Poker

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A game of Texas hold'em, currently the most popular form of poker, in progress.

Poker refers to a popular card game, or group of card games, in which players compete against one another by holding one or more playing cards and gambling on the values of each player's hand by betting into a central pot. The objective is to win the central pot either by holding the superior hand at the end of the round or by betting and forcing the other players to fold, or discard their hand.

There are many variations on the game of poker, all of which follow a similar pattern of play: dealing, betting, and showing, often with more than one round of dealing or betting, which help to change players' hand values. Some forms of poker, especially Texas Hold'em, involve a combination of concealed and community cards which make up the players' hands.

Poker has become a very popular online and casino gambling game, including non-traditional forms of poker which use the same basic rules and hand rankings, such as video poker and three-card poker. In these games, players do not play against one another, but against a house or computer opponent.

Game play

Poker played in a non-casino setting

Poker play typically follows a certain basic set of rules, regardless of the specific form. The right to deal hands is usually passed from one player to another in a clockwise fashion, and often times a round dealer "button" or token (sometimes called a "buck") circles along with the dealing responsibility. In a casino, a dealer will deal every hand, while passing the dealer "button" at the end of each hand to rotate dealer position. In most games, the dealer position results in being last to act during the betting rounds.

Before cards are even dealt, one or more players are typically required to make "forced bets" to create the initial stake, or "pot", for which the players compete. These might be "antes", which are small bets made by each player and placed into the pot, or "blinds", found in popular hold 'em varieties. The "blinds" are two successive, increasing bets made by the players to the immediate left of the dealer and establish the minimum bet for that round. The dealer then deals the cards to the players one at a time, either face up for face down, depending on the style of the game. After the deal, players may bet, check, call, raise, or fold in accordance with the strategy of the game, adding money or chips to an ever-increasing pot. Subsequent rounds might feature the addition or exchange of cards in players' hands, changing their value and affecting the individual's playing style.

These are the differences between the actions:

  • Bet - a "bet" is a move in which a player puts money into the pot, establishing the initial amount to be matched by the successive players. Only the first move is called the "bet". In varieties such as no-limit, players may bet all of their chips into the pot. This would be called "betting all-in". If one player bets and nobody calls or raises, he automatically wins the pot as the last remaining player.
  • Check - when there is no established bet, players have the option of "checking" and letting the next player make a move. If every player checks, the hand continues to the next round with no changes to the pot size.
  • Call - if there is a bet or raise made, a player can "call" the bet by matching the amount and putting it into the pot.
  • Raise - if one player has made a bet into the pot, another may "raise" the action by pushing an amount greater than the initial bet into the pot. If this action occurs more than once, subsequent bets are considered "re-raises".
  • Fold - a player may decide not to continue any further in the hand, choosing not to match a bet and "folding" his hand by tossing the cards into the muck and forfeiting any right to the pot.

Because poker involves bets of concealed hand values, bluffing becomes an important tactic in an attempt to win pots. Players can force one another out of hands by betting or raising, even when they are holding cards with little to no value. A bluff would be successful when a player, who would have normally lost the hand based on card value, wins by betting enough to force the other players out of the hand. And with the winner's option of concealing his cards, bluffs can become more valuable by going unnoticed.

If more than one player remains in the hand at the end of the last betting round, there is a "showdown", in which the players reveal the previously concealed cards to evaluate their hands. If there has been a bet, typically the player making the initial bet acts first by turning over his cards, and the other players follow suit. The player with the best hand showing according to the style of poker being played then wins the pot. (Or in some cases, like Omaha Hi-Lo Split, the best hand will split the pot with the worst hand.)

Hand Rankings

There are four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades; and thirteen rank cards, including numerals 2 through 10, the Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K), and Ace (A). The common poker hand rankings are as follows, listed from strongest to weakest (with a standard 52-card deck and no "wild" cards):

1. Straight Flush - five consecutive cards of the same suit, such as the 5-6-7-8-9, all of diamonds. The 10-J-Q-K-A of one suit is called a "Royal Flush" and is an unbeatable hand.

2. Four of a Kind - also known as "quads", this is any four cards of matching rank. A-A-A-A would be a better four of a kind than 8-8-8-8.

3. Full House - sometimes referred to as a "boat", this is any three cards of matching rank in combination with any two cards of matching rank, like 6-6-6-Q-Q. In this case, the hand would be called "sixes full of queens", as there are three sixes and two queens. If there is more than one full house in a hand, the winner is determined first by the rank of that player's three matching cards, then by the rank of that player's two matching cards. For instance, J-J-J-10-10 is better than 10-10-10-K-K, but inferior to J-J-J-A-A.

4. Flush - any five cards of matching suit. The winner of two flushes is determined by comparing the players' highest cards in successive order. For instance, A-K-2-3-4 of hearts would be a winning hand over A-Q-J-10-5 of diamonds.

