How to play poker?

[Mondeo Man]

I am practising on the PC casino game.

Texas Holdem.

Two things are confusing to me.

When does the round 'finish'. May seem a daft question. Is it after everyone has had a go, or after someone has up'd the ante (to say 10 quid) and everyone remaining has either called or pulled out etc? My game doesn't seem to do either: it just seems to end at random points and then the flop is served etc.

How do raises work? If the going rate is 5 quid, and I cal 5, and raise 10, that means the bet is 15. Then the next person must also bet 15 to stay in? or raise 10, meaning it's 25, and I have to match 25 to stay in? On my PC game this doesn't seem to happen.

I am thinking of entering a few tournaments next year so would like to get the basics sorted.

[Ayrton]

raising works by you adding a certain amount to their last bet. every player (even the ones that have already had their turn) has to call to stay in the game.

The round ends after everyone has bet or folded. If everyone calls then nobody has to do either.


There are a couple of good guides on the internet, search google for some.

[The Artist]

The best way to learn is find some mates who know/also want to learn but at least one person who knows what they are doing to teach you.

Some computer versions have weird rules which will confuse you and if you go an play a proper money tournament the rules will be the standard rules and you may get mixed up.

If you want to practice on a proper poker software, download pokerstars and use their "play money" section. You can play different formats of the game and practice.

Just remember people play 100x differently with real money to play money/free. Poker doesn't work without stakes.

[pinkyfloyd]

[Hetzer]

I play live games occasionally and get everyone else to tell me what I have to do.
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[GhostRider]

[Hetzer]

[The Artist]

I tired to set up a BCF poker game once but it failed because it would involved paypaling money around. Now stars do home games we can set up a BCF poker club and set up a game sometime.



- If you don't already have it, download the free PokerStars software from www.pokerstars.com
- Open the main poker lobby, then click on the Home Games tab
- Click the 'Join a Poker Club' button
- Enter my Club ID number: 576007
- Enter my Invitation Code: bcfnobcat

That's it!

Once 6 or more people join, we can have some games, real and play.

[R6 Wilson]

Texas Holdem on Facebook, play on fast in a cheap game and you'll master the basics in half an hour
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♥ YZF-R6 '05 ♥
Time is money so I stay late

[5v3d3b0]

As mentioned above, playing with real money is a completely different story. I learned how to play on facebook poker, having only a vague idea of the rules before that. When I started playing on Full Tilt Poker I got raped in the beginning, took me a fair few hundred quid of losses to get good at it, and I read a couple of books as well to get the basic strategy down.
When you play with people for real you quickly notice there are standard bets and patterns. For example most people will bet 3 or 4 times the size of the big blind. When you play with bad players they will often raise by 20 chips even when the pot is 500. This makes it easy to call and see the next card, whereas the good agressive players might raise by 300 or 400, putting you under a lot more pressure. (The more you play the better you get at knowing when the right time to call, fold or raise is.)
I would play facebook poker for a couple of days until you know what the rules are, then play on pokerstars with play money until you're more comfortable, then move up to micro stakes cash games (1 and 2 cent blinds)
In case you don't know already here are the hand rankings:

Pair
Two pair
Three of a kind
Straight (eg. 2,3,4,5,6 of any suits)
Flush (any 5 cards of the same suit)
Full House (eg. 8,8,10,10,10. AAA,22 is better than KKK,AA as the 3 card part of the full house determines it's strength, the 2 card part is the kicker so AAA KK is better than AAA QQ)
Edit: Four of a kind
Straight flush (eg. 5,6,7,8,9 all same suit)
Royal flush (must be 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit. I've never ever seen one and I've played tens of thousands of hands...)


That BCF poker game could be fun, how much would the buy in be?

[lukamon]

In case you don't know already here are the hand rankings:

Pair
Two pair
Three of a kind
Straight (eg. 2,3,4,5,6 of any suits)
Flush (any 5 cards of the same suit)
Full House (eg. 8,8,10,10,10. AAA,22 is better than KKK,AA as the 3 card part of the full house determines it's strength, the 2 card part is the kicker so AAA KK is better than AAA QQ)
four of a kind i.e. KKKK. If the four of a kind is on the board then the 5th card ( the kicker) determines who wins.
Straight flush (eg. 5,6,7,8,9 all same suit)
Royal flush (must be 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit. I've never ever seen one and I've played tens of thousands of hands...)


EFA
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[calyx]

Use a calculator mate. Helps a lot
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Boris - London

[5v3d3b0]

I fail

[WannaBeDude]

Have joined home game listed above, who wants to lose some cash

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Jogging on, destination living.

[WannaBeDude]

Artist, those details correct ?

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Jogging on, destination living.

[The Disapproving Brit]

Personally, I never got the hang of cash games. The fact that it's actual money in play seems to throw me off balance. Tournaments are far more my thing.

I'd suggest you start of Facebook (purely to learn the rules - strategy wise it's a complete waste of time), then move on to freerolls - most of the online poker rooms will have freeroll tournaments. Usually only a few quid in prize money available, but it has the advantage of being both free to play and having a prize at the end, so it's (slightly) more sensible than facebook.

Learning to bet though, can only be done by actually betting. Chuck £20 in an account and play $1 tournaments - it's probably the cheapest way to start to get your head around how people bet and how best to play.

Also, check your local casino - the one here has a 'beginners night' freeroll once a month or so - free entry and about £25 or so prize money. Because people have to travel to play, they tend to play a little more seriously than when they're playing in their pants during the adverts.
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[yuri2085]

Accept + make me an admin on the BCF poker thingy. I will setup a few different cash game levels.

You can be in charge of the tournaments

[yuri2085]

I don't see covdude as a member in the group.

[The Artist]

Only you and me atm

[WannaBeDude]

Except me m fer !!! then i'll take you cash !!

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Jogging on, destination living.

[The Artist]

You haven't joined. I can't accept when I have no requests by people to join.

[WannaBeDude]

[The Artist]

[WannaBeDude]

Says wrong details...

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Why you think i'm asking ....
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Jogging on, destination living.

[The Artist]

Dunno, maybe you typed it wrong.

The group exists, yuri joined. I just copied and pasted the details.