All poker is derived from Five Card Draw. That includes Let It Ride, Pai Gow and the most popular community poker game, Texas Hold’em. This version of poker has grown in popularity because of televised tournaments like the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. Online poker has been booming as well, especially among the 18-25 year old age range.
The game uses a standard 52-card deck and no Jokers. There are seven total cards and you form a five-card poker hand. Just like with other poker varieties, you bet chips into a pot and the standard hand rankings apply. You start with two hole card dealt face down and four rounds of betting. Five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table and a round of wagers is included between each deal. There are other Hold’em options like limit, no-limit, Omaha and ones using antes, but Hold’em using blind is the most common.
The small blind is the person left of the dealer. The big blind is the person to the left of the small blind and is double the size of that. Once the blinds are in, the two hole cards are dealt. The person to the left of the big blind opens the betting with a call, raise or check (pass to the next player with no bet). No Limit Hold’em allows for any raise. Limit Hold’em allows for twice that of the big blind.
You need to learn some poker slang as well with this game. The first three community cards are called the flop. The fourth community card is known as the turn. The fifth community card is called the river, often called the “River of Dreams” since it usually determines the outcome of the hand. Remember that there is a round of betting between each of these steps. When two players are left in the hand, it’s known as going “heads-up.” It's also important to use wise poker strategy in this game.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Five Strategies to Win at Poker
There are five common strategies every poker player should know if they want to be successful at community games like Five Card Draw and Texas Hold’em. Some are fairly self-explanatory and others require some practice, but all of them will help you gain a leg up on the competition.
Aggressive play: putting down an opening wager or raising someone else’s bet. This is ideally done with a strong hand. If you overuse, it can hurt you in the long run because your competition will label you as a loose player and use it against you.
Bluff: fooling others by betting with a bad hand. It’s a risky move but you’re trying to get others out of the hand by wagering big. With less players left in the hand, the odds of high cards left is lower.
Check-raise: another risky move that can pay off big when used correctly. This is when you check (pass to the next player) with a strong hand, hoping that someone else will start the wagering. When the betting comes back to you, you raise to try to confuse your competition. It’s like a bluff or a slow play.
Protection play: the complete opposite of a check-raise. This is done with a strong but vulnerable hand to scare off your competition. Let’s say you have a pair of 10s when a flush or straight is possible on the board. This is the best way to protect your hand.
Slow play: reverse bluffing. This is another way to protect your hand. With this poker strategy, you want to keep your competition in the hand by betting lower than you should. Begin with a small wager and players with vulnerable hands may stay in. Once they get pot committed, you can take them out. You are trying to be viewed as weak so they let their guard down.
Aggressive play: putting down an opening wager or raising someone else’s bet. This is ideally done with a strong hand. If you overuse, it can hurt you in the long run because your competition will label you as a loose player and use it against you.
Bluff: fooling others by betting with a bad hand. It’s a risky move but you’re trying to get others out of the hand by wagering big. With less players left in the hand, the odds of high cards left is lower.
Check-raise: another risky move that can pay off big when used correctly. This is when you check (pass to the next player) with a strong hand, hoping that someone else will start the wagering. When the betting comes back to you, you raise to try to confuse your competition. It’s like a bluff or a slow play.
Protection play: the complete opposite of a check-raise. This is done with a strong but vulnerable hand to scare off your competition. Let’s say you have a pair of 10s when a flush or straight is possible on the board. This is the best way to protect your hand.
Slow play: reverse bluffing. This is another way to protect your hand. With this poker strategy, you want to keep your competition in the hand by betting lower than you should. Begin with a small wager and players with vulnerable hands may stay in. Once they get pot committed, you can take them out. You are trying to be viewed as weak so they let their guard down.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Winning at Baccarat
If you’re looking for a different kind of card game away from all the varieties of poker, look no further than baccarat. The game was more popular in olden times after originating in France, but it is still popular at both land-based and online casinos and can bring high stakes.
