Best Poker App For Beginners

  

Poker can be a challenging game to play. It requires focus, confidence, and the ability to read people, but it can be overwhelming for new players—you’ll have a lot more fun playing if you know the ins and outs of how to play poker and nail down the basics.

Poker Helper is a simple, yet highly effective app that assists you in making the right decisions at the table. You can enter any card combination and it will calculate the. PlayWPT is an innovative online poker app for beginners and pros alike. Compete in Texas Holdem tournaments and enjoy a mobile casino created from the World Poker Tour’s 15 years of card game.

Because there are so many different forms of poker, I’m only going to cover the absolute basics, but I’m also going to give you tips that will just help you become a better player generally and not quit before you get a chance to experience this awesome game in depth.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be able to compete at the poker table in no time (without burning out).

Now whether you win money playing poker or not is up to you—you get out what you put in—so if you really want to win a lot of money in poker and compete with the big boys, you have to put in a lot of time and effort (beyond just learning the basics).

If you’re still reading, I’m willing to bet that you’re serious about learning this incredible game, so keep in mind that while some of these tips will only be usable in in-person poker games, some of these tips will be usable against machines or in-person—either one.

1- Learn The Hand Rankings

Poker hand rankings indicate which possible poker hands have the most value, and to do that, you’ll need to understand how the cards themselves are ranked.

Here’s that ranking from lowest to highest:

  1. Two
  2. Three
  3. Four
  4. Five
  5. Six
  6. Seven
  7. Eight
  8. Nine
  9. Ten
  10. Jack
  11. Queen
  12. King
  13. Ace

Cards also come in different suits:

  • Hearts
  • Clubs
  • Diamonds
  • Spades

Hands are created out of combinations of cards and suits. Here they are in order from least valuable to most valuable:

  1. High card (the highest card in your hand)
  2. Pair (two 2s, two aces, two kings etc)
  3. Two pair (a pair of 2s and a pair of 4s for example)
  4. Three of a kind (three 7s, three kings)
  5. Straight (five cards in a sequence regardless of suit, so 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 10, jack, king, queen, ace)
  6. Flush (five cards in the same suit regardless of sequence, so 2, 7, 10, ace, 3 of hearts for example)
  7. Full house (a pair and a three of a kind, so 2 kings and 3 aces)
  8. Four of a kind (four aces, four 3s etc)
  9. Straight flush (five cards in the same sequence and suit, so 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 all hearts)
  10. Five of a kind (five aces, five jacks—this usually requires your deck to have a joker in it—the joker is a wild card and can be any card you choose)

Whoever has the best hand wins.

You need to have these hands memorized if you’re playing poker so that you’ll know how you’re actually faring as you play, but don’t worry—it’s easier to memorize than you think.

Pairs are the least valuable thing. Another thing to remember is that a pair of 2’s is less valuable than a pair of 3’s. The pairs move up in value as the numbers get bigger. The most valuable pair you can hold is a pair of aces. So a pair of aces will beat any other pair. But a pair of aces will lose to three of a kind, even if the three of a kind is all 2’s.

Generally, the more cards that match in a hand, the more valuable that hand will be. So if only 2 cards match in a hand, it’s not very valuable. But if all 5 cards in a hand match, for example in a royal flush (10, jack, king, queen, ace, all the same suit), it’s very valuable. So remember that the fuller your hand is, the more value it will probably has.

Also remember that the higher number each of your cards is, the more value it will have. Ideally, you will have a hand of higher value cards that is full. Having 4 kings is a great hand. A straight flush from 10 to ace is also a great hand. But a pair of twos won’t win you many games.

You’ll find it easier to memorize the poker hand rankings once you’re playing. Try to remember the methods I’ve told you for remembering the rankings and you’ll catch on faster.

2- Start with Small Amounts of Money

I know we all see the superstars of Poker on TV playing high stakes with millions of dollars at stake—most players want to jump right in and be a superstar of Poker immediately. Unfortunately, we can’t all do that. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have a million dollars to lose.

Try to resist the temptation to start playing poker gambling for high stakes off the bat. You’ll win more money if you gambe for extremely high stakes, but you’ll also lose more money. There’s no reason to rush into playing the game.

Take your time learning the ins and outs of poker before you start betting high stakes. You’ll have time to win lots of money later.

