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Tips for Playing Free Poker Online for Fun

When you want to practice playing Poker, your best bet (no pun intended) is the popular free Poker game sites online. There are scores of Poker web sites that let you play for real money, but when you're new, you don't want to do that yet. What you want is as much practice as possible. And you can do that with a free Poker site.

Free Poker web sites let you play with play money. To play in free Poker sites, you need only:

- familiarity with the rules of the Poker game you want to play (e.g. Omaha, Texas Holdem) - an Internet connection - Windows XP or other modern operating system

You don't need cable Internet; if a free Poker web site's software is good, it will run quite fast on your computer even if all you have is a dial-up. What you need is just a decent computer.

When you download the Poker web site's software, stay connected to the Internet and let it install. Register using a dummy e-mail address (one you don't use often, that is) and note your password. You can have only 1 account.

Once your account is verified via e-mail and your registration is complete, you can start to play. But first you should read any FAQ or help pages.

You should see a list of the Poker games available. When you choose, say, Texas Holdem, you'll find many tables under various betting categories: Limit, No Limit, etc. Don't go to the No Limits tables. Play gets really wild there (especially since no real money is at stake), and you don't have a lot of money yet. The free Poker site will likely give you starting play money, say, $1,000. But that can get quickly depleted.

Now pick a low bet table with about 3-4 people in it. Do not choose a table with lots of players in it. Why? First, you'll have to wait a long while before you can join since you'll arrive in the middle of play. Second, it's hard to bluff effectively with lots of players at the table. And third, play is really fast and it's harder to observe and learn.

When you join a table, you'll be asked for your buy-in, the amount of money you take from your bankroll to the table. Put in, say, $200. You can always add later.

Turn off the chat.

Choose the seat right in front of you.

If you see someone at the table with LOTS of money, say, a thousand per cent more than you, leave the table. You can't play as a newbie against someone like that. You don't have the guns.

When you play, fold a lot. Play only the best hands.

When you have a great hand, bet aggressively.

Now, if you always play tight like this, the other players will "read" you sooner or later. So what can you do? Leave the table when you make a big win. Choose the "sit out" option then leave after a game. Go to a next table or play another day. This way, nobody can remember you and how you play. The free Poker web sites we have tried have no penalty or rules against this kind of play.

If you play smart this way, you'll be able to increase your bankroll. When you do, you can afford to take bolder moves, and play more often at higher stake tables. Good luck!