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zorroloco 03-Oct-20, 08:05	Poker Anyone play poker? I started playing online at PokerStars. Texas HoldEm. It’s free and you play for fake chips. I’m thinking of starting a club for GK folks. Let me know if you're interested.
riaannieman 21-Dec-20, 04:35	I think I understand how the cards work, like full house, flush, straight and so on, but I have no idea how the betting works. See you, raise, and all that. The only thing I know is when you fold. Nothing else.
stalhandske 21-Dec-20, 07:08	Zorro My knowledge of poker is similar to Riaan's. I understand that (at least in the USA) there are several variants of poker. Here we generally only have two. The classical one where 5 cards are dealt and you can discard up to 4 and get new ones. Or "sökö" where one card is dealt face down, and then cards are dealt one by one face up, and betting is done after each card, up to the total of five.
lord_shiva 21-Dec-20, 13:37	Three Card Draw Here we play a wide gamut of variations. The most common is three card draw, not four. Some variations permit drawing four cards if your last card was either an ace or wild (though I fail to see a big advantage in discarding a wild card unless you cannot use it for a flush). One I find amusing is known as "Indian Poker," in which a single card is dealt which you fling onto your forehead without looking. Everyone can see your card, like an Indian feather, but you cannot see your own. As for betting, either high card or highest value shown (in the card up variations) or left of the dealer bets. You may see, call, or raise. Calling means the previous betters cannot raise, and those remaining show their hands. Those who fold typically pitch their cards face down. See means you meet the last raise but permit the original better to raise further. www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu Bluffing is generally a bad idea. Good poker players very rarely bluff, which means to bet wildly in the hopes of forcing other players to fold. One last aspect of betting is the ante, a small amount paid to receive a hand. This ensures there will be at least something in every pot.
zorroloco 21-Dec-20, 14:21	Texas Hold em Is the most popular variation in the world currently. THE PLAY In Hold'em, each player is dealt two private cards (known as ‘hole cards’) that belong to them alone. Five community cards are dealt face-up, to form the ‘board’. All players in the game use these shared community cards in conjunction with their own hole cards to each make their best possible five-card poker hand. In Hold'em, a player may use any combination of the seven cards available to make the best possible five-card poker hand, using zero, one or two of their private hole cards. The Blinds In Hold'em, a marker called ‘the button’ or ‘the dealer button’ indicates which player is the dealer for the current game. Before the game begins, the player immediately clockwise from the button posts the "small blind", the first forced bet. The player immediately clockwise from the small blind posts the "big blind", which is typically twice the size of the small blind, but the blinds can vary depending on the stakes and betting structure being played. In Limit games, the big blind is the same as the small bet, and the small blind is typically half the size of the big blind but may be larger depending on the stakes. For example, in a $2/$4 Limit game the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2. In a $15/$30 Limit game, the small blind is $10 and the big blind is $15. In Pot Limit and No Limit games, the games are referred to by the size of their blinds (for example, a $1/$2 Hold’em game has a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2). Depending on the exact structure of the game, each player may also be required to post an ‘ante’ (another type of forced bet, usually smaller than either blind, posted by all players at the table) into the pot. Now, each player receives his or her two hole cards. Betting action proceeds clockwise around the table, starting with the player ‘under the gun’ (immediately clockwise from the big blind). Player Betting Options In Hold'em, as with other forms of poker, the available actions are ‘fold’, ‘check’, ‘bet’, ‘call’ or ‘raise’. Exactly which options are available depends on the action taken by the previous players. If nobody has yet made a bet, then a player may either check (decline to bet, but keep their cards) or bet. If a player has bet, then subsequent players can fold, call or raise. To call is to match the amount the previous player has bet. To raise is to not only match the previous bet, but to also increase it. Pre-Flop After seeing his or her hole cards, each player now has the option to play his or her hand by calling or raising the big blind. The