If you have played a lot of poker in the past, you may be tempted to just jump in to online poker without any practice. However, it is very important to make sure that you do practice before you start. This is because the game of online poker is quite different.
Firstly, when you are playing with friends and family or in a casino, you can see who you are playing. You can read them for signs with regards to what their hand might be like and whether they are bluffing or not. Playing online does not allow you to do this. Although this is good if you find that personally you are not good a bluffing people, but it is not good if you are.
The variations of the game may be different online to those you play at home as well. It is important to make sure that you check the rules of the game you are playing first. It is also a good idea to have a lot of goes without betting real money. Most online poker websites allow you to do this and it is a good opportunity to make sure that you have a good grasp of the rules and get used to playing in this sort of environment. Keep playing until you feel confident that you can win games and then it is the time to start betting some money and having some real fun with it. Do not move on too quickly though because you may find it all rather disappointing if you lose a lot of money because you have not worked hard enough practising before playing for real money. It could put you right off and that would not be good at all. You want to keep it fun and winning certainly helps!
For more tips – read this poker section for more guides.