POKER STRATEGY-HOW TO WIN THE MOST AGAINST THESE PLAYERS

In a wide spectrum of different players, those who belong under the heading of “calling stations” are probably the best opponents you can have at the table.

It’s not just the fact that these players will part with their money way too easily, but they’ll rarely give you any problems as long as you have the right strategy against them.

So this article will provide you with direct and very useful tips on how to exploit the hell out of calling stations and make a lot of money against them. There’s no reason to be shy about taking their chips – it’s the whole reason you play poker!

CALLING STATIONS – IDENTIFYING & PROFILING THESE PLAYERS

One of the first things you’ll want to figure out when you sit down in a game is to identify calling stations since you’ll be making a bulk of your profit from them if you play your cards right.

In online games, poker software will do the bulk part of the job, and you can quickly identify calling stations based on their stats:

High VPIP

Low Fold to 3bet

Extremely high WTSD stat

While the first two numbers can vary as some calling stations are quite tight before the flop, all of these players will have a high percentage of hands that they take to a showdown.

It’s what they’re all about – taking a hand and sticking with it all the way no matter what. They just hate folding, and they have no other weapons in their arsenal, so they just keep calling all the way.

Identifying calling stations in live games shouldn’t be much harder, either.

While you don’t have access to stats, you should already be able to figure out who the sticky players are after a couple of orbits. Even if you do not play any poker hands yourself, you can observe the action and see which players always want to see the flop and then tend to stick around.

UNDERSTAND THE WAY A CALLING STATION THINKS

Before talking about specific strategies and adjustments you can make when playing against the calling station, you first need to understand how these players think about the game. That knowledge will help you build a very effective game-plan.

A calling station usually doesn’t see beyond their hand. For the most part, their thought process is:

• I have two pair
• Two pair is a good hand
• I can’t fold such a good hand
• Call, call, call

This thinking in absolutes is very dangerous because these players will disregard all potential dangers and changes in the board structure.

If they believe their hand was good on the flop, for example, they’ll usually just stick to it all the way through the river even if all sorts of straight and flush draws came in.

The other common subtype of a calling station is the player who refuses to fold because they don’t want to get bluffed. Unlike the first group, these guys know their hand is weak, but they still keep calling in hopes of picking off an unlikely bluff.

While the motivation for both these groups is different, the end result is the same. They’ll get to a showdown with hands that are way too weak for the amount of chips/money they put in.

ADJUSTING YOUR STRATEGY VS. CALLING STATIONS

Once you’ve identified who the calling stations are in your game, you’ll want to start targeting them as much as possible. These are the best players you can have at your table since they will rarely put you to a tough decision as they have only two modes:

• Call (quite frequently)
• Fold (unlikely but it happens)

I know a guy who’s been a regular in my private game who’s such a station that he will even tell you – I know you have me, but I just have to call, I can’t help it. Sometimes I’d almost feel bad about value betting on the river (he’s a nice guy in general but can’t play poker).

So, the best way to take advantage of these players is to go for value against them.

If they open and you have a big hand, for example, feel free to size up your 3bet. They’ll pretty much call with their entire range no matter how big you make it, so you don’t have to worry too much about your sizing. Making it 15 big blinds over their 3x raise is usually completely fine against these players.

Don’t try to be tricky.

You need to mix your play when you are up against tough competition, and following simple Texas Holdem tips will not always cut it in that case. However, you don’t need to do that against calling stations.

In fact, getting tricky against these players will just cost you money. If you have a big hand, keep on betting on every street. Don’t try to check for deception – you’re just missing a street of value by doing that.

Use big bets and over-bets.

A good player won’t call your pot-sized bets with a third pair since they are aware you’re going for value more often than not with that sizing. Calling stations don’t care, though.

If they think their hand is good, the bet size doesn’t matter.

So, if you have the winner, why would you want to bet half the pot if they’ll call a pot-sized or an even bigger bet?

This way of thinking does take some getting used to as it’s not your standard ABC poker. But bot live and online poker is all about being able to adapt to the current situation.

Your main goal is always to get as much value as humanly possible from a particular hand, and if that requires taking some liberties with bet sizing, you need to go for it.

