Top Online Casino for Real Money Poker in 2023

Poker basics: Once you’re dealt cards (how many cards depends on the variant), it’s time to make your move. But what are the options? Here are the basic poker moves every player should know before playing. These options stay the same regardless of the variant you play. 

Check: This option allows you to stay in the game without betting any money—but you can only do this if the player before you did not bet or raise. If the player after you bets or raises, you’ll need to call, raise, or fold.

Bet: The amount of the bet is determined by the player who first puts money into the pot. Once the bet is placed, other players need to determine which action to take: call, raise, or fold.

Call: Once players start betting, you must match the bet to stay in the round. Once you’ve matched the bet in the final round of betting, you can “call” and the other players must show their cards.

Raise: After a player matches a bet, you can choose to match the bet and then add some more. This is known as “raising.” If you do so, other players must match the new, higher amount (call), raise again, or fold.

Fold: When other players bet or raise and you don’t think you can win, you can fold without betting any money (or without betting any more money)

Poker is both a game of chance and skill—you can’t control which cards you receive, but you can exercise a great deal of skill in how you play your hand. Playing online poker is a wonderful way to hone your skills. After all, practice makes perfect. Here we’ve included several tips for honing your poker strategy. 

Don’t Play Every Hand

You may be tempted to play every hand—even the bad ones—because you’re relying too much on Lady Luck. Don’t do this! If you get a bad hand, understand that statistics are against you, and fold. You’ll have plenty more chances—you just need to be patient. 

Learn One Game at a Time

Online casinos offer many different types of poker variants, and if you’re just starting out, you may be tempted to try them all. We recommend finding one variant and focusing on that until you gain a deep understanding of it and develop the intuition that only comes from experience. Once you master one variant, you can move on to others. 

Start with Minimum Stakes

Just as there are many variants of poker at online casinos, there are also many poker tables with different minimum stakes. We recommend starting at a poker table with small stakes so that you can build your poker strategy without risking too much. 

Don’t Go Over Your Budget

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of the game and continue playing way past your budget. This is a big mistake that can have very serious ramifications. That’s why it’s important to set a budget (no more than you’re willing to lose) and stick with it. If the temptation is too great, you can see if the casino you’re playing at has responsible gambling controls that allow you to limit your betting.

While there are many poker variants to choose from, the hands are the same. Whether you play three-card, five-card, or seven-card poker, the goal is to have a better hand than the house or other players.

Hand rankings, from highest to lowest, are:

- Royal Flush
- Straight Flush
- Four of a Kind
- Full House
- Flush
- Straight
- Three of a Kind
- Two Pair
- One Pair
- High Card

The easiest way to win a poker round is by getting the best hand. When you play poker in land-based casinos or online with a live dealer, you can try to win by bluffing, even if you don’t have a good hand. Bluffing is risky business and should only be attempted by experienced players.

Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular types of poker variants, so much so that poker aficionados don’t only play it, but they watch poker masters compete in the World Series of Poker, just as they watch professional sports. 

While the game is easy to learn, it’s not easy to master. As you’ll see below, there are many steps in Texas Hold’em, more so than in many other types of poker variants. There are four betting rounds, giving players plenty of time to bluff. By the last round, tensions are high. 

If you want to start playing Texas Hold’em, it’s important to learn the game sequence and rules first. We’ve broken down the game into steps so you can be prepared when you play for real money. 

1. Blinds: One player is named the dealer and given the “dealer button.” The two players to the left of the dealer post the small blind and big blind—these are mandatory bets that the player needs to place (in addition to the buy-in cost). 

2. Hole Cards: After the blinds are placed, the dealer deals the hole cards—two cards that are dealt to each player face-down. The hole cards are what create most of the suspense, since only you know what you have and that keeps other players guessing.  

3. First betting round: Once the hole cards have been dealt, the player to the left of the big blind needs to make the first move. Options include calling the big blind, raising, or folding. Every player around the table gets the chance to make their move. Once they’re all finished, the dealer moves to the next step. 

4. The flop: The flop is when the dealer puts down three face-up cards, known as community cards, in the middle of the table. The players need to use the community cards and their face-down cards to create the best hand.

5. Second betting round: After the flop, players have another turn to place their wagers. They have the same options as before, including checking. If someone bets or raises, players who checked need to match the action in order to stay in the game. If they don’t want to match, they can fold. 

6. The turn: The dealer puts a fourth community card next to the others.

7. Third betting round: The same as the first two, players now have more information to decide what their next move should be. 

8. The river: The most exciting moment of Texas Hold’em is when the fifth community card, known as the river, is placed. The river helps players determine their final hand. 

9. Fourth and final betting round: After the river card is dealt, players have one final time to call, bet, raise, or fold. 

10. Showdown: Players who didn’t fold show their cards and the winner is announced.

Poker is a wildly popular game at both land-based and online casinos, but we believe that playing online has many advantages over playing in-person.

Benefits include:

Convenience: There’s no need to travel or get dressed up to visit an online casino. You can play from wherever you are, on desktop, laptop, or mobile device, as long as you have a stable internet connection.

Huge variety: Online casinos have a much greater variety of poker games than brick-and-mortar ones. You can find popular games along with obscure ones, all accessible with a tap of your finger.

Low bets: Due to the large variety of games that online casinos have, you can find poker tables that offer low bets.

Play different hands simultaneously: Online casinos allow you to play multiple poker games at once and bet on different hands simultaneously.

Fast-paced: Online poker moves at a much quicker pace than land-based poker.

No waiting: You don’t need to wait for a table when you play online poker. There are always available tables.

Promotions and bonuses: Online casinos offer poker bonuses that can give you free money to play with, match your deposit, or more. Brick-and-mortar casinos offer no such thing.