by Renato » Nov 24th, '09, 19:37
Texas Hold'Em is a fascinating game, and particularly suited to the analytic skills every magician should have!
I agree that the best way to learn the rules and technicalities of the game is to just sit down and play it. A lot of the big online sites allow you to play with play chips. The quality of play will be awful, but you'll quickly learn a lot about the ins and outs of the game; when kickers play and when they don't, what hand beats which and so on.
If you're at all interested in getting good at the game, to the point where you can make money from it, then you're either going to have to put in a lot of hours playing, or give yourself something of a head start by studying books and thinking about your game.
Remember that Limit and No Limit Hold'Em, while superficially the same, are fundamentally different games, but I think it's good to play both once you understand the rules. Limit Hold'Em will help to focus your understanding of the mathematical side of the game, whilst No Limit will help with the psychological side.
Also don't just restrict yourself to Texas Hold'Em... Omaha, Razz, Stud, Draw and the variants thereof will all assist with building a deep skill set for playing Poker.