October 16, 2009 at 3:46 am
Poker game – the basics
It is but true that the very name “poker” at once creates a notion of gambling and signals a place where people usually lose their money.
Is Poker really a type of gambling or is it just a game of chance where the lucky man wins the prize?
If it were to be only a game of chance or luck, then how can only a select set of people win more of the games than others who tend to take sides on the losing side always?
Did the lady-luck or the chance got jailed in the houses of only in one or two select people playing the game of poker, leading them to victories most often?
Poker is one of the games that is recognized and encouraged in most of the countries. Moreover, tournaments and championships such as World Poker Tour are also conducted on this game. Now, with the advent of the computer and the technology, the game of poker is being taken to the masses in a big way through the concept of Online Poker.
In the U.S., for example, where the game is accepted, more than 38% of the population in the early years of adolescence or up to 40 years of age tend to play the poker game, a recent survey from the Government has revealed.
The above points lead to a conclusion that the game of poker, is, in actual parlance, not just a type of gambling or a game of chance where one player randomly decides to bet and prays the luck for others to fold out, but a very interesting and fascinating game that calls for a totally different kind of skill set from the player.
What is this game of poker?
Poker is a card game in which the players involve in rounds of betting. A standard set of 52 playing cards is used for the game. The 52 cards present in the set of playing cards are of four suits – the hearts, the clubs, the spade and the diamond.
In each of the four suits, there are 13 cards – A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2. Thus in each series there will be four cards such as AAAA, KKKK, QQQQ, etc. There is no difference between the suits and all are considered equal.
The highest card in the sequence is the Ace or A. The next highest card in value is the King, followed by the Queen and the Jack in that order. Then the numbers starting from 10 to 2 will follow that order. In other words, the card having 2 is the least valued card and Ace is the highest valued card
At the start of the poker game, each of the players is provided with five cards each face down – meaning that only they can see what the cards they got are and the other players will not be able to see the cards.
After the cards were distributed among the players, the betting on the cards will begin. Depending up on the cards each player receives, the player can bet that they had the best combination of card.
The sequence of the cards decides the quantity and quality of the bets made by the players in the game.
In poker gaming parlance, the cards in the hands of the players is called as poker hands.
Poker hands are categorized in to broad categories such as:
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a kind
Full house
Flush
Straight
Royal Flush
If a hand has a set of cards that are of the same suit and of the highest order, then that hand is called as Royal Flush. They are four possibilities for a royal flush – one in each of the suits.
♣A, ♣K, ♣Q, ♣J, ♣10
♠A, ♠K, ♠Q, ♠J, ♠10
♥A, ♥K, ♥Q, ♥J, ♥10
♦A, ♦K, ♦Q, ♦J, ♦10
Straight Flush
If a hand has a set of five cards that are of the same suit and also follow an orderly sequence, then that hand is referred to as a Straight Flush. Some examples of straight flush are as follows:
♦7, ♦6, ♦5, ♦4, ♦3
♠8, ♠7, ♠6, ♠5, ♠4
♥10, ♥9, ♥8, ♥7, ♥6
♣6, ♣5, ♣4, ♣3, ♣2
The only difference between straight flush and the royal flush is that royal flush has the highest sequential order, while straight flush can be of any sequential order.
Excluding the four royal flush hands, there are 36 possibilities for a straight flush in a game of poker.
Four of a kind
It is a kind of hand in which four cards are of the same value. In the hierarchy of hands, four of a kind is valued next only to Royal Flush and Straight Flush.
Some of the examples include:
♦7, ♥7, ♠7, ♣7, ♥4
♥2, ♥9, ♣9, ♠9, ♦9
♦K, ♥K, ♠K, ♣K, ♠5
In a set of 52 playing cards used in the game of poker, there are as many as 624 possibilities of having four of a kind in a hand.
Full House
A poker hand is said to be Full house when it has three cards are of same value and another two cards are of same value. Typical examples of a full house hand are as follows:
♠8, ♥8, ♣8, ♦4, ♥4
♦K, ♥K, ♣K, ♥2, ♠2
There are as many as 3,744 different combinations in which a full house can be achieved in a standard game of poker
Flush
This is one of the type of hands in poker game that has some relation with the straight flush discussed earlier. In this type, all the five cards are of the same suit, but not of an orderly sequence.
Some of the typical examples of a flush hand include:
♦10, ♦7, ♦6, ♦4, ♦2
♠K, ♠9, ♠8, ♠5, ♠3
As many as 5,148 possibilities are possible in a game of poker played with a set of playing cards.
Straight
In the game of poker, one of the types of hands is the Straight hand, which has some similarities with the type of straight flush. In this type, all the five cards will be in a sequential order, but will not be of the same suit. In other words, the cards will be of different combination of suits but in a sequential order, some thing like –
♦10, ♦9, ♥8, ♠7, ♣6
♠7, ♣6, ♥5, ♠4, ♦3
There are as many as 10,240 possible combinations of a straight in a 5-game poker game.
In addition to the above-mentioned broad categories of poker hands, there are other categories as well such as
Three of a pair
Two pairs
One pair
High card
Depending upon the type of cards in the hand, one goes about betting in the game and one with the best hand is granted the proceeds of the total betting amount.