5. Straight - any five consecutive rank cards, regardless of suit. In this situation, the Ace is commonly played as both a low and a high card. A-2-3-4-5 is considered a straight, as well as 10-J-Q-K-A. Two or more straights are valued in terms of their highest cards.

6. Three of a Kind - also known as "trips" or a "set", three of a kind is any three matching rank cards, just like four of a kind.

7. Two Pair - a hand consisting of two matching pairs of rank cards, such as A-A-10-10. Multiple two pair hands are valued first by the individual hand's higher pair, then by its lower. For example, A-A-3-3 would beat K-K-Q-Q but lose to A-A-5-5.

8. One Pair - a hand with two matching rank cards. Pairs are measured in terms of the value of the two matching rank cards, eg. A-A is better than Q-Q.

9. High Card - when there are no pairs, flushes, or straights, the winning hand is determined by the strongest valued card, from 2 (the lowest) to A (the highest). If two players have matching high cards, their next highest card determines the winner. Similarly, if players have matching hands of one pair, two pair, three of a kind, or four of a kind, the next highest cards in each player's hand is used to determine the winner. This is called playing a "kicker". An Ace would be considered an unbeatable kicker.

Game Variants

As a playing card game that has developed over the years with many interpretations and styles of play, numerous recognized forms of poker exist as individualized games today. In addition to the well-known games, house rules and specialized varieties expand the possible forms to unknown quantities. The most popular poker variants are as follows:

  • Draw Poker: long a favorite at home games, players receive five or more cards (the most common forms are Five-Card Draw and Seven-Card Draw), all of which remain hidden to the other players. In succession, they may then replace one or more of their cards with new cards from the deck, if they so choose. Draw varieties that involve betting commonly have at least two rounds of betting—once the cards have been dealt and once the cards have been re-drawn. For a long stretch of time, Five-Card Draw was the game of choice almost everywhere, but in recent years the popularity of the game has been overshadowed by other more aggressive forms.
  • Stud Poker: another one of the early forms of poker, Stud evolved mainly in the Five- and Seven-Card varieties. The difference between Stud and Draw is that players may not exchange their individual cards for new ones from the deck. In the casino Seven-Card form of the game, cards are dealt two down and one up in the first round, then three more face up with betting rounds following each, and the final card face down. Players use five of their seven cards to make the best hand. In contrast with Hold 'em poker, which features forced "blind" bets before the hand starts, Stud usually requires one player to make the small "bring-in" bet once the first round of cards has been dealt. The bring-in is usually made by the player with the best hand showing at that time. Stud itself has a number of variants, including: High-Low Stud (Eight or Better), a game in which players compete to split the pot between the highest hand and the lowest hand, the Eight or Better signifying that the Low hand must have a high card 8 or lower; Razz, a game where players compete just like in Seven Card Stud, except they are drawing for the worst hand, not the best; Lowball, a game similar to Razz with the exception that flushes and straights are considered made hands and cannot be played for the low pot; and Blind Stud, a game in which all the players' cards are dealt face-down. Most forms of Stud are played with fixed limits. A 5/10 Stud game would mean that for the first two or three rounds of betting, the bet limit is 5, and beyond that, the bet limit is 10.
  • Community Card Poker: Community Card poker games have received an immeasurable boost in popularity in recent years due to the success of televised poker tournaments for high stakes and huge rewards, especially the keystone of community card poker, No-Limit Texas Hold 'em. The style of play for community games features a set number of down cards, or "pocket" or "hole" cards, dealt to each player, followed by a round of betting, then the deal of the community cards, which typically consists of five cards, dealt out in a three-one-one succession. Players then use a combination of their hole cards and community cards to make the best five card hand. These styles of games feature pre-deal forced bets, called "blinds", which are small incremental bets made by the players to the immediate left of the dealer. The remaining players must match or raise the blind to remain in the hand. The first three cards dealt out are referred to as "the flop", followed by the fourth card ("fourth street" or "the turn"), and the last ("fifth street" or "the river"). Betting games are played in a variety of formats. No Limit means that there is no limit to the amount that each player can bet at any point, with the maximum move being "all-in", when a player puts all of his or her remaining chips into the pot. Pot Limit is a game where the bet size is capped by the size of the pot. Blinds and Antes help to build the initial pot, and from that point, players may not bet more than what is in the current pot. Limit poker is regulated by small bets that the players can make, and the betting limits usually go up from the first two rounds of betting to the last two rounds of betting. Styles of Community Card Poker include: Texas Hold 'em, currently the most popular form of poker, in which players are dealt two cards face down which they may use in any combination with the five community cards (often called "the board") to make the best hand; Omaha, which is played like Texas Hold 'em with the exception that players are dealt four cards face down and must use two and exactly two of their hole cards in combination with the board to make the best hand (Omaha is also played in Hi/Lo Split forms, where the best and worst hands split the pot); Pineapple, which is a game with many forms, the basis of which is that players are initially dealt three cards face down, and they discard one of them either before or after the flop, and play continues as in Hold 'em; and Manila, a game in which all cards lower than 7 are removed from the deck, the community cards are dealt out one by one, and players must use both of their hole cards in combination with three from the board to make their hand (with the short deck, a flush beats a full house).

