The game of poker originated in 1829 and is now also made available on live tables by many online providers. There you can also play the different variants of the game, namely Hold’em, Stud and Draw. For some time now, poker has been established in all social classes and is now one of the most popular and most played card games in the world. Numerous game variants are offered in all casinos and online casinos and enjoy great popularity. We introduce the card game and explain the rules as well as the most common variants and give beginners some tips and tricks along the way.
In the course of the game, five cards are revealed that are visible to every player. These can be used by all to form a poker hand. The bets are made in the form of chips, which are placed in the so-called pot during the course of the game. There is usually a mandatory bet that must be made by each player. The pot increases in size as the game progresses.
The aim of the game is either to have the best poker hand or to get all the other players to give up their hand in order to win as many chips as possible. Strategy and skill are the name of the game when playing poker. After the starting cards are dealt, players usually play clockwise. Up to four betting rounds are played during a hand. Any amount can be bet per round, which must be settled by each player.
This can be as high as you like, but may not exceed your own chip count. Fold: If a bet has already been made, players can fold their hand and thus effectively give up. If you do this, you are out of the game and have no chance of winning the hand. The previously bet chips remain in the pot. Call: You can call when other players have already bet in the current round.
The different poker variants
In the stud poker category, both face up and face down cards are dealt to each player. In addition, the position of the player who opens the round changes frequently. The stud poker category includes the Tropical Stud variant as well as the widely played Seven Card Stud. Stud is usually played with “ante”, a compulsory bet that each player must make, and “fixed limit”, an initial betting limit that must be set before each betting round. Until a few years ago, the Seven Card Stud variant was the only poker game also offered in casinos.
In the category of draw poker, each player usually receives a fixed number of cards that no one else is allowed to see. This category is the only one in which no opponent’s cards can be seen. One of the best-known variations of draw poker is the game Five Card Draw. For a long time this was also the most popular and widespread poker variant.
However, you can often find game variations in casinos that do not belong to any of the three categories above. These include, for example, Pai Gow Poker and Easy Poker. There is also the possibility of playing poker with dice. The three different forms of dice poker include Poker Dice, Liar Dice and Escalero.
Chances of winning at Poker – Our tips for a successful Poker game
At this point we would like to mention that there is no such thing as the ultimate strategy in playing poker. If there were, poker tournaments would hardly be a problem for many people. Every decision depends on the respective game situation and cannot necessarily be transferred to other situations in most cases. However, we would like to give our readers some tips and possible strategies that can definitely contribute to a successful poker game.
- Practice: The be-all and end-all of playing poker is experience. Those who play a lot and regularly quickly get a feeling for the respective situations and then always know how to react adequately. Beginners in particular should initially only play with people at their level and ideally only participate in limit games. This keeps possible losses within limits. Many online casinos offer the possibility to play poker for free. You have a certain amount of play money available per day and can play accordingly until the money is used up. Of course, winnings are also made in the form of play money.
- Slowplay: Slowplay is about pretending that your opponent has a worse hand than you actually have. The aim is to keep as many opponents as possible in the game and to let them fall into a trap, so to speak. Slow play can be played under the following conditions: Either one has a very strong hand and the probability that the other players have a better one is very low, or the chances given to the opponents are only good enough to get the second-best poker hand. With slow play, however, one should also be aware of the risk involved. Because the more community cards there are, the greater the probability that one of the other players will ultimately have the better poker hand.
- Types of play: Poker can be played either “tight” or “loose”. In tight play, only a few good hands are played, but only good hands. Loose play is when a large number of hands are played. In the best case, these two types of play are combined, whereby it is more advisable to play “tight” if there are many players at the beginning. If the number of players decreases in the course of the game, loose play is used.
- Bluff: A bluff usually makes the most sense when there are already a lot of chips in play. The idea is to make the opponent believe that you have cards that you do not actually have. It is advisable to bluff only when there are only a few players left. With a large number of players, it can easily happen that one of them holds the hand that you pretend to have. Bluffs can be very advantageous, but the right dosage should be taken into account.
- Heads Up: This is the situation when only two players are left in the race. Usually, the blinds are already quite high during this phase. Aggressive betting can therefore pay off quite a bit. As many hands as possible should be played, because if you only play good hands, you would leave too many chips to your opponent without a fight. As a rule, even low cards are enough to win, since you are dealing with only one opponent.
