Aug 03 2008
Poker Comes in All Shapes and Sizes
A language of their own is spoken by poker players. A few basic words needs to be learned by those who want to start playing poker but have never played to keep them from being automatically ambushed as a novice. Other players will not gang up on them if the new players learn the language.
Most items in a game of poker have their own names. In Texas Hold’em, the most different language of all forms of poker is used. A new player will understand most any game of poker by learning the lingo of Texas Hold’em.
The game of Texas Hold’em starts out with up to five players and a dealer. A player is the dealer and allowed to bet and play in private at home games. The first person to bet during each round is acknowledged by the use of a chip or small device that is passed around to each player in turn.
This chip goes to the person to the left of the dealer. This first person bets what is called the small blind. The person to the left of the first person bets the big blind.
Generally half of the big blind, the small blind is a minimum in most games. The first two face down cards are dealt to all the players after these two first players place their blinds, which in a normal poker game is called the ante. The players decide if they are going to bet or fold after all the players look at their hole cards, those first two face down cards.
To fold, the player puts their two cards into the middle of the table. To bet, the player will bet the same amount as the big blind. If the first person who betted wants to continue in the game, he must add to his bet in order to make it the same amount as the big blind.
The dealer will place the flop onto the middle of the table once it has been established who is going to continue in the game. The first three face-up cards are the flop. The flop is the start of the community cards that sit in the middle of the table for all the players to use.
The community cards in the middle of the table are called the window. All the players use these five cards plus their two hole cards to determine a winning hand. The last two community cards are called the turn and the river, respectively.
The players can make bets after each time the dealer deals, the hole cards, the flop, the turn and the river. Unless he has folded, the player with the dealer chip makes the first bet. The next person still in to the left of the player with the chip will bet first if the person with the chip has folded.
A showdown is done after all the bets have been made. If there is more than one player after all the bets have been made then those will perform the showdown. This is when all the remaining players reveal who has the highest-ranking hand.
Once the hands are shown, the person with the highest-ranking hand wins the round. The only way to be eliminated from Texas Hold’em is to bet all your money and lose. It is not a very complex language but knowing it will help you look like you know what you are doing.
