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The history of poker
The history of poker is not completely clear. Some say that the name of the game descended from the French poque,
which descended from the German pochen (= 'to knock'), but it is not clear whether the games named by those
terms were the real origins of poker. It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may
have been taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. It is commonly regarded as
sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. Another theory
about the origin of poker is that it was invented by the Chinese around 900 A.D., possibly
derived from the Chinese dominoes.
Texas Hold 'em is currently the by far most popular type of poker, probably partly because
of the recent TV coverage with shows like the World Poker Tour and ESPN's WSOP coverage.
How Texas Hold 'em works
In Texas Hold 'em each player is dealt two cards that only he/she can see. Those hidden cards are
called "pocket cards". After the first betting round, three community cards are dealt out at the
table. Every player can see those cards, and everyone can use those cards in combination with
their own pocket cards to form a 5-card poker hand. After that round, two more betting rounds follow
where a new community card is dealt on each. The player who has the best hand on the last round wins.
Of course, it's possible to win even without having the best hand, given that you are able to
make your opponents fold (give up) by betting or raising.
In most casinos, the most common poker game being offered is limit Hold 'em, which means that
the sum you can bet of each round is fixed. In a $10-20 limit Hold 'em game, you can bet in units
of $10 on the first two rounds, and in units of $20 on the last two rounds. Hold 'em tournaments
are however usually played with a no-limit structure, which means that you can choose to bet anything
up to what you have at the table if you'd like.
Hold 'em strategy
Here are some quick pointers if you would like to learn the basics of limit Texas Hold 'em:
- Be selective about which hands you choose to play. Most hands should be folded before the flop.
- The hands you do play should be played strongly to protect your hand and to build the pot.
- Position is important in Hold 'em. The later you get to act on each round, the better. A player
who sits late (near the dealer button) has access to more information before he has to act, and can
afford to play more hands because of this. If you instead are in an early position, you must
be more careful about which hands you choose to play.
- Only draw when the odds to call are in your favor. This means that you should fold
if the pot isn't large enough compared to your chances of making your draw. If your draw
is an 11 to 1 shot (eg an inside straight draw) there should be about 11 times the cost to call in the
pot for you to call. If there isn't, you should instead fold.
- Learn how to "read" your opponents by analyzing how they have played their hands (call, bet or raise)
on each round. You can then often get a releatively good estimate of what they are holding.
- If you aren't sure if your hand is good enough to stay in with or not, you should look at
the size of the pot. If the pot is small, tend to fold. If the pot is large, tend to call (or even raise
to protect your hand).
Much has been written about how to play Texas Hold 'em. There are countless articles in magazines
such as CardPlayer and posts on various online forums
like TwoPlusTwo or Pokah!
for example. If you want to become a long-term winner in poker, you should read as much as possible
about poker and practice a lot. There are several good books on poker strategy at Amazon.com
or TwoPlusTwo.com for example. Some of the most popular and respected poker authors are David Sklansky,
Mason Malmuth, Lee Jones, Mike Caro and Doyle Brunson.
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