How to Play

Here are a variety of links to pages on this site that deal with the basics, from game rules to hand rankings to basic strategies. After a bit of reading, these days the best way to learn how to play poker is by playing the poker game at our online cardroom -- or even just watching others play.

It's very simple to do, you download the software, sign up (doesn't cost anything to start) then click one of the active tables and watch how the game moves and how poker hands are played. If you want to play, click an open seat on a free-play table and start playing. The learning process is greatly accelerated, and you don't need to rely on friends to put together a game. Online there are always games to play or watch. Naturally free games are wilder and somewhat unrealistic compared to money games, but in terms of offering a way to learn the fundamentals, nothing else compares.