How to play Texas Hold Um poker online

Whether you're an offline professional looking to start playing online or a total newbie, getting started is pretty easy. Winning consistently at hold um is another story though :). To get started your first concern is to choose a poker room. There are quite a few out there and you'll want to make sure you land yourself a good one. Most players have their favorites and most players play at more than one poker room. However, for your first try you'll want to start with just one - and make it a good one.

Without getting into endless "which poker room is the best" debates (although I do have my favorites), I've collected below a list of highly reputable poker rooms chosen specifically to ensure you don't go wrong with your first try. Basically, these are the big name poker rooms with the best software, the most online players (this is important), the best support and with the most tournament and promotion action.

So, how do you play then? The web sites of each have pretty good explanations. To summarize, you download and install their free poker software, start the software and register yourself an account and that's pretty much it. You can play as a guest in all of them, which I'd recommend. This gives you the chance to get a hang of the software without paying for you slip ups. Or, you can register as a "real" player and play for cash. You purchase chips through a variety of methods (credit cards included) and collect you winnings also with a variety of options (by cheque is common). Jump to the web site of your choice for far more details about these technicalities.

Can you trust them? Absolutely! These aren't fly by night operations. They're not out to cheat you, period. The poker rooms below are legitimate business looking to ensure a safe environment for a little poker action. They earn their keep just like an offline poker room does - by taking a percentage of the rake. Given the great service they provide their take is more than fair as far as I'm concerned.

So, the best way to get started from here is to jump right in I'd say. Take your pick from the shortlist below. They are all gems.

* the size number is an approximation of the number of real money games you could expect if you turn up.