My Virtual Poker

When it comes to poker, many people who do not play the game think there is only one game called poker, but in fact there are a number of different variations on the general style of play. While there are those in the history world who will disagree over which version of the game came firs, the fact is that poker was generally speaking, started in the late 1800’s as far as immense popularity goes. The game essentially rose in the United States, although it has roots in various parts of the world. There are basic steps that the majority of poker variants follow, but there are also a good deal of differences. The full list of poker types is very long and it encompasses not only well known styles, but a number of ‘house rules’ that are specific to certain casinos or home games. Knowing the most popular forms can give a player the edge of knowing which they want to study and one day master. Having a good understanding of the number of rounds a game involves, strategies that will work during it and other key issues is the way to succeed. In general, though, poker games fall into these 3 basic categories which are listed below.

Draw poker is the first and possibly the most popular version of the game, not because it is the one seen most often on TV, but because it is the game that is usually played at home. These home games are how most people learn to play poker and it is said that this is the easiest version to learn. Players are dealt a whole hand and then they hide their cards so other players can’t see. Throughout a game of this style, such as Five Card Draw, players will attempt to better their hand by drawing and discarding when it is their turn. At the end, the player with the highest valued hand wins.

Next, there is a version of the game known as stud poker. This version is also very well known due to the fact that it is the most common variant in video poker machines. Here, players will receive a few cards that are laid face up and a few that are going to lie face down on the table. With multiple betting rounds, players attempt to make a good hand. Five Card Stud and Seven Card Stud are two of the most popular variants of this style.

Finally, there are the community card versions of poker and these have achieved massive fame due to the fact that they are featured on TV in recorded events. This is the style of play that most online poker rooms use, as well. Texas Hold ‘em is the most popular version of this game all around the world, but Omaha is yet another variant of the community card style. The term “hold ‘em” refers to the community card pool that is watched over by the dealer and where players will get cards to combine with those in their hand to make a better hand when it is their turn. Pots for these games can get famously large.

There are a lot of popular versions of poker in the world today, but in the past 7 Card Stud was definitely one of the most popular around. This game was especially big during the westward expansion of the United States and today, it is played in the eastern states where things are more traditional. The game is, of course, offered in casinos since they focus on this type of game, but it is also nowhere near as popular as 5 Card Draw in terms of home games and certainly not anywhere near as big as Texas Hold ‘em which is the main variant in online poker rooms and big live TV tournaments today. This is also the game that makes up the S in the HORSE style of poker play due to its title of Seven Card Stud.

Most players who are very good at this style of play will go to casinos where the larger games can be played and the pots are a lot bigger, too. Those who are just starting out do not tend to fold as often and this is why they will want to stick with smaller games. Since each player will have 7 cards by the show down round, it is important not to exceed 7 players if they tend not to fold since a full deck of playing cards only contains 52 in all. Of course, the goal of 7 Card Stud is to try and form the most valuable hand possible. Betting goes round by round and each player will get their turn in clockwise fashion around the game table. Normally, the game works by the dealer putting down 3 cards for each player – 2 of these will be face down and the other 1 will be face up. Players who are in a casino generally have to put down some money to cover the ‘bring in’ which is the task given to the lowest ranking hand holder in most cases. Once the bring in is covered, players will place bets every round unless they choose to fold.

Five cards are needed to form a hand in 7 Card Stud, just as with any other poker variant, and these can be used from the cards facing down on the table, known as downcards, or the cards which face up, called upcards. The player’s job is to strategize effectively because after the 3rd round, 5 cards are on the table and if the hand is not good then it may well be time to fold. The player with the most valuable hand will win and in all there can be 6 rounds with a final round called the showdown. This is where players will compare hands to determine who has won the game.

The game of poker has a very long and complex history that even those most schooled in the past are not quite sure of. There will most likely continue to be arguments over the exact roots of poker for quite some time, but there are 2 more accepted general origins that most people believe poker, as we know it today, has. These include a game called As Nas, an ancient game played in what is today present day Iran that showed a lot of similarities to the present form of poker, including a 5 card hand. The other place that it is likely Poker originated from is Germany, where a game known as pochenspiel, meaning to brag or to bluff, first started up some time several centuries ago, perhaps in the 1400’s or around that time. This game had the aspect of bluffing to fool one’s opponents which is a critical part of poker as we know it today. The game was able to get popularity in Germany and survived in some ways there for quite some time. However, it must be said that it was the United States where the game really took off and was formalized down to the 5 card system we know today using packs of 52 playing cards and other hallmarks of the modern poker experience. In the US, the more migratory nature of the settlers who colonized North America led to the rapid spread of this popular card game.