ISOLATING CALLING STATIONS

To get the most value from these players, you want to be heads-up with them. Having another player in the pot can mess up your plans and significantly decrease EV.

So, you want to target the player you’ve identified as a calling station and force everyone else out of the hand.

You can widen your ranges when in a position to achieve this. If the calling station enters the pot alongside a few others and you’re on the button, you should be looking so squeeze with a solid range of hands.

This doesn’t mean you need to go too crazy, but hands that have good potential or ones with solid blockers, qualify for a raise.

For example, you may not always want to squeeze a hand like KJ on the button, but if there is a calling station you want to target, you should definitely do it, especially if they’re someone who likes to see a lot of flops.

You’re likely to be well ahead of their range, and you have the position, so you’ll be able to hammer out some value if you get the favorable flop. Just make sure your raise is big enough to force everyone else out. You already know the station isn’t going anywhere.

But keep in mind that if there are a couple of other solid players at the table, you’ll need to tone it down a bit and pick your spots more carefully. Otherwise, they will quickly start playing back and you and try to take their piece of the pie. This is where you can take advantage of solved ranges and grab this poker cheat sheet.

AVOID THESE MISTAKES AGAINST CALLING STATIONS

Playing against calling stations can be hugely profitable, but only if you do it right. The first part of this article covers some strategy suggestions as to things that you should be doing. But there are also some things you definitely should not be doing against this type of player.

First and foremost – forget about bluffing.

I’ve seen it many times that players, for some bizarre reasons, keep on trying to bluff a supreme calling station. They keep on betting and mucking their cards despite the fact the other guy is constantly turning over a second or a third pair.

Why would you want to bluff someone who just can’t be bluffed? Even if you get them to fold every now and then, it won’t be nearly enough to make these plays profitable.

If you don’t have the best hand, just let them have it or see some free cards and try to improve. If you catch your gin card, you can still extract some value with a big bet on the river.

Don’t berate them when they get lucky.

Calling station will keep calling with their lowly pair of deuces on the flop and the turn, only to catch the third deuce on the river so of the time. This is annoying, of course, but you need to take these things in strides.

The last thing you want is to berate these players and make them feel uncomfortable. Do you really want them to stop calling your massive bets with hands as weak as the weakest of all pairs? Chuck it to bad luck and keep on grinding. You’ll get all of their money eventually.

Don’t call their raises.

Calling stations have gotten their name for a reason – they don’t do raising and all that fancy stuff. So if you bet and get raised by one of these players, your cards should be hitting the muck faster than you can spell fold.

If you don’t have the absolute nuts, there is almost never a reason to call a big raise from these players.

They have it, pretty much whenever they choose to play aggressively, so don’t overthink it. Don’t be making these calls hoping that it is the one time they may have dreamt up a bluff. It’s not, and even if it were – they’re entitled to get away with it once every three months.

Don’t annoy them when you win.

The final piece of advice is that you never want to upset calling stations. They’re already in the state of mind that you want them to be in.

You don’t need to tilt these players any further or annoy them because it might result in them starting to fold out of spite or even leaving the game.

In a live poker setting, you want to make others feel as comfortable as possible. For calling stations, this means being understanding of their “bad luck.”

Don’t make fun of them for calling with no hand, nod in agreement, and tell them it was unlucky. They believe it, and you agreeing will make you a good guy in their eyes even though you’re the one dragging the pot.

Of course, this is a bit of a meta-game, and you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. But keeping these players on your good side can be quite beneficial, even to the point where they’ll actually tell you when they have a big hand and let you get away cheaply.

SUMMARY: PUNCH YOUR TICKETS & START PRINTING

Although some players are annoyed by calling stations as they don’t allow them to play “real” poker, you really shouldn’t be. These are your sure source of income in any game, and you should consider yourself lucky to have them.

Those who complain about players never folding are missing the bigger picture.

As long as you take the advice from this article to heart and make necessary adjustments to your play, you’ll have no problems whatsoever dealing with calling stations. You’ll make way more money playing against them than against any other type of player.

