of the boxes, the dealer performs your action for you without pausing.

Internet Poker Game: The showdown

At the end of the hand, the dealer manages the showdown. At an internet poker game, the dealer starts out by showing the cards of the person obligated to show first. Then each player in turn is given the option to show their hand or "muck" their cards without showing.

To speed up the showdown, most sites automatically show winning hands immediately. None of the sites allow a player to muck a winning hand, so you don't have to worry about making that mistake. When all the cards have been shown, the dealer awards the pot according to the rules of the internet poker game.

Internet Poker Game: Sitting out

While you play an internet poker game, if you want to take a break, you can click on the "Sit out" button or "Deal me out next hand" check box (depending on the site). You'll be dealt out and won't pay any blinds or antes.

When you want to come back, there will be a "I'm back" button to click on. Most sites allow you to sit out for two rounds of blinds, which is 15 or more hands at a full table. If you sit out too long from the internet poker game, you will be stood up and your chips will be returned to your account.

If you miss the blinds while you are sitting out, you will have two choices similar to those of a new player. You can either "make up the blinds", usually by posting an amount equal to the sum of the blinds, or you can wait for the blind to reach you naturally.

If you make up the blinds, only the portion of your post up to the amount of the big blind is “live”. The rest goes into the pot immediately and doesn't play for you as a credit when the action reaches you.

Chat

All the poker clients allow you to chat with the other players at the table of the internet poker game. Look for a one-line text box near the text display area and try typing “hello” in it. Some clients let you chat if you are not seated at the table, while others restrict chat to seated players. Below, we talk about some etiquette guidelines you should follow when chatting.

Client options – sound, animation, 4-color deck

Most poker clients let you customize your poker experience while you enjoy your internet poker game. You can turn on and off the sound (good if you're playing from work!) and the animation (good if you have a slow machine). Exactly how you control the options depends on the poker client. Look for the “Options” menu on the lobby window, or else try clicking with the left or right mouse button in the dealer tray in the poker table window.

A very useful feature that some sites have is a 4-color deck. Many players prefer this because it reduces the chances of making a mistake when looking at the suits.