Poker is a game of wit, strategy and skill that has seen famous poker players earn millions. It's unsurprising then, that more and more people are learning how to play poker every year. Texas Hold'em poker is the most popular and widely played poker variation, and one of the easiest to learn. Whether you’re a complete novice or are used to playing high-stakes live games, beginning with lower-stakes is advisable when starting out with online poker. There are several reasons for this. In poker, you are always looking to make sets of cards based on either their suit, their value, or rank e.g. king, queen, jack, 10 and so on. Good hands will have pairs (like two aces) or cards of the same suit in a sequential series (i.e. cards that follow each other; 9, 8 and 7 or ace, king and queen). Use your first few sessions to get familiar with some aspects of poker unique to the online version, such as using the time-bank feature. For experienced live players, having a set amount of time to act – and a relatively short time, at that – can be a significant adjustment, and new players may also be surprised at the speedy pace of the online game. Use the time-bank to get a little more time for your decisions. You won’t always get dealt the best cards at the table, so bluffing is an essential part of any winning player’s strategy. Getting better at bluffing will enable you to win even when you don’t have the best hand, but before deciding to bluff you need to consider things like your position, stack size, table image and the play of that hand so far. Bluffing is one of the trickier skills to master, even for the best poker players. You might hear some say that playing poker is simply a game of chance - that Lady Luck determines who wins and who loses. Well, they're wrong. Poker is a game of both luck and skill. It's true that “I'd rather be lucky than good” is a phrase often muttered ruefully by poker players, usually after they've just suffered their third bad beat in a row. But the truth is good luck (and bad luck) is a short-term phenomenon and in order to become a long-term real money winner in this game, you need to study.

Texas Hold'em may take minutes to learn but it takes a lifetime to master. It involves a huge amount of strategy and counterstrategy that will put your math, psychology and deception skills to the test. The good news is, though, you only need to be better than the players you're playing against to be a winner. Do you fancy your chances becoming a winner?