Maniacs spew chips around, but they also win massive pots sometimes when they have the nuts or pull an insane bluff. Tight players just refuse to give you any action, so you have to come up with all sorts of ideas to squeeze some chips out of them.

Calling stations just keep calling, and calling, and calling…

So, forget about bluffing them, play your big hands aggressively, and adjust your bet sizing. Be prepared to fold if they start playing back at you, but other than that, get ready to pull in some really big pots without even breaking a sweat.

But if you want to take it one step further, you can always check one of the poker training sites at your disposal and learn to punish other types of players as well.

Read more »

USE SOFTWARE

If you want to be able to compete with players even on lower stakes, you should get some help. I am not talking about advanced programs that can help you learn GTO poker strategy, but a simple one that every player should have. Tracking software is essential because you can see stats on your opponents and know how they are playing.

It lets you quickly spot the different types of opponents that you will be facing and to change your poker strategy and decisions based on that. In my opinion, by far the best program for this is Holdem Manager 2 and you can get a FREE trial of HM2 here!

Read more »

LEARN TO FOLD

You need to take this poker tip into serious consideration. When your passive opponents who are just calling all the time start raising out of nowhere you should be folding a lot and even some of your strong hands. Most of the time one pair hands even as good as a top pair or an overpair should go into a muck.

When just starting playing you will have some problems letting go of these hands, but it is one thing that you need to learn if you want to be successful. Players in the lowest games are not bluffing so much and in the long run, you will be doing yourself a huge favor by folding one pair hands to aggression in these spots.

Not all opponents are passive ones and if you are playing against a maniac or someone who is very aggressive and raising constantly you should not be folding these hands. You need to understand that there are different types of players and you really need to play differently against them. The last part of my poker tips list will help you to deal with this.

Read more »

DON’T BLUFF TOO MUCH

A long time ago, I was explaining how to play poker to my friend who never played before and after discussing for a while, he said: “So basically I need to play when I have a hand and fold when I don’t”. I think this is one of the best advice you can get when just starting playing and learning.

Of course, when you move up stakes and start playing bigger games this will not be an option because many players tend to play much more aggressive there and bluff more, so you need to learn how to play against them. But in the beginning, sticking to this strategy is your best bet.

When you move up and start playing a bit more reasonable opponents I highly recommend you checking out Poker Training Videos! You can take your game to the next level by crushing your opponents in the way you did not think was possible!

Read more »

TAKE YOUR TIME

Do not fall into a habit of making decisions automatically. It is a huge mistake that even advanced players are making a lot of the time and killing all their chances to win money. Take your time and think about all the stuff we already discussed.

Especially at the beginning, it could be overwhelming thinking about everything at once, like your positions, poker hand ranking, opponent’s cards and much more. That is why you should stick to that poker tip of playing just one table and take all the time you need to make your decisions.

Read more »

THINK ABOUT YOUR OPPONENT CARDS

When you know how likely, you are to improve your poker hand when you have a draw you have to learn to put your opponent on a range. This will let you understand how many outs you actually have and then make a more educated decision. Many factors can suggest what hands your opponent could be playing. It is quite tough and advanced topic, but you can start with a simple version of it.

Think about his position, what hands he could be opening and playing from there;

His post-flop action can suggest what he could have. Betting or checking can indicate his strength or weakness and you should be looking for that information;

Board texture is an important factor to take into consideration as well. People are less likely to have many strong hands on dry boards compared to connected ones;

A time he takes to make a decision and sizing he is using can give us additional information as well.

There are many things to consider and you need a lot of practice to be able to think about that. Do not blame yourself if you struggle with it at the beginning. As we said this is a complex topic, that has books written just about it so do not expect to master it in a day or a week. Keep playing and learn poker strategy in the right way!

Read more »

LEARN POKER ODDS

You need to know poker odds you have to hit the winning hand and what pot odds you are getting. All you have to do then is make your decisions based on it and not your emotions.

