Poker

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

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

There are many varieties 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. 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 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 basic set of rules, regardless of the specific form. The right to deal is usually passed from one player to another in a clockwise fashion. In a casino, a professional dealer will deal every hand. In most games, the dealer position results in being last to act during the betting rounds.

Before cards are dealt, 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 variety 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 often feature the addition or sometimes the exchange of cards in players' hands, changing the hand's value and affecting the individual's playing strategy.

Poker actions are defined as follows:

• Bet—A player puts money or chips into the pot, establishing the initial amount to be matched by the successive players. Only the first placement of money in the pot is called a "bet." If one player bets and no other player calls or raises, the betting player 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 a bet is made or raised, a player can "call" the bet by matching the amount of the bet plus the raise, if any, and putting that amount into the pot.

• Raise—If one player has made a bet, following players may "raise" by pushing an amount greater than the initial bet into the pot. Successive players may match the total amount of the bet plus the raise and then raise again, in which case the action is technically called "re-raise."

• Fold—A player who believes his chance of winning are small may decide not to continue any further in the hand, by refusing to match a bet and "folding" his hand by placing his cards on face down on the table and forfeiting any right to the pot.

Because poker involves bets on 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 value. A bluff is 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. Because the winner has the option not to show his winning cards, bluffs can become even 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 remaining players reveal their previously concealed cards to evaluate their hands. Typically the player making the initial bet acts first by showing his cards, and the other remaining players do likewise. The player with the best hand wins the pot.

The use of the "wild card" can change the format of the game immensely. Most games can be played with one or more wild cards, which can represent any card the player chooses. Common wild cards are deuces, jokers, sevens, and one-eyed jacks. For example, if a hand was dealt with deuces wild, a hand of 2-7-8-10-J can now become a straight, with the 2 representing a 9 in this player's hand. Wild cards bring into play a rarely seen "Five-of-a-Kind" hand, which trumps four of a kind, and can even trump a straight flush when the straight flush also includes a wild card. (See hand rankings below.)

Hand Rankings

In poker, as in most card games, 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, using 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—four cards of matching rank. A-A-A-A would be a better four of a kind than 8-8-8-8. Four of a Kind is also known as "quads."

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, such as 6-6-6-Q-Q. If more than one player has a full house, the winner is determined first by the rank of the three matching cards, and then by the rank of the 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 any suit wins over A-Q-J-10-5 of any suit.

5. Straight—any five consecutive cards, regardless of suit. In this situation, the Ace is commonly played as either 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, similar to four of a kind.

7. Two Pair—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).

Tie-breakers—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, etc., the next highest cards in each player's hand is used to determine the winner. This card is called 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
• 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
• 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

Poker in Popular Culture

Terminology

For a long time, poker and its terminology have been referenced in popular culture to mean a variety of different interpretations. Many of the phrases have been in use so long they have become cliche expressions, used commonly and across all social boundaries. These expressions are used by many people regardless of the awareness of their poker origins. The following is a collection of English and American popular phrasing drawn from poker jargon:

• Ace in the hole: from the term "hole cards" in 7-Card Stud, an Ace in the hole refers to a very strong asset that one holds concealed from everyone else in play.

• Ace up one's sleeve: similar to ace in the hole, however, the connotation here refers to a common style of cheating, holding a strong card up one's sleeve. Therefore, having an ace up one's sleeve is a reference to holding a valuable piece through a sleight of hand or suspicions means.

• Blue chip: in reference to the common set of poker chips (white, red, blue), blue chips are usually played as the most valuable. Blue chip in popular culture refers to a variety of subjects—in investment terms, a very profitable stock or fund; in athletic terms, a rare talent with a high value based on the athlete's potential to develop; or another type of asset deemed to have the highest value. This phrase lent itself to the title of the 1994 basketball film 'Blue Chips' starring Nick Nolte and professional basketball players Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway.

• Call one's bluff: coming from the poker concept of bluffing and positing an incorrect value on one's hand, "calling one's bluff" is a cliche term that references the act of willing to take the risk of matching someone's declaration, under the assumption that they were merely bluffing or representing something they could not back up.

• Cash in/Cash out: these terms are widely used to refer to putting one's money either into or out of a game, competition, investment, or valuable situation, financial or otherwise, similar to buying chips in or out of a poker game.

• Up the ante/Ante up: phrases using the poker term "ante", including "ante up", typically refer to a situation which requires the participants to affirm their inclusion in the event, such as calling members to come forward and establish their stake, or to remove themselves from contention. "Up the ante" on the other hand, refers to a situation which requires a larger stake to be sacrificed to remain in contention or participatory in a situation. This refers to the late rounds of poker tournaments, when antes are raised signaling the stakes are increasing and fewer players are able to remain in the game.

• Poker face: in reference to the poker player's stoic expression, someone uses a "poker face" when they "mean business", in a situation where they want to express serious intent, devoid of personal emotion.

• Wild card: referring to poker's wild card, a card which can be played to represent any other card in the deck, a wild card is typically referred to as something or someone unpredictable. Wild card has lent itself to professional sports, where the "wild card" is a team that reaches the championship playoff without having won their region or division, and also to computing, where the wildcard character (commonly *, ? or %) can refer to other characters in typical expressions.

Entertainment Media

As a result of poker's popularity, many facets of entertainment media have taken advantage of the high stakes game, especially in recent years as the "poker boom" has resulted in an unprecedented popularity of the game. Dozens of poker periodicals have come into existence, with some of the most popular being 'Card Player Magazine', 'Bluff Magazine', 'All In', and 'Poker Pro Magazine'. A number of other examples of entertainment media have existed through the years, including:

• Casino Royale: the first novel by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series (1953), first adapted into a comedy movie starring David Niven and Peter Sellers in 1967, and later in 2006 as an action film starring Daniel Craig. The story revolves around Bond's involvement in a high stakes poker game with assorted villains.

• Rounders: a 1998 film starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, includes a cameo by poker legend Johnny Chan and a reshowing of his victory in the 1988

• Maverick: a 1994 film starring Mel Gibson and James Garner, about the old west poker games culminating in a riverboat five card draw showdown.

• The Cincinnati Kid: a 1965 film starring Steve McQueen, one of the first movies to showcase modern poker in the high stakes underground form, making icons of cardsharks.

• ESPN's World Series of Poker: an ESPN Original Entertainment program run for several years that showcases poker's most prestigious poker tournament. It has expanded over the years to include games other than Texas Hold'em and tournaments other than the World Championship Main Event. This program is highlighted by the ceremonial presentation of the tournament victor's WSOP bracelet.

• World Poker Tour: similar to WSOP, WPT is a series of televised poker tourmanents on the Travel Channel. Play is year-round and in many locations across the globe.

• Poker After Dark: a late night NBC show featuring six top poker players competing in a week-long competition for $120,000, the show debuted in January 2007.

• Celebrity Poker Showdown: a show on the Bravo network, the show features celebrities participating in a lighter, fun-filled poker tournament, as opposed to the serious professionalism of the other shows. The winners donate their winnings to charity.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Brunson, Doyle, The Super/System, New York: Cardoza, 1979. ISBN 1-58042-081-8
• Scarne, John, Scarne's Guide to Modern Poker, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. ISBN 0671247964 9780671247966
• Sklansky, David, The Theory of Poker, Las Vegas: Two Plus Two Publications, 1999. ISBN 880685000 9781880685006
• Spanier, David, Total Poker, Harpenden: High Stakes, 2002. ISBN 1843440067 9781843440062

External links

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

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