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How exactly do you play texas hold’em poker? If you’re completely new to the game the first thing you have to do is learn the rules. You can find the rules on most big poker sites, they are well explained and easy to understand.
If you still do not quite understand you have several options to choose from, you can jump on an online poker room and start trying things out for play money until you figure it out.
You can also watch a poker tournament on TV like the world poker tour or world series of poker. Both are good and they explain the rules of the game at the beginning of each episode.
After you’ve learned the rules you have to learn how much each hand is worth. What is worth playing from where and how should you play it.
This is where things can get a bit complicated. This is why they say that texas hold’em takes a minute to learn but a lifetime to master. The rules are easy to learn but once you start looking at the subtle nuances and the strategy behind it all it becomes harder.
Don’t sweat! If you like playing poker then there’s nothing holding you back. I would recommend you read some books on the subject to learn more. Some great authors on poker books are
1. Dan Harrington
2. David Sklansky
3. Ed Miller
They all have written books for beginners as well as for more advanced players. Take a look at your local book store and see what you find.
Once you’ve done that, keep playing in your play money games or the nickel and dime real money games to learn how the game works.
Once you’ve shown that you can win in these games consistently for over 50 hours of play then you are ready to move up one limit and try your luck there.
Poker requires a lot of patience and you can’t move up unless you are comfortable losing many buy-ins. I recommend that anyone who starts out has a very large bankroll. If you’re playing no-limit hold’em and say $10 max buy-in I recommend you have a bankroll of at least 100 buy-ins. That means a roll of $1,000.
Why so large? Because in the beginning it is not a certainty that you are a winner in the game, that means you will lose a bit in the beginning before you start winning.
And even winning isn’t a certainty unless you work hard on your game to begin with!
When I started playing I read every book on poker I could find and I joined the 2+2 forums to ask lots of questions about hands I’ve played and I answered others questions to learn more.
It took me about 3-6 months of living and breathing poker until I started winning at the micro-stakes. It is a lot of hard work but if you keep at it and get friends or poker coaches who know what they are doing you can go a long way.
Be careful with your money and good luck at the tables!
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