What are the pot odds? It is a concept that lets you understand are you getting the right price to continue with your hand and help you to make the right decision. This is a big concept and one that we will not be addressing deeply, but I am going to give you a quick list most common Texas Holdem hands and how many outs you have to improve a specific hand until next street: 

• Gut-shot – 4 outs
• Two overcards – 6 outs
• Open-ended straight draw – 8 outs
• Flush draw – 9 outs
• Flush draw & gut-shot – 12 outs
• Straight flush draw – 15 outs

You can have a good indication how likely you are to improve your hand by simply multiplying your outs by 2 if want to know an approximate probability of hitting your hand on next street or multiplying by 4 if you are looking for the number how likely you are going to improve your hand from flop to the river.

If you have an open-ended straight draw on the flop with 8 outs you can count that you will improve it approximately 8*2 = 16% on the turn and hit your straight or 8*4 = 32% of the time by the river. These are not exact numbers but are very close to accurate ones and by far it is the best and easiest way to learn poker strategy. Moreover, you can find much more information in my full article about poker odds so I highly recommend reading it. Think about it when making a decision with a draw and take this poker tip seriously.

Read more »

ONLY PLAY WHEN YOU FEEL GOOD

Emotions are your enemy at the poker table. Sure enough that you can start feeling angry or sad when you lose while playing and you need to deal with this as well, but don’t make it even worse by starting your games when you feel bad.

We are doing stupid things when we are tired, angry, or even drunk and it can cost us a lot of money. Avoid starting your games when you feel bad and it will be the first, but a very big step in becoming a better poker player.

When you will be able to deal with these emotions, you can take it one step further and take a few minutes to prepare for your sessions before starting playing.

Read more »

START PLAYING ONE TABLE

I cannot sweat it enough how important this poker tip is! Your goal is to learn poker strategy and concentrate on seeing all the information. So leave multi-tabling for the future, stick with one table, and try to absorb all the information you can get.

Look how your opponents are playing and what hands they have at showdown. As we said, concentrate on using your position and playing a tight-aggressive approach and it can take you quite far.

Read more »

USE POSITION

When deciding which hands to play and which not position going to be one of the most important factors to consider.  You win more money from later positions so try to play more hands from there. Since all my poker coaching goes around 6max poker strategy I will give you an example for this:

Play very tight from early positions, widen up going closer to the BTN and try to steal more pots there. By far the most profitable position in poker is Button (BTN) and sitting there you can be playing much more hands than from any other position. It is going to take some time to get used to this, but always take your position into consideration when deciding which hands to play.

Read more »

PLAY TIGHT BUT AGGRESSIVE

Many amateur players make a huge mistake of playing too wide and opening too many Texas Holdem hands. The key when you are starting out is to play only your strongest hands to keep your VPIP poker stat at a lower side and avoid many tough decisions post-flop. This will let you play less, but more aggressively when you decide to take your hand into action.

Most of your opponents in low games going to be playing random hands a lot of the time and taking this poker tip alone will let you start ahead of them. Using this you will be able to learn poker strategy without losing money and in a much more effective way.

So be raising and betting yourself when you play instead of just calling and put maximum pressure on your opponents. Knowing that you have the advantage of holding better hands pre-flop you will be just winning against their range of cards in the long run.

Read more »

FIND THE BEST GAMES

This is a bit relater to the previous tip for starting at lower stakes, but finding the best games will help you even more and drastically increase your EV.

There is no place for ego in poker, and if you stick to playing better players, you will end up losing. As simple as that.

Even if you are the 10th best player in the world but keep battling against the nine who are better than you, you will go broke sooner or later.

Truth to be said, this is extremely important for every poker player, no matter how good they are since it will determine your win rate.

On top of that, you will have smaller swings in better games and will be able to move up the stakes much quicker, which is a massive bonus on its own.

If you are not sure how to find the best games, here are the top tips for you:

• Look for best games for your format (some rooms are better for cash games and other for MTTs)
• Research when you can find peak traffic and more recreational players
• Find the best option available in your country to be safe when playing and secure your money

Read more »

START AT LOW STAKES TO UNDERSTAND POKER STRATEGY

Always take this poker tip into consideration before jumping into your games. Many players find no interest in playing low games, but you need to see that your goal is to learn poker strategy and not to waste money while doing that. Therefore, you have a few reasons for starting at low stakes:

    Firstly, you will feel more comfortable knowing that you are not risking a lot of money and even if you lose some at the beginning it will not hurt you. You will be able to learn the game and will not be spending a lot of money on the process so that is a good idea.

