Poker
Poker is an international phenomenon and the online version is growing at a truly incredible rate. There are many different ways to play poker and if you are ‘old school’ you may have grown up playing draw poker, or seven card-stud. Over the past twenty years, Texas Hold ‘em has increased in popularity to become by far, the most popular form of poker. All the major tournaments in the world (the most popular being the World Series of Poker) are Played using Texas Hold-em rules.
What is the object of poker?
The aim of the game of poker is to earn as much money as possible from a hand by either bluffing (making people think you have good cards when you don’t) or by keeping people betting when you have a good one. Online poker, like the face-to-face game is played using chips and a standard pack of 52 cards. There are seven cards in total that a player can use and the best five card combination wins.
Each player begins by being given two cards (hole cards), and deciding on whether they want to stay in the game. If they do they can either match the blind or previous bet, or they can raise by putting more into the pot. Once all players have either called the previous bet, or folded (gone out), another three cards (the ‘flop’) are dealt.
These three cards are called community cards as they are for all players to use. Players now begin a new round of betting by either checking (not betting) or raising. Once all players have either checked or matched the bet on the table, the fourth card (known as the ‘turn’ card) is placed on the table by the dealer and there is another round of betting, the same as before. The final card is the ‘river’ card and once this final round of betting is complete, any players still in the game show their hands and the winner is the person with the best five cards.
The main difference between the online version, and the real world game is the fact that you cannot observe ‘tells’. Tells are the reactions all people show when put in a certain situation. For example, someone might stroke their right temple when being dealt a bad hand or tap the poker table when seeing a pair of aces. When playing face to face, it is possible to read players hands by picking up on these ‘tells’.
Poker Tournaments
Poker tournaments are where you ‘buy in’ with a predetermined amount of money and you aim to be one of the last people left. Sometimes the last eight people left in will receive a share of the buy in pot, although this can be more, or less depending on how many players started.
So what are cash games?
Cash game poker means you can stay on a table for as long as you want, and can walk away at any point. You can win $10 and decide that is enough for you and cash out or you might choose to stay on the table any take any new players’ chips! Blinds tend to vary depending upon what table you join and how much you have in the way of funds.
What does ‘limit’ mean?
In Texas hold-em poker, there are a few variations which affect how much you can put into a pot and therefore how much you can win and lose in a hand. These are no-limit, pot-limit, and fixed-limit with each being explained in turn.
No-limit
This is the most popular form of Texas Hold-em poker. Under these rules, a player can put all of their chips ‘in’ to a pot at any time and are therefore able to lose everything with one bad decision. On the flip side, if it is a good decision, a poker player can win ALOT of chips very quickly under no-limit.
Pot Limit
When you play poker and there is a pot limit, you are restricted to placing a bet to the value of the current pot size.
Fixed Limit
When there is a fixed limit (or ‘limit’) there will be a predefined maximum bet that you can place. The amount you can bet will depend on the value of the blind with typical value games being $0.50/$1 limit hold-em, and $2-$4 hold-em.
What are the best hands?
There are many different combinations of cards you can hold that can affect the strength of your hand. The best hands from best to worst are:
Royal Flush
The best hand in the game is the very, very rare and is a Royal Flush. The chances of this hand being dealt are 649,739 to 1 so if you ever see one in your lifetime, you should consider yourself to be very privileged. The hand consists of a ten, jack, Queen, King, and Ace – all the same suit.
Straight Flush
A straight flush is also a very rare hand in the game of poker with odds of 64,974 to 1. If you get this hand which is any 5 running numbers of the same suit, make sure you put everything you have in the world into the kitty!
Four of a Kind
A four of a kind, as you would expect is when you have four cards of the same number in your inventory. For example this could be six of hearts, six of spades, six of diamonds, and six of clubs. This hand is much more common than the previous two; however the odds of being dealt four of a kind are still 4165 to 1.
Full House
When you have a pair (two of the same value cards) and three of a kind (three of the same value cards) you have a full house. This is a really great hand and is one that most people would go all in on in any situation. There is a 694 to 1 chance of being dealt this hand.
Flush
A flush is the type of hand that you love to have, but is more common than those we have already discussed. There is a 509 one chance of it happening and you will find it beating the vast majority of competitors hands that you come across. A flush is any combination value of cards of the same suit.
Straight
With odds of 255 to 1, a straight consists of five cards in numerical order, regardless of if they are of a different suit. This is a strong hand but beware of coming across a player with one of the hands above or you might find yourself in a sticky situation!
Three of a Kind
Quite simply, this is when you have three cards all with the same number; say a ten of spades, ten of hearts, and ten of diamonds. This hand is dealt, on average 1 in 47 times.
Two Pair
As you would expect, two pair is a hand that has two pairs of the same number in it. This could be two twos and two sevens. The odds are 20 to 1.
One Pair
A pair is when you have two cards in your hand with the same number on them. For example two queens. You should expect this hand 1 out of 2.3 times.
High Card
If you get to the point where you are ‘seeing’ your competitor’s hands and you only have a high card, you normally will be trouble. It is the weakest of any hand and you really need to be asking yourself why you are still in the game. Every hand has a high card so we do not really need to discuss odds, it just depends how high your high card actually is!
Please remember that there are different variations on each of these hands – for example a straight ending in Ace will beat a straight ending in seven. The same as three Kings will beat three Queens. Don’t get caught out with two pair threes and sevens, when there are two threes and a king on the table!