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| C
A R D G A M E S |
| Poker |
Black jack |
Spanish 21 |
| 3 Card Poker |
4 card Poker |
Texas Hold-Em |
| Fortune Paigow |
Double Action Blackjack |
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| P o k
e r |
The Basics Poker is played with a standard pack of 52
cards. (Some variant games use multiple packs or add a few cards
called jokers.) The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King,
Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can be high or
low, but is usually high). There are four suits (spades, hearts,
diamonds and clubs) however, no suit is higher than another. All
poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.
Some games have Wild Cards,
which can take on whatever suit and rank their possessor desires. Sometimes jokers will be used as wild cards, other times,
the game will specify which cards are wild (deuces, one-eyed jacks,
or whatever).
How the hands are ranked
Hands are ranked as follows (from high
to low):
Descriptions of Hand Ranks
A five of a kind
(which is only possible when using wild cards) is the highest
possible hand. If more than one hand has five of a kind, the higher
card wins (Five Aces beats five kings, which beat five queens, and
so on).
A straight flush is the best
natural hand. A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such
as 5-6-7-8-9) that are all of the same suit. As in a regular
straight, you can have an ace either high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low
(5-4-3-2-1). However, a straight may not 'wraparound'. (Such as
K-A-2-3-4, which is not a straight). An Ace high straight-flush is
called a Royal Flush and is the highest natural hand.
Four of a kind is simply four
cards of the same rank. If there are two or more hands that qualify,
the hand with the higher-rank four of a kind wins. If, in some
bizarre game with many wild cards, there are two four of a kinds
with the same rank, then the one with the high card outside the four
of the kind wins. General Rule: When hands tie on the rank of a
pair, three of a kind, etc, the cards
outside break ties following
the High
Card rules.
A full house is a three of a
kind and a pair, such as K-K-K-5-5. Ties are broken first by the
three of a kind, then pair. So K-K-K-2-2 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, which
beats Q-Q-Q-J-J. (Obviously, the three of a kind can only be similiar if wild cards are used.)
A flush is
a hand where all of the cards are the same suit, such as J-8-5-3-2,
all of spades. When flushes ties, follow the rules for High Card.
A straight is 5 cards in
order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. An ace may either be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or
low (5-4-3-2-1). However, a straight may not 'wrap around' (such as
Q-K-A-2-3, which is not a straight). When straights tie, the highest
straight wins. (AKQJT beats KQJT9 down to 5432A). If two straights
have the same value (AKQJT vs AKQJT) they split the pot.
Three cards of any rank,
matched with two cards that are not a pair (otherwise it would be a
Full House
. Again, highest three of a kind wins. If both are the same
rank, then the compare
High Cards.
This is two distinct pairs of
card and a 5th card. The highest pair wins ties. If both hands
have
the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both hands have the
same pairs, the high card wins.
One pair with three distinct
cards. High card breaks ties.
This is any hand which doesn't
qualify as any one of the above hands. If nobody has a pair or
better, then the highest card wins. If multiple people tie for the
highest card, they look at the second highest, then the third
highest etc. High card is also used to break ties when
the high hands both have the same type of hand (pair, flush, straight, etc).
Betting So, how do you bet? Poker is, after all, a
gambling game. In most games, you must 'ante' something (amount
varies by game, our games are typically a nickel), just to get dealt
cards. After that players bet into the pot in the middle. At the end
of the hand, the highest hand (that hasn't folded) wins the pot.
Basically, when betting gets around to you (betting is typically
done in clockwise order), you have one of three choices:
- Call
- When you call, you bet enough to
match what has been bet since the last time you bet (for instance,
if you bet a dime last time, and someone else bet a quarter, you
would owe fifteen cents).
- Raise
- When you raise, you first bet enough
to match what has been bet since the last time you bet
-
(as in
calling), then you 'raise' the bet another amount (up to
you, but
there is typically a limit.) Continuing the above example, if you
had bet a dime, the other person raised you fifteen cents (up to a
quarter), you might raise a quarter (up to fifty cents). Since you
owed the pot 15 cents for calling and 25 for your raise, you would
put 40 cents into the pot.
- Fold
- When you fold, you drop out of the
current hand (losing any possibility of winning the pot), but you
don't have to put any money into the pot.
Betting continues
until everyone calls or folds after a raise or initial bet.
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| 3 C a r d P o k e r |
Three Card Poker ( Tri Card Poker ) is
Two Games in One:
A seat at the 3 Card Poker table offers
two separate games to play. You are usually allowed to play either
one or both games at the same time, but some casinos will require
you to play both while others will make only one
optional.
