Playing paid or free poker online is a game of skill, chance with a little luck thrown in for good measure.

After all, there are only 52 cards in a deck. And any 5 given cards will always win a hand. You could be looking at a completely awful hand of a pair of 2s, or even an A high, but whatever they are, one will always win. That is the great unknown of poker, which cards are going to win for any given hand.

When dealt cards you must first decide whether they are suitable to your style of play. Then the decision is whether to fold, call or raise the big blind.

Every individual player has their own style of playing. Some players will only play face cards, whereas others will play any card given to them. That is a style of play. I know of many players who will play nearly every hand pre-flop as long as the bet is within their comfort zone.

Once the flop is seen, it becomes more interesting and a bigger decision needing to be made. If you are holding 3 4 off suit and the flop shows AKJ, what is the likelihood that you will continue with the hand? I would imagine you would fold, unless it is a check through until the turn card is shown.

Everyone’s style of play is different, and you can never really know for certain how one may play that hand. There could very well be someone holding 3 4 offsuit and try to bluff and bet big once the flop is shown. I, for one, would never attempt that with such low cards, but I have seen it happen, it’s a great mystery of how others play!

That is why it is always important to observe and study your fellow card players. In time, you develop enough information on their style of play to fairly accurately predict what they will do.

Does that always work to your advantage you may ask yourself. Well, the answer would be no. As I stated earlier, any given 5 cards will win a hand and they may very well be holding Q 10 and flopped a straight. However, if you study their style of play you do stand a better chance of predicting the type of hand the players has by how they play it.

As much as you can rely on studying opponents playing styles to help you win, you must also remember that its your own playing which will win you a game of poker. Have a go playing free poker online and practice, practice, practice before moving on to money games.

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