Online Poker is a game of card skill where players compete to win cash or tournament prizes. It’s a huge industry with many different variants of the game including Texas Hold’em, Omaha and 7 Card Stud. It can be played from the comfort of your own home or on your mobile device while travelling. It has been responsible for a massive increase in the number of poker players worldwide.
The first online poker website was launched in 1994. This was a huge breakthrough in the world of online gaming and it opened up a whole new market for developers and operators. Since then the game has grown in popularity and there are now hundreds of online poker sites to choose from. Many of these offer generous sign-up bonuses but the rules around these vary greatly. Some require you to play a certain number of hands before your bonus becomes available while others release it in increments depending on the amount of Frequent Player Points (FPPs) you earn.
There are also many free training resources available to new players such as strategy articles, online poker blogs and forums and videos with the biggest names in the game. Some even have interactive tools and quizzes so that you can learn the basics of the game before you start playing for real money. It’s recommended to find a few of these resources and stick with them rather than jumping between multiple websites.
Another important tip for new players is to track their results. This will help them see what they are doing right and wrong and will give them a good idea of where their winnings and losses are coming from. Most online poker sites will provide session stats which you can click on after your session to see a breakdown of your performance. It’s a great way to keep on top of your game and improve your overall skills.
The next tip is to understand that there will be bad beats in online poker. Online poker tables deal 3 to 10 times faster than a live casino table so you should expect to get hit with a few bad beats in every session. This is especially true when you play fast-fold games such as turbo Sit ’n Gos or online Zoom tables.
The final tip for new players is to invest in a good poker HUD like PokerTracker 4 or Hold’em Manager 3. This will overlay your online poker table and allow you to see information on your opponents such as their pre-flop raise percentage and how often they fold to a raise. This will allow you to make more informed decisions at the poker table and hopefully improve your chances of winning. This is a very important investment that can pay dividends in the long run. Ultimately the best strategy is to keep improving and to have a short memory when it comes to the bad beats. If you’re not happy with your results drop down a stake for a while, grind it back up and try again.