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Poker tips


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#1 DLibrasnow

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 03:23 PM

Any site that anyone can recommend that gives a run-down on how to play poker? I know a lot of card games (including the baccarat used in the book of CASINO RPYALE) but not poker.

I'd like to understand the game I am watching when I go and see the movie.

#2 Mister Asterix

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 03:33 PM

I’ve been watching the ’Celebrity Poker Showdown‘ on Bravo. They give a nice summary of the game in each episode and they have a Poker expert who explains what the celebrities are doing right and wrong. I think it’s a very good learning tool.

#3 porttalbot

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 03:36 PM

If you want to learn Texas Hold Em and every other variant of Poker then 888.com is the way to go. It is free to sign up and gives the BEST tutorials on the game, hands etc. It also allows you to play practice games with thousnads of other people. If you want to learn poker then visit www.888.com sign up and play for free on the practice forums. Then when Casino Royale premiers you will know just what hands to beat Le Chiffre.

#4 Publius

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 04:16 PM

Any site that anyone can recommend that gives a run-down on how to play poker?

http://www.texashold...innersintro.php

Covers the basics and then some. Basically:

Player to the left of the person "on the button" (a position which moves leftward with each new hand) posts a mandatory bet called the "small blind" equal to half the minimum bet. Player to the left of that posts a mandatory bet called the "big blind" equal to the minimum bet (i.e. twice the small blind). These mandatory bets only occur before cards are dealt and exist to ensure there is play on every hand. Typically, no antes are used in Texas Hold 'em.

Each player, starting with the one left of the dealer, is dealt one card, face down, and once all players have received a card, each player receives a second in the same exact way. Your two cards are known as your "hole" or "pocket" cards.

Normal betting starts with the player left of the big blind. There are always minimum bets, but if it's "no limit", there are no maximums and any player can go "all in" and bet all his chips at any time it's his turn. However, your all-in bet will be adjusted accordingly if you have more chips than those who call you. Side pots can be tricky (not really), but aren't all that common, so I'll reference you to my link for that.

Anyway, as in most poker games, your basic options are check, call, raise, or fold. If you're the first to act, your initial "bet" can be construed as a call or raise of the big blind. To stay in a hand that others have already bet in, you must call (match the bet) or raise (forcing others to call, raise, or fold).

Folding can be done at any time it's your turn and you want out of the hand (but whatever you already bet stays in the pot). Checking can only be done if the person immediately before you checked, or if you're the first to act on a new round of betting (unless you're the big blind and no one's raised above your mandatory posted bet in the first round of betting). It just means to stay in the hand without betting, but if somebody else does bet, you have to call, raise, or fold.

Still with me? :P Good. Now the dealer discards (known as "burning", and exists to prevent cheating) one card from the deck for the duration of the hand, then flips the next three cards face up onto the table ("board"). This is called the "flop". These are community cards that anyone can use in conjunction with their own two personal cards to make the best five card combination they can (you can't opt to make a worse combination than that). Hand rankings listed for your convenience. Two more community cards will eventually be added to the board.

After the flop, there is a second round of betting, rules no different than the first (aside from the absence of blinds for the remainder of the hand, but those are technically not considered part of any round of betting). Then the dealer burns a second card and deals a fourth community card, also known as "the turn". Another round of betting follows, as usual. Then the dealer burns a third and final card before dealing a fifth and final community card, known as "the river". A final round of betting occurs, and then remaining players show their hands and the winner (if there is only one, and there usually is) takes the entirety of the pot for himself.

I hope that helps you out. Anything else you want to know, ask and I'll be more than happy to explain, provided I know the answer, of course. :P I'm not exactly a card shark, so if I've made any mistakes, anyone should feel free to correct me, I'll sure appreciate it, even if it does mean I was wrong. :)

Also, I second Mr. Asterix's suggestion. Watching it actually played on television is a remarkably quick and simple way to learn the game. Plus, you get a better feel for the strategy (and it's hugely important) than you would by just reading about it.

Edited by Publius, 10 August 2006 - 04:41 PM.


#5 erniecureo

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 04:43 PM

Any site that anyone can recommend that gives a run-down on how to play poker?


http://en.wikipedia..../Texas_hold_'em

Very simply, everyone gets 2 "down" cards. These are yours and only yours. Then there are 5 "community" cards placed face-up in the middle.

There are four betting opportunities.
1. After everyone gets their down cards.
2. After the first 3 community cards are shown (the "flop").
3. After the 4th community card is shown (the "turn").
4. After the last community card is shown (the "river.")

The most important thing that beginners sometimes have trouble with watching Texas Hold 'Em is that the best combination of 5 cards make up the winning hand, period.

