The darling of online poker rooms, the preferred game of nearly every online player, experienced or beginner, Texas Holdem is the engine of not only the online poker industry, but of large scale live events like the WSOP too. Pretty much everybody knows the rules of the game, and those who don’t can learn it within a few minutes. Holdem rules are definitely nowhere near rocket science, but the mastering of the game sure is. As experts say, Holdem takes but a few minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master. There isn’t a single poker player in the world who’s not continuously trying to improve. Some invest more energy into this ever lasting learning process, others spare less and that’s where the differences are mostly made.

Now then, as a beginner in the wonderful world of online poker, should you stick to Holdem, or should you venture over to the Omaha and Stud tables and not go with the flow? There’s actually a good reason why rookies generally stick to the Holdem tables. With a much bigger short term variance, the game of Texas Holdem offers beginners an apparently fair chance when playing against more experienced opponents. The jerkier short term variance means beginners will be able to school up on better players, thus cutting into their odds. The luck factor will also have a more pronounced role, and all this makes Holdem a much better proposition for a rookie than Omaha or Stud. In Omaha and in Stud, skill differences are much more obvious than in Holdem. These games allow experienced players to roughshod over rookies in just about every respect. There is no such thing as schooling in Omaha. On the contrary actually, it too tends to work against the beginners rather than to help them.

Omaha is an excellent choice for a good player, who knows he’ll have to face fish. It’s not such a great choice for a good player who goes up against a similarly skilled opponent though. In that case, the two players are better off taking their match-up to the Holdem tables.

The bottom line: being a beginner in today’s online poker environment is tough enough without subjecting yourself to the abuse good players dish out at the Omaha and Stud tables. Stick with Holdem for the time being, and once you reckon you’re a better than average player (most folks believe they’re better than average from the get go, so it’s tricky) maybe then you can think about checking out Omaha.

Now a word about the rules: Holdem is a positional community card game. That means where you sit at the table has an influence over the odds you play with. The dealer button determines the position of the blind and of everyone else around the table. The cut off and the button are the two latest and therefore best positions. The posting of the blinds is followed by a round of betting. The flop then hits the table (consists of 3 community cards) and players make their hands with their two pocket cards (which they picked up face down) and the community cards off the board. The flop is followed by another betting round after which the turn (another community card) is dealt. Another betting round follows and then the river (the last of the 5 community cards) hits the table. The river is followed by the last betting round after which the showdown decides the winner. Make sure you know the hand rankings used by Texas Holdem well (they’re standard hand rankings and the game uses the standard 52-card deck).

As the most popular and best promoted poker variant, Texas Holdem is the game that generates the biggest revenue for poker rooms. Poker rooms generate revenue through the poker rake, against which rakeback is the best (and just about only) kind of defense. A rakeback deal like the full tilt rakeback or a poker prop deal will give you 27-135% of the rake you pay back, offering you an almost impossible to beat edge at the table.