As I mentioned previously in my BLOG I’m trying to learn to play advanced poker games. I know how to play 5 card stud and draw. However I signed up to play Texas Hold’em in a tournament and I wanted to learn to play the game. I figure the easiest way to learn is to just find a site online so I asked a friend.

He recommended two sites: Party Poker and Poker Stars. He said Party Poker is really popular but he preferred Poker Stars because of their tournaments.

Not knowing any better I decided to check out Poker Stars. They offered a free software download so I thought I’d download it and see if it was really free. I figured they’d want me to upgrade and purchase real chips or something.

The download and installation took maybe 5 minutes. It was fast and painless. When I opened the program they asked me to register. Again I thought to myself this is where they probably ask me for money. They asked for my contact information such but they didn’t ask for any money! I did have to confirm my email and validate my account before I could play.

Within about 5 minutes I was logged into the Poker Stars system and was greeted with a screen that showed me all the open games. I was surprised that there were a TON of open games. I was most surprised to find out that there were FREE games where I could play with “fun money”. They started me with 1000 dollars worth of fun money which I could use in any of the free games.

I quickly found the fun money Texas Holdem games. Some were no limit and had high blinds. So these I couldn’t play in because I only had 1000 dollars worth of fun money. I also figured out some games were considered “high speed”. I thought this meant you had to have a high speed connection to play them. Then I discovered they were high speed because all the players knew what they were doing and you only had a few seconds to figure out what you wanted to do or you would be timed out!

Posted by as Learn Poker, Texas Hold Em, How to Play Poker at 10:03 PM BST

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I’m looking for a good site that talks about the rules for Texas Hold’Em and has some basic strategy for Texas Hold’Em games. Do you know of any?

I’ll post here with any good sites I find.

I just found the basics at About.com. Apparently Texas Hold’Em is what we usually see on TV. It is what they play during celebrity poker, world series of poker, etc.

http://boardgames.about.com/cs/poker/a/texas_rules.htm

I also found some strategy tips:
http://boardgames.about.com/od/poker/a/holdem_strategy.htm

And if you are brand new and don’t understand what hands win… Here is a list of how the various hands stack up in poker:
http://texasholdem.omnihosts.net/pokerhands.html

I don’t particular like the look of this page, and he is obviously trying to convince us to join an online casino but he has some strategies as well as rules. He tells you when it is a good time to bet* based on your whole cards.
http://texasholdem.omnihosts.net/pokerhands.html

Wow, thats a lot of good data for me to digest! I will read up and study this stuff for awhile before posting more.

Posted by as Learn Poker, Texas Hold Em, How to Play Poker at 11:55 AM BST

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My friend Gabe is into Poker. He plays a couple of nights a week with friends. I haven’t played much recently and definitely want to get in. However the buyin is $5. I really don’t think it is worth my time to go to a game to win $10-$20 off people. Unless I’m going for a purely learning experience. He does have one game where the buyin is $20. I’m going to head over there sometime and check it out.

Gabe also tells me that there is a charity tournament coming up. It is only $50 to join and of course that is a charitable donation. I think I’m going to check it out. He also told me it is really close by my house. I know I’m lame. I’m just scared I really suck at poker. However it is close by and it should be a fun time. I just don’t want to be the first guy put out of the tournament!

Posted by as Learn Poker at 6:53 AM BST

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This is my BLOG about my experience learning to play poker.

If you are reading this BLOG you probably are a lot like me.

I played poker with my friends and my family as a kid. Just for fun. I knew the basic rules. I knew three of a kind beats two pair. That kind of thing. However I had no real experience playing for money, bluffing, having a poker face, reading other people’s tells, etc.

I became old enough to go to the casino. I started out playing slots, then blackjack. Pretty soon I discovered Carribean Stud and some of the other casino games. Then one day I stumbled into the poker room. I sat at a table of people playing 7 card stud. I didn’t win much, I lost quite a bit actually! However I did manage to bluff an entire table of people into folding when I had nothing. I was hooked.

- Fittsy

Posted by as Learn Poker at 5:51 PM BST

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