Feeling a little nervous about playing poker online? Knowing what to expect can alleviate most fears about trying something new. Most of the perceived danger of playing online poker can be dispelled by realizing that the online poker industry has been around a lot longer than the television poker craze. The web is populated by dozens of well-established and reputable poker sites that stake their business and profits on honest business practices and responsibility for both their own money and the money of their players.
Whether you've played in a real casino or will be playing for money for the first time, the virtual table can feel like a foreign place. Online poker is fast-paced. Often you only get thirty seconds to make your decision. Hands go fast, and the video-game atmosphere can easily make you forget you're playing with real money. But there are many features of the online playing environment that can minimize those split-second decisions and put you in a more strategic position to win.
No matter what poker website you choose, the actual playing environment is pretty much the same. You'll have a listing of different poker tables grouped according to their betting limits. Tournaments and free tables will usually be found among these same listings. Once you choose a table, you'll select a seat at the table, represented by avatars. When you pick a table, you'll be prompted for the amount of money to bring to the table. If it's your first time, bring only the minimum amount that the table requires. Once you're more comfortable, you might want to start playing with three to four times that minimum amount.
Most of the action will occur in the center of the table. The dealer button moves around the table while your cards are made visible to you, face up, in front of your avatar. All chips are tossed onto the table in front of the player who posts them. Each player's actions will usually be displayed on top of their avatars and duplicated in the scrolling chat box in case you missed it.
At the bottom of the screen, you'll find your total chip count for that table, the chat box, and all your action buttons such as check, fold, bet, and raise. As the betting moves around the table, you will select the action by clicking those buttons. Often, you can click them ahead of time by selecting a check box within those buttons before your actual turn. The program will automatically perform that action when your turn comes. This is one way that you can be ensured a longer period of time to consider your decision than just the standard thirty seconds.
One check box you need to look for is the auto-muck feature. The term muck means to discard or fold your cards. If you're still in the hand when it's time to flip over the cards, the auto-muck feature will automatically fold for you if you lose instead of displaying the hand. Just as in regular, face-to-face poker, you want to reveal as little as possible about your strategy and play style. The auto-muck feature will never fold a winning hand and will help to preserve as much mystery about your playing style as possible.
Don't feel compelled to play every hand or even the first hand. It's often beneficial to observe the room before you buy in. You should be able to sit down at a table and then go "afk" or away from keyboard (you won't have to pay the blind if you're inactive or afk). Just sit and watch a few hands to see if it's the right pace for you. If people tend to be betting too much or too little, betting too aggressively or frivolously, switch to another table until you find one where you'll be comfortable.
Before you can receive any cards, you'll have to post the equivalent of the big blind. This is done to prevent people from jumping from table to table to avoid paying the blinds when it comes their turn. However, keep an eye out for blinds-dodgers, people who conveniently go afk and "sit out" when their blinds approach. In most games this means that both the blinds and the dealer button will skip right over them. They'll have to post the big blind again before they can come back into play, but it's a sacrifice worth making since it means that they'll never have to play a forced bet out of position. If you see someone do it, watch them for a couple more revolutions of the table, just to be sure, then report them to the 24-hour help desk. However, be aware that sometimes the 24-hour line goes unmanned and your only recourse is to leave the table and play somewhere else.
Be ready for trash talk. Anonymity gives some people a sense of power that they've never had before, and when money's involved, that tendency is even stronger. It's likely that since you're online right now, you've spent some time in a chatroom or an mmorpg, so you're probably used to it. But if you're accustomed to playing in a nice casino where misbehavior is carried by its shirt-tail to the revolving glass door, the cursing and name-calling might be a bit of a shock. However, I've never been in an online poker room that didn't have the option to squelch chat. Just find the drop-down menu or radial button in the chat box itself and switch to dealer communication only. The chat box will still report the pot sizes and winning hands, so you'll never miss any of the action, just the gab.
Being aware of the features and format of online poker will alleviate most misapprehension about playing online poker. By removing the mystery, a player can make himself/herself more comfortable and capable of controlling the betting environment.