Basics of Poker – Learning the Different Poker Hands

Poker is one popular card game that has conquered not only the casinos but also online gaming. In fact, there are a lot of tournaments these days on poker and it has become one of the most exciting card games that you can play, and of course, make money from as well.If you are new to the game and you want to learn how to play it, you may want to start with the basics of poker, particularly learning the different poker hands.Know you lowest and highest cards. In poker, your lowest card will be 2 and the highest will be the ace. However, in poker, you also have to understand poker hands. These are your card combinations that may contain a pair, two pairs, three of a kind etc. Here are the basic poker hands that you have to master to be able to play good poker later.Straight flush. This is the best hand you can get in poker and this contains any five cards of the same suit that are in sequence. The best you can get is a straight flush of 10, J, Q, K and the ace.Four of a kind is another poker hand that can also be considered a good hand. This consists of four cards having the same rank. Of course, having four Kings or Aces is better than having four 2s.Another poker hand that you need to master is the full house. A full house is a poker hand in which three cards of the same rank and the other two of another rank. Say, you have a full house if you have three 8s and two 6s or three Queens and two 4s, etc.If you have all cards in the same suit, you have a poker hand called Flush and if you have any five cards in sequence, you have a Straight. Three of a kind on the other hand is if you have three cards of the same rank and the two not being a pair. If you have a pair along with it, you are having a full house.You can also have Two Pair if you have two pairs of cards of the same rank and One Pair if you only have 2 cards of the same rank in your deck of 5 cards.Remember that a poker card has five cards and the order of which is best and worst often is ranked according to the probability of getting such card combination. Of course, the least probable combination can be the best hand and the most probable combination of poker hands is the least valuable as well. This is one basics of poker that you have to understand.Aside from learning the poker hands, it is also important that you learn their rankings. A good understanding on whether your card has a high possibility of defeating most of the possible combinations can help you make good decisions later when playing poker. Of course, you have to make good decisions in poker – whether you will fold early or you can raise your bet and that depends on the poker hands you are having. Although you are allowed to bluff, which is one of the beauty of poker, stick to the basics of poker first before employing those advanced strategies.

Who Invented the Game of Poker?

If you mention the history of poker to poker players, you’re bound to open up a debate with many differing opinions. Even the name poker, origins are shrouded in mystery. It’s most likely descended from the French word poque which itself is comes from the German word pochen (to knock), but it’s not very clear if the games bearing those names are the origins of poker. Poker has a resemblance to the Persian game of as nas and could well have been taught to the French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors.It is widely believed that pokers beginnings can be found in the Renaissance game of primero and the French game of brelan. Brag, an English game, original known as bragg clearly has its roots in brelan and included bluffing, though bluffing was used in other games around this time. It’s highly likely then that poker early development into the game we now play was influenced by all of these games.In 1829 Joseph Crowell, an English actor, wrote of the game being played in New Orleans. The game was played with a 20 card deck, had 4 players who bet on which player’s hand was the most valuable. The book An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling published in 1843 describes how the game spread from New Orleans to the rest of North America via the Mississippi riverboats where gambling was widespread. With this it spread up the Mississippi and West particularly during the gold rush. It’s then thought to have become part of the frontier pioneering culture.Initially poker was played with just one round of betting. Five cards were dealt face down to each player and there was no drawing of cards. The rules where later tailored by professional gamblers to raise the profitably of the game. Sometime after 1850 it became common practice to have wild cards and bluffing in games and around the same time drawing cards was introduced.With the introduction of the draw another round of betting was included. This was especially useful for the professional gambler due to it giving them another chance of cheating their opponents. It also moved from a pure gambling game to one that now included skill. Not long after this the full 52 card English deck was used and the flush was first introduced. At the time of the American Civil War, many additions were introduced including draw poker, stud poker (5 card variant) and the straight. Poker developed further in the U.S.which included wild card circ 1875, lowball and split pot poker circ 1900 and community card poker games circ 1925. Poker, in all its forms, was spreading to other countries, in particularly, Asia. This is generally credited to the presence of the U.S.military.Such is the influence poker has had on American and English culture that the jargon in poker has become common place. Phrase such as ace in the hold, ace up one’s sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one’s bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card and many others are in use in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins are at the poker table.The modern era of poker started with the inaugural World Series of Poker in 1970. it was played in Binions Horseshoe casino Las Vegas and has grown into the massive event of today. Around about the same time the first serious strategy poker books start to appear on the bookshelves. Poker has constantly evolved over the years first with online poker which made it possible to play poker 24/7. T.V. got in on the act with the introduction of the hole camera. Then, followed the poker boom of 2004 which started with the Chris Moneymaker effect.

How Are Players Cheating At Online Poker?

For the last decade online poker has changed drastically. The amount of poker players on the internet has increased by an incredible amount, the number of online poker rooms has spiraled out of control and the prize pools for tournaments have blown world records to pieces. With this phenomenal growth comes a phenomenal profit – which always leads to one thing. Corruption. If there’s money out there mankind will cheat, beg or steal to get their hands on it. Online poker cheating conspiracies have been plentiful – but how many of these theories are credible?Poker sites invest massive amounts of money into cheating prevention schemes and anti virus software packages. Any reputable poker site will have a customer support team wanting to know about any foul play at the poker tables. Texas Hold’em seems to be the most lucrative form of poker for these sites, especially at UK online casinos, so players shouldn’t ever experience these cheats – but if you do make sure you report them. Online poker should be an enjoyable experience, let’s keep it that way!Hacking – hacking can come in various forms, but the most common types are:• Trojans – a Trojan is a virus which is disguised as a harmless file, but when the file is executed the virus becomes live.
• Viruses – viruses can cause a whole host of symptoms. A virus is anything which changes software from its normal operating cycle.
• Keyloggers – a keylogger is a software package that monitors and records keystrokes, so player’s login details can be found out. Often disguised as a harmless file (Trojan).Collusion – this is where there are multiple people on the same online poker table working together. It’s a form of cheating because the odds are manipulated, as there are 2 players against the other single opponents at the table.Multi account – where collusion uses multiple people at the same table, ‘multi accounting’ is one person having multiple avatars at the same poker table.Poker bots – Online poker cheating has never been easier than this. You can download software packages that will play the whole poker game for you. The reason this is such controversial form of cheating is that the software can make the perfect mathematical decisions based on available information – something that humans can’t do (within the decision making period at the poker table).Inside Job – The infamous Absolute Poker scandal was an ‘inside job’, where a current or past employee of the firm adds in lines of code to the poker site’s software package to give an unfair advantage to a particular player. This form of online poker cheating doesn’t happen as often as the others, as a single person can be prosecuted so easily if caught.This list isn’t exhaustive, there are countless ways to manipulate, cheat and swindle internet poker sites – but these are the most common techniques.