If you're playing poker for the first time, you'll need to do some learning before you click into a game online, even if it's only for play-money. Poker is a house that requires a foundation. Only when that foundation is secure can you go ahead and build on it. When all the elements are solidly fixed to the structure, you can begin to add flourishes and decorative touches. But you can't begin embellishing anything until the foundation is poured, the building is framed, and all the other elements that come before it are in place. In this site, we put first things first - where they belong - and provide a basic understanding of what you need before you play.

You don't have to be one of the best players in the world to earn money at poker - that's one of the best things about it. If you learn to play at a level akin to that of a moonlighting musician, you'll be good enough to win consistently. While it's true you'll have to play far better to make a lot of money, even a good, work-a-day poker player can supplement his or her "day job" income.

Determined work, study, practice, and analysis make lifelong winning players. If you apply yourself, you'll have a hobby that pays, and with the growing prevalence of Internet poker, you won't have to go further than your PC or laptop to ply your skill!

The impersonal, disembodied anonymity of the Internet demands play that is far more card-based than opponent-based. In most cases, winning play will depend simply on first investing in good starting hands, and thereafter on making only good decisions based on what cards appear next and whatever action takes place before it's your turn to act.

Forget "playing the player" in the sense of detecting most common tells (physical gestures or verbal clues or betting mannerisms that serve as tip-offs about an opponent's hand), preventing a bet or raise by cupping your chips as though ready to call, making hand movements yourself in a deceptive fashion, or staring down a bluff. You can't "make a play" when you and your opponent are invisible to each other.

Your strategy repertoire online is largely limited to the six basic actions: folding, betting, calling, raising, re-raising, and check-raising - supplemented by other poker skills, such as good games selection, good site selection, careful note-taking, astute observation of action, alertness to opponent behavior (such as noticing who is playing in two games rather than one, who's on tilt, or who has been playing all night), and wise money management.