Hi there. I’m a bit fan of poker and organise a weekly tournament at my house with some friends. My French cousin is coming to visit and I’d like him to join us but I’m not sure how skilful is is. I know that there are poker tutorials on the Poker Stars website, but his English isn’t all that great. Is there anywhere you can recommend where he could learn?

Poker isn’t one of my strong points, but the Internet is. I had a quick look around at the Poker Stars website and found that they have a French site which your cousin could use to learn how to play. I didn’t realise, but poker is perfectly legal in France, which is probably why Poker Stars have a regional site where it’s all in French.

Besides tutorials, I found out that Poker Stars also lets you play as much as you like using Play Money. So, not only can he learn how to play, but he can also play with different people around the world. If he’s playing with play money then he has nothing to lose and he can play as much as he likes. I know that playing with real money is more exciting, but if he’s not that familiar with the game it makes sense to play as much as he can before he puts real money on the table.

So, that’s the plan then. Introduce him to the French site, get him to go through all the tutorials they have available there, and then tell him to play as much as he can without spending any cash. He probably wants to try and play with real money before playing with the lot of you; but at least he can get his act together to provide you with a real challenge. Wish him luck from me!