Having the highest-ranking hand is not the only way to win at poker.  Poker is the one gambling game that allows a player to bluff, or fool, his opponents into thinking he has a better hand than theirs.

Bluffing is not quite as easy as it sounds and is considered to be an art by many experienced players.  There are several forms of bluffing; the two most common are considered here.

The semi-bluff involves bluffing during an early round of betting with an inferior hand that has a real possibility of improving later in the game.  For example, if a player appears as if he may have a straight to his opponents, he may choose to bet heavily or raise a previous bet, hoping to fool the other players and make them fold.  If his bluff is unsuccessful, he may still be dealt the card that completes his straight and win the hand.  So while he bluffed in the earlier rounds of betting, he ultimately won the pot with his superior hand.

The pure bluff is when a player has an inferior hand that isn’t likely to improve.  The only way the player will win is if he makes the other players fold by betting them out of the pot.

Knowing when to bluff is just as important as knowing how to bluff.  Bluffing too much or too little can tip off your opponents as to your bluffing strategy.  One should bluff in a random, unpredictable way.  This confuses other players and makes it difficult for them to determine when you are bluffing and when you are actually holding a winning hand.

An extremely popular card game, Poker has taken the world by storm.  While the game itself can be complicated, especially since there are so many variations, Poker captures the imagination of many players.  Thanks to the internet, players can now test their skills against others from around the world, either just for fun or for real money.  Several of these sites now run international tournaments that are televised around the world.

The most popular variations

Poker has a number of variations depending on where the game is played.  Each game has so many of its own rules and code of conduct during game play that many gamblers pick one or two favourites instead of trying to master them all.  During the first century of poker’s existence three games dominated; Draw, Texas Hold’em and Seven-Card Stud. These held the reigns as the most popular forms of the game.  Seven-Card Stud and Hold’em remain popular variations today with Hold’em edging Seven-Card Stud after this form started being used in the World Series of Poker. 

Basic rules of play

With most forms of Poker only one deck of 52 cards is used, and if desired the jokers can be used as wild cards.  Depending on the format there will be from 2 to 10 players at a table.  Players receive chips that are used to bet on the hand either for fun or for actual money, and the colour of each chip denotes how much each is worth.  Each round a player wins the pot of chips by having the best hand and the overall winner is the player who finishes with the most chips.

Poker is thought to be the most popular card game played throughout the world, both online and offline. It is exciting and demanding, whether players are grouped around a small table in someone’s front room, a bar with atmosphere and the buzz of voices or a big casino where there may be dozens of games in play at the same time.

The other alternative, now immensely popular and still growing, is online poker and there are many sites that offer tantalising prizes, sharp graphics and options to learn the game, without putting down any money.

There are many theories about the origins of poker, most of them argued about, but there can be little disagreement that the game as it is known and played today developed in the United States of America and then spread worldwide. The old movies and stories about the gamblers who plied their trade on the Mississippi paddleboats or in the saloons of the Wild West helped poker gain a romantic image where someone’s horse or house depended on the turn of a card.

Poker games come in a range of varieties, the most popular tournament game being the classic Texas Hold’em, which is a form of flop or community card poker. Many people first coming into the game learn the basics by playing draw poker, as this teaches the fundamentals of the game without adding too much complexity to start with.

Video poker is easy to play and does not need a dealer or other players.  However, unlike slots, which are based on luck, video poker can be influenced by a player’s decisions.  There are a number of different games on offer both online and at regular casinos.

Jacks Or Better

This is a game of draw poker and you must first decide how many coins or credits to play with.  Playing with more coins gives a higher return.  You get five cards and must choose which to keep.  The remaining cards are then discarded when you press deal or draw and replaced with new ones.

Your pay-out depends on the hand you finish with.  In order of rank from highest to lowest, the winning hands are royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs and a pair of jacks or higher.

Deuces Wild

This is still draw poker but includes a wild card, which gives you the chance to make five of a kind.  However, the minimum winning hand is now three of a kind.  In this game, you are dealt five cards and choose which to keep and which to discard for new ones.

Twos act as wild cards and can be used to represent any card you wish.  You win if your hand has three of a kind, or better.  There are special pay-outs for wild card hands.

Remember, if you are used to playing normal poker, you need to make sure you learn the rules of video poker and adapt, as the two games are not the same.

Hand ranking can slightly vary in different poker games, but there is a standard poker hand ranking. A standard deck of cards contains 52 cards, and a poker hand consists of five cards. In some games the player may have more than five cards at his disposal, but only five of them are counted as a hand.

Highest to lowest poker hand ranking

The highest possible hand is called straight flush (excluding wild cards). Straight flushes consist of five cards of the same suit in sequence. The highest type of flush is called Royal flush: A-K-Q-J-10. Next in ranking is four of a kind – which is all four cards of the same rank. The fifth card can be anything, but it can serve for deciding who is the winner if two players have the same hand. Lower in ranking after the quads is a full house. It is constituted by three cards of one rank and two cards of a different rank. In the case of two players with a full house, the ranking of the three cards is used to decide the winner. Next lower in ranking is the flush, which is made up by five cards of the same suit. Then comes the straight – a sequence of five cards in any suit. Lower than the straight is three of a kind, three cards of the same rank, and any two other cards. After that is two pairs – a pair is two equal-ranked cards, and the lowest possible hand is a pair. Of course, a player can have nothing, or a “high card,” and still manage to play the game well.

