If you’re looking to make a living playing poker, you’ll need to master several aspects of the game. You’ll need to know how to read the board, understand your opponents and how to play bluffs. There’s also a need to constantly work on your skills and improve in order to win.

The first thing to learn is the game’s rules and basic strategy. There are tons of free resources to help you get started including articles, forums and software. You can also find videos from poker pros at various stakes levels. These are a great way to see how the pros play and get an idea of what you’re trying to achieve in your own poker game.

Once you have a firm grasp of the basics you’ll want to start finding a place to play for real money. Real money online poker sites are secure and regulated in the states that allow them. They use advanced encryption technologies to keep your personal information safe. They’re also audited by third parties to ensure that the games are fair and not rigged in their favor. You can also look for a site’s reputation through online reviews and player forums.

One of the biggest mistakes that new players make is to jump in with both feet and spend their entire bankroll on a single table. This is often the recipe for disaster since there will be times that you’ll be on top and then suddenly get a bad beat and lose it all. You need to develop patience and view your poker career in terms of months and years not weeks or days.

In addition to making money at the tables you can also use an online poker site to earn satellite entries into live tournaments. These are a great way to gain experience and maybe even win some big cash prizes along the way. Online poker sites usually have a variety of different tournaments for players to choose from with guaranteed prize pools and other lucrative bonuses.

Online poker is available for players in most countries around the world. It can be played from any computer or mobile device that has an internet connection. This means you can play any time of the day or night, without having to go out and travel to a physical casino. It’s also a lot cheaper to play poker online than it is at a casino.

The only downside of online poker is that it’s sometimes tough to extract the necessary information from your opponents. This is especially true if they’re playing from home and not in a brick and mortar casino. Knowing whether or not your opponent is a bluff-happy player or a weak passive player can make a huge difference in the amount of money you’ll win.

If you’re ready to try your hand at the virtual felt, there are a number of popular poker sites that accept players from most US states. However, players must be at least 18 or 21 years old to participate in any real-money poker games.