The two games are "Three Card Ante/Play",
where you compete against the dealer, and "Pair Plus" that
has different bonus payouts for 3 card poker hands of one pair or
better.
When both games are played at the same time, players
may wager different amounts on each game. The games are played with
a standard 52 card deck. The cards are distributed to the dealer in
groups of three by an automatic shuffling machine. The player's
table layout is shown at the right. Poker rules and
payouts are printed on the table at each player spot, just like
this:
Play MUST EQUAL Ante
DEALER PLAYS WITH
QUEEN HIGH
OR BETTER
WHEN DEALER DOES NOT
PLAY
Play. . . PUSH ● Ante. . . 1 to 1
WHEN DEALER PLAYS
Play. . . 1 to 1 ● Ante. . . 1 to 1
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Pair Plus Pays
PAIR . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 1 to 1
FLUSH . . . . . . .
. . . . . 4 to 1
STRAIGHT . . . . . . .
. . 6 to 1
THREE OF A KIND . . . 25 to
1
STRAIGHT FLUSH . . . 40 to
1
Ante Bonus Pays
STRAIGHT. . . . . .
. . . 1 to 1
THREE OF A KIND. . .
3 to 1
STRAIGHT FLUSH. . . 5 to
1
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3 Card Hand Values: The first thing you
will probably notice from the hand rankings list at the right is
that a straight has a higher ranking than a flush. That's
simply
because there are fewer ways to make a 3 card straight than a 3 card
flush. Aces play both high and low to a straight in this game. An
ace high straight flush is the highest hand you can get but
unfortunately, this is just a straight flush and not a mini-royal
flush with extra bonus considerations.
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| 4 C a
r d P o k e r |
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| B
l a c k J a c k |
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| S
p a n i s h 2 1 |
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| T e x
a s H o l d ' e m |
How to Play.
Texas Hold?em is
a deceptively simple game to learn but a harder game to master.
Each
player is dealt two personal cards and then five community cards are
turned up on the board. You make the best five card hand using any
combination of the seven cards. For this example we will use a low
limit structure of $2/4. There are four betting
rounds and the first
two have a limit of $2 and the last two rounds have a limit of
$4. You must bet or raise only the amount of the limit for that round.
The Start
To start a new hand, two "Blind" bets
are put up or "Posted." The player immediately to the left of the
dealer puts up or "posts" the small blind which half the minimum bet
one dollar. The player to the left of the small blind posts the big
blind which is equal to the minimum bet which is two dollars for
this game. The rest of the players do not
put up any money to start
the hand. Because the deal rotates around the table, each player
will eventually act as the big blind, small blind and dealer.
The Opening
Each player is dealt two cards face
down with the player on the small blind receiving the first card and
the player with the dealer button getting the last card. The first
betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind
either putting in two dollars to "Call" the blind bet, or putting in
four dollars to "raise" the big blind or folding
his hand. The betting goes around the table in order until it reaches the player
who posted the small blind. That player can call the bet by putting
in one dollar since a dollar blind was already posted. The last
person to act is the big blind. If no one has raised, the dealer
will ask if they would like the option. This means the big blind has
the option to raise or just "check." By checking the player does not
put in any more money. A rookie mistake sometimes occurs here.
Because the blind is a live bet, the player with the big blind has
already put his bet in. I have seen some players throw their cards
in not realizing that they are already in the hand. Another rookie
mistake is betting or folding your
cards when it is not your turn.
You must wait before you act.
The Flop
After the first
betting round is completed, three cards are dealt and turned face up
in the middle of the table. This is known as the "Flop." These are
community cards used by all the players. Another betting round
begins with the first active player to the left of the dealer
button. The bet for this round is again two dollars.
The
Turn
When the betting round after the flop is completed, the
dealer turns a fourth card face up in the middle of the table. This
is called the "Turn." The bet after the turn is now four dollars and
begins again with the first active player to the left of the dealer.
The River
Following the betting round for the
turn, the dealer will turn a fifth and final card face up. This is
called the "river," and the final betting round begins with four
dollars being the minimum bet.
The Showdown
To
determine the winner, the players may use any combination
of their two hole cards and the five cards on the "Board" (Table) to form the
highest five-card hand. In some rare cases the best hand will be the
five cards on board. Don?t count on this
happening too often. In
that case the active players will split the pot. A sixth card is
never used to break a
tie.
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