action begins to the left of the big blind, which is considered a ‘live’ bet on this round. That player has the option to fold, call or raise. For example, if the big blind was $2, it would cost $2 to call, or at least $4 to raise. Action then proceeds clockwise around the table. Betting continues on each betting round until all active players (who have not folded) have placed equal bets in the pot. The Flop Now, three cards are dealt face-up on the board. This is known as ‘the flop’. In Hold'em, the three cards on the flop are community cards, available to all players still in the hand. Betting on the flop begins with the active player immediately clockwise from the button. The betting options are similar to pre-flop, however if nobody has previously bet, players may opt to check, passing the action to the next active player clockwise. The Turn When the betting action is completed for the flop round, the ‘turn’ is dealt face-up on the board. The turn is the fourth community card in Hold'em (and is sometimes also called ‘Fourth Street’). Another round of betting ensues, beginning with the active player immediately clockwise from the button. The River When betting action is completed for the turn round, the ‘river’ or ‘Fifth Street’ is dealt face-up on the board. The river is the fifth and final community card in a Hold'em game. Betting again begins with the active player immediately clockwise from the button, and the same betting rules apply as they do for the flop and turn, as explained above. The Showdown If there is more than one remaining player when the final betting round is complete, the last person to bet or raise shows their cards, unless there was no bet on the final round in which case the player immediately clockwise from the button shows their cards first. The player with the best five-card poker hand wins the pot. In the event of identical hands, the pot will be equally divided between the players with the best hands. Hold'em rules state that all suits are equal. After the pot is awarded, a new hand of Hold'em is ready to be played. The button now moves clockwise to the next player, blinds and antes are once again posted, and new hands are dealt to each player.
zorroloco 21-Dec-20, 15:01	Shiva Bluffing is an integral part of the game. Every good player bluffs. You have to. But craftily.
zorroloco 21-Dec-20, 15:06	Shiva "Good poker players very rarely bluff, which means to bet wildly in the hopes of forcing other players to fold." Bluffing doesn't mean betting wildly. It means showing strength you don't have. In the real world, it's generally a bad idea. One should be prepared to back one's words and word. In poker, it's an important strategy - not to be flashed around gaudily but used at appropriate times.
lord_shiva 21-Dec-20, 19:37	Bluffing It is indeed an integral part of the game. I did not mean to imply that they NEVER bluff, only that they do not do it nearly so often as amateur poker players. I don't know what the frequency is, but instead of bluffing once or twice a game they might bluff once every four or five games. Possibly more often. Whoa! Have I been misinformed? The following says you should shoot for about a 33% bluff rate! www.cardplayer.com
zorroloco 21-Dec-20, 20:29	Shiva That seems high. But it's effective. A small bet indicating strength will often scare out other players. I don't do it as much as many. I know the probabilities and see how people bet. And there are different kind of bluffs. A big all in saying you have a killer hand is one. A small bet indicating a pair or high cards is another. Timing is everything. And setup. I could get dealt a 2, 7. I should fold. Always. But I could... make a strong raise at the beginning, showing a strong pair or AceKing Then check, but if an Ace or K shows up, bet big, like I have the pair. But I don't think that's generally a good strategy - I might do that once every 5 games, maybe. "There are more optimists playing poker than mathematicians." ~ Robert Heinlein
riaannieman 09-Jan-21, 05:55	Strip poker There is one kind of poker that we used to play when I was much younger. It involved a lot of randy teenagers and no money. We would bet on each other's clothes. Usually we would let one boy bet against one girl. I would bet against my girlfriend, and because the other boys had their girlfriends at the table, they wouldn't dare bet against my girl, for fear of their own girlfriends getting suspicious, angry and jealous. Of course, no matter the outcome, one could never lose. Poker would inevitably become poke-her. The girls always cheated, because they would wear layer upon layer of clothes. Therefor the boys would stack the deck with a skilled dealer, or we would pass each other cards under the table. The outcome was always the same.

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