Poker, also known as rumbo, texas holdem, or poker is the most common card game. Poker is a family of games where players bet over which hand is better according to the rules of that game. It began in England in the 17th century and was first popular in the United States, though some sources say that it originated in Ireland. There is an old joke that goes like this: What’s more important, a chicken or a boiled potato?
The earliest form of poker was simply a game of chance. People would pass around playing cards and if someone picked up a card, they had to pay the person who that card came out of and vice versa. This has a lot of similarities to billiards, another well known card game. It wasn’t long before people started taking it much more seriously, and by the mid 19th century, it was widely being played as a live game.
Rules of poker vary depending on the version you are playing. You may be familiar with the basic game rules such as having seven cards in your hand, getting two cards face up (called a flush), paying the banker (called the house), betting, and calling the raise. This is pretty much the same as the standard game of blackjack, just a little different when you add the rule of “any number from one to thirteen” into the mix. With more sophisticated sets, such as Texas Holdem and Omaha, there are various rules for the flop, flake, double, triple, and straight draw, to name a few.
The game is played with four regular deck sizes, jacks, sevens, and diamonds. Sometimes you will find that there are limited card shops in the area where you are playing poker. This creates the need to have a high count, or handset, of cards in your hand before the match begins. If you only have a good supply of cards at home or in your local card shop, you may want to consider using a debit or credit card to fund your bankroll, which will allow you to make the bets you know you can make, knowing up front that you will not be holding any unwanted or “burned” cards after the initial ante-game whittling.
When you start playing, keep in mind what kind of poker you are playing, whether it is freeroll, no-limit, or Texas Holdem. By opening with one of these variations, you will get a feel for the rules of the game and how the odds of winning are altered by the various rules of the game. Sometimes a new player will learn better with one of these rules than with all the others. Or maybe a particular variation will help your playing strategy.
No matter what you do, don’t play too fast. One big mistake many new players make is to play too slowly. This causes them to miss opportunities, like being in the middle of a really tight hand, or for a good long time without drawing a card or two. If at all possible, try to increase your speed. It will pay off in the long run.