Part of this reason I suggest starting off with low amounts of money has to do with tip #1. Tip #1 suggest learning all the possible combinations of hands before you begin playing. Playing with low stakes helps you accomplish tips #1 and #2 at the same time. I also feel it’s easier to learn the layout of all the poker hands in real games. It’s more fun to actually play poker than it is to memorize a bunch of spreadsheets.

Best Poker App For Beginners Music

If you spend time playing low stakes games, you’ll find you’ve learned all the poker hands and which ones are more valuable quickly and easily. Then, once you’ve learned them all, you’ll be able to move up to higher stakes games.

Another reason to start with low stakes games is that it’ll simply be less stressful. If you’re playing for small amounts of money, you won’t be as concerned about losing than if you are playing for $10 or $100 hands. Play with low stakes until you become more comfortable with the game.

3- Stay in Good Shape and Rest Well

Poker is a mental game, so if your mental state is bad when you’re playing it, your game will suffer. Take care of yourself when you play poker so you can put your best self on the table.

Humans can only take so much turmoil—if you’re drinking or tired, you’ll make mistakes that could cost you a lot of money.

People also can get stuck in patterns. If you make it a habit to play poker on weekends after a long work week, you’ll get used to playing poker tired. If you’re always drinking before or while playing poker, you won’t be the best poker player you can be. If you want to make money playing poker, you need to take resting seriously.

Make a ritual out of how you play poker. Play it on the same day every week, and make sure you get lots of rest beforehand. Eat healthy every day, and your body will be in better condition, allowing you to play at a higher level. Even working out regularly can keep you mentally fit and make you a more competitive poker player.

Best Poker App For Beginners Windows 10

You may think it’s silly to stress how important this is, but it has a real impact on your game. Why take all the time to study poker and become professional if you’re not going to put your body in the best position to play the game?

4- Learn Odds

Odds are that you already know what poker odds are (see what I did there). But you need to learn as much about poker odds as possible if you want to make a lot of money playing poker.

Let’s start with pot odds. Pot odds are a concept that helps you understand if it’s worth your time to continue with your hand.

In most poker games, there’s a pot (the chips that everyone has bet so far) and a series of cards that are drawn during each round of betting. Not all poker games have this, but many do. When you get your initial cards, you may not yet have a good hand, but you may be able to create a good hand with the cards that are coming.

When you don’t quite have the hand you want, you need to calculate the odds that you’ll get the hand you want.

This list shows common Texas Hold Em Hands and how many cards you need to improve your hand. Here are a few different types of incomplete hands:

  • Gut-shot (you need one card to create a straight, but you’re missing a card in the middle. Your hand might be 2, 3, 5, 6)—4 outs (an “out” is the card you need to get to complete your hand)
  • Open-ended straight draw (you need one card to create a straight, but you’re missing a card on the outside. Your hand might be 2, 3, 4, 5)—8 outs
  • Flush draw (you need one card to create a flush, but you’re missing a card of the right suit. You might have 4 hearts in your hand)—9 outs
  • Flush draw & gut-shot (you need one card to create a flush or a straight, but you’re missing a card in the middle and a card of the right suit. Your hand might be 2, 3, 5, 6 all spades)—12 outs
  • Straight flush draw (you need one card to create a straight or a flush, but you’re missing a card in on the outside of the straight, and you’re missing a card of the right suit. Your hand might be 2, 3, 4, 5 all clubs)—15 outs

Multiply the outs by two to find your odds of hitting the hand by the next card and multiply them by 4 to find the odds of getting the cards in the next two hands.

This tip is also related to tip # 2. If you start with low money, you’ll have a lot of chances to learn exactly how odds work without losing a lot of money. Play at low stakes until you fully understand odds.

Conclusion

Poker can be a challenging-yet-fun game to play. If you’re spending some time in Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Atlantic City, or any other place where gambling is legal, you’ll probably want to play poker. You can even play poker online—you just don’t want to be the one losing money at the table.

If you play with low stakes, learn hand rankings, stay in good shape, and learn the outs, you’ll be on your way to making lots of money playing poker.

What tips do you have for a new poker player? Let us know in the comments!

