talkmagic.co.uk

Something's bugging me.

I find it incongruent that I am learning card magic but cannot play cards.

I'm thinking that someone seeing a person do a "card trick" would automatically assume that that person plays cards. Conversely, playing a round of poker with friends would lead quite nicely to a little display of magic.

I’d like to learn poker, and as far as I know the most popular variation is Texas Hold’em.

What is a good place to learn? Something ideally that I could load on my laptop and doesn’t require to be played on line. Although if you know of a good web-site to learn and practice, please let me know.

Thanks
LP

Texas Hold Em is part of some of the research I'm doing for my degree and I do like to play. I'd be happy to answer any questions I can about the game.

In terms of playing online below is a link to a simple Java implementation of No-Limit Hold Em. It's not great and the bots are terrible (you say you wanted single player I think :/) but goes through the motions of the game so you'll know *how* to play.

http://www.games.com/game/poker-wsop-te ... -no-limit/

You say you want to learn poker, I'm not sure if you mean you know how to play and want to get better or if you don't know how to play at all so below is a quick summary.

Assume 3 players.

Player 1 has a Dealer Button.
Player 2 is left of Player 1 and therefore is given Small Blind.
Player 3 is left of Player 2 and therefore is given Big Blind.

The dealer button acts to show where play begins each round and shows which players should post blinds.
Blinds are fixed amounts of money added to the pot (see: ante) to ensure that money is always moving and that each player needs to pay to play.

A Hand (one round of play) is divided into 4 rounds:

1. Pre-Flop
2. Post-Flop
3. The Turn
4. The River

Pre-Flop
During this stage each player is dealt two-cards (Hole Cards) which only they know. By way of the dealer button the appropriate players place blinds. Following clockwise (normally) each player after the Big Blind player decides whether to play in the hand and chooses an appropriate action (Call / Fold / Raise).
Once all players have either called the current bet or folded the round ends.

Post-Flop
During this stage 3 cards are dealt to the table. These are called Community Cards and every player can use them along with their own 2 cards to make a 5 card hand.
Play begins from the first player still in the hand to the left of the dealer button. A betting round occurs (same as Pre-Flop) in which each player may have two situations:
a) No bet during this round has been made therefore they can Bet / Check / Raise / Fold
b) A bet has been made this round therefore they can Call / Raise / Fold

Once all players have folded or called the current bet the round ends.

The Turn
During this stage another card is dealt and added to the Community Cards. Now each player still left in the hand has 6 cards out of which they make the best 5 card hand. Another betting round occurs as before and when all players have folded/called the round ends.

The River
Same as The Turn. Another card dealt, now all players have 7 cards to use to make the best 5 card hand. Another betting round.

At the end of this round if there are still 2+ players left in the Hand we go to a Showdown stage.

Showdown
This stage simply means that all remaining players show their 2 Hole Cards and the player with the best 5 card hand (made from their 2 Hole Cards and 5 Community Cards) wins the Pot.


If at any point during the Hand the number of players in the Hand drops below 2 then the remaining player wins the pot automatically.

I hope that all made sense, any questions feel free to ask ^_^

They have an online Texas holdum on facebook.

However playing online will only teach you the rules, not how to play.

Your only really paying it when your gambling money (a tenner or more), that's when reading people, bluffs and bets have real meaning.

While playing online, you might also want a list of hands such as this http://www.pokerlistings.com/poker-hand-ranking.

Once you understand the hands and what to to do, you should look for a local live poker tournament, but don't spend more than your wiling to loose.

And don't look at it as wasting money, look at it as spending twenty pounds on a fun night out, and you won't go home crying. (I always get to the last table, then loose it all in the first couple of hands).

A very nice explaination there. Although adding into it he meaning of big & small blinds would also probably help him too.

Le Petit Bateleur, I reckon if you print this explaination out & watch some of the late night poker on tv trying to follow it you should get a decent idea of the rules. The commentary & game itself can seem pretty quick on tv & difficult to follow but getting together with some mates would also help too & you can play at your own pace.

Russ

Organi wrote:Blinds are fixed amounts of money added to the pot (see: ante) to ensure that money is always moving and that each player needs to pay to play.

Perhaps didn't emphasize this part well enough.

To add some more detail the dealer button moves from player to player after each hand. The first player left of the dealer button places the Small Blind (A fixed amount of money X). The player next to the left of the Small Blind player, places the Big Blind (A fixed amount of money 2X, twice the small blind).

Therefore to play in any hand you must be willing to pay *At Least* the Big Blind.

Hope that clears it up some.

[edit] And thanks russ for pointing that out

If you buy a pack of USPCC cards (Bikes, Tallys), I think they still include a card that has a summary of the rules for Texas Hold 'Em poker. Could come in handy.

Poker is very popular at the moment but I prefer the 'classics' such as Bridge, Rummy and Whist although it's been some time since I last played any of them.

There are fewer and fewer card players these days away from Poker and Blackjack.

Thanks Guys!

Very useful explanations indeed. Sounds a lot more complicated than the 5 cards draw variation I used to play as a kid

I'm a little worried about playing on-line, work PC and all that. Are there no PC games I could buy to get the basics? What would be THE reference you'd recommend?

Will go take a look in the shops tomorrow, I'll see what they have in store

A recent trip to Waterstones revealed dozens of books on Poker from the basic Idiots Guide up to advanced level.

I'd also consider watching it on sky or cable as there are usually half a dozen or so channels that show late night poker competitions and Texas hold-em is always the one featured.

I don't have cable / satelite tv unfortunately. The only reason I actually own a tv set at all is that it came with the flat when I bought it So I have a 50" screen and 4 channels showing progams in a language I barely understand, no adult programs and no poker either. That's why I'm on the internet all the time

I saw a lot of poker books as well I agree, 3 of them in particular have been in my amazon wish list for a while (the Harrington series), but I think they are far too advanced for me, this is why I'm looking for a PC game to start me off

dat8962 wrote:Poker is very popular at the moment but I prefer the 'classics' such as Bridge, Rummy and Whist although it's been some time since I last played any of them.

There are fewer and fewer card players these days away from Poker and Blackjack.

Rummy and Whist are two of my favourites (despite my age ) but true that not many people seem to play those anymore. Poker and Blackjack seem much more accessible.

OT: The easiest way to learn is to sit down with someone who knows how to play and simply play an *open* hand i.e. you don't play for real, you show each other your cards from the start and go step by step.