There are different ways in which players can engage with poker online. The two broad classifications are competing against other players and competing against the house.

When you compete against other players skill is the dominant factor, particularly if you play long hours. So if you are playing against better players then you are likely to lose more often and if you are playing against weaker players then you are likely to win more often. Within this category there are two formats. The first is known as cash games, which is similar to the poker games played at homes. You log into an online poker room, choose a table based primarily on the stakes and take a seat. There you can play hand after hand till you want to get up. You place bets from your account and your winnings will be credited to your account. The online poker room will take a rake from each pot to cover its costs.

The second format is online poker tournaments. You pay the buy in and get a stack of play chips. The total of the buy ins is distributed as prizes after the online poker room takes away a small portion to cover its costs. If you lose all your chips then you are eliminated from the online poker tournament. The player that lasts all the way gets the major share of the prize pool. A designated number of other players that remain the longest also share the prize pool.

Poker based games where you compete against the house are played at online casinos. The payouts are so designed that the casino will have a house edge, which will cover its costs. In these games luck becomes the dominant factor. Again, there are two types of formats. In one type both the player and the house are dealt hands. The player wins the bet and the stipulated payout if his hand is the higher ranked. The most popular of such games are variants of Hold’em, which have intermediate betting just as in live poker cash games. There is a Chinese based game Pai Gow Poker in which both player and the house make two hands from seven cards.

In the other type of casino poker games there is no dealer hand. The player’s final hand is compared against a payout table. Let It Ride is the best example of this. The game works in reverse. You start with three bets, but can take bets back during the game play if the cards dealt are not to your liking.