History

The origins of poker lie in a mixed and uncertain history, and is in many cases a matter of debate. The style of the game was influenced in part by the English game three-card brag which, like poker, heavily involved bluffing, and was a descendant form of the game brelan from France. Other card games and gambling games influenced the evolution of poker as well, including the Italian game primero, which features players competing against each other to win a hand with established values for card combinations. However, the Persian game as nas most closely resembles poker, and was spread by Persian sailors throughout the 1700s and 1800s, likely to French settlers in the Louisiana territory. As nas is a betting game played with a collection of five rank cards, each repeated four or five times. Matches of the cards are played in hand rankings similar to poker, with pairs, three of a kind, full house, and four of a kind. As nas was an important influence to the development of poker as a gambling game in the early western part of the United States, but poker's name likely descended from the French poque, from the German pochen which means 'to knock'.

Poker game play was documented in the early 1800s by author Jonathan H. Green, whose book An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (1843) described much of the development of gambling games on Mississippi riverboats and in the settlement of New Orleans. It was in New Orleans in 1829 that English actor James Cromwell noted the game, which at the time consisted of only 20 cards and limited variations, though the format of play was largely the same. Beyond Louisiana, poker became a staple of the pioneer west, played commonly in saloons and gaming halls.

English 52-card decks were introduced for use in the game in the mid-1800s, expanding the gameplay and introducing an entire set of new card combinations and hand values. With the increased capability came variation, in the form of draw poker, five-card stud, flushes, and straights, with many of the changes occurring around the time of the American Civil War, when the game was played often by militia on both sides. After the Civil War, more developments and game formats came into existence, including High/Low Split, Lowball, and Community Card Poker. These changes spread back to European countries until World War II, and to many other places around the world before and after as a result of game's popularity amongst the U.S. military.

Harry Truman's poker chips

Modern era Poker became popular with the rise of the game of No-Limit Texas Hold 'em, called "the Cadillac of poker", with its high stakes and aggressive style. Tournament poker began in casinos in the early 1970s, with the introduction of the World Series of Poker event, which at the time featured a select few players in a tightly knit society of gamblers. The early stars of poker are now legends, Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim, Bobby Baldwin, Doyle Brunson, and Crandell Addington. These players helped to introduce the relatively unknown game to big money casinos at the start of its popularity. They were also the first to start analyzing the strategy of poker, which was introduced to the public for the first time in Doyle Brunson's 1979 book The Super/System.

Since the start of the 21st century, poker's popularity has skyrocketed, thanks in large part to online gambling sites and the invention of television's "pocket cam", which enabled viewers to see the hole cards of players on television, make the game a much more viewer-friendly experience. Television coverage of major tournaments, especially ESPN's World Series of Poker, exhibited the game for millions of fans. The large (sometimes multi-million dollar) payouts and the triumph of "everyman" amateur players, notably 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker and 2004 Champion Greg Raymer, spawned enormous growth amongst the amateur poker demographic. And while the most talented poker players in the world are becoming recognizable icons, the ability of the amateur to triumph over the professional may be due in part to the fact that television viewers and avid readers are able to experience the play of the world's top pros second-hand, picking up on the strategy. In recent years, poker has been developing a distinctly more international face, with the popularity of the game and its many forms picking up throughout Europe, especially in Scandinavia, and across the Asian continent and South America. The increased worldwide popularity led to the enormous field of the 2006 WSOP Main Event, the $10,000 entry-fee No Limit Hold 'em World Championship, which had a record 8773 entrants and a $12 Million first prize to the winner, television producer Jamie Gold.

Poker Room at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey

The game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases and clichés as ace in the hole, ace up one's sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one's bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation, even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table.


See also

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References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Brunson, Doyle (1979). Doyle Brunson's Super System. Cardoza. ISBN 1-58042-081-8. 
  • Sklansky, David (1989). The Theory of Poker (3rd Ed). Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1-880685-00-0. 
  • Vorhaus, John (2002). Killer Poker. Lyle Stuart. ISBN 0-8184-0630-5. 
  • Ernest, James; Selinker, Mike; Foglio, Phil (2005). Dealer's Choice: The Complete Handbook of Saturday Night Poker. Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-654-3. 
  • Caro, Mike (1978). Caro's Book of Poker Tells. Cardoza. ISBN 1-58042-082-6. 

External links

  • Poker at the Open Directory Project
  • Poker at the Yahoo! Directory

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