Poker may be an easy game when it comes to basic rules, but players who neglect the fact that becoming successful in any specific variant requires hours upon hours of work to improve your skills are quick to see their entire bankrolls fade and vanish. If you want to avoid this fate, you’ll have to find some reliable resources first – but in the end, even the best theory books won’t provide you with the hands-on experience necessary to consolidate your knowledge. Learning at the tables on the other hand can become a rather costly process, especially since free play practice games don’t really follow the same dynamics you’re going to experience at a real money table.
Fortunately, that doesn’t mean that novice players are caught between a rock and a hard place, as there’s plenty of quality tutorial apps that can help you bridge the gap between theory and actual in-game application. As you’d expect, while PC and Mac users have the largest number of resources at their disposal, the massive surge of popularity of iPhones resulted in some quality apps being released for Apple’s smartphones. This article is meant to give you some idea of how those apps can help you improve your game and what specific pieces of software you should be looking out for on your next visit to the iTunes store.

Poker Odds Teacher - $0.99

Knowing the odds every single time instead of memorizing the most obvious cases can be extremely important in any unclear situation, but only the best players are capable of calculating them on the fly. This particular app has been designed to teach you how to estimate the odds in your head instead of relying on a calculator or using an inadequate approximation and allows you to gain a deeper understanding of the entire concept. Poker Odds Teacher is a $0.99 app which instructs you in following a simple three steps procedure that takes both your outs and your opponent’s counter-outs into account and provides you with plenty of intriguing and varied pre-flop and post-flop training scenarios to practice this method on. Quite obviously, becoming proficient at using this method can be rather time-consuming and challenging, but if you keep practicing I can guarantee you’re going to notice that your efficiency is improving, especially since in the end it all boils down to performing simple math operations without becoming too distracted in the process.

HeadsUp Poker Trainer - $1.99

HeadsUp Poker Trainer is a neat $1.99 app designed to help you in mastering the perfect equilibrium strategy for heads-up, or one on one, poker. The app relies on the concept of Nash Equilibrium, which is the perfect point for pushing and calling ranges where neither you nor your adversary hold any advantage over one another. Quite obviously, this doesn’t account for your opponent’s psychological profile and tendencies, but it’s an important starting point when you’re trying to build a balanced, flexible play style. Aside from an ability to browse, push and call hands, the app allows you to take a HeadsUp Quiz with four distinct difficulty settings and to review your history and play any hand you’ve been dealing with over the past 500 quizzes. If you’re serious about learning how to play heads-up poker, you should definitely consider giving this app a try.

Poker USA - FREE

Poker USA from Poker Brain Ltd is a free app and a well-rounded tool designed to help you improve your general poker skills by facing you with concrete, realistic hands and situations, and giving you feedback when it comes to areas you need to improve on. The app is packed with thousands of quizzes that will challenge your knowledge regarding subjects such as tournaments, cash games and more. Even better, your decision -making skills will be scored accordingly and once you complete each quiz, you’ll be able to view an in-depth answer to each question you were faced with. In the end, while this app isn’t particularly impressive from a technical standpoint, it’s an extremely solid tool that allows you to make sure you’ve memorized the most important poker concepts. It won’t replace a solid theory book, but it will help you consolidate your knowledge and dive into the games with an advantage over your opponents.

Poker Expert - $6.99

Poker Expert isn’t a traditional training app, but it will allow you to improve your bankroll management and track your progress as you’re learning the game and expanding your skillset. This $6.99 app lets you record your gaming sessions, classify them and use them to create reports showing your weekly, monthly and yearly results. Consequently, Poker Expert is best suited for intermediate and even advanced players, who will undoubtedly appreciate the ability to import data from other specialized pieces of software like Poker Income, Poker Track Pro, Poker Journal or Statking. Last, but definitely not least, Poker Expert comes with a neat set of help files that will assist you not only in getting started with the app, but also in familiarizing yourself with various statistical terms and general theory. Definitely a must-have for any serious poker enthusiast.

Find The Nuts - Texas Hold'em Trainer - $1.99

Find The Nuts is a neat $1.99 app designed to assist the beginners in learning how to properly read community cards and identify the key cards that will make the strongest combination on any given table. This particular app will help you in avoiding the mistake of focusing on your hole cards too much by letting you practice with 3, 4 or 5 community cards. Once you become proficient with reading the table, you might want to test your skills in Progressive mode, which deals you the flop, the turn and the river and allows you to try re-evaluating the possible combinations as the hand continues to unfold. Needless to say, this app won’t help any intermediate or advanced player to improve, but if you’re a poker newbie it just might save you from losing that one important pot due to tunnel vision and lack of practice.

