How to Play poker
The Variety of Games:
Fixed Limit Texas Hold’em Poker – In a Fixed Limit game, both the bet and raise amounts for each round are a pre-set amount, which is listed under the ‘stakes’ column for that table. For example: in a R30/R60 Fixed Texas Hold’em game, both the bets and raises for the first two rounds of betting must be R30. The last 2 rounds have a bet/raise amount of R60.
Pot limit games – pot limit games differ from limit games in terms of the betting and raising amounts allowed. For example, if the first player bets R10, then the second player can raise a minimum of R10. The maximum raise amount allowed is the total betting pot in addition to the total bets of the other players in the betting round and the call amount of the player. For example, if the pot is R50 and the first player bet R10 and the second bet R10, the third player can raise up to R80 (R50 in the main pot + R20 from the past bets in the round + R10 of the player’s own call). It is important to remember that the stakes in a pot limit game are not changed in the last betting rounds.
No Limit Texas Hold’em - In the game of No Limit Texas Hold’Em, any player during any betting round may bet all of his remaining chips on the table. This is called going ‘All-in’. Any player at the table may call this bet, whether they have less or more chips at the table. If one of the other players has fewer chips than the opponent who has gone all-in, then a side-pot is created. For example, if player A has gone all-in with R75, and player B then raises and goes all-in with R100, then the main pot has R150, and the side-pot has R25. Player A may only win the main pot and has no right to any of the money in the side pot. You may only win what you bet.
Turbo games – these games are played very quickly and the time limit of decisions is a lot shorter than with other table types.
Heads Up game – this a game that is restricted to two players who are pitted against each other
Micro game – this a game that is played with very small bets
Rake – this is house commission, which is between 0 and 5% of each total pot. A rake is not charged if the hand ended before the flop cards were dealt – hence the saying, ‘no flop, no drop’.
Hand Rankings:
Royal Flush – a straight flush begins with 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of the same suit
Straight Flush – a straight with all of the cards in the same suit
Four of a Kind – Four cards of the same rank. Also known as Quads
Full House – A combination of a pair and three of a kind
Flush – five cards of the same suit
Straight – five cards that appear in sequential order where the Ace can be used as both a high or a low card (e.g. 8, 9, 10, Jack and Queen)
Three of a Kind – three cards of the same rank. Also known as trips
Two Pair – two sets of cards of the same ranks
Pair – Any two cards of the same ranks. The strongest pair is Aces and the weakest pair is two’s
High Card – this is where the highest ranking card is an Ace and the ranking flows from the Ace down through the picture cards to a two.
The Four Fundamentals to Betting:
Making money is the aim of Poker and betting is the most important aspect of this. When you make a bet in Poker, your money goes into the middle of the table along with the other players’ bets. Once a player has put money in the pot, it cannot be removed or retracted and the winner of the hand is the win who wins the pot.
A player can choose to fold if he does not like his cards or if he or she wishes to discontinue their hand. This means that if you have posted one of the blinds, made a bet or raised a bet, you will loose that money to the pot. After folding, you are out of the game until the next round. It is a breach of etiquette to reveal your hole cards to the table when folding as other players are still in the hand. Folding is sometimes called ‘mucking’ or ‘muck the cards’, as the folded cards go into a pile next to the virtual dealer which is called the ‘muck’. Folded cards do not play any further in that hand.
Folding is an important strategic tool as it prevents you from loosing more money if your hand is not particularly good. The disadvantage of folding is that the other players may have been betting on a hand that is weaker than yours. The trick is to find the balance!
You can also check or call. Checking occurs when no bet has been made before you, you do not wish to bet and you are not required to call. Checking means that you are not betting or calling but you are still in the hand. If you check and then a player behind bets, you are then obliged to fold, call or raise. Checking is not permitted if one of the players before has already bet.
Calling is when a bet has been made before you and you then have to match the amount that was previously bet. If there are several players in a hand, all of the players are required to match the bet. A showdown can occur at the river if one player bets and the other player calls. If no one bets / everyone checks, the showdown can occur without the players having to put extra money into the pot.
If you think your hand is good enough, you can bet or raise. If another player has made a bet before you, you can raise that bet. A raise occurs when another player has already made a bet. The size of your raise depends on the structure of the game. You can also re-raise or raise another player again, which means that the other player will then have to fold, call or re-raise again. Usually there is a limit of three raises per betting round, although this is dependant on the game that you play.
A player can go all in if they run out of chips during the course of a hand. The player does not have to fold but has the option of going all in with their chips and having the pot divided into the main pot and a side pot. All chips after this are added to the side pot.
When the round is over and the player who went all in does not have the winning hand, the main pot and the side pot go to the winner. If the player who went all in does have the best hand, the main pot goes to him and the side pot goes to the next best hand. It is possible to have multiple side pots if several players go all in. The pots are then divided according to the hand and the order in which the players went all in. The strongest hand wins the pot that was collected until they went in and the next strongest hand follows suite and so forth.
Single Table Tournaments – STTs’ can start at any time - as soon as there is a table of willing participants, the game starts. Re-buys are not allowed, no Rakes are taken and the entry fee pays for the table time. Tournament chips have no monetary value. At the start of the STT, all players are dealt one card face up. The player receiving the highest card is awarded the dealer button for the first hand. If more than one player has the same card, then the tie is broken by suit, with the rank of suits in ascending order being Spades, Diamonds, Hearts and Clubs. STT’s have no breaks.
Multi-Table Tournaments - Multi-table tournaments differ from single table tournaments in two important ways: multi-table tournaments have a set start time and do not have a predetermined number of participants. As players are eliminated from the tournament, tables are removed and the remaining players are moved to empty seats at the remaining tables. This continues until only one table remains and ends when one player possesses all the chips.