    Secondly, a player’s skill level increases every time when you move up stakes. Starting at the lowest limits lets you play versus weakest players and learn the game instead of donating money to ones who are much better right now.

    Lastly, it enables you to see the whole picture and get a feel the whole game looks. You will understand positions, what poker hands you should play and can take everything in practice.

Before moving up you need to learn poker strategy and make sure that you feel comfortable in any game that you play. Another factor that you need to take in consideration is Bankroll Management, this is a separate topic and you can read more about it Poker Bankroll Management here!

Read more »

LEARN THE RULES, POSITIONS AND POKER HANDS RANKING

Naturally, this is the first step you want to take and most players understand that. While learning general Texas Holdem poker rules can be easy, you should really spend some time understanding what poker hand ranking is. You should not be in the spot where you are in the middle of the hand and have to think are you beating a straight with your flush or not and be wasting your valuable decision time on that. This is how poker hand ranking looks:

Learning positions is invaluable and you should not start playing before doing that. You probably have heard already, even if you did not play before, that position is very important in poker. I would say, even more, it is one of the most important poker tips you need to learn when starting out! So do not overlook it!

This is a huge chunk of information, which you can take into consideration. You will know if they bet or check, how long they take to make a decision and what sizing they are using.

For example, seeing that your opponent checks quickly could be a good indication of him having a weak hand and you can decide to bluff knowing that. There are many examples like this one, but one thing is clear – it is better to see that information than to give it to your opponent.

When you will be ready to learn poker strategy just remember that having a position is crucial in poker games and you should play much more hands while being in position.

The hands you decide to play are largely affected by the position you are in. The later position you have the more hands you can be opening and putting much more pressure on your opponents.

One of the first things we cover in poker coaching sessions is preflop ranges and you can take a look at my opening hands from different positions here. Get my preflop poker cheat sheet now and improve your strategy at once!

Read more »

Beating the Odds in Poker

 Ever wonder what the odds are of getting a royal flush in Poker? What about four Aces?

These questions are easy to answer mathematically, but we must first be clear about which variant of Poker is played. Let’s consider Five-Card Draw Poker, the version most popular amongst casual players until Hold ‘Em took the world by storm in 2003. Receiving a royal flush in the first five cards in Draw Poker happens only once in 649,740 hands on average.

Those are the chances of getting ANY royal flush. The chances of getting a specific royal flush are 1 in 2,598,960 hands. You’re five times more likely to get struck by lightning than get the same hand twice!

In Hold ‘Em, each player potentially has seven cards (the two cards in your hand and the five community cards) with which to hit the elusive royal. The chances of getting a royal flush in Hold ‘Em are 1 in 30,940 hands. Incidentally, the chances of getting a royal flush in 7-Card Stud are the same as in Hold ‘Em. Here are a few more fun poker probabilities:

Chances of getting four Aces in 5-Card Draw: 1 in 54,145 hands on average.

Chances of getting any four of a kind in Hold ‘Em: 1 in 4,165 hands on average.

Chances of getting pocket Aces in Hold ‘Em: once every 221 hands on average.

Chances of a royal flush beating four Aces in Hold ‘Em: about once every 165 million hands!

Read more »

Basics of Poker

 As early as the sixteenth century, Germans played a bluffing game called "Pochen." It later developed into a French version, called "Poque," which was eventually brought over to New Orleans and played on the riverboats that plied the Mississippi.

In the 1830s, the game was refined further and became known as Poker. During the Civil War, the key rule about drawing cards to improve one's hand was added. A variation - Stud Poker - appeared at about the same time. There are hundreds of versions of Poker, and the game is played not only in private homes, but also in countless Poker rooms at famous casinos. Poker can be played socially for pennies or matchsticks, or professionally for thousands of dollars.

There is plenty of luck in Poker, but the game requires incredibly great skill as well, and each player is the master of his own fate.

