The Internet: An Outstanding Tool For Beginner Poker Players

Looking to get into poker? Then you’ll need the internet by your side. After all, with an estimated 100 million global poker players, the game’s standards have never been higher. Happily, it has also never been easier to make the journey from poker newcomer to poker expert, and that’s all down to that handy little device you’re holding in your hands. With little more than an internet connection and a few resources, new poker players can quickly get up to speed with the game — and be competitive at the table in no time. 

Let’s run through just some of the ways the web can help players on their journey from poker newcomer to expert.

Learning the Rules

Poker isn’t an overly complex game, but it’s more complex than your average card game. And it’s also not a game you can figure out just by playing. You might pick up the rules if you watch enough games and have a patient soul to explain the bits you don’t understand, but that’ll take a lot of time. The simpler approach is to learn how to play poker by visiting an expert resource that clearly explains everything you need to know to get started. Once you’ve gotten the basics — it won’t take long — then you’ll be able to dive into games, confident that you understand which hands beat which. 

Everyday Experience

In the olden days, to get hours of poker experience might take months. You’d need to wait until the group of friends you play with could all get together. Today, to get hours of poker experience can take, well, hours. The magic of online play means you don’t need to wait for friends, family members, or anyone else to play a game of poker. Players can simply find an online poker platform and join a game. 

Essentially, the internet has allowed the learning curve of poker to be sped up significantly. Instead of waiting months before a player feels comfortable with their gameplay, they can reach the same level in days. 

Playing Against a Variety of Abilities

Poker players improve by playing against others of various abilities. Ideally, beginners would come up against players who are slightly better than they are, since this would present the right amount of challenge. The internet, much more than the real world, facilitates this. Online poker tables are filled with people of all levels of poker standards, ensuring that newcomers can test themselves.

Understand — And Use — Poker Strategies

Every half-decent poker player has at least some understanding of poker strategies. In the pre-internet era, it’s likely that a new player would be playing for months before they even became aware that such strategies existed. Today, they’ll become aware within weeks — or perhaps even sooner.

Of course, it’s one thing to be aware that poker strategies exist, and another to understand and use them. With the web, players can read up on the most common poker strategies and then put them into practice almost immediately. 

Poker-Related Media

Modern poker players also have a wealth of resources at their disposal, which allows them to top up their poker knowledge even when they’re away from the table. For instance, there are a number of well-rated poker podcasts that newcomers can listen to on their commute to work. There’s also an infinite number of poker-related YouTube channels that players can use to take a deeper dive into the game and develop their understanding. 

Become Part of Online Communities

Finally, perhaps the biggest advantage that the internet offers modern poker players is community. With online forums, such as poker-related subreddits, new players can get guidance on how they can improve, mistakes they’ve made, and simply pick up practical information that they can use during their games. While this might sound like a minor detail, it offers newcomers a significant advantage compared with what they would have experienced in the past, which would have been a much more isolated learning curve.