Poker is a very popular card game that requires more than knowledge of the game for you to win. You will need a bit of luck, some bluffing skills, and the ability to mask your emotions when you play this game. If you play this online though, the masking of emotions may not be necessary, but being able to bluff convincingly and having some luck is.
Of course, you first need to know how to play the game in order to use your bluffing skills and your stroke of luck. To do that, you should first understand what poker is and what the basic rules of the game are. To help you out, here is a little primer:
What is Poker? – It is a game that requires skill, strategy, and luck. It is a card game that comes in a few different variants. This card game also involves betting and having the right combination of cards in hand to win. All variants of poker also have a few cards hidden from sight until the end of the “hand”, which then dictates who wins when these are revealed.
Not all poker games have the same number of cards when played. The number of cards that are dealt, the number of community or shared cards, and the number of cards that can stay hidden until the end of the hand can vary from one variant to another. How you place your bet and how the game progresses can also depend on the kind of poker variant you choose to play.
The poker variants that you can choose from when you play with friends and other people in real life include straight, stud, draw, and community card poker. Another thing you may also need to know before you start playing poker is the betting structure. This will determine how much you can bet in a hand and what process should be followed when betting.
Most Commonly Played Poker Games – There are many poker games for you to choose from, as mentioned above, but the most commonly played ones are the Texas Hold Em, which is a community card poker variant, and Seven Card Stud, which is a stud poker variant. The latter was the more popular of the two until the rise in popularity of Texas Hold Em, which is the game used in most poker tournaments. Straight poker is the game that most people see when they play video poker and video slots that use poker as a theme.
To win in poker, if all persons have hands that have a chance of winning, a person has to have a specific combination of cards that trumps everything else. In other words, to win, you have to have better cards than anyone else. In community card poker, this means you need to have a great combination that includes the common cards that everyone shares.
Learning to Play Poker with Mobile Apps
While you can learn to play poker using real cards and real human beings, it can take a lot of teaching and a lot of other people in order for you to catch the game’s gist the right way. It can be somewhat difficult to do this, particularly since not everyone you play with will have the patience to teach a newbie how to play. Your best bet to learn how to play poker is on your own, and there are many ways to do just that.
You can learn how to play poker by reading books about it and researching about gameplay online. This can be somewhat tedious since you will have to base your understanding on the written word. When you play the game for real, you might find yourself confused, particularly if the guide you used to learn the game from does not explain all the moves and strategies that you can use in the game.
Your best bet would be to use a phone or mobile device app that teaches you how to play the many different kinds of poker there is for you to play. With an app, you get to learn the basics, learn how to bet, how to tell if you have a potential winning hand, and when to go all-in. You will learn the basics and the advanced techniques in poker when you try to learn how to play using an app.
The question now is, where do you find the right app to learn poker and what type of poker should you learn to play first? Should you just learn to play one type of poker or should you learn how to play a few types to round out your poker gaming options? Is it worth it to learn how to play poker at all?
Playing poker is actually fun and yes, just for that, you should consider learning how to play the game. Even in social settings where a game may start just for fun, knowing how to play will keep you from getting excluded. It also opens you up to opportunities to win big money, should you find yourself in a game that you are lucky in.
To learn how to poker via a mobile app, you first need to find the right app to use. There are many to be found online, but it is best if you find one that teaches you the more popular variants, which is Texas Hold Em and Seven Stud. Of course, you should begin with the most basic, and that is the straight variant, which teaches you which hands can win the game and which ones won’t.
With that said, here is a list of poker teaching apps that you can use to learn how to play poker. Try to get some of the rudiments into your head before you try to play with anyone and start practicing by playing by yourself in play matches with a bot on a poker gaming app.
