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When a player bets at the end of the hand, he either believes that he has the best hand and he is trying to get you to commit more money to the pot before he cleans up, or he knows he doesn’t have the best hand and is trying to drive you out of the pot because if it came to a showdown, he thinks he would lose. Your job is to judge which he is doing. The answer is not always easy to fathom out, and it will be experience of the game, knowledge of what type of player your opponent is, and the betting so far on the hand, which will guide you to make the best decision.

Suffice to say that most inexperienced or intermediate players bet when they have a hand, and usually don’t bluff when they don’t. So, if your opponent bets, or raises your bet, he believes he has the best hand.

Very good players may bluff at any time and they choose their moments well so that you are never certain what is going on. They may decide to check at the end and then, when you try to make a small bet, they come in and raise you (a check-raise). Now, you don’t know whether they are bluffing or trapping you. Generally, if your opponent thinks that he holds the best hand at the end, he bets it.

Check-Raise
A check-raise is usually a very strong move but, like all moves at poker, it can be a complete bluff. With a hand you believe to be best, if you are first to act, you may decide to check, hoping to induce another player to bet (either because he has the second best hand, or on a bluff) and then raise that bet. That will make him think: are you really good or are you bluffing him?

If you had a choice, you should always prefer to be raising. There are so many advantages to raising: you may win the pot there and then; you may drive out threatening or even better hands than your own. You may be able to bluff successfully even if the flop misses your hand completely. It sets you on the high-ground – from below players will find it hard to attack you.

With the premium hands: AA KK QQ and AK, you should always raise, even if a player has raised before you. There are many players who prefer to slow-play strong hands. This means that they pretend that they have nothing until the end and then attack aggressively, hoping to lure in weaker hands. Such play is highly risky, very stressful, and extremely hard to judge well. Whilst it does, without doubt, produce some fabulous results sometimes, it also produces disasters in which players can lose a fortune.

Generally, with strong hands like those above, you should protect them by raising and driving out players with more speculative hands which might suddenly overtake you once there are three, four or five community cards with which to work. If no one calls, then the chances are that you would not have made much from the pot anyway. If you get callers, you may be set for some real action – with the odds on your side.

In the final analysis, you will decide what style of poker player you are. You may find that the other players at your table are very respectful of raises and, when you do raise, they mostly fold and concede the pot to you. If that is the case, you might even try raising modestly with all of the 21 chosen hands and seeing what effect that might have on your table… Of course, you may discover that you are surrounded by chancers, players who will pay right up to the end to see your cards. These punters are sometimes called "fish" or "fishes": they swim around "fishing" for the perfect card to make their hand a winner. Fish are usually slimy characters, poor, near-penniless souls who have failed to realize that, most of the time at the poker table, discretion really is the better part of valour – and that it is certainly cheaper in the long run.

So, how you act will have as much to do with the style of the other players at your table as the cards you hold in your hand.

When you have two cards of the same suit, which are touching in value, such as 9(C),8(C) or 10(D),9(D) you have a low-value hand, but with potential to form a strong, winning hand – such as a Straight, a Flush, or even a Straight Flush.
if and when you become a little more experienced, I would recommend calling the Big Blind bet in a late position and seeing the flop. If the flop hits your hand perfectly, then you have a chance to clean up. If the flop doesn’t hit you well, Just let the hand go and you’ve wasted comparatively little in your quest to win a big pot.
There are some players who call bets and even quite large raises with these suited connector hands but, once again, judging what to do after the flop is complicated and best left to those with plenty of experience.

More aggressive players do not always wait until they have the best hand to put in a raise, they sometimes raise earlier in the hand, either to push out their opponents there and then, or to buy themselves some extra time and, in the long run, save some money. Let’s look at an example:
 
You hold           A(S),J(S)
and the flop comes Q(H),6(S),3(S)

Since, at present, you have no hand, you might think that you would just check and try to see the next card for free (and sometimes that might be right). However, some players would reason that, if another spade hits the board, they have made the top Flush and they put in a big raise to make their opponents guess whether they have the best hand now or whether they are on a draw.

