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Holdem Poker Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. At casino Hold'em tables, a round plastic marker called the dealer "button" is placed in front of the player who would be dealing if a house dealer were not provided. The button is moved one seat clockwise after each game and the card distribution and betting starts to the left of that position.
  2. Each player is dealt two cards face down.
  3. Then, a total of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table in three betting segments.
  4. After all the cards are dealt the players make the best hand that they can by combining either one, both, or neither of their two hole cards with five community cards. Using the illustration above, a player holding a king and a ten would end up with two pair, kings over tens with an ace. With this board, that player's two pair would be vulnerable to higher two pairs, trips, straights and flushes.
  5. Before each player is dealt two down cards, the player at the immediate left of the button, called the "Small Blind" is forced to bet $1 (half the minimum bet). Then the player to his left and two seats to the left of the button, called the "Big Blind", is forced to bet $2.
  6. Each player is then dealt a two card hand.
  7. Then the player at the left of the big blind is first to act and he must either call the big blind's $2 bet, raise, or fold his hand.
  8. Continuing in turn clockwise, all the players around the table either call, raise or fold.
  9. When the betting gets back around to the small blind, he or she can fold and lose only the half minimum bet of $1 placed earlier, call the amount necessary to get up to the betting level or raise $2 if there is a raise left.
  10. The big blind is then the last to act before any cards are turned up in the middle.
  11. The blinds are played in the first round only
  12. The dealer turns three cards up in the center of the table.
  13. This is the "Flop". As always, the player at the left of the button is first to act.
  14. There are no more forced bets and the players can all check around if they want to.
  15. Bets right after the flop are at the $2 minimum bet level.
  16. The players still in the contest reveal their hole cards and the highest hand wins the pot.

Before you challenge the juiced up tourists and the cigar smoking Las Vegas "rocks" at their home field, you might do well to consider this - practice online under casino game conditions first!. Knowing your poker strategies is essential, but actually playing against average to very good players is the only way to get sharp at compensating for certain game conditions, betting position, and such. Playing the free games is ok for getting used to the tables, but I recommend starting in the lowest limit games offered ($.05/$.10 and $.25/$.50) until you have confidence in your skill level. These very low limit games are good practice because, unlike the free games and despite the low prices, most of the players are seriously playing to win. Many play to increase their bankrolls enough to comfortably play in higher limit games and others simply enjoy the challenge of winning at real money poker.

I am recommending PokerStars for starting out because they both offer a lot of very low limit games that are sort of hard to find on the internet. . Stay in these low limits until you usually win more than you lose, then move up to the next betting level and start over. . . Again, all the things you read and learn about the game are very important, but they don't hold a candle to time in the trenches, actually playing real money games against good players.

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7 Card Stud Poker - Game Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. The basic objectives and strategies for 7 Card Stud Poker shown here are those generally agreed to and recommended by the experts on flat limit games.
  2. An understanding of these basics is needed for all levels of competitive play.
  3. Solid intermediate and expert level poker normally require considerable study of the more advanced game tactics and significant hours of actual casino or online playing experience.
  4. After all players have anted $.25 or so:
  5. Each player is dealt two cards face down and one face up.
  6. The player with the lowest up card makes an forced bet of either $1 half minimum bet or $2 full bet (player's choice) to start the game.
  7. The rest of the players, in clockwise order, either call the opening bet, raise it, or not call and "fold" their hands back to the dealer.
  8. All get a fourth card face up followed by a round of $2 betting. From this round on, the player with the highest up card(s) is always first to check or bet.
  9. After the fifth card is dealt face up, the minimum bet goes to $4.
  10. The sixth card is dealt face up and there is another round of $4 betting.
  11. The seventh and last card is dealt face down and followed by the final round of $4 betting. The dealer then determines the highest hand and awards the pot.

Here we focus on the poker rules and winning strategies for the more popular poker games. Texas Hold'em, Omaha Holdem, 7 Card Stud, Omaha High Low, Seven Stud Hi Lo, and 5 Card Stud rules are more or less universal for each of the poker games and the winning poker strategies are those that are generally accepted by the champion players and experts on each of the games. There are no big secrets here, but it is the basics of what you need to know to be a consistent winner.

