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Basic understanding - The different variations of poker |
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Most common on-line poker game.
Hold'em games are poker games where the players are dealt hole cards that are known only to them. The hole cards are then combined with a number of community cards that are used by all players. Many hands are possible to construct from the combination between hole cards and community cards but only the strongest of these hands count.
Example: If two players are dealt KK and AQ respectively and the community cards are K J T T 5 then the first player has a full house (KKK55) and the second player has a straight (AKQJT). Many hands are possible to construct from the combination between hole cards and community cards but only the strongest of these hands count.
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Hold’em - Texas Hold’em (Hold’em) |
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The by far most widely play poker variation in the world. It can have up to 10 players each hand, more than most poker games, and usually operates the lowest limit games in the cardroom.
Players are dealt two hole cards and they may use none, one or both of this to make a hand. Community cards are dealt as follows: first the flop containing three cards, then the river card and last the river card.
The popularity of the game reflects its elegant properties which is nicely summed up in the cliché that has it that it "takes a minute to learn and a life time to master".
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| How to play Texas Hold’em (Hold’em) |
Start Playing
The "button" is used to indicate the dealer position, after each hand it moves one place to the left (i.e. clockwise). Before any cards are dealt, the first player to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind". The player to his left posts the "big blind".
In a $2/$4 game, the "small blind" is $1, and the "big blind" is $2.
Blind bets are live, real money bets, and when the betting comes round to them, they have the option of folding, checking, calling or raising.
Beginning with the small blind, each player receives two cards face down, one at a time, in a clockwise direction.
The player to the left of the "big blind" is first to act, he must either fold, bet the minimum bet, raise or check. The next player must either fold, call the current bet, raise, or check (if no bets have been made). This continues all round the table until all players have bet the same amount of money.
There can be 1 bet and 3 raises maximum in each round of betting.
The Flop
After all bets are equal, 3 cards are simultaneously turned face up in the centre of the table; this is called the "flop". There now follows a round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
The Turn
After betting is equal, the fourth community card, the "turn", is turned face up in the centre of the table. This is followed by a round of betting.
The River
After betting is complete, the fifth and final community card, the "river", is turned face up in the centre of the table, alongside the previous four.
A final round of betting now follows. Once betting is finished the players show their best five card hand made from the 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards. The first person to show their cards is the last person to bet or raise. The best hand wins the pot.
In limit poker, the lower limit is used for the first 2 rounds and the higher limit for the second 2 rounds.
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| Texas Hold’em - Strategy & Tips |
By Ladbrokes Poker
Pocket Cards
1. Big Pairs. High pairs from Aces to Tens are a good starting hand, you have the chance to improve on them, and even if the board doesn't help, you can still win with the highest pair.
2. Middle pairs. They have very little strength, and cannot usually win without improvement. If it is not expensive, wait to see the flop and what possible drawing possibilities are there. If opponents are betting aggressively fold. Possibilities are straight and flush draws.
3. High Cards. Two unsuited high cards should usually be played at least to the flop. The chances are that if you flop a pair you will have the best pair on the table. Suited high cards should be played more often, as a high card flush is now possible.
4. 2 Suited. If your 2 cards are suited, don't overate them. 9 hearts, with 8 hearts, is open ended and slightly better than 10 hearts with 7 hearts, as the gap reduces your chances of hitting the straight. In a strong pot fold. Ace or King suited with a small card, should be treated cautiously in the same way as gap straights. Ace with 2,3,4,or 5 is better as the possible low straight still exists.
After The Flop
1. Bet or call most of your drawing hands, i.e. if you have a four card flush or four card straight. Everyone may fold, or you may hit it.
2. If you don't have a drawing hand after the flop fold.
3. If the flop goes against your high pairs, and shows possible flush or straight, fold, especially if there is heavy betting.
4. When you hit a flush or straight, be aware of the possibilities of other players having the same hand but higher. If there is heavy betting, it is probable that someone else has hit it as well. E.g. if the board shows 6,7,8,9 and you have a 10, you have a good straight but can be beaten by someone holding 10, J. Similarly if you hit a Q high flush, there maybe Ace high and K high still in play.
Making Money
Ideally, always know what the best possible hand on the table is, this is called the "nuts", if there are several players still in the pot and heavy betting, one of them probably has it. E.g. If the board shows K hearts, Q diamonds, 10 spades, 8 clubs and 7 hearts, then the best possible hand is a high straight Ace, K, Q, J, 10, if you have Ace, J, you have it and should play aggressively, if you have J, 9 be careful.