A basic Texas Hold’em strategy can help a beginner to get used to the game and improve his skills quickly.

Assuming some previous knowledge and experience in poker, there are a few other things that a beginner can learn from the pros. For instance, the position of the player at the table is very important – a player sitting in an early position will only bet if he has a strong hand, but those sitting in late position may have a better chance to evaluate the game and the hands, so they may bet even with a weaker hand. Generally, late position is better.

Many new players also tend to adopt a passive play – calling and checking, instead of betting and raising which is considered an aggressive mode of play. However, according to the gap concept, a player needs a better hand to bet against someone else’s bet than to open the betting. As a result, sometimes players with better hands do not win because of their passive play.

Professional players also use one very important Texas Hold’em strategy – the “sharp eye” concept. This concept uses basic psychology, body language and behavioural sciences to adopt an approach towards the other players. Observing and remembering the patterns of play of the other players is useful both for live and online games and can help you understand when your opponent has a good hand.

Studying a Texas Hold’em strategy in the beginning serves as a basis of creating an individualized strategy that will make your game unique.

The straight and hands below the straight are beaten by the flush, which in turn is beaten by the full house.

The flush consists of five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence; so five spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs. As with the straight, if there are two or more flushes at the end of the hand, the player with the highest card wins the pot. Therefore, a K, 10, five, four, three of diamonds would beat a Q, J, 10, nine, five of hearts. If there are two or more high cards the same, the next highest card is taken until there is a winner. A straight flush is a sequence of cards all of the same suit, for example nine, eight, seven, six five of clubs and is one of the highest hands available.

The flush is beaten by a full house, often just known as a “house” or as a “full boat”. The full house consists of five cards making up a three of a kind and a pair and as usual, the highest of the three of a kind wins. So a hand containing three Qs and two fives, sometimes called queens over fives, would beat a hand with three Js and two As. Similarly, if two or more hands at the end contained the same three of a kind, which can happen in some variants of the game, the poker player with the highest pair would win. Thus, three Ks and two 10s would beat three Ks and two nines.

There are a number of different varieties of poker, which can be confusing if you are a beginner.  However there are some basic standard rules to any game of poker including 7-Card Stud and Texas Hold‘em.

1.    The weakest card in the deck is two and then they go up in strength as you would expect to number ten.  The face cards are stronger than ten in the order of jack, king, and queen with ace being the strongest in the deck of cards.
2.    The standard poker hands are as follows: a pair (e.g.  2 four’s); two pairs, such as 2 four’s and 2 ten’s; three of a kind, which would be 3 eight’s for example; straight, which consists of five consecutive cards from any suit or a mixture; flush, five random cards but must be from the same suit; full house, a pair and three of a kind; four of a kind; straight flush which is five consecutive cards from the same suit (e.g.  2,3,4,5,6 of diamonds) and finally a royal flush, which would be a straight flush but must consist of ace, king, queen, jack, and ten.
3.    How to deal the cards in a game of poker depends on which type of poker you are playing.  However the general rule is that you must always deal from the top of the deck and first of all to the person on your left.  You then work your way round the table finishing with yourself.  This process is to be repeated until everyone has all their cards.

Poker tournaments are often held in pubs as they provide a sociable and convenient place to meet for a game.

However, the Gambling Commission has revealed that only 2% of the British population play poker in pubs or clubs.  Others chose to play it at casinos or online.

The Commission also found that most people who choose to play it in pubs or clubs are happier to invest time rather than money in gambling. 

Poker can be a lengthy game and playing it over a few lazy beers in the pub can be a nice relaxing evening, and it is not necessary to bet with large amounts of money.

The 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey, released in February 2011, did show that there has been an increase in people playing poker online – alongside other online games including bingo and casino style slot machine games.  In 2010, they recorded that 5% of the UK population played such games online compared to just 3% in 2007.

Playing poker online means people do not need to rely on other people to play, or worry about having to go to the casino alone as virtual games can be played from the house at any time that is convenient.

Most websites also offer chat rooms where players can exchange tips and talk about their favourite games, enabling them to talk to like-minded people while they have a break from poker.

With the popularity of live poker tournaments and online poker continually soaring, it was inevitable that online poker tournaments would start appearing.  In many ways, these online tournaments are now more preferable to their live counterparts.

The Advantages

While live poker tournaments will always provide that extra buzz and sense of involvement, the ease of sitting at a computer and achieving the same excitement is one that many people find irresistible.  Online poker competition is a great way for less-experienced players to build up their tournament confidence before entering at an actual casino.  Another main advantage of online poker tournaments is that the participant will not have to pay as much to enter, as the cost of setting up an online event is markedly cheaper than that of a live tournament.  Moreover, some computer-based poker tournaments have very low buy-ins (as low as one pound), allowing beginners to cut their teeth at a lower level before moving on to a casino, where buy-ins will be much higher.

Types of Online Poker Tournaments

There are two main types of online tournaments: the sit-and-go and the multi-table.  The sit-and-go is a one-table game where players are eliminated as they fold and the winner will have collected the chips of all participants.  This is a very quick game with pay-outs usually given to the final three players.  Multi-table tournaments are more like casino tournaments in that they have a high number of players, and as such, a higher pot.  Pay-outs here are usually for the top-finishing 10% of players.

Online poker tournaments may be more suited to less-experienced players, but it is still an avenue where money can be made.