One of the great things about poker is that the game offers good players a way to consistently win in public casinos and online gambling sites. This is because it is the only game where the player does not compete against the house. . Unlike the other gambling games where the casino always wins in the long run, in this game the casino makes it's profit from the table "rake", which is a small percentage of each pot. The house doesn't care if you win or lose. The winners collect most of the pots, so they usually don't mind paying most of the "rent".

7 Card Stud High Low Poker - Game Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. After all players have anted $.50: Each player is dealt two cards face down and one face up.
  2. The player with the lowest up card makes a forced bet of either $1 half minimum or $2 full bet (player's choice) to start the game.
  3. The rest of the players, in clockwise order, either call the opening bet, raise it, or not call and "fold" their hands back to the dealer.
  4. All get a fourth card face up followed by a round of $2 betting.
  5. From this round on, the player with the highest up card(s) is always first to check or bet.
  6. After the fifth card is dealt face up, the minimum bet goes to $4.
  7. The sixth card is dealt face up and there is another round of $4 betting.wins
  8. The seventh and last card is dealt face down and followed by the final round of $4 betting.
  9. The dealer then determines the winning high hand and low hand, if any, and awards the pot.
  10. The ideal result, of course, is to win both ends of the pot with a low straight, a low hand with a flush or any other hand that will win the whole pot, including a high hand when nobody qualifies for low.

Along with the information you will need about good and bad starting hands, mid hand tactics etc, you will find a directory to land based, river boat and online games. You will also have the "Best of the Net" resource to many of the finest articles and game information pages from a survey of over a hundred poker games content web sites.

For those unfamiliar with the game of Poker and others who might want a refresher, this is the most basic of basic Poker. For our purpose here we skip references to "wild" cards, "lowball" and other game variations.

Poker is a game of five card hands dealt from a 52 card deck of standard playing cards. All poker hands consist of exactly five cards. Most poker games, like seven card stud for example, give the players more than five cards to select from, but the final winning result goes to the one with the best five card poker hand. In the popular stud poker games, the players are all dealt one card at a time or in small groups and they bet money or something, each time they get more cards.

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Omaha Holdem - Game Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. At casino Hold'em tables, a round plastic marker called the dealer "button" is placed in front of the player who would be dealing if a house dealer were not provided.
  2. The button is moved one seat clockwise after each game and the card distribution and betting starts to the left of that position.
  3. Each player is dealt four cards face down.
  4. Then, a total of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table in three betting segments (3-1-1).
  5. After all the cards are dealt the players make the best hand that they can by combining any two of their two hole cards with any three of the five community cards.
  6. Using the illustration above, a player holding a jack and an eight would end up with the best possible full house, jacks over eights.
  7. However, this good hand can be beaten if another player is holding the "nut hand" cards of six and seven of hearts that would make an eight high straight flush.
  8. The betting procedure goes like this:
  9. Before each player is dealt four down cards:
  10. the player at the immediate left of the button, called the "Small Blind" is forced to bet $1 (half the minimum bet).
  11. Then the player to his left and two seats to the left of the button, called the"Big Blind", is forced to bet $2.
  12. Then the player at the left of the big blind is first to act and he must either call the big blind's $2 bet, raise, or fold his hand.
  13. Continuing in turn clockwise, all the players around the table either call, raise or fold.
  14. When the betting gets back around to the small blind, he or she can fold and lose only the half minimum bet of $1 placed earlier, call the amount necessary to get up to the betting level or raise $2 if there is a raise left.
  15. The big blind is then the last to act before any cards are turned up in the middle.
  16. The blinds are played in the first round only
  17. This is the "Flop".
  18. The player at the left of the button is then always the first to act.
  19. There are no more forced bets and the players can all check around if they want to.
  20. Bets right after the flop are at the $2 minimum bet level.
  21. Now comes the "Turn" card followed by more betting that now goes to the $4 level.
  22. Finally the last, or "River" card is turned up.
  23. The last $4 betting round takes place. Then the players still in the contest reveal their hole cards and the highest hand wins the pot.

They bet that they will end up with the best hand. The players that don't want to bet on their hands any longer can "fold" their hands, get out of the contest and forfeit all the bets they have made to that point. At the end, the player the best poker hand, wins all the bets - In draw poker the players bet, then replace the cards they don't like with new ones from the dealer and then bet again.

