Poker is any of several card games where players stake money on which hand is most likely to win in ways like the conventional ranking systems forces or through skill. In poker, the basic rule is that there are always a winner and a loser. That doesn’t mean to say, however, that a player can lose without actually losing any money; rather, the losing player must forfeit all of his future winnings should he lose a game. This means that poker players are constantly on the lookout for new ways to “beat” each other at poker, and thus have developed a rather bizarre yet quite addictive sport/ hobby, aptly named” Poker.” So, what is Poker?
Poker was invented in Texas Hold’em, an informal card game that has gone through several name changes (in recent years it has been called Caribbean Stud Poker, and Caribbean Stud Poker 2) where a player places his money in a pot that is dealt from a pile. The playing chip, also known as the “action,” is the unit of currency that a player has at the end of the game, and can be used to purchase either a straight flush or a full house. If a player ends with more chips than anyone else in the game, that player is the winner. If a player ends with fewer chips than anyone else in the game, that player is said to have “low cards,” and can only buy a full house if he wins a showdown.
Seven-card poker is the most popular version of poker, and consequently is the most commonly played version of poker. There are several variations on seven-card poker hand ranking: “high stakes” with no betting rounds (also called “championship” or “bracket play”), “low stakes” with betting rounds only, and “tournament” where players compete for the same pot. There are also two-card and three-card versions of seven-card poker. While there is no guarantee of who will win any particular match up, players usually find themselves evenly matched in all of them.
“irie play” is the name given to the semi-annual poker tournament that many small towns play annually. Players start by choosing an auspicious location in which to hold their final round of regular poker tournaments, called the final round. The final round may include pots set by the dealer or the players themselves, depending on local tradition. Once all players have folded, the dealer will deal five cards to each person, one at a time, starting with the player with the highest hand.
Seven cards are dealt to each player, face down, starting with the first player. They are turned face up, and then each player looks at his own hand. If any player has a stronger hand than the other, it will stay in the pot. If no player has a matching strong hand, the match is declared a draw. After the draw, the cards are turned over face up in the pot, and the last pair is dealt to each player.
Every player is dealt two cards face down and is then dealt another five cards face up, counting the two pairs. The player with the strongest five cards is the winner of the pot. All pots are paid out in ante bets only, with the exception of the final pot, which is paid out in full. If the final pot doesn’t cover all the initial ante bets, then extra money is added to the pot as the final payoff. All winning players keep all of the money in their pockets at the end.