Learn Poker – as the name implies, this app helps you learn how to play poker. It teaches you how to play Texas Hold Em, which is a poker variant where each player is given two cards, face down, and five community cards are dealt face up in a few stages. The first stage is the first three cards, which is called the flop, followed by the fourth or the turn, and the fifth, or the river. This happens in stages and players are asked to check, to call, to raise, or to fold. This is in the hope of getting the best five-card combination they can from what they are holding and what the community cards will be.
This poker teaching app gives you the rules as you play along, teaching you how to play at a table with bots as opponents. This app lets you play and learn at the same time, which makes it easier to learn and makes you more adept at the game. This app can be played in a variety of languages that include Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian, and of course, English.
How to Play Poker – another app that teaches you how to play poker offline is this one that is developed by Youda Games. This app also teaches you how to play Texas Hold Em and features basic as well as advanced tutorials. It gives you the different hand combinations for the game, rankings of each hand, how to win, and many more.
The tutorials that you use with this app tell you when it is ideal to fold and when you should bet and go all-in. It also teaches you split pot, side pot, and all the other rules involved with the game. Since it can be played offline, you can learn how to play poker even when there is no internet connection.
Poker Fighter – developed by Mindful Games Ltd., this is another app that teaches players how to play Texas Hold Em. This is an app that is also ideal for complete neophytes to the game since it teaches you the basics. It is also a great app for intermediate players since it also helps you learn how to actually win the game and not just play it.
You play simulated games with actual poker professionals who give you feedback on your game play. If you are thinking of going pro with your poker gaming, this is a good poker teaching app to install. You can also use this as a stepping stone to real money poker gaming since you get the kind of feedback from actual players that you won’t get with a lot of other apps.
Tournament Poker Coach – this is a great app to install when you are definitely considering entering poker matches in the future. Just like Poker Fighter, you get to learn how to play the game from those who have mastered poker and can give honest feedback on your gameplay. The coaches, as the name implies, will also tell you what you are doing wrong and what you are doing right in simulated games using real hands.
This app actually teaches you the rudiments of tournament play, complete with timer, limits, and structures that come with professional poker gaming. It allows you to hone your poker playing skills to such an extent that you can easily compete with others confidently. It is also a great app to use when you simply want to refresh your memory of the rules of the game and to experience how to actually play in a poker tournament.
Texas Hold Em Poker Pro – since almost all poker tournaments and poker games that you can find online and in real casinos are Texas Hold Em, it is no wonder that almost all tutorial apps for poker revolve around this particular variant. The name itself tells you what poker game it teaches and what you can expect to become after you finished utilizing this app to its fullest. Considered one of the most popular poker tutorial apps around, this app developed by geaxgame has seen around 5 million downloads already from poker professional wannabes.
This app teaches the game to players of all levels, giving startup tutorials to newbies and tips to intermediate players as well. It teaches you so well that after you learn to actually play the game, you can just jump in on one of the tables and use what you have learned. With the app’s chat feature, you can talk with other players and ask them about your gameplay or simply make a friend while learning how to master your poker gaming.
Poker Omaha Hand Trainer – one of the rare apps that teaches you one of the other popular community poker variants is this app from Wyvern Entertainment. This app teaches you how to play Omaha, which is a poker game not entirely different from Texas Hold Em. The difference is instead of being given two cards at the beginning of play, you are handed 4 cards. You will then proceed to use two of these four cards that you are dealt and three of the community cards to complete a winning hand.
If you want to make your mark on the Omaha poker scene instead of the usual Texas Hold Em games, then this is the app for you. The game is actually considered one of the tougher for Texas Hold Em enthusiasts to transition into, and if you want a smoother entry into this particular variant, this app should help.
These are just some of the apps that you can download and use to learn how to play poker. Make sure to choose one that you are comfortable with and actually allows you to play with others after to see if you have actually learned to play the game. Also, make sure that you choose an app that directs you to a poker game that does not wager real money. You would not want to lose any cash simply because you played the game you just learned how to play with people who are already ahead of the game in terms of poker knowledge and skills, so to speak.