Recognise early when you have the best hand, the "nuts", as this will maximise your betting and raising opportunities. If you have the "nuts", you can't lose, the worst that can happen is you will share the pot, so push the pot up.
Play more cautiously when you are the first to bet, (to the left of the big blind), as re-raises can be expensive. Position is an advantage in Hold'Em, when you are the last one to act, you are in a much better position. If you are the big blind, and no one has raised you will always see the flop.
When a player first sits down at a table, they will be required to post the equivalent of the big blind. All players have the option of sitting out and waiting until it is actually their turn to be the big blind before they play.
This rule ensures fairness to all players, by preventing players from hopping in and out of the games, and leaving before their turn to post the big blind.
These are the commonly accepted Top 10 Pocket cards in Hold'Em:
1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. JJ
5. AK Suited
6. TT
7. AK Mixed
8. AQ Suited
9. KQ Suited
10. AJ Suited
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Hold’em - Omaha Hold’em (Omaha) |
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The second most popular form of Hold'em pokers after Texas Hold'em. It’s a community card game, similar in style to Hold'Em, but with marked differences in play and strategy.
The players are dealt four hole cards and must use exactly two of these to make the best hand. Community cards are dealt identically to Texas Hold'em: a flop with three cards, a turn card and a river card.
Omaha differs from Texas Hold'em in many ways but some of the most important differences lie in the fact that made hands are often underdogs to draws, expecially in pot- and no limit Omaha if all players are all in on the flop so that the turn and river cards come out without any further betting rounds.
Example: An Omaha hand with a large number of outs: hole cards 8h9hTsJs and the board 6s Ts Kh Qh - any 7,9,J or A makes a straight and any hearts or spades makes a flush. Now, some of the outs that a hand appears to have are often "dead", meaning that they will make a hand that is not the best hand. For example, the flush cards that pair the board will often give someone a full house rendering the flush worthless.
All in all, Omaha is a more complicated game than Texas Hold'em because hands are much harder to evaluate properly. This complexity is probably at the same time and for different players both the appeal and the turn-off of this game.
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| How to play Omaha Hold’em (Omaha) |
Vs. Texas Hold’em
Each player receives four cards on the initial deal as opposed to two cards in Hold'em. To make a five card poker hand you must use two of your four pocket cards with 3 of the five community cards. The betting schedule is exactly the same as Omaha.
Start Playing
The "button" is used to indicate the dealer position, after each hand it moves one place to the left (i.e. clockwise). Before any cards are dealt, the first player to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind". The player to his left posts the "big blind".
In a $2/$4 game, the "small blind" is $1, and the "big blind" is $2.
Blind bets are live, real money bets, and when the betting comes round to them, they have the option of folding, checking, calling or raising.
Beginning with the small blind, each player receives four cards face down, one at a time, in a clockwise direction.
The player to the left of the "big blind" is first to act, he must either fold, bet the minimum bet, raise or check. The next player must either fold, call the current bet, raise, or check (if no bets have been made). This continues all round the table until all players have bet the same amount of money.
There can be 1 bet and 3 raises maximum in each round of betting.
The Flop
After all bets are equal, 3 cards are simultaneously turned face up in the centre of the table; this is called the "flop". There now follows a round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
The Turn
After betting is equal, the fourth community card, the "turn", is turned face up in the centre of the table. This is followed by a round of betting.
The River
After betting is complete, the fifth and final community card, the "river", is turned face up in the centre of the table, alongside the previous four.
A final round of betting now follows. Once betting is finished the players show their best five card hand made from two 2 hole cards and the 3 community cards. The first person to show their cards is the last person to bet or raise. The best hand wins the pot.
In limit poker, the lower limit is used for the first 2 rounds and the higher limit for the second 2 rounds.
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| Omaha Hold’em (Omaha) - Strategy & Tips |
By Ladbrokes Poker
The strategy for Omaha is virtually the same as Hold'Em.
But you must always remember that you can only use three of the community cards, and can only use two of your pocket cards.
So two pair on the board (community cards), counts as one pair as you cannot use all four cards. Remember this when looking for full houses.
Remember that since there are so many pocket cards in play, straights and flushes will be common. A lot more common than in Hold'Em.
