Poker is a highly strategic, very complicated game but amazingly easy to learn. It is highly similar to a game of chess. Before playing the game, many players should be well conversant with the rules of the game and the various strategies. The main objective of the game is to make the others fold their hand while having better hand or making the others believe that you have a better hand than them. There are many different types of poker games.
The most common type of Bola 88 poker game is Texas Holdem. Texas Holdem is also called as Texas Holdem or Gone Texas Hold. Poker was mostly invented in the Texas state and so it has also been called as ‘Holdem’. The aim of the game is to have the best hand and to win by having a better hand than your opponents are. Before playing the game, it is important to know the various poker hands. The best hand to be given is a Royal Flush that includes 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit. Other hands are ranked according to their point value. The ranking is given below:
The High Card is the hand with the lowest value. Therefore, if the cards are L, K, A, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
In the following ranking the hands are given according to their point values:
- Royal Flush 10 10 10• Straight Flush 5 5 5 5 5 5 5• Four of a kind 9 9 9 9 9• Full house 15 15 15 15 15• Flush 10 10 10 10 10 10• Straight 8 8 8 8 8 8• Three of a kind 9 9 9 9 9• Two Pairs 10 10 10 10 10 10• One Pair 10 10 10 10 10 10• High Card
The rules of Texas Hold’em
The game begins by the dealer dealing the cards to all the players on the table. Each player will then decide whether to call, raise or fold and the dealer will continue to deal cards to all the players until all of them have accumulated enough money to gamble further.
After all the flop cards have been dealt and the players have decided what to do, the dealer will then place three cards face up on the table. These cards are called as flop, and contain the values of the cards: 2 through 10.
The first player to have a copy of the flop card is the player sitting on the immediate left of the dealer. From his or her left, the player can then decide to call, raise or fold. If the player wishes to call, the player needs to bet the same amount of money as the original bet placed by the dealer. If a player wishes to raise, the player needs to offer a bigger bet than the dealer by at least double the original bet.
After each player has made their decision, the dealer will then place another card face up on the table. This card is called the ‘turn’. Again, the player sitting directly left of the dealer has the first act to take. If the player wishes to call, the player should again match the bet bet placed by the dealer for the turn. However, if the player wants to fold, the player should not fold unless the player has the Ace of the suit in the flop.
Once the flop betting is completed, the dealer will then place a fourth card, also face up, on the table. This is called the ‘river’ card. Now, the player has the option to either check if he wants to go to the showdown, bet, or fold.
After the player has made his decision, the dealer places his fifth card face up on the table. The player can now choose to check if the cards would help him with his hand. If yes, the player can then bet, raise, or fold.
Finally, the dealer places his sixth card face up on the table. This is the ‘king’ card of the suit. The player can only have one hand at a time, so if the player would like to have both hands, he should raise. The dealer is the one to call, so if the player would like to have a showdown, the player should check, if not, the dealer will call.
Note that in this systematic approach, the player is not flipping his second card. It is actually the dealer who flips the card, so the player can go to the showdown, without having to flop the cards.
In poker, the worst card to have is ace, because it means the dealer has a higher chance of having a better hand than you. Thus, you really want to have a good starting hand, such as a pair of 4’s or higher.