To play poker for free online is one of the easiest and
increasingly popular ways to learn the game, especially
Texas No-Limit Hold'Em. Virtually all online poker rooms
will let players come in at no cost because they would love
to have you as a real money player in the future. It is less
intimidating and far cheaper than going to a land based
poker room. And if you live in an area where you cannot
drive to a poker room, playing over the Internet becomes
even more attractive. Combining the purchase of a couple of
good books on Texas Hold'Em with the 24/7 online
availability of a place to practice and learn will allow
anyone to increase their knowledge and ability on the game
of poker.

When selecting somewhere to begin playing at no cost, it
pays to look into what benefits are offered to the player by
the poker rooms. Some offer play money tournaments on top of
regular table play which can help to learn and practice your
tournament strategies. If you have never played before, make
sure they have tutorials for the different types of poker, a
"How to Play Poker Games" section in addition to a ranking
of poker hands. It's also a good idea to go over the system
requirements so that when you download their software it
will work on your computer. Also look into sign up bonuses,
real money account funding methods, player point programs
and the variety of real money tournaments offered so that
you are familiar with them when you are ready to begin
playing for cash. Some poker rooms will offer extra real
money sign up incentives to their fun players just to make
sure their customers remain playing with them. "Bad Beat
Jackpots" are being offered more and more, (A bad beat takes
place when a player has a great hand like four 8's which was
beaten by a even better hand like four Aces. The loser has
received a bad beat.), but there are differences so take
time to become knowledgeable on these as well. They can
range from a flat amount of money for the person receiving
the bad beat to others which have a progressive jackpot that
can run into the tens of thousands.

For those who join a poker room and come to the point to
where they want to play for real money, there are additional
opportunities to play without cash. And these can be
profitable. They are "Freeroll Tournaments" and "Player
Point Programs". Freeroll tournaments are free entires into
poker tournaments that cost nothing to get into. These pay
cash or other awards to the player depending on how well
they did during the tournament. You can either enter a
freeroll when they are made available or you could receive
an invitation from the online poker room itself. Player
point programs are points awarded from the poker room to you
based on your time at the tables. Depending on the program,
these points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise or entry
fees into satellite tournaments. You could potentially enter
a satellite tournament with prize seats to the World Poker
Tour or World Series of Poker events and win huge amounts of
cash. In 2004 Greg Raymer entered a satellite tournament
through an online poker room, won a WSOP seat and eventually
went on the win the World Series of Poker title and
$5,000,000 in cash.

There are still other ways that will allow a person to play
for free. When playing for fun at an online poker room,
referring a real money player can result in actual cash for
you to play with. And today charitable organizations,
businesses or corporations offer online poker tournaments
for promotion purposes. These are announced randomly, so
keep your eyes and ears opened. Finally, consider signing up
for free online surveys and focus groups that pay cash for
participation. Just search the Internet for online surveys
or focus groups to get started. A person won't get rich or
quit their job behind what they bring in, but the money can
fund the entry fees for a number of low cost online poker
tournaments.


About the Author
Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events, updates and information to play poker for free online .