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Omaha Hi/Lo is a popular version of Omaha. In this game, the highest hand and the lowest hand get half of the pot each. The low hand must contain an 8 or better, and no pairs. You can use different cards for the two hands, and it is possible to win both the high and the low pot. If there is no qualifying low hand, then the high hand wins the whole pot.
As in Omaha, you must use two cards from your hand and three from the board, but you can use a different two cards for your high and low hands.
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| How to play Omaha Hi-Lo |
Vs. Omaha and Hold’em
As in Omaha each player receives four cards on the initial deal. As in Omaha, you must use two cards from your hand and three from the board, but you can use a different two cards for your high and low hands. The betting schedule is exactly the same as Omaha and Hold'Em.
Start Playing
The "button" is used to indicate the dealer position, after each hand it moves one place to the left (i.e. clockwise). Before any cards are dealt, the first player to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind". The player to his left posts the "big blind".
In a $2/$4 game, the "small blind" is $1, and the "big blind" is $2.
Blind bets are live, real money bets, and when the betting comes round to them, they have the option of folding, checking, calling or raising.
Beginning with the small blind, each player receives four cards face down, one at a time, in a clockwise direction.
The player to the left of the "big blind" is first to act, he must either fold, bet the minimum bet, raise or check. The next player must either fold, call the current bet, raise, or check (if no bets have been made). This continues all round the table until all players have bet the same amount of money.
There can be 1 bet and 3 raises maximum in each round of betting.
The Flop
After all bets are equal, 3 cards are simultaneously turned face up in the centre of the table; this is called the "flop". There now follows a round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
The Turn
After betting is equal, the fourth community card, the "turn", is turned face up in the centre of the table. This is followed by a round of betting.
The River
After betting is complete, the fifth and final community card, the "river", is turned face up in the centre of the table, alongside the previous four.
A final round of betting now follows. Once betting is finished the players show their highest and lowest five card hand made from two 2 hole cards and the 3 community cards. The first person to show their cards is the last person to bet or raise.
In this game, the highest hand and the lowest hand get half of the pot each. The low hand must contain an 8 or better, and no pairs. You can use different cards for the two hands, and it is possible to win both the high and the low pot. If there is no qualifying low hand, then the high hand wins the whole pot.
In limit poker, the lower limit is used for the first 2 rounds and the higher limit for the second 2 rounds.
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| Omaha Hi-Lo - Strategy & Tips |
By Ladbrokes Poker
Your Low hand must be 8 or better (lower). The lowest high card wins. If two or more players have the same high card, then the next lowest high card wins. Understand this part carefully, the lowest hand is determined by the high cards first. The five examples below demonstrate how this principle works.
Player 1. 8, 6, 4, 2, A
Player 2. 7, 6, 4, 3, 2
Player 2 wins, as 7 is lowest high card.
Player 1. 8, 6, 4, 2, A
Player 2. 8, 7, 4, 3, A
Player 1 wins, as 6 is next lowest high card.
Player 1. 8, 6, 4, 2, A
Player 2. 8, 6, 3, 2, A
Player 2 wins, as 3 is winning high card.
Player 1. 8, 7, 6, 4, 2
Player 2. 8, 7, 6, 5, A
Player 1 wins, as 4 is winning high card.
Player 1. 8, 6, 5, 4, 2
Player 2. 8, 6, 5, 4, A
Player 2 wins, as Ace is winning high card.
Omaha Hi/Lo takes a lot of skill, so practice before you play for real.
Tip
If there are not 3 board cards 8 or lower, then there is no low hand in play, and you are playing for all of the high pot.
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No community cards are used. Some cards are visible to all players and others are not.
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Stud games - Seven card stud |
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The most popular of the stud poker variations. It can result in high pots, and affords you the opportunity to evaluate the other player's possible hands.
There are no community cards, and each player has four of his seven cards exposed to the other players.
Players are first dealt two cards facing down and one card facing up. Then, three more face-up cards are dealt with betting rounds between and finally a face down card makes the seventh and last card to be dealt. The winner in a showdown is the player that can make the best five-card combination from his or her seven cards.
The game differs from Hold'em in many ways. The most important difference might be that there’s a lot more information available in stud about which cards that remain in the deck, e.g. a draw will not always have the same number of outs.
There are five rounds of betting in Seven Card Stud, as opposed to the four rounds in Hold'Em and Omaha.
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| How to play Seven card stud |
Start Playing
Before any cards are dealt, all players must ante. This is a small bet, usually a fraction of the lower limit on the table. The size of the ante depends on the limits of the table you are playing, $0.50/$1.00 tables have no ante.
