Archive for the ‘Poker’ Category

How to play poker

Here I’ve summarized instructions and rules for those of you who want to finally learn how to play online poker games.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that poker has a number of variants and a number of ways to play. I will present a variant called Texas Holdem – The most basic and most common variant of poker in all top poker sites and it is also the one chosen by most players.
In Texas Holdem, each player is dealt face down, and five community cards are shared among the players. After setting an initial betting amount, if only one player remains and the rest fold, then the player with the best hand (when using community cards) is declared the winner.

That begs the question – what is the best hand?
In online poker and in standard poker, every hand has a ranking, and the winner is the one whose hand has the highest ranking. Following is a list of ranking for different hands, from the highest to the lowest:
1. Royal flush – the cards 10, J, Q, K, and Ace, all of the same suite. That is the strongest hand in poker.
2. Straight flush – five cards in a sequence, all of the same suite.
3. Four of a kind – for example four queens (the fifth is irrelevant)
4. Full house – three of a kind + a pair of a different kind, for example three 7’s and a pair of kings.
5. Flash – five cards of the same suite, for example five hearts.
6. Straight – Five cards in a sequence. The suit is irrelevant.
7. Three of a kind – for example three 7’s.
8. Two pairs – two pairs of cards of the same kind. The suit is irrelevant.
9. One pair – for example two kings.
10. Highest card – a hand without any of the above listed hand is won the player with the highest cards. This is the weakest hand in poker.
Now that you know the rankings of the different hands we can move on the rules of the game.

The 2009 Aruba Poker Classic In Review

This year, online poker fans saw one of their own compete and triumph at the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic.  Brandon Hall took the top spot in a field of 475 players and walked away from the week-long live poker event with over three-quarters of a million dollars to call his own.  The Littlestown resident brought the prize home for his home state of Pennsylvania for the second year running - last year, Havertown’s Matt Brady beat the competition and walked away with a million dollars.
When the final table was whittled down to four players - Hall, Robert Mizrachi, Chase Steeley, and WSOP winner Eric Baldwin - a delay occurred as the survivors tried to reach a four-way chop.  Unfortunately, for three of them, they were unable to agree and the gameplay resumed. Hall faced down Mizrachi, who had been the tournament chip leader for most of the proceedings and managed to take him down fairly quickly, an unusual event for at tournament known for its gamesmanship.
This year also saw poker icon Matthew Savage return as the tournament’s director. Savage had directed several previous installments of the prestigious event, and having the inaugural inductee into the Poker Room Manager’s Hall Of Fame running things helped make sure everyone enjoyed the tournament, whether or not they walked away a winner.  Savage’s experience running countless million-dollar tournaments (including the WSOP and multiple WPT events) and love of the game is one of the reasons he’s been on television hundreds of times to discuss the game.
Because of its superior management and big prizes, the Aruba Poker Classic has emerged in recent years to become a favorite tournament for players of all types.  Even if you’re a loser at the tables, there’s still plenty to do in the tropical paradise where the game is held, and there’s plenty of action to be found even if you’re out of the main event.  From cash games running in the hotel’s casino to charity events of all types, the Aruba Poker Classic makes everyone feel like a winner!