Whats better, a straight or a flush??? (Poker)

Member Name: TheDrowningMan

Product:	Poker
Date:	17/08/03 (5021 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, Could make your fortune!!!!, you look cool when youre playing poker!

Disadvantages: has a very seedy image, could lose your fortune!

Everyones played poker at one time or another. It always seemed the 'cool' thing to play while you were skipping lessons at school. I first played poker when i was about 13. There was a bunch of us, including the guy no one really liked, but seemed to be there anyway. No one knew the rules, and after mindless betting of 1ps and 2ps, we finally displayed our shameful hands, and after the customary argueing over whether his straight beat her 3-of-a-kind, we paid up. Except when the kid no one liked won, he just got pieces of paper with IOU written on!

So, 7 years on, im playing again. Whether im any better is debatable, but at least ive got a sound knowledge base to build upon. The program that really showed me how to play was CH4s Late Night Poker, in which they played a tournament of No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Now, this game is excitement! None of your 'how many cards do you wanna change??? Ill have 5, you cant have 5, yes i can..........'

Everyone starts out with just 2 cards. 5 cards are then periodically dealt face up on the table, and you use any 5 of the 7 cards available to you to make a hand.
The betting is as follows, before the cards are dealt, the player to the dealers left has to pay the 'small blind', and the player to his left, pays a 'big blind'. The 'big blind' is usually twice as big as the 'small blind', and they are so called as they're 'blind bets'. then each player receives 2 cards face down. On the strength of these cards, you will call the big blind, raise it, or fold your hand. Once betting has finished, i.e everyone has folded or put in an equal amount of money, the first 3 face up cards are dealt, this is called the 'flop'. Now everyone has a 5 card hand available, this is where the serious stuff starts. The player nearest the dealers left either bets, or checks (doesnt bet), and this starts the next round of betting. Once this is completed, the 4th
face up card is dealt, this is the 'Turn' card. Another round of betting insues, then the final face up card is dealt, the 'River'. The final round of betting is then started, and when finished, a showdown of hands, and the best hand wins, simple as that!

The hand rankings are as follows (worst to best):
Highest card
1 Pair
2 Pairs
3 of a kind
Straight (5 consecutive cards of any suit)
Flush (Any 5 cards of the same suit)
Full House (3 of a kind AND a Pair, ie 9,9,9,2,2)
Four of a kind
Sraight Flush (5 consecutive cards of the SAME suit)

Now, thats how to play it, but how much fun is it?? Well, personally i love it. The thrill of winning a big hand is a huge rush, and im not saying its better than sex, or anything STUPID like that, but its awesome. The way it differs from 'draw poker' the kind you played at school, is that you always kind of know, what people have. For instance, you know that if there isnt a pair in the 5 face up cards, then people cant have a full house, or 4 of a kind. Also, if there isnt at least 3 cards of the same suit in the face up cards, then no one can have a flush, etc etc. Its a lot faster, and exciting, as you have to wait agonisingly for that one card to come that would give you the best hand!

If you play online, you can play in very very low stakes games, where the blinds are 5 and 10 cents (3p and 7p), also you can play in tournaments that will cost you $1 to enter (70p) and you can win say $25 depending on how many people entered. I dunno why some sites use dollars, and some pounds, but its all the same in the end. On these sites, you can play for hours, and lose alllll the time, and end up losing say, a fiver! but its still fun, and once you get going, you might even get good, and fleece the lot of em! If you go to casinos, you can expect to pay a LOT more to enter tournaments, and there wont be any low stakes tables, so unless you drive a Pors
che, or Ferrari, then its best to stick to the good old internet.

The community at the particular place i use (UK-Poker.co.uk) is really cool, everyones friendly, and the staff there will always be helpful. This makes losing all that easier to bare, trust me. You can also play for fake money online, which is really good for gettin that much needed practise in, as if youre new to Texas holdem, it takes a little getting used to.

Some tournaments are free, but you can win money from, so this really is money for nothing! Also, some sites offer tounraments, in which, if you win, you could win a place at the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas, to play with the big boys. I think the last winner of the world series (and a $1 million prize!) was a guy who won a place from playing an online tournament, so it can happen!

Obviously poker is a form or gambling, and as such will always have its critics. There will always be people who will gamble away their wages in some smokey card room somewhere. But if thats the case, these people are gamblers, and if it wasnt poker, itd be the geegees or 'heads or tails' with their equally flush friends.

At the end of the day, poker is a game, a very fun game, and sometimes a very expensive game, but believe me its really cool, and if you play small money games, you'll only lose small money. So get yer green tinted visor out and give it a go!

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