The advantage of the raise here is two-fold. Firstly, everyone may fold, thinking that you have a very strong hand. This being so, your semi-bluff (you have nothing now, but the turn or river could bring you a monster) takes down the pot and you don’t even need to see the next cards to find out if you really were winning. The second advantage is that, if you get a caller or callers, they are unlikely to make a bet after the turn card since they will fear that you will raise them again. So, often they just check to the raiser (check around to you waiting to see what you will do) and you then check yourself and get to see the river card without having had to pay any more money. In other words, your earlier investment has had the effect of paying for two cards rather than possibly having to pay to see both the turn and then pay again, by calling bets, to see the river.

Even if you do get to see the river and still a spade has not appeared and given you the Flush, because you raised on the flop your opponents may believe that you genuinely do still have the best hand and it may be that one more decent-sized bet from you at the end may be enough to get them to lay down their cards and concede the hand to you on a complete bluff.
All in all, you can see that to check looks safe and conservative but to raise has so many psychological advantages. It’s up to you how you want to play – and you certainly do not need to make the same play every time.

Intention: try to win the pot now or make players pay too dearly to draw to their hand.

Similar is the player on "tilt" – a term flashed up on a slot machine if you attempt, physically, to attack it. This player has lost a few hands in a row, perceived them, rightly or wrongly, to be bad beats (results which seem to defy normal expectation) and starts throwing his money around like a petulant child. Don’t think you won’t do it, because you will. It happens to all of us sometimes. However, the key is, when it happens to you, to remember the feeling of utter desperation that comes with it, and use that feeling for the future as a warning signal to get up from the table (or the computer screen) and go do something else for a while.

There are three main styles of betting at poker:

1. Limit Poker
This style is played mainly in poker clubs and casinos in the US. Each round of betting is limited to an exact amount and the number of raises and re-raises is limited also. For example, if the limits were posted as $10/20, that would mean that the Blinds would be $5 and $10 and pre-flop you could only raise $10. When the flop appears, again, only bets of $10 and raises of $10 would be permitted. Following the turn and the river, these bets and raises would then be set at $20. You are not permitted to depart from this structure.

2. Pot Limit
This used to be the form most popular in European card rooms. The Blinds would be set and then the maximum bet possible would be the current value of the pot. If the Blinds were, say, $2 and $5, the first raise you could make would be $7. A subsequent re-raiser would then be able to bet $14 – the total in the pot so far. This meant that initial raises were quite small, but subsequent bets and raises could get very large. This allowed more players to stay in early on and see the flop, but allowed strong hands to drive out weaker players with big bets after the flop.

3. No-Limit
Simply the best. Now, most people play No-Limit Poker in one form or another. This style allows you to bet whatever you like, at any time. If the Blinds are set at $2 and $5, you can push all your money into the middle on a whim. It allows you to exert maximum pressure on your opponents and can lead to huge swings and unbelievably tense decisions.

From the off, playing no-limit, one fact must remain at the forefront of your mind – this could be your last hand you could be wiped out completely. Every hand you enter must be done wisely, and with courage.

However, the guiding principle is that you can bet only the money that is on the table in front of you. You cannot reach down and suddenly produce more cash from a secret hideyhole. Equally, as with all forms of the game, you cannot be pushed out of a hand, just because you run out of money. Once you have all your money in a pot – you are all-in – you compete for that pot up to and including all the betting made untIl you went all-in. If other players continue to bet, they form a side pot of extra bets for which you are not competing. You remain however in the main pot and get to show your, cards if you have won.

Perhaps the best form of the game is No-Limit with a take-down option. This is proving popular in home games because it combines the excitement of No-Limit with a few prudent safeguards.

You buy-in for an agreed amount – let’s say $200 – and, if you win, you are then permitted to remove extra funds over and above that $200. If you are winning, you must keep at least your original stake in front of you to give the other players a chance to win it back. Of course, you can choose to sit out a few hands, or cash-in if you don’t want to play any more.

This is the style I recommend as it best combines all the great elements of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.