In 1978, Doyle Brunson, two time winner of the "World Championship of Poker" at Binions Horseshoe in Las Vegas, published probably the best ever written on casino level poker games. This 600 page, 3 lb. volume is more like an encylopedia reference than a typical poker book. The work is packed with sound professional advice with volumes of stats for advanced players and was strangely named "How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker". In reprint, it is now named "Super System".

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5 Card Stud Poker - Game Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. After all players have anted $.25 or so:
  2. Each player is dealt one card face down and one face up.
  3. The player with the lowest upcard makes an forced bet of either $1 half minimum bet or $2 full bet (player's choice) to start the game.
  4. The rest of the players, in clockwise order, either call the opening bet, raise it, or not call and "fold" their hands back to the dealer.
  5. All get a third card face up followed by a round of $2 betting.
  6. From this round on, the player with the highest upcard(s) is always first to check or bet.
  7. After the fourth card is dealt face up, the minimum bet goes to $4.
  8. Then the fifth card is dealt face up and followed by the final round of $4 betting. The dealer then determines the highest hand and awards the pot.

For those unfamiliar with the game of Poker and others who might want a refresher, this is the most basic of basic Poker. For our purpose here we skip references to "wild" cards, "lowball" and other game variations.

I am recommending PokerStars for starting out because they both offer a lot of very low limit games that are sort of hard to find on the internet. . Stay in these low limits until you usually win more than you lose, then move up to the next betting level and start over. . . Again, all the things you read and learn about the game are very important, but they don't hold a candle to time in the trenches, actually playing real money games against good players.

Top

Omaha Hold'em High Low - Game Rules

Card Distribution and Betting Procedure
  1. At casino Hold'em tables, a round plastic marker called the dealer "button" is placed in front of the player who would be dealing if a house dealer were not provided.
  2. The button is moved one seat clockwise after each game and the card distribution and betting starts to the left of that position.
  3. Each player is dealt four cards face down.
  4. Then, a total of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table in three betting segments (3-1-1).
  5. After all the cards are dealt the players make the best hand that they can by combining any two of their two hole cards with any three of the five community cards.
  6. Using the illustration above, a player holding a jack and a four would end up with a full house, jacks over fours.
  7. If he is also holding a six and an ace, he would have a qualifying low hand of 8,6,5,4,A.
  8. The betting procedure goes like this:
  9. Before each player is dealt four down cards, the player at the immediate left of the button, called the "Small Blind" is forced to bet $1 (half the minimum bet).
  10. Then the player to his left and two seats to the left of the button, called the"Big Blind", is forced to bet $2.
  11. Each player is then dealt a four card hand.
  12. Then the player at the left of the big blind is first to act and he must either call the big blind's $2 bet, raise, or fold his hand.
  13. Continuing in turn clockwise, all the players around the table either call, raise or fold.
  14. When the betting gets back around to the small blind, he or she can fold and lose only the half minimum bet of $1 placed earlier, call the amount necessary to get up to the betting level or raise $2 if there is a raise left.
  15. The big blind is then the last to act before any cards are turned up in the middle.
  16. The blinds are played in the first round only
  17. The dealer turns three cards up in the center of the table.
  18. This is the "Flop".
  19. As always, the player at the left of the button is first to act.
  20. There are no more forced bets and the players can all check around if they want to.
  21. Bets right after the flop are at the $2 minimum bet level.
  22. Now comes the "Turn" card with more betting that now goes to the $4 level.
  23. Finally the last, or "River" card is turned up.
  24. The last $4 betting round takes place.
  25. The players still in the contest reveal their hole cards and the highest hand wins the pot or splits with the lowest qualifying low hand.
  26. Of course, the ideal result is to win the high end with no split or have e cards to win both ways.

For this classic, Brunson enlisted the services of some of the best professional poker players in the world, all champions in their own right, to collaborate the authoring of the game sections of their particular specialties. The cartoon of this world class poker game is shown on the book's inside front cover. Here are the players and their game contributions.

It seems that casino operators, as savvy as they are, have mixed thoughts about the value of poker rooms in their operations. During peak times, the card room floor space will make a lot more money for the casino if packed with slot machines. Other times probably not. On the other hand, the poker room attracts visitors that they would not otherwise get. Visitors usually bring companions.