THE PACK

The standard 52-card pack, sometimes with the addition of one or two jokers, is used. Poker is a one-pack game, but today, in virtually all games played in clubs and among the best players, two packs of contrasting colors are utilized in order to speed up the game. While one pack is being dealt, the other is being shuffled and prepared for the next deal. The procedure for two packs is as follows: While the deal is in progress, the previous dealer assembles all the cards from the pack he dealt, shuffles them, and places them to the left. When it is time for the next deal, the shuffled deck is passed to the next dealer. In many games in which two packs are used, the dealer's left-hand opponent, instead of the right-hand opponent, cuts the pack.

In clubs, it is customary to change cards often and to allow any player to call for new cards whenever they wish. When new cards are introduced, both packs are replaced, and the seal and cellophane wrapping on the new decks should be broken in full view of all the players.

CARD VALUES / SCORING

While Poker is played in innumerable forms, a player who understands the values ​​of the Poker hands and the principles of betting can play without difficulty in any type of Poker game. Except in a few versions of the game, a Poker hand consists of five cards. The various combinations of Poker hands rank from five of a kind (the highest) to no pair or nothing (the lowest):

Five of a Kind - This is the highest possible hand and can occur only in games where at least one card is wild, such as a joker, the two one-eyed jacks, or the four deuces. Examples of five of a kind would be four 10s and a wild card or two queens and three wild cards.

Straight Flush - This is the highest possible hand when only the standard pack is used, and there are no wild cards. A straight flush consists of five cards of the same suit in sequence, such as 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 of hearts. The highest-ranking straight flush is the A, K, Q, J, and 10 of one suit, and this combination has a special name: a royal flush or a royal straight flush. The odds on being dealt this hand are 1 in almost 650,000.

Four of a Kind - This is the next highest hand, and it ranks just below a straight flush. An example is four aces or four 3s. It does not matter what the fifth, unmatched card is.

Full House - This colorful hand is made up of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank, such as three 8s and two 4s, or three aces and two 6s.

Flush - Five cards, all of the same suit, but not all in sequence, is a flush. An example is Q, 10, 7, 6, and 2 of clubs.

Straight - Five cards in sequence, but not all of the same suit is a straight. An example is 9 ♥, 8 ♣, 7 ♠, 6 ♦, 5 ♥.

Three of a Kind - This combination contains three cards of the same rank, and the other two cards each of a different rank, such as three jacks, a seven, and a four.

Two Pairs - This hand contains a pair of one rank and another pair of a different rank, plus any fifth card of a different rank, such as Q, Q, 7, 7, 4.

One Pair - This frequent combination contains just one pair with the other three cards being of different rank. An example is 10, 10, K, 4, 3.

No Pair - This very common hand contains "nothing." None of the five cards pair up, nor are all five cards of the same suit or consecutive in rank. When more than one player has no pair, the hands are rated by the highest card each hand contains, so that an ace-high hand beats a king-high hand, and so on.

Two hands that are identical, card for card, are tied since the suits have no relative rank in Poker. In such a case, the tied players split the pot. Note that if two hands contain the same high pair, then the ranking of the next card in the hands determines which one wins. For example: 9, 9, 7, 4, 2 beats 9, 9, 5, 3, 2. Likewise, two hands that have identical pairs would be decided by the fifth card. For example: Q, Q, 6, 6, J beats Q, Q, 6, 6, 10.

BETTING

Betting is the key to Poker, for the game, in essence, is a game of chip management.

In the course of each Poker deal, there will be one or more betting intervals in which the players have an opportunity to bet on their hands. Minimizing losses with poor hands and maximizing winnings with good hands is the underlying skill that Poker requires.

Before the cards are even dealt, the rules of the Poker game being played may require that each player put an initial contribution, called an "ante," of one or more chips into the pot, to start it off.

Each betting interval, or round, begins when a player, in turn, makes a bet of one or more chips. Each player to the left, in turn, must either "call" that bet by putting into the pot the same number of chips; or "raise," which means that the player puts in more than enough chips to call; or "drop" ("fold"), which means that the player puts no chips in the pot, discards their hand, and is out of the betting until the next deal.

When a player drops, they lose any chips that have put into that pot. Unless a player is willing to put into the pot at least as many chips as any preceding player, they must drop out.