Poker Brain - Free

Poker Brain is designed to let people learn the game of poker at their own pace. The app is basically set out in a quiz format where you can work your way through a number of different categories including beginner, cash game, tourney, odds and general knowledge. Each section contains 10 questions and with each question you will get a number of answers to choose from. What’s great about the quiz is that it allows you to see why you got a question wrong or includes information as to why your answer was correct. The number of questions you got right or wrong can be tracked and you can take any of the quizzes as many times as you wish.
Additionally the app prompts you before starting the quiz to read up on the appendix section. This includes a seating plan, hand rankings, an outs percentage and ratio chart and also a section on understanding pot odds. In all honesty, this section alone will be of a massive value to most players but it’s important that its read and understood before taking the quiz.

Insta Poker Coach - Free

Insta Poker is an app that’s very much one of a kind. The concept behind it is that it integrates a number of books which are purchasable from their store into their app. Once you have read a certain section from your book then you can play out this scenario at the table to get a better understanding of the concept. What’s great about this is that it ranges from beginner to advanced theories meaning this app is targeted at a much wider audience than most.
For each aspect of your purchased article, when at the table you will receive points on making the right decisions. The more correct decisions you make the more points you earn. The app also explains why your move was either correct or incorrect at every stage of your decision making process. The opponents you play against will also range in ability and style, so this means you to react to this as well. Without doubt one of the best poker tutorial apps we have come across.

WPT Poker Trainer - Free

The WPT (World Poker Tour) is one of the biggest brands within the poker industry and their poker trainer has become one of the most popular in the mobile poker applications. The app works by unlocking a series of poker packs ranging in aspects such as ability and play types. These might include, pre flop play, continuation betting, odds and practice hands. Once selected you will be able to read about each section before then being taken to the tables to play through some live examples. The real time playing scenarios are an aspect that make this app so good as it not only lets you read about why each move is better than another, but also see how opponents might react to your betting patterns.
Additionally there is a player stats section that allows you to see how well you are doing in terms of making the right decisions. It’s a great feature to be able to see which parts of your game you need to work and will give you tips as to what to do to improve these areas of your game. One thing that was noticeable on the app is that you will need to pay for some of the packs which can get rather pricey, but after sampling a couple we can confirm that they are actually really good value for money.

Poker Trainer - $0.99

The Poker Trainer is one of the simplest apps that we have looked at in this review. The concept behind it is basically just a poker quiz that you need to work through and progress to complete. But, each section gets progressively harder and the multiple choice questions get a little more obscure so to complete each level you really need to concentrate.
After each question in the quiz the app will fire out a bit of information regarding your answer whether it is correct or incorrect. This is the strategy part and the section where you will essentially learn about that concept. The early stages are really easy but as you work through the levels they will get much tougher and allow you to really test your poker knowledge.

SNG Poker Lesson 1 - $0.99

This app is completely different to anything we have covered in this review. For one, it’s solely dedicated to SNG’s and two it’s a real time video of one of the best SNG players in the world – MR Rock Solid. Whilst this isn’t the same as your usual apps, it provides just as much information – if not more- and some massively important concepts for the variation of SNGs.
The video is of Mr Rock Solid playing his way through a SNG of which he just so happens to win. He discusses concepts such as raising in position and stealing the blinds along with some basic ICM concepts for more advanced players. Whilst not a traditional app by any means, watching this 45 minute video will likely give you way more than the majority of apps out there for SNG players at least.

Easy Poker Games For Beginners

Free

Poker Games For Beginners

As poker continues to make massive strides within the mobile world, it probably comes as little surprise to hear that many of the training aids are also being made available on the iPhone. Whilst these programs are going to be smaller versions of what you can get online, the apps are designed to help players improve their poker skill set. Admittedly most of the apps we have tested have been targeted towards beginners and intermediate players at best, but we still feel that there will be one that provides something for every player type.
It’s important to understand that each app will be fitting a particular brief from the manufacturer and so it’s pretty hard to compare them against each other. That being said, at the end of the day they are all aimed at the poker tuition market so it will be interesting to see how they stack up against each other.