Poker is quickly becoming one of the world's favorite pastimes. Many people who have never set foot in a casino want to join in on the action. They see the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker and think to themselves, "I can do that". Now that we have established why many people want to start playing poker, the question is: "how do they (you) get started?"

The easiest way for players to get started is to play online poker, because online card rooms offer free poker games. Most card rooms have "play money" tables right alongside the mix of their "real money" tables. A few card rooms even have .net sister sites exclusively dedicated to play money games. These .net sites are just doorways into the free money tables on the .com sites, but without the ability to directly move over to real money games.

The free games might seem like a waste of time to many people, but they are useful for a few reasons. The free games assist players with the basics of poker, teach players how to play better and they teach players how to navigate through each website. The basics of poker can be learned from books or reading websites. Although you can learn from reading what poker hand beats what other hand, or how the betting action takes place, it is always better to get a little hands on experience. Once you read about it, you need to apply it.

Playing free poker online will assist you in this process. If you spend a few evenings playing poker online, you will realize that it is usually silly to draw to a straight when there are four flush cards on board. In just a few evenings, you will have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of hands and you will know that when there are four flush cards on board, one of your opponents likely has a fifth flush card.

I know many people will disagree that playing free games teach players how to play better. When there is no money at stake, most players play recklessly. But still, the reckless players can teach a new player how to play better. By observing wild players, you learn what NOT to do. The learning process in poker is never-ending. Every session, you should try and learn something about the game. Many times you learn from your own experiences (a lot of times your mistakes), but it can often be even better when you can learn from somebody else's.