The global fascination with Texas Hold’em poker continues to grow. The victory of amateur poker
players at the World Series of Poker has attracted the attention of youngsters across the world.
Jonathan Duhamel, a professional poker player became the champion of 2010 World Series of Poker
Main Event when he was just 22 years. He received the winning amount of almost $9 million.


Along with it, all the other top eight players, in their twenties, won almost a million dollars each.
Now, it would be obvious why the appeal of Texas Hold’em poker has received a huge burst of
interest.

Understanding Poker Basics Must For Newbie

While there’s just a small number of poker players who have gained instant wealth and fame, the
journey to a World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, or a European Poker Tour Championship is a
long and presumptively expensive learning process. For the poker fledgling, a basic poker skill
development plan should be part of their learning approach.

The learning process starts by gaining a solid understanding of the basics of poker. These basics may
include knowledge of the holdem poker card ranking or hand rankings, understanding the
fundamentals of betting, checking, raising, re-raising, bluffing and folding.

The knack to calculate mathematical odds and probabilities is a skill that requires polishing. But for
many players who are not naturally talented, a basic understanding of hand strength is needed.
Having a sense of which hands are strong and which hands are weak. Along with chances of making
a hand with the cards that are dealt, is a must-possess skill. If there’s lack of basic poker know how
poker success at any level will be hard to achieve.

Avoid Costly Mistakes By Being Rash & Impatient

Unfortunately, nowadays there is a rush to go for it and get done! Patience is not an asset; it is
simply non-existent. The biggest mistake that a novice can make is to rush off to a casino, a poker
room, or an online poker room for example PokerStars, Poker Party or Full Tilt poker. And start
playing for real money. This would be a costly mistake to make.

Begin Learning Poker By Playing At Home

The poker learning and development process must begin by playing poker at home in a safe
environment with family and friends. In the beginning, stakes should be limited to playing for
bragging rights or for extremely low stakes. The poker group must involve players who are at a
similar stage of learning. At least till there is a comprehension of all the basic practices.

At this stage, the group of players could share their knowledge to help each other improve their
skills faster. It’s at this stage that they must start collecting a poker library of poker instructional
books and DVDs. These resources will help provide information on more advanced poker tactics.

Many rich resources are available in the form of acclaimed books and/or top-quality poker
instructional DVDs on playing Texas Hold’em poker.

The Nutshell

Poker card rankings are the same for all poker games. The player possessing the highest poker hand
rankings and the highest number of cards wins the game.