Poker 101 - Covering the Basics

Poker's popularity has reached a renewed peak with the exposure that it had gained through several televised tournaments; particularly with the "Texas Hold 'em" variant. Poker movies and television shows such as "Maverick" had also added a sense of glamour, prestige, and made it known to the viewers that poker is not merely a game of chance, but also requires a high level of intellect.

What is poker, anyway? It isn't as simple as baccarat and it isn't as complicated as rocket science either. Five cards make a hand; using a combination of suits and numbers to try and out-trump the other players. Five-card combinations are ranked as follows:

• Royal Flush: Ten card, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit. • Straight Flush: five consecutive number cards of the same suit (as in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 with all of them being spades) • Full House: combination three of a kind plus a pair (example - three 7's and a pair of 3's) • Flush: 5-card combination of varying values but of the same suit (as in 5, 2, 9, 7, jack; all of which are hearts) • Straight: five consecutive number cards of varying suits • Three of a Kind: made up of three same-number cards and two cards with different denominations • Two pairs: as the name suggests, two pairs of same-number cards and a fifth card with a different denomination. • Pair: a pair of same number cards and three cards of varying denominations • High card: no apparent combinations and would only depend on one high card for a fighting chance

The game of poker itself has many variations; some of which are listed as follows:

• Straight Poker - five cards are dealt to each player and players would hope for a winning combination through chance • Draw Poker - five cards are also dealt but players can have several of them changed during different stages of the hand. • Texas Hold 'em and other community card poker variants. Community cards are the set of cards laid face up on the poker table. Players are then dealt a certain number of cards (2 cards in the case of Texas Hold 'em) which they shall combine with the community cards to try to derive the best possible 5-card combination.

There are scores of other poker variants and virtually new ones are being invented every now and then in different countries spread throughout the globe. Nevertheless, the main objective of any poker game type is to win the compiled amount of bets called the pot. Prior to card dealing, players are required to put up the initial content of the pot called the ante. The pot continues to increase in amount as long as players are willing to raise the stakes until the time to reveal all the cards comes forth to determine the winner or everyone else, except one player, folds their hand. Folding is the term used to refer to one's surrendering of their hand without having to reveal their cards.

One of the most distinguishing characteristic of the game of poker is the art of the bluff. Bluffing effectively can enable the player without a decent card combination to win by psychologically forcing their opponents to fold their hands by making them think that the bluffing player has an unbeatable combination. Some players also win by successfully reading the facial expressions of their opponents and attempting to detect delight or dismay. Hence, good poker players have learned to hide their emotions. The term "poker face" had been derived from this and used to describe a person who has the ability to show no emotions whatsoever.