Poker is a fascinating game. A game of strategy, probability, psychology, and a little bit of chance. Online poker strips the game down to its essentials and, besides the luck factor, brings the game down to being just about the player. About you.

Every hand you play is about what you do and your reasons for doing so. Will you check, call, raise, or fold. Are you raising because you want your opponents to call, or do you want them to fold. Perhaps you were hoping for a re-raise as they attempt a bluff, or you should slowplay the hand to keep others in the hand. But most of the time you should just plain fold.

Every hand is different and you need a big bag of tricks to handle the many unique and sometimes difficult situations. Where does that big bag of tricks come form? Experience.

Experience requires lots of time at the tables. The learning curve takes time and can be expensive. New Online poker players need to pace themselves and play without loosing too much money. Start small and slowly, SLOWLY, work your way up to larger stakes games.

Ideally, the new online poker player should start out on the free tables. This is the best arena to learn the basics and see a lot of hands. But it is important to realize that free poker is a far different game than poker for real money. With play money, players are much more willing to play hands they should be folding. This is true for you and your opponents.

After some time playing free poker, the new online poker player will begin to understand what types of hands win more often. They will also begin to play them in such a way as to maximize the profits from winning hands. They will also realize that to stay ahead you must be folding lots hands. Meager hands just don't win often enough to cover the frequent losses from those types of hands.

At this stage the poker player should also realize that he is playing against other beginners who are often throwing their free play money around like it is, well, play money. It is important to develop strategies to cope with player that will call any bet or raise wildly because they are playing to have fun. Developing these skills will become profitable later when playing for real money.

Now that the new online poker player has some experience and a few tricks up their sleeve, it is time to venture onto the real money tables. Expect to be loosing money at first. The transition is difficult as the game has changed drastically with real money on the table. Begin at the lowest stakes tables available and expect to stay their for longer than you think.

The objective is to patiently learn to hone your poker skills until you have become a consistent winner. By consistent, we mean consistent. One big win in one game does not constitute a reason to jump into a larger stakes game with your suddenly huge bank roll.

Once your bankroll has gotten to the point where it continues to grow, and you can confidently be withdrawing profits, you can begin to venture into bigger games. Each step up the ladder to larger stakes poker tables will create a new learning curve. Here, you are learning about yourself and learning to master your own psychology. More money on the tables changes how you make decisions and you must learn to control your emotions in order to make proper decisions.

Stepping up to the next level will often require that you drop back down to replenish your bank roll on the tables you know you can win on. This is where the skills that were first developed on the free tables comes into play. Like free money players, your opponents on the lower stakes tables are inexperienced and prone to mistakes. Sit patiently and wait to capitalize on their blunders. And don't feel bad about taking their money. You are only teaching them the hard lessons you had learned earlier.

Poker can be a life long learning experience. One that can influence your life outside of poker. Knowing when to show your cards, or holdback information, or even bluffing is part of life and interacting with people personally or in business. Just remember to be patient and play your cards right when the opportunities arise. The learning curve never ends.

Stever is the webmaster at The Man With The Axe.com and an avid poker player, both online and off.