Poker and in particular playing online poker for fun has become extremely popular. It appears no section of society has been unaffected from students to bored housewives and not just people with time on their hands, busy executives and many who work full time take advantage of the 24-hour nature of the net to play. Although the main aim of a poker game is to win the money in the pot you can still play poker for fun against thousands of players who are scattered all around the world. Many of the internet sites are happy to let you create your own table so you can challenge your friends to a game.
The first poker game that springs to mind when asking most people is of course the tremendously popular Texas Holdem poker, this game has been made popular because its great fun to watch on TV and it is also moderately easy to learn. Holdem is the first game most people learn when playing poker for fun. Omaha poker with its variations such as Omaha hi and Omaha hi/lo is also another fun game to play as the extra cards give the players more of a choice allowing them to create better hands. 5 and 7 card games both stud, draw and hi/lo are also popular games which can be great fun to learn but may seem a bit confusing at first. There are many variations of poker to pick from and each game may have slightly different rules and depending upon the site you are playing at.
Poker is seen as having more of an element of skill than other forms of gambling although this has been debated a lot, some think it is a game of skill while others think it is luck. The game is in fact a mixture of both skill and luck, it is a game of bluff and counter bluff with a complex set of rules, etiquette, and poker today even has its own language and community. Many people enjoy playing poker for fun simply for the social aspect of the game.
Learning how to play is relatively easy learning how to play well takes time and constant practice. If you want to play for real money and not make large losses online, I suggest you spend along time playing for fun first.
Virtually all of the online sites will allow players to register and play for free on the play money tables so there is a wide choice of sites to pick from. This is of course up to the individual. Playing poker for fun is the ideal choice for beginners, this way a new player with no experience and little skill can learn the basics of a game with out any risk.
