Game Play

There are a lot of different game play concepts that can be put into practice when it comes to poker and when you consider all of the different game play aspects that a game like poker carries with it, it becomes pretty easy to see how a newcomer to the game might get confused. Game play is more than just understanding the rules of a specific variant. Anyone can sit down and within a few minutes generally know how to play even the most complicated poker variants around. Rather than that, what game play refers to is simply an understanding of the etiquette of poker and the unspoken rules of the poker table.

General Game Play

There are a number of different general game play rules that are emphasized when a person sits down to play poker. These rules are mostly unspoken etiquette and while many unscrupulous players both online and in casinos will not follow a lot of them, if you want to be considered a friendly and courteous poker player, you should follow them too. Firstly, it is considered impolite in any form of poker to talk about your hand or another hand during the actual hand itself. Also, if you are not currently in the hand that is being dealt, you should not be talking about the hand. These are two main points of etiquette that should be followed by every reasonable poker player.

Brick and Mortar Game Play

Brick and Mortar refers to the fact that you will be sitting in a real chair, at a real poker table, in a real poker room. This is the way that poker has been played for years, even before the online boom came around. People still go to casinos because there is something about the social aspect that is largely missing when you play online and furthermore the competition at many casinos is a lot easier than online where a lot of people know basic strategy. There are no really general etiquette rules when it comes to game play in brick and mortar casinos, but when you are there you should really make an effort to chat and make friends with the people around you. Not only will this increase your enjoyment of the game play, but it will also give you a clue as to how each person plays by what their personality is.

Online Play

Online play is a little sketchier in terms of game play. The computer and the internet allow a player a large amount of anonymity and a lot of players feel the need to use that anonymity as a shield in order to insult the other players. Even though other players might engage and abuse and name-calling, you really should try to avoid this unless it is specifically intended as a part of your game plan. Sledging other players that are trying to enjoy themselves by playing their hobby from the comfort of their home is not something to be proud of and if you can help make the online poker rooms friendlier, you will definitely end up making more friends than enemies.