When playing online poker, you may enter a table or a tournament. Let's begin with how a table works and later move on to tournaments

Before you begin at a table, you must choose your stakes and your game. When choosing the stakes for limit tables, it will show the small blind/big blind values, in which the big blind will be the maximum bet. Limit tables are a safe way to start out because you aren't risking all your money every hand as you will be in no limit. Okay, enough babbling, let's get onto how the limit table works.

After choosing your stakes for the limit table, you will enter the actual table. At the table you will choose your seat and cash in money just as you would at a regular casino. Most tables have a minimum and a maximum buy-in. I normally buy in for the minimum, but it's up to you to choose the amount. At some tables, play won't begin until the dealer button reaches you to ensure fair play; at others, you will have to pay the big blind as an ante in order to begin play. Once you do this, you will be dealt two cards and will be ready to play.

As for No Limit tables, the way you enter will also be by choosing your stakes. No Limit tables have a minimum and a maximum buy-in as well. Normally, they will display their maximum buy-in in the lobby of the online poker site. Once you enter and sit down, the same rules apply. The difference between limit and no limit is the ability to risk all your chips in every hand. Now you are ready to play, however, you have no strategy; move onto lesson five to learn how to go about playing at a limit or no limit table.

Lesson 5

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Emil Erhart & Walt Impellicceiri
2006