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POKER
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FEATURES
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COLUMNS |
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| Hot Bets
Tips from our SportsBook expert
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How to Play: Poker
Poker is the card game most played by friendly gamblers in America's rec rooms--but in a casino, poker isn't so friendly!
That's because you play at a table with strangers who are trying to win your money and a dealer who steadily takes it as the agent of the casino. (The house makes 5 to 10 percent from poker, one way or another--some casinos collect a percentage of the pot, others charge per hour or per hand.)
The good news about casino poker: The pots can be very large. The bad news: There are a lot of good players out there, which means competition. And unlike, say, blackjack, there are no basic strategies you can learn to minimize losses. Playing winning poker involves too many quirky skills to be boiled down to a formula. You not only need to know the percentages and the hands and be able to keep track of what cards have been played, you also need to know how to read people--and how to bluff.
When you look for a power game, find one that's in your budget. Each table will have its own betting limits, listed as something like 1-5 or 5-10 or 10-20. The first number in each pair is the amount that can be bet in the early rounds of a hand, the second for the later rounds.
There are a variety of poker games played in casinos, but two are overwhelming favorites, so we'll focus on their basic rules here.
7-Card Stud
The game starts with an ante, which varies by table but is usually one-fifth the table's minimum bet. (Usually, the ante is posted; if not, feel free to ask the dealer.) The dealer then shuffles and deals three cards (two face down, one face up) to each player for the first round, which is known as "third street." Players look at their two hole cards and then place them back on the table.
The player with the lowest up-card begins the betting. (If there is a tie for lowest card, the suit of the card determines the winner: clubs is highest, then diamonds, hearts and spades). The size of the opening bet, known as the "bring-in," varies from table to table, so ask the dealer.
The person to the left of the "bring-in" bets next and has these options: "fold" (give up on the hand), "call" (match the first bet) or "raise" (match the previous bet, and bet at least that much more). Note: On subsequent rounds where no bet has yet been made, a player may also "check" (neither bet nor fold) and stay in the hand.
Betting moves around the table with players folding, calling and raising as they please. When betting comes around to the first player again, he or she may do likewise and start another pass of wagering--most games permit three raises per round, which means the pots can build up fast.
When that betting cycle is done, the game moves on to "fourth street," where one card is dealt face-up to each player still in the game. The player with the highest exposed hand bets or checks first, and the betting proceeds as on third street. Fifth and sixth streets follow, with each remaining player getting a face-up card and another chance to bet. For seventh street, the last round, one card is dealt face down to each and, as usual, the highest showing hand begins the bidding.
When the bidding is done, players show their cards, and the best hand wins. Often, though, all the players but one will fold on the way to seventh street, and the last one standing claims the pot.
Texas Hold 'Em
Hold 'Em is another seven-card game, but it plays out far differently than Stud. Each player is dealt two cards face down (known as pocket cards or hole cards). The other five cards are "community cards," dealt face up in the center of the table ("the board") and shared by all players.
There's no ante. Instead, Hold 'Em starts the pot on a rotating basis.
A different player is designated "dealer" for each hand, and the "honor" rotates around the table clockwise. (The casino dealer actually handles the cards and chips.) Before cards are dealt, the two players to the left of this "dealer" make blind bets: The first player pays the "small blind," usually half the table minimum bet, and the second player pays the "big blind," usually the table minimum. The blind bets are, in effect, the ante for the whole table.
The two down cards are then dealt, and players must either call the big blind, raise or fold, starting with the person to the left of the big-blind bettor. If all players call, the person who paid the small blind must either fold or match the bets that have been made. Either blind bettor can also raise, and the betting interval continues until all call or fold.
The casino dealer then places three cards face up (known as "the flop") on the board. The player to the left of the "designated dealer" starts the betting in this and subsequent rounds, and the betting proceeds until all call or fold.
The next round, known as "the turn," reveals another card on the board and more betting. The last round is called "the river" and adds another card to the board and another round of betting.
Players either fold 'em or hold 'em in the big showdown at the river. Then it's read 'em and weep--or reap, as the case may be.
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 Richard Nixon financed his first congressional run in 1946 with poker winnings from his time in the Navy in World War II.
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The expression "Passing the Buck" comes from Texas Hold 'Em. In Hold 'Em a plastic puck or a buck (a silver dollar) rotates around the table to signify the dealer. The expression "the buck stops here," which well-known poker player Harry Truman had on his desk as president, means I'm in charge, I'm responsible. That's the deal.
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The hand As over 8s is known as the Dead Man's Hand. This the hand gambler Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot in the back in Deadwood in 1876.
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The term "Blue Chip" derives from the poker chip with the highest value.
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Poker derives from the Persian game "As," as it was taught to French sailors in New Orleans by Persian sailors in the early 1800s. The game became popular on Mississippi steamboats and traveled up into the heartland.
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The four kings in a deck of cards are said to represent famous kings throughout history. The king of spades is King David, the king of clubs is Alexander the Great, the king of hearts is Charlemagne, the the king of diamonds is Julius Caesar.
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