One of the main places that poker first gained a foothold was in the French influenced city of New Orleans in the present US state of Louisiana. It also then took on popularity along the large east coast cities and after this, it began to spread west as more and more people were heading out towards California and the land or gold mining operations there. Once the wagon trains gave way to the building of the transcontinental rail road, it became a popular thing for men to work in a migratory way and this helps things spread, along with the cowboy culture of the west in which men were in constant motion, stopping now and then in small western towns for a drink at saloons where these card games were played. Early incarnations of poker were a lot different from the 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud or Texas Hold ‘em that we know today. It would take some time until things were formalized into a format that everyone could agree upon. Each crowd of players would make their own rules, but eventually things gave way to more routine rules and once the landscape began to get more developed, big changes started to happen out west, especially in a state called Nevada.

In the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, there was the emergence of the casino industry and these houses of gambling provided a mecca for gamblers from all over the US and even overseas to come and enjoy some of the most popular attractions of the day. Here rules for poker were formalized and even video poker first showed up here. The World Series of Poker started in 1970 and soon caught on, turning the event into a TV worthy sport in very little time as poker grew in popularity.

Last, but not least, the web showed up and online poker rooms blossomed all over the world. Today, poker enjoys more success than perhaps any other card game.

Going also by the name of Omaha High or Omaha Hold ‘em, this is a variant of poker that is very popular and really only 2nd to Texas Hold’em in terms of broad appeal both in home based games played over the web and in the land based casinos. It is key to understand that this is a community card style of game similar to Texas Hold ‘em which is why it is sometimes known as Omaha Hold ‘em – the “hold ‘em” part refers to the community cards available to players. The game of Omaha first started out when a famous casino employee brought the game to another casino owner of the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada. This famed casino first started to popularize the game under the name of Nugget Hold ‘em which is now not really used to describe this style of poker.

Since there are a few different varieties of Omaha, a player will want to check what the specific rules are for the game they are intending to play long before sitting down at the table to give it a go. This is important because in certain situations the rules will be specific to a certain casino and if one does not understand the intricacies of that particular game they stand to lose a great deal of cash. Some games will have a limit on the pot and are referred to as pot limit Omaha or PLO for short. There are also high low split varieties that can be called 8 or Better Omaha. Then there is no limit Omaha that has no limit on the pot, but these are generally not very popular in a casino setting. Because Omaha can allow a winner with a high or low hand during the showdown, Omaha can be said to have ‘the nuts’ and that is a way of describing a high or low option in a game. Because of the complexity in Omaha and the fact that it has community cards, it takes a bit more to learn this particular game than ti would to learn other versions of poker. This added intricacy also means that players will generally take their time and the game moves along at a slower pace than is true for some other poker styles.

Remember, Omaha and Texas Hold ‘em may be similar, but confusing them is a fast track to ruin. The differences between these 2 popular community card games are vast and understanding the rules is the key to solid wins. Omaha players get 4 cards while Texas Hold ‘em players get just 2, for example.

While it is clearly different in a huge number of ways, video poker owes its roots to the good old fashioned card game of poker which was started so many centuries ago. As one of the more up and coming variations of poker in the long view of the game, video poker is still getting perfected although it still includes a lot of features that would have been undreamable in the past. The game of poker started out in either Europe or the Middle East long before it moved to the United States back during the era of pioneers trekking west to make their fortunes. During this time, poker spread out from the East Coast cities where it was popular and make its way into small mining camps and tiny towns out West where it could gain traction in a more free environment. It would be a great many years before the first video poker machines cropped up, but when they did it was out West where they started and then they moved East, back into places like Atlantic City, New Jersey, which is a big gambling town with a whole lot of casinos to offer those who take a chance to visit.

It would take time before technology could be in place to create the very first video poker machines, but once the cost of producing TV style monitors was available, it was only a matter of time before programmers developed the needed software to run games of poker. This was the 1970’s when Las Vegas casinos began to give video poker a try and their clients loved it, coming back for more time and again, really enjoying the offerings and developing quite a fan base for the machines. Eventually, they would spread around the US during the 1980’s, but they were first taken on as machines that could make the state government money and deemed as being similar to a lottery in this regard so an acceptable way to raise public funds on a voluntary basis for the players. This let the video poker machines out of the casino setting and got them into casinos and other similar venues around the the US where they could flourish much faster.

