How to Play Online Poker

Poker is a game of skill over the long haul, and top professionals spend as much time studying and honing their skills as they do playing. Online poker offers players a great opportunity to work on their game without leaving the comfort of their own homes, but it’s important to pick a licensed, regulated site.

Signing up for an online poker account is straightforward. Provide some basic information such as your name, address and phone number and create a username and password. Once you have an account you can deposit funds through a number of different methods. When the money appears in your account balance you can begin playing!

Many players prefer to play online poker because of the relaxed atmosphere and lack of physical ‘tells’. However, this is a personal choice and both methods can be fun. Moreover, the rules of poker are the same regardless of whether you play online or in your hometown cardroom, and it’s not difficult to find a poker odds calculator that can help you figure out the probability of winning any hand.

Before regulated online poker came back to the United States it was possible for rogue employees and collusion between operators to manipulate games in favor of certain players. This type of activity is extremely unlikely to occur when players stick with licensed, regulated sites and only play for real money.