The three major types of skill-influenced games available in online casinos fall into three groups: blackjack, video poker and casino poker. Casino poker is the one of these three groups that has the most variation from game to game, so it's much more difficult to learn specialized, mathematically-proven strategies for these games. Instead, you should focus more on general strategies and understanding the concepts of the games. This will help you to play well no matter which of the casino poker games you choose, even if they're not mathematically-perfect decisions 100 percent of the time.

To start things off, you need to know what a strategic option is and how to identify your own strategic options when you're playing a casino poker game. A strategic option is when you have a decision to make that will affect your payout rate in the game. This could include deciding how to play your hand or whatever betting options you have once play has begun. Some options aren't necessarily strategic options like your initial bet size to play the game because that will not affect your payout rate in terms of the house advantage.

From here, you need to realize that maximizing the value of your strategic options is the key to playing well in casino poker. To make these decisions, you'll need to take into consideration all of the information that you have at your disposal. The main chunk of information that you're going to have in almost every casino poker game is the cards that you are dealt. These cards are usually going to be enough to make your decisions, but sometimes it will come down to the other information that you're given like a card that the dealer has face-up.

Practicing a little before you actually play a game is a good idea. It will get you in the right frame of mind as far as thinking about what you should be thinking about and disregarding everything else. If you're looking for a game to play to get started, then Caribbean Stud and Let It Ride are both good choices, as is Tri-Card Poker or Three Card Poker. These games require basic strategy without any type of complicated set of extra rules, and they're good starter games for players who are looking to get into casino poker. Play conservatively with your bankroll to begin with and then go from there as you get more comfortable.