Texas Hold 'em Tip

When comparing poker hands in Texas Hold 'em poker and most other poker variations, you examine all players' best five cards. In your hand, you have two hole cards, and on the table there are a maximum of five community cards, which all players use. When looking for your best five-card holding, you can use both your hole cards, one of them, or none; so if the board shows: A A A A K, all players still in the hand split the pot. The basic Texas hold 'em strategy obviously says that it's wrong to fold in this situation.

Five Card Draw

• All 3's and 9's are wild.
  
• If someone is dealt an exposed 4, they receive another hole card.
  

How to play Texas Hold 'Em

Texas Hold 'em is Seven Card Stud where each player is dealt two cards face down (called "hole" cards) and five cards are dealt in the center of the table (called “community” cards). The best five-card hand wins by combining cards in one of the following ways:

• Two hole cards plus any three community cards.
• One hole card plus any four community cards.
• Five community cards.

Should more than one player use only the community cards as their winning hand, the pot is split between them regardless of hole cards. Odd chips are given to the winning player closest to the dealer’s left.

There are four rounds of betting per hand: after the initial deal of two cards (Pre-Flop), after three community cards are dealt (Flop), after the fourth community card is dealt (Turn), and after the fifth and final community card is dealt (River).

Limits, Blinds, and All-In
Limit Texas Hold ‘Em uses a structured betting system with limits and blinds. The following subsections describe these features along with the all-in bet:

Limits
Limits are the predetermined amounts that each player must abide by when opening, calling, or raising a bet.

Blinds
Blinds are bets that are made before any cards are dealt. Each hand starts with two blind bets being posted as follows:

• The player to the dealer’s left posts the small blind, which is half of the low limit for the betting level.
• The player to the left of the player that posted the small blind posts the big blind, which is the full low limit for the betting level.

The blinds remain in front of the players until the conclusion of the pre-flop betting. The dealer then rakes the blinds and all other bets into the pot.

All-In
Going "all-in" means that you put all your chips into the pot. In no limit poker, a player can choose to put all their chips into the pot at any time with no restrictions placed on the bet amount. In limit poker, bets are placed according to a limit structure, so players do not have the option to go all-in if their chip total exceeds the bet limit. Because of this, an all-in play is generally used in limit poker when a player wishes to remain in a hand but does not have enough to cover a bet. A player cannot be excluded from a hand because of low funds.

For example, if the big blind is $200 and Player A has only $100 left and wants to remain in play, he must go all-in. At this point, the pot is split into a main pot and a side pot. Player A is only eligible to win the main pot - the pot consisting of the bets he was able to match. In this case, the main pot is equal to Player A’s $100 bet multiplied by the number of players who called this bet. Additional bets are placed in a side pot and are contested among the remaining players. The all-in player has no chance of winning the side pot, regardless of his hand. If Player A has the best hand at the table once all bets are placed, he wins the main pot and the side pot is won by the player with the second-best hand. If Player A does not have the best hand at the table, he is eliminated and the best hand wins both the main and the side pot. Multiple side pots can be created if more then one person goes all-in.

  

 

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Omaha Hold 'Em

How to play Omaha Hold 'Em

This game is played just like Texas Hold 'Em, with the following differences:

The hands in Omaha are usually much better, since you get to choose from 9 cards total. Each player is dealt four cards face down (rather than two, as in Texas Hold 'Em).

The five cards on the table are community cards. Your hand is formed by taking exactly two hole cards and exactly three community cards, and forming the best poker hand possible.

  

 

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

How to play The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is a variation on Hold 'Em. Players are dealt two cards down and one up. Three cards are placed in the middle face down (the community).

After a round of betting, the first community card is flipped face up. This is 'The Good'. All cards of the same rank are now wild (but this card is not shared and may not be used to complete a poker hand- it is merely an indicator of the wild card).

After another round of betting, the second community card is flipped face up. This is 'The Bad'. All cards of the same rank (face up or face down) must be discarded.

After another round of betting, the final community card is flipped face up. This is 'The Ugly'. All players who have an up card of the same rank must fold.

After another round of betting, each player is given one more card face down. After a final round of betting, players show their cards. High hand wins.

  

 

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Pai Gow

How to play Pai Gow

Pai Gow is played with a 53-card deck consisting of 52 cards plus one Joker. The player receives seven cards which are used to make two hands. These are compared with the dealer's two hands to determine the winner.

Your 5 card hand must rank higher than your 2 card hand.

The cards are ranked according to standard poker rules.

The Joker can only be used to complete straights or flushes, otherwise it counts as an Ace.

The Dealer wins any copied hand.

The Player wins if:

• Both the 5-card and the 2-card poker hand outrank the dealers hand.

The Player loses if:

• Both the 5-card and the 2-card poker hand are outranked by the dealers hand.
• The dealer outranks either of the two hands and the other hand is a copy.

It is a "push" if:

• The player wins one hand and the dealer wins the other.

The hands are ranked according to standard poker rules with one exception: the A-2-3-4-5 straight is the second highest straight. Straights rank from highest to lowest: A-K-Q-J-10, A-2-3-4-5, K-Q-J-10-9 ... 6-5-4-3-2. Also, keep in mind that the best two-card hand is a pair of aces.

  

 

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