Then came another big change for poker, the arrival of the web in the 1990’s. This is when things got really hot as video poker translated to the web environment very easily and provided a lot of people with an alternative to getting their poker fix without having to leave the house. This is a much quicker way to play poker and one does not play video poker against other players – the only real opponent is the computer and this makes it a lot more fun for those who played because they did not have to wait for anyone in order to have a go at poker. With online video poker becoming so popular so fast, it was not uncommon to see that online casinos carried it in most cases and that helped them to build a very solid offering of games that players would want to enjoy. The web allowed the games to get more graphical complex, as well.

Even though poker is not considered to be a very tough card game to get the basics down for, it is certainly the type of game that most veteran poker players will suggest one actually play. Actual play experience is the best and fastest teacher. That being said, not all groups are willing to nurture new players so it is a good idea to do what one can to ascertain the rules to the type of game that a player might want to try. In a home based setting, most players are going to play the five card draw version of poker. Learning this can be helpful, but for those who have an interest in playing poker online, what will be far more helpful is understanding the rules of Texas Hold ‘em the most common of the online games. The most core concept in poker, that ties all of the different varieties together is the concept of a five card hand and each possible hand being ranked differently according to the cards that it contains. The higher ranked hand will be the winner, so understanding the values of various hands – as they pertain to each particular style of poker – is the key to becoming a better poker player. Once a player knows this aspect of the game, a good deal of it will be much easier because they will realize the key points of putting together a more valuable hand and thus raise their chances of winning. Whoever has the most valuable hand at the end of the game, after all bets have been made round after round, will be the person who rakes in all the chips that are symbolic of the cash on the table for that game. This is called winning the pot and players normally either keep it all to themselves or sometimes split it depending on rules.

Although poker can be simple to grasp and even achieve a mild level of skill, it should be noted that the game is one in which it could take a good while to get very good. Experience is the number one way to educate one’s self in the flow of the games and get a feel for all the various combinations of cards and situations that will affect decision making at the game table. Since each variant of poker has slightly different rules and even individual player groups or gambling houses can have quirky rules, players will always want to get the specifics up front in order to have a better chance at winning. The basics may be the same, but having a sound concept of the specifics is the key to mastery. The basics of poker include the following: several rounds of betting leading up to a show down in which the players will face off against each other to find out whose hand is the most valuable. The winner will collect the pot that all the players have contributed to. There are 5 cards in a hand and this is going to be the determining factor as to who wins at the table.

The rules of poker always depend upon the particular game being played, but one thing remains the same for all varieties of poker and that is the value of the hands themselves. Understanding these hand values will give players an excellent edge over their competition and help them raise their skill quickly. Memorizing this list is the smartest way to go.

Straight Flush – A hand that has 5 cards in a sequence that are all in the same suit is a Straight Flush. An example would be the cards 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, all in the suit of Clubs. Aces can stand for a value of 10 or, alternately, they can have a value of 1 and this depends on how the player plans to use their cards. If both players in a show down have a Straight Flush, the higher valued hand wins.

Four of a Kind – Known also by the name of Quads, this is 4 cards of the same rank no matter what the suite might be. That means 4 Kings or 4 7’s are Quads. When comparing 2 players with this same hand, the higher value wins and if there is no winner that way then the final card, called a kicker, is compared to find the winner.

Full House – Called a Full Boat, also, this hand is composed of 3 cards which share the same rank along with 2 other cards that don’t match. If 2 players have this same hand then the player with the higher 3 cards wins, but if they tie there then the other pair is compared to find the winner.

Flush – Five cards, all of the same suite, are called a Flush. If the cards are in sequential order then one holds a Straight Flush which is worth more. When both players hold this hand in a show down, the player who holds the highest ranking top card will win. If those 2 cards are the same, the next highest are compared down until a winner is found.

Straight - This is very similar to a Straight Flush, except that the cards are in an unbroken sequence and not in the same exact suit. If the cards did share the same suit then it would be a Straight Flush. If 2 players have this same hand at the show down then the highest cards are compared and if those tie, the next are compared, down through the cards in descending value until a winner is found.

Three of a Kind – Known also by the name of Trips, this is 3 cards that are just what they sound like: a trio that share the same rank along with 2 other cards that don’t match. If both players hold Trips then the higher trio wins and if those tie, then the other cards are compared to find out who dominates in a showdown.

Two Pair – A player with 2 cards that have the same rank and another pair that have a different rank has a Two Pair. In a showdown situation, the top pair is compared first and if that doesn’t show a winner, then the other pair is compared. If that fails to show the winner, the highest kicker card declares the victor.

One Pair – With 2 cards that are of the same rank and 3 cards that are unmatched, one holds a Pair. If 2 players both hold a Pair they compare kicker cards in descending order to see who wins.

High Card – If there are no cards that match in a hand, the High Card is the one used in a showdown situation.