Online Poker - Learn to Play for Free, and the Chance to Win Real Cash Prizes

All the online poker rooms provide you with the chance to play poker without risking a cent of your money. You simply download and install the software, open an account and then login. You do not have to give any payment details to do this. If a poker room does ask you for a credit card number, simply to open an account, leave and choose another one.

When you create the account you're given a certain quantity of play chips. If you lose them all you'll be given more.

One of the benefits of Fun cash, is that you can learn how to play, without risking your own money doing this. Or if you join a brand new poker room you can get accustomed to the software before you must put hard cash on the table.

The principal disadvantage you will often find is that because there's absolutely no real money at risk, people generally play a whole lot looser than they would at a real money table. Some players will call every hand to the river (last community card dealt in holdem), with palms that many good players will fold without question in a real money game.

Having said that you can find a realistic game occasionally, and for a complete beginner it's a valuable aid to learning the various games and strategies.

If you do choose to play at these tables you need to attempt to make the play chips as important for you as possible. Do not see every flop and call everything just as other players are doing this. Try to play with as you would on a real money table and collect chips though tight skillful play instead of pure luck. At Absolute Poker you can earn $50 of actual money if you can build up 15 million play chips. Sounds impossible ? Well over one hundred players at the Absolute Poker 15 million processor Hall of Fame would likely disagree. A number of them have done it five times!

Some poker rooms also provide'freeroll' tournaments that are free to enter but have a real money prize.