Each player is dealt three cards, one at a time, two face down (hole cards) and one face up (up card/door card). The player showing the lowest upcard must bring-in the first round of betting. The lowest card is determined by value, in the event of a tie, then it is the lowest suit. This is the only time that suits are used in poker. In order of lowest suit, it is clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, (alphabetical order).
The bring-in bet is a small bet slightly larger than the ante, and is also determined by the limit of the table you are playing, usually half the lower limit.
A normal round of betting follows with each player having the option to fold, call or raise to a full bet. Each raise is limited to the lower limit.
E.g. In a $10/$20 game, the ante is usually $1, the bring-in $5, and a full bet or complete bet is $10. In each round there is a maximum of 1 bet and 3 raises. The limit for bets is the lower limit for the first two rounds and the higher limit for the remaining rounds. The exception is if a player shows a pair on the second round he can go straight to the higher limit.
Fourth Street (second round of betting)
After betting has equalised, i.e. all players have bet the same amount, each player is dealt another card face up.
The player with the highest two face up cards starts the betting. If the highest two cards are a pair, they have the option to bet at either the higher or the lower limit. If two players are tied, then the player with the highest suit starts the betting.
Players can fold, call or raise, and providing that no-one has bet, they may also check (bet nothing), enabling them to see who else bets. If all players check, then play moves to the next round.
Fifth and Sixth Streets
In the fifth street each player receives another card face up. Betting starts the same as in the fourth street, but all bets are at the higher limit.
Sixth Street is identical to Fifth Street.
The highest hand showing starts the betting in each round.
Seventh Street (The River)
Each player receives their last card face down, and the player who started the betting in Sixth Street, starts the betting in this round.
Once betting has finished, the player who made the last strong raise or bet shows his five card hand, the best five card hand wins the pot.
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| Seven card stud - Strategy & Tips |
By Ladbrokes Poker
Fifth street is a decision time, as the betting limit increases, this is the time to fold a poor hand, especially against aggressive betting. If you stay in be sure you can play your hand out to the end.
If an opponents exposed cards beat your whole hand, it is best to fold.
If you are trying to make a straight, look to see if other players are showing the cards you need, and reconsider your bet.
If you are trying to make a flush, check to see how many of that suit are left not showing, and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if you are trying to make a flush of diamonds, and you hold four and there are another eight showing, there is only one diamond left.
The advantage of playing online is that if you are quick you can write down what cards other players have before they fold, so helping you analyse what possible hands are still available. But you must be quick, as slow play will empty your table of players.
This is a game of patience, so be prepared to wait until you get good hands before betting heavy. Remember there are five rounds of betting in this game as opposed to four in Hold'Em and Omaha, and the level of play can hit the higher limit quicker.
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Stud games - Five card stud |
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Similar to seven card stud but with only five cards. It is probably one of the oldest forms of poker, as featured in most poker related films.
First, one card face down and one face up is dealt. Then, three more cards face up are dealt before showdown.
A very fast game where high cards (no pair) often win a showdown.
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| How to play Five card stud |
Start Playing
Before any cards are dealt, all players must ante (a small bet). The amount of the ante depends on the table limits, but is usually a percentage of the lower limit.
Each player is then dealt one card face down (hole card) and one card face up (up card). The player with the lowest up card must bring-in the first round of betting.
The betting follows the same structure as Seven Card Stud, with 1 bet and 3 raises giving a maximum of four bets.
Third Street
After betting has equalised, i.e. all players have bet the same amount, then each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the two strongest up cards starts the betting at the lower limit. If the strongest hand shows a pair, then the player has the option to start the betting at the higher limit. Betting continues with each player having the option to fold, call, raise or check if no money has been bet.
Fourth Street
This is identical to the third street except that all bets are at the higher limit.
Fifth Streets
All players will now have five cards, one face down and four face up.
A final round of betting takes place, and after all bets are equalised there is a showdown. The last player to show strength with a bet or raise, is the first person to show their hand. The highest hand wins the pot.
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| Five card stud - Strategy & Tips |
By Ladbrokes Poker
You can see most of your opponents cards, so you should be able to easily work out his strongest hand. If you cannot beat the exposed cards, fold early.
If you need completer cards for a flush or a straight, make sure other players are not showing them. High cards and pairs will win a lot of the hands.
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