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Texas Hold Em Intro |
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Hi there,
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So you have watched Late
Nite Poker, you enjoyed it, but it wasn't
quite clear how the action panned out. So
let's just try and explain the basics simply.
We will start with Texas Hold'Em. This is
because it is the most common form of poker
played throughout today's world.
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You get dealt two 'hole'
cards, which are just for your own personal
use. There are then 5 communal cards dealt.
You have to make the best 5 card poker hand
out of these 7 cards. (No, you cannot have
3 pairs. 5 card hands only!)
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There are 4 rounds of
betting. During each round everyone has
three options: to call (match the current
bet), raise, or fold their hand. Everyone
must put the same amount into the pot, if
they wish to continue to the next round
of betting, or the showdown.
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The first round of betting
is after you have been dealt your 2 hole
cards.
The second round is after the first 3 communal
cards are dealt, known as the flop.
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The next round is after
the fourth communal card is dealt the turn.
The final round of betting is after the
final fifth communal card is dealt, and
is often referred to as the river.
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So what are you waiting
for? The best place to start the learning
process is at the Play tables.
That way, you can get the hang of the pop
up buttons, how the game flows, and generally
feel comfortable before moving onto the
cash tables.
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When I play live cash
games, we often get dealt 10 to 15 hands
an hour. In tournaments this may go up to
25 or even 30 hands per hour. One huge advantage
of playing and learning poker on the internet
with , is that you will be dealt
between 70 and 90 hands per hour. And if
you are a computer whiz, you can even multiply
that a few times by opening 2 or 3 windows.
This is why youngsters like Sweden 's 'The
King of Ding' have become poker phenomenon's
in a very short space of time.
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The King of Ding? You
have never heard of him? I don't think Eric
is quite 21 yet, and is one of the nicest
guys I have met on the circuit. Always smiling,
never complaining, smartly dressed, good
looking, sexy girlfriend... sorry. Getting
carried away again.
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Anyway, when Eric started
playing, he was obviously a natural. He
got very good, very quickly. He was playing
the biggest games available on the net very
quickly (do not copy this at home, you might
hurt yourself!). When scooping a large pot,
he would type 'DING!' into the conversation
box. The reason being that he had an old
fashioned 'open all hours' cash register
: you pressed a button, out popped the drawer,
you put the money in, you close the drawer,
and the cash register goes 'DING' to say
thank you. Cute. Some players liked it.
Some players didn't see the funny side.
Their problem, not his, I'd say. Nowadays
Eric is a millionaire from the game. He
has so much money locked up in his cash
registers, rumour is that he hasn't cashed
in even a third of it, and doesn't actually
know how much he has!!! So as I was saying,
LOL, what are you waiting for?
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