Aces High
With the exception of a Straight, aces are always high. In a Straight, they can be both high and low. A High Straight (A K Q J 10) is the best Straight available, the so-called Nut Straight, but an ace can also be low in a low Straight (A 2 3 4 5) sometimes called the Wheel or Bicycle. Although the ace is involved in this low Straight, the highest card is the five, and that means that if someone held 2 3 4 5 6, that would beat the five-high Straight.

The Nuts
means the best hand available based on the community cards showing. A Nut Straight would be the highest Straight available; the Nut Flush, the highest possible Flush.
 

Kickers
At poker, when two players have hands of matching ranks, the height of the cards is key. So, if two players hold 3 of a Kind, the player holding KKK will beat the player holding 888.

The size of the other cards in the hand may also become important in the matter of Kickers. A kicker is the next highest card not involved in the formation of a poker hand combination. For example, if two players held the following hands, it would be the kicker which decides who wins the hand:
    Player A     8 8 4 4 J
    Player B     8 8 4 4 6

Both players hold the same 2 Pair – 8s and 4s – but Player A holds a jack kicker, whereas Player B holds only a 6 kicker. Therefore, Player A wins the hand with the higher kicker.

Sometimes, there is more than one kicker involved.
    Player A     A A Q 6 4
    Player B     A A Q 5 2

This time, both players hold a Pair of aces and both hold a queen kicker. But, a poker hand is made up of five cards so, now, attention moves to the next kicker. Again, Player A wins the hand, courtesy of holding a 6 as his second kicker, opposed to Player B’s 5. This result is incredibly close. Player A will be blowing the tips of his fingers over this deal; Player B will be licking his wounds.

Perfect Ties
If two or more hands are a perfect tie, the pot is split between all the players involved. This happens more often at Texas Hold ‘Em than at many variations because there are five community cards. Let’s see an example:

The board shows 10(S),6(C), A(S),K(D),J(C)
Player A holds  Q(D),10(S)
Player B holds  Q(C),6(S)
Player C holds  A(D),Q(H)

Player A flopped (made the hand when the flop appeared) a Straight (A,K,Q,J,10) but, presumably, did not bet enough to keep the other players out of the hand. Unfortunately for him, although the turn did not hurt him, the river certainly did because, now, all three players have the same Straight. Player A may have both Q and 10, but that makes no difference now that the 10 has appeared on the river. All three players can now use the AKJ from the flop and the 10 from the river, to add to their own Q in hand, to make the Straight. The proceeds of this pot will be shared equally between all three players.

Side Pots
Sometimes, when one player has put all his chips into the pot and other players keep on betting, you need to form a side (or secondary) pot. This is how it works.

Let’s say that Player X has only $20 left in front of him.
Ahead of him, an opponent raises to $50 and another player calls him. Player X wants to call as well but he can’t match his opponents’ bets. You can never be driven out of a hand because you don’t have enough money on the table – you can always push your last money in and contest the pot. Thus, Player X can only play $20. So, he calls, and goes "all-in". The main pot should now consist of Player X’s $20, plus $20 from each of the other players’ bets – to match Player X’s stake. So, the main pot is worth $60 (plus any Blinds there might have been). This is all Player X can play for, because that covers his stake.

Now, there is a side pot formed from the remaining extra money which the other two players have bet. $30 from their $50 bets goes in there. Obviously, Player X can do no more betting, so he just waits patiently to see the result of the hand. Meanwhile, any further bets made by other players go into the side pot (which may well become far bigger than the main pot). Eventually, the result of the side pot will be decided first and then Player X will show his cards to claim the main pot (or throw them away disgustedly and skulk from the table).

The good news is that online, and in clubs and casinos where there is a dealer, you don’t have to worry about these mechanics. It will all be done for you. Although it sounds quite complicated now, they are in fact very simple and you’ll get used to them very quickly.

The ideal number for a game of poker is probably between five and eight players, but tables often hold ten players, and just two people playing "head to head" can be breathtakingly exciting. Home games have been played on kitchen tables for centuries, so throw a piece of green baize (or some felt, a rug, a carpet, even a towel) over your table and we can begin – almost.

