A Texas hold 'em match in progress. Hold 'em is a popular form of poker in the
USA.
Poker is a 🗝 game which people play with a normal set (or deck) of 52 cards. Poker
is a gambling game which involves 🗝 some luck, but also some skill. In poker, players
make bets against each other depending on the value of their 🗝 poker hand. Bets are
usually made with plastic or ceramic discs called chips. Bets may also be made with
coins 🗝 or cash, but chips are more often used because they are easier to handle and
count. At the end of 🗝 the game, players may swap their chips for money. If the players
are not playing for real money, the chips 🗝 are counted at the end of the game to
determine the order of winners.
There are many different kinds of poker. 🗝 In draw poker,
each player is dealt five cards. A player can decide to throw away a number of these
🗝 cards and then take (draw) new cards to replace them.
In stud poker (for example,
seven-card stud), some of each player's 🗝 cards are laid (face-up) on the table so that
the other players can see them. In community card poker (for 🗝 example, Texas hold 'em),
players share some of their cards in the center of the table.[1]
The history of poker
is 🗝 a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely descended from the French
poque, which descended from the 🗝 German pochen ('to knock'), but it is not clear whether
the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing 🗝 those names. It closely
resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to French settlers in
🗝 New Orleans by Persian sailors. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the
Renaissance game of primero and the 🗝 French brelan. The English game brag (earlier
bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was
known 🗝 in other games by that time). It is quite possible that all of these earlier
games influenced the development of 🗝 poker as it exists now.
English actor Joseph
Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with 🗝 a deck of 20
cards, four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H.
Green's book, 🗝 An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (G. B. Zieber,
Philadelphia, 1843), described the spread of the game 🗝 from there to the rest of the
country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime.
Soon after
this 🗝 spread, the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced.
During the American Civil War, many additions 🗝 were made, including draw poker, stud
poker (the five-card variant), and the straight. Further American developments
followed, such as the 🗝 wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around
1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the 🗝 game to other
countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military.
The game and
jargon of poker have 🗝 become important parts of American culture and English culture.
Such phrases as ace in the hole, beats me, blue chip, 🗝 call the bluff, cash in, 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.
Modern 🗝 tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series
of Poker began in 1970. It was also during 🗝 that decade that the first serious strategy
books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (ISBN 1880685000), Super
🗝 System by Doyle Brunson ( ISBN 1580420818), and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro ( ISBN
0897461002).
Poker became more 🗝 popular early in the 21st century, largely due to the
introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card 🗝 camera which finally
turned the game into a spectator sport. Viewers could now follow the action and drama
of the 🗝 game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and
the World Poker Tour brought in 🗝 large television audiences.
Game play [ change | change
source ]
Royal Flush in hearts
The game of poker is played in hundreds 🗝 of variations,
but the following overview of game play applies to most of them.
Depending on the game
rules, one or 🗝 more players may be required to place an initial amount of money into the
pot before the cards are dealt. 🗝 These are called forced bets and come in three forms:
antes, blinds, and bring-ins.
Like most card games, the dealer shuffles 🗝 the deck of
cards. The deck is then cut, and the appropriate number of cards are dealt face-down to
the 🗝 players. In a casino a "house" dealer handles the cards for each hand, but a button
(any small item used 🗝 as a marker, also called a buck) is rotated among the players to
determine the order of dealing and betting 🗝 in certain games. In a home game, the right
to deal the cards typically rotates among the players clockwise, but 🗝 a button may still
be used.
After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds
begins. Between 🗝 rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt
additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. During 🗝 a round of betting, there
will always be a current bet amount, which is the total amount of money bet 🗝 in this
round by the player who bet last in this round. To keep better track of this, it is
🗝 conventional for players to not place their bets directly into the pot (called
splashing the pot), but rather place them 🗝 in front of themselves toward the pot, until
the betting round is over. When the round is over, the bets 🗝 are then gathered into the
pot.
After the first betting round is completed (every participating player having
called an equal amount), 🗝 there may be more rounds in which more cards are dealt in
various ways, followed by further rounds of betting 🗝 (into the same central pot). At any
time during the first or subsequent betting rounds, if one player makes a 🗝 bet and all
other players fold, the deal ends immediately, the single remaining player is awarded
the pot, no cards 🗝 are shown, no more rounds are dealt, and the next deal begins. This
is what makes it possible to bluff.
At 🗝 the end of the last betting round, if more than
one player remains, there is a showdown in which the 🗝 players reveal their previously
hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the
poker 🗝 variant being played wins the pot.
The following are poker hands, from best to
worst:
Straight flush : Five cards of the 🗝 same suit in sequence (if those five are A,
K, Q, J, 10; it is a Royal Flush )
: Five 🗝 cards of the same suit in sequence (if those
five are A, K, Q, J, 10; it is a ) 🗝 Four of a kind : Four cards of the same rank and any
one other card
: Four cards of the 🗝 same rank and any one other card Full house : Three
cards of one rank and two of another
: Three 🗝 cards of one rank and two of another Flush
: Five cards of the same suit
: Five cards of the 🗝 same suit Straight : Five cards in
sequence (for example, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
: Five cards in sequence (for 🗝 example, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8) Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank
Three cards of the same 🗝 rank Two
pair: Two cards of one rank and two cards of another
Two cards of one rank and two
cards 🗝 of another One pair: Two cards of the same rank
Two cards of the same rank High
card: If no one 🗝 has a pair, the highest card wins
Poker chips [ change | change source
]
Poker chips are small discs. They made 🗝 by various materials including molded plastic,
colored metal molded clays. They are used in table games as play money. Modern 🗝 poker
traces its roots towards the 1800s, and in those days, players used what you could to
help keep a 🗝 tally. Coins, gold dust and nuggets were used until they considered
replacing with something which would indicate them. Thus, the 🗝 casino chips happen to be
introduced within the gambling business.
Poker rooms started using casino chips to
simply manage the cash 🗝 and then collect charges. In those days, casino chips were
created of ivory, bone, paper wood. However, the most generally 🗝 used chips were created
of composite clay. One problem made an appearance due to the developing casino chips
which was 🗝 cheating. Some players considered sneaking some chips in their hands. To
avoid this, manufacturers created differentiated disks. Consequently, a range 🗝 of styles
was created. With time, other manufacturers could use many other materials for making
casino chips, for example, plastic 🗝 and metal.[2]
Poker variations [ change | change
source ]
More reading [ change | change source ]