The rules are simple once you get the basic math down. The goal is a total value of 9, or as close as you can to 9 without going over, in two or three cards. Cards 2 through 9 are face value and Aces are worth 1. 10’s and face cards are worth 0. If you go over 9, 10 is subtracted and basically screws you over. For example, if you have a 3 and an 8, your ending value is 1 (11-10=1), which is a losing hand.
You play against as many as 14 other players at the table. You can’t be dealt more than three cards and if the value of your first two cards is 6 or more, you can’t take a third one. A hand value of 8 or 9 in the first two cards is called a natural hand and you must stick with it.
The dealer shuffles the cards and puts them in a cardshoe for players to take turns dealing from. If the baccarat table is full, there will be three dealers. Two dealers at each end of the table determines wins/losses and who owes money to the banker. The middle dealer calls out totals and determines who is eligible to be dealt a third card.
A player has three options for betting: that their hand will win, that the banker’s hand will win, or that the two hands will tie. The table has rows for each bet. Baccarat is different type of card game far off from other styles and has an attractive house advantage of only 1.4%.
The rules are simple once you get the basic math down. The goal is a total value of 9, or as close as you can to 9 without going over, in two or three cards. Cards 2 through 9 are face value and Aces are worth 1. 10’s and face cards are worth 0. If you go over 9, 10 is subtracted and basically screws you over. For example, if you have a 3 and an 8, your ending value is 1 (11-10=1), which is a losing hand.
You play against as many as 14 other players at the table. You can’t be dealt more than three cards and if the value of your first two cards is 6 or more, you can’t take a third one. A hand value of 8 or 9 in the first two cards is called a natural hand and you must stick with it.
The dealer shuffles the cards and puts them in a cardshoe for players to take turns dealing from. If the baccarat table is full, there will be three dealers. Two dealers at each end of the table determines wins/losses and who owes money to the banker. The middle dealer calls out totals and determines who is eligible to be dealt a third card.
A player has three options for betting: that their hand will win, that the banker’s hand will win, or that the two hands will tie. The table has rows for each bet. Baccarat is different type of card game far off from other styles and has an attractive house advantage of only 1.4%.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Winning at Let It Ride Poker
Let It Ride is yet another variation of poker. Like in Pai Gow, you play against the dealer with other players at the table. It has all the standard hand rankings like in Five Card Draw, but the game itself is very different.
The table for Let It Ride Poker is shaped like a blackjack table. The rules are easy but the betting takes some time to get the hang of it. Five cards are dealt with two to the dealer and three to each player in the hand. You try to make the best five-card poker hand from the your cards and the dealer’s, except you don’t get to see the dealer’s cards unless you stay in the hand. You base whether or not to stay in the hand on your first three cards. The rounds of betting are minimal and each player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $ on the table.
Based on your first three cards, you fold and take away bet 1 or stay in the hand, also known as letting it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their first card. This is the fourth card in your hand and you can remove bet 2 or continue to let it ride. The dealer turns over their second and last card to complete your five-card hand. All players turn over their cards for a winner to be claimed. Let It Ride Poker is like most poker games in that it requires strategy along with the luck of the draw.
The table for Let It Ride Poker is shaped like a blackjack table. The rules are easy but the betting takes some time to get the hang of it. Five cards are dealt with two to the dealer and three to each player in the hand. You try to make the best five-card poker hand from the your cards and the dealer’s, except you don’t get to see the dealer’s cards unless you stay in the hand. You base whether or not to stay in the hand on your first three cards. The rounds of betting are minimal and each player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $ on the table.
Based on your first three cards, you fold and take away bet 1 or stay in the hand, also known as letting it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their first card. This is the fourth card in your hand and you can remove bet 2 or continue to let it ride. The dealer turns over their second and last card to complete your five-card hand. All players turn over their cards for a winner to be claimed. Let It Ride Poker is like most poker games in that it requires strategy along with the luck of the draw.
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