Get hold of a full deck of cards, take out the jokers and give the pack a good shuffie.
 
You are going to need some chips. You can buy these easily over the Internet or from shops. You can use pennies, or play for cash or even, when following these pages, use matchsticks or sweets or ball-bearings. But remember, when the game really starts, you will be playing to win or to lose. You don’t get to collect your chips back again at the end of the evening and laugh about what good fun it all was. The chips are your money, and you must play to win. So, give each player about thirty chips, and that will do for the moment.

Now, a word about the dealer:
Dealing is either performed by a staff member provided by a card club or casino, or it is done by the players themselves. This might be done by drawing for seats: everyone chooses a card; the player with the highest is the dealer, the next highest on his right, and so on. If the players perform this task, the first person shuffles the deck thoroughly, asks the player on his right to cut the deck and then deals the hand. Then the role passes to the next player, in a clockwise rotation. If there is an appointed dealer, then there will be a "dealer button" (a white plastic disc with "dealer" printed on it) placed in front of the player to indicate for whom the cards are being dealt.
 
At poker, everything moves clockwise from the dealer. At Hold ‘Em, your position at the table in relation to the dealer is absolutely crucial. As you will learn, to be the dealer can be very advantageous – that is why the role must move around the table after each hand.

The dealer shuffles the cards and offers them to his right-hand opponent who lifts off a portion of the deck and places it face down next to the remaining cards. The dealer then puts the remaining cards on top of the portion cut off. This is called the "cut" and it ensures that the dealer hasn’t stacked the deck in his favour. Before the dealer begins to distribute the cards, there is still one task to be undertaken.

The player to the left of the dealer must make a Small Blind bet, let’s say one chip, and the player to his left must make a Big Blind bet – usually double the amount of the small bet – two chips. These bets are called the Blinds (because you have to make the bet "blind" – without having seen your cards) and they are used to set the action going. So, with the Blinds placed, the dealer deals one card to each player starting on his left and going around the table. He then deals a second card to each player and stops.
The players look at their cards, ensuring that their opponents cannot see them or the player’s reaction to them. There is now a round of betting, based on the strength of these two hole cards.

Now, the purpose of the Blind bets becomes clear. If players wish to stay in the hand, they must match – or exceed – the bet placed by the Big Blind (in this example, betting two chips).

This is a key part of poker betting. To stay in the hand, you must match (or, if you think you have the best hand, exceed – by raising) the largest bet currently made, If you choose not to do this, then you must fold (or muck) your cards, discarding them face down in the direction of the dealer. You now take no further part in this particular hand.

5-Card Draw was similar to Stud Poker but with a crucial twist. After the five cards had been dealt, there would be a round of betting. Then, each player in turn could exchange one or more of the cards in his hand, for new cards from the deck, to try to improve his hand. Then there would be a further round of betting. The result was that players made better hands and there was twice the opportunity for betting, meaning twice the opportunity to try to bluff, bully or seduce your opponents. Some players consider 5-Card Draw Poker the purest form of the game, but it is nowhere near as popular as many other versions.

As the third millennium dawned, the popularity of poker was beginning to expand from the millions who played it regularly in the USA, to hundreds of millions throughout the world. Inspired by television coverage, featuring secret cameras which revealed the players’ cards to the audience, the huge sums of money at stake for the most subtle of decisions and the sheer human drama of the game, poker’s universal charm became irresistible. Moreover, the Internet became the preferred venue for playing, especially amongst those starting out in the game. The ability to practise anonymously, to enter free tournaments and to play against really good players from aIl over the world, without leaving home, has bec orne a fine alternative to watching mindless television or sitting in gridlocked traffic.

In the twenty-first century, there is an abundance of different poker games: 5-Card Stud and Draw, 7-Card Stud, Hi/Low variations, Omaha and, the "Cadillac of poker games", Texas Hold ‘Em. There are also the many home-spun variations with jokers, wild cards, strange betting rules and topsy-turvey last-minute turnarounds. However, most poker players in the world today favour Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s the version which best combines skill with luck, which involves just the right amount of action, and the one which produces the most excitement right down to the very last card.

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