Who This Site is For

You can learn to play Texas Hold 'em at several places on the internet.  A brief introduction to hold 'em play can be found on Steve Badger's Play Winning Poker site.  Once you know the basic rules of Texas Hold 'em (and they are very easy) go to one of the online card-rooms and create an account.  We have a complete listing of online poker rooms that you can choose from...  One thing that is common to them all: You do NOT need to deposit money or even provide a credit card to play! You will be able to play Texas Holdem and other poker games for free with other people on the internet using some of the most advanced and polished poker software available.  

For the absolute beginners there is nothing better than just getting out there and playing a bunch of hands with other real people to get into the swing of the game.  Low Limit Hold 'em Strategy and Tactics suggests trying UltimateBet or Party Poker for free money games so you can get a feel both for Hold 'em and for their excellent interfaces.

You can (and should) also read one of the many good poker books on the market.  Low Limit Hold 'em Strategy and Tactics has a bookstore page that has a plethora of Hold 'em books that are critical to improving your game.  We recommend any of Lou Krieger's Hold 'em books, Lee Jones' Low Limit Hold 'em book (a must get for anyone who plays a lot of low limit hold 'em!) and if you plan to move up to the limits beyond "low" you should definitely read Sklansky and Malmuth's Hold 'em, Advanced Hold 'em, and Small Stakes Hold 'em books, Bob Ciaffone's Middle Limit Hold 'em books, and Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Hold 'em book.

Work your way down the topics listed on the home page and try to understand the reasoning behind them.  If you disagree with something--great!  At a minimum look at our starting hand selections (which are geared to extremely loose play games) and then read through the betting round sections Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn and River.

Real poker means adjusting to unique situations as they arise--there is no one hard and fast rule for playing.  We describe a strategy here for playing in no-fold'em hold'em games (and it is a strategy that works) but it is not the only strategy. As you progress through the limits to tighter and tighter games your strategy will have to change.

After you can consistently beat a play-money table you're ready to try real money!  You can start as low as you like (UltimateBet offers games at the 1c-2c level, yes that's 1 cents for a small bet--not very financially threatening) making this a perfect place to try out your strategy with almost no risk.

We also have a growing list of online funding methods to give you some information about exactly how you can put money in your poker account and detailed information on what you should look for in an online poker room.

In terms of player population, the largest sites at the moment are Party Poker, Poker Stars, UltimateBet and Full Tilt Poker, but these are not the only choices! We provide links to every online cardroom we know of (and if we miss one you can submit it) at our Playing Online section.

If you live in the United States your choices for playing online are more limited because of last year's Port Security bill which caused some online cardrooms to jump ship from the US market. You can still play at the best and largest sites which include Poker Stars, UltimateBet, Full Tilt Poker, Doyle's Room, Bodog, Absolute Poker and Cake Poker. Remember you can play at all of these cardrooms for FREE (try them out and find the one you like). And free means free--you do not have to provide any billing information to set up a play money account.

We highly recommend you keep detailed logs of your poker sessions.  A tool like Poker Tracker (which can import every hand you ever play online and track your wins and losses) can be invaluable in pinpointing leaks in your game.

You can also check out our Quality Poker Links page which contains links to some of the best poker sites on the internet (this isn't a link exchange page, we actually think these sites are worth visiting).  If we've missed one that you're fond of, leave us some feedback using our Contact Us page. Finally be sure to check out the Low Limit Poker Forum where you can get feedback on your game (and give your own tips) for a large number of active members.