In other words, if one of your 2 down cards is an ace, and there is an ace among the community cards, you have a pair of aces. If you have two clubs in your hand, and there are three clubs among the community cards, you have a flush.

If you have no clubs in your down cards, but there are 5 clubs in the community cards, you still have a flush--but so does everyone else.

It sounds tricky, but you can learn the game in about ten minutes. The difficult part is knowing the odds, how to bet, how to "read" your opponents, etc. That part takes a lifetime to master!

The rank of hands is as follows:
No pair (winner determined by highest card in players' hands.
1 pair
2 pair
3 of a kind
Straight (any five cards in order, suit doesn't matter)
Flush (any five cards of same suit, order doesn't matter)
Full House (three of a kind + a pair)
Four of a kind
Straight Flush (in order, all the same suit)
Royal Flush (A-K-Q-J-10, all the same suit).

Also, No-limit Hold 'Em means you can bet your entire stack of chips ("going all-in.") This is popular because it is easier to bluff someone out of a pot, by making a bet big enough that your opponent cannot justify the risk involved in matching your bet.

Finally, let me clear up a common misconception. In many movies, one player will win a pot simply by betting an amount the other player cannot match. This doesn't happen in real life. If it did, Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei would always win. In real life, you play with what are called "table stakes." That means you play only with whatever money you have in front of you. During the hand, you cannot reach into your pocket to bring out more money.

It works like this: Let's assume there are two players left in the game. If you have $50 left, and the other player bets $500, you don't automatically lose. You can call, push your $50 into the pot, and you are still in the hand. Your opponent takes back $450 (the amount that exceeds your money), and then whoever wins gets the pot.

If you win, you now have $100 (plus the blinds, but check out the url for a description of them). If you lose, you're broke. But now, since there is no hand currently in play, you can take out more money to play the next hand.

There are also some differences between cash games and tournaments, but you can figure those out at your leisure.

Hope this helps.

Ooops. Wrote the above and saw that Publius beat me to the punch. Well done, and comprehensive. Anybody comes to Phoenix, Arizona, call me and let's have a game!

As a matter of fact, many pubs here in the US have Hold 'Em tournaments now. They're free, and you play for points and/or gift certificates, etc. If you live in the U.S., check out http://nationwidepokertour.com/ to see if this is happening in your city. (Reading that, it sounds like a commercial, but I'm not associated with them--I promise!) :-)

It's a great way to learn, and won't cost you any money (other than beer)!

#6 Publius

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 04:52 PM

Ooops. Wrote the above and saw that Publius beat me to the punch. Well done, and comprehensive. Anybody comes to Phoenix, Arizona, call me and let's have a game!

Thanks, and your post did a solid job of covering some other important points as well, especially table stakes (also known as what keeps Ben Affleck from being known as the "best" poker player in the world).

#7 wide of the mark

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 04:55 PM

Good tips everyone. Perhaps i'll change up my strategy from now fourth. I don't know if this has been brought up, but we should have a weekly CBn poker night. Wednesdays?

P.S. my CR name is Vargas.

#8 JimmyBond

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 06:09 PM


Ooops. Wrote the above and saw that Publius beat me to the punch. Well done, and comprehensive. Anybody comes to Phoenix, Arizona, call me and let's have a game!

Thanks, and your post did a solid job of covering some other important points as well, especially table stakes (also known as what keeps Ben Affleck from being known as the "best" poker player in the world).


You both did a great job explaining it, kudos to you.

I love playing myself, but I always seem to be the first one to get knocked out. I fold everytime I get a crappy hand (my two cards), which I know I shouldnt, but I don't play the odds.

#9 Publius

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 07:57 PM

You both did a great job explaining it, kudos to you.

I love playing myself, but I always seem to be the first one to get knocked out. I fold everytime I get a crappy hand (my two cards), which I know I shouldnt, but I don't play the odds.

Thanks.

As for folding every crappy hand, that's not necessarily a bad thing, unless you get a LOT of crappy hands. I myself typically play "tight" like that until a game is whittled down to two or three. By the time a game is winding down, you usually have increasing blinds putting pressure on you and decreasing odds of someone having a better hand than you, so you have to separate the more bad from the less bad and make a strong move, and that's normally what trips me up. I'm also highly skeptical of going all in, yet that's an integral part of no limit play (I prefer having limits, but none of my friends/family seem to). I only wish I could mentally approximate the percentage odds like some of the pros do.

#10 Fro

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 08:02 PM

Generally playing tight is best when there are many players, and then get looser as people go away, but you have to mix it up enough to be unpredictable.

#11 JimmyBond

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Posted 10 August 2006 - 08:12 PM

Generally playing tight is best when there are many players, and then get looser as people go away,


That wouldnt be a problem...but I'm usually the first to "go away." :)