A betting interval ends when the bets have been equalized - that is, when each player has either put in exactly as many chips as their predecessors or has dropped. There are usually two or more betting intervals for each Poker deal. After the final interval there is a "showdown," which means that each player who remains shows their hand face up on the table. The best Poker hand then takes the pot.

If a player makes a bet or a raise that no other player calls, they win the pot without showing their hand. Thus, in Poker, there is a bluffing element, and the best combination of cards does not always win the pot! Bluffing is one of the key reasons why Poker is so popular.

If a player wishes to remain in the game without betting, they "check." This means, in effect, that the player is making a "bet of nothing." A player may check provided no one before them in that betting interval has made a bet. If another player has bet, they cannot check but must at least call the bet or drop. A player who checks may raise a bet that has been raised by another player. This is called "sandbagging," which is allowed, unless it has been decided beforehand that this practice is forbidden. If all players check during a round of play, the betting interval is over, and all the players still in the pot remain in the game.

In each betting round, one player is designated as the first bettor, according to the rules of the game. The turn to bet always moves to the left, from player to player, and no one may check, bet, or even drop, except when it is their turn.

KNOWING WHEN TO BET

The ranking of Poker hands is based on mathematics. The less likely a player is to get a certain hand, the higher it ranks and the more likely it is to win the pot. For example, a player should not expect to be dealt a straight flush more than once in 65,000 hands, but they can expect to be dealt two pairs about once in every 21 hands.

Unless a player is planning to bluff, they should not make a bet without holding a hand that they think may be the best. No Poker player can bet intelligently unless they know what constitutes a good hand, a fair hand, and a bad hand. A table of the various Poker hands and the number of combinations of each in a pack of cards is provided.

THE KITTY

By unanimous or majority agreement, the players may establish a special fund called a "kitty." Usually the kitty is built up by "cutting" (taking) one low-denomination chip from each pot in which there is more than one raise. The kitty belongs to all the players equally, and it is used to pay for new decks of cards or for food and drinks. Any chips left in the kitty when the game ends are divided equally among the players who are still in the game. Unlike the rule in some other games, such as Pinochle, when a player leaves a Poker game before it ends, they are not entitled to take their share of chips that comprised part of the kitty.

CHIPS

Poker is almost always played with poker chips. For a game with seven or more players, there should be a supply of at least 200 chips. Usually, the white chip (or the lightest-colored chip) is the unit, or lowest-valued chip, worth whatever the minimum ante or bet is; a red chip (or some other colored chip) is worth five whites, and a blue chip (or some other dark-colored chip) is worth 10 or 20 or 25 whites or two, four or five reds. At the start of the game, each player "buys in" by purchasing a certain number of chips. All of the players usually buy in for the same amount.

BANKER

One player should be designated as the banker, who keeps the stock of chips and records how many have been issued to each player or how much cash the player has paid for their chips. Players should make no private transactions or exchanges among themselves; a player with surplus chips may return them to the banker and receive credit or cash for them, while a player who wants more chips should obtain them only from the banker.

BETTING LIMITS

There are different ways of fixing a betting limit. Some limit is necessary; otherwise a player with a lot more money would have, or would be perceived to have, an unfair advantage. Once fixed, the limit should be unalterable throughout the game unless the players unanimously agree to change the stakes. Some popular limit systems follow:

FIXED LIMIT

No one may bet or raise by more than a stipulated number of chips, for example, two, or five, or 10. Usually this limit varies with the stage of the game: In Draw Poker, if the limit is five before the draw, it might be ten after the draw. In Stud Poker, if the limit is five in the first four betting intervals, it is 10 in the final betting interval (and often ten whenever a player has a pair or better showing).

POT LIMIT

Any bet or raise is limited to the number of chips in the pot at that time. This means that a player who raises may count as part of the pot the number of chips required for the player to call. If there are six chips in the pot, and a bet of four is made, the total is 10 chips; it requires four chips for the next player to call, making 14; and the player may then raise by 14 chips. But even when the pot limit is played, there should be some maximum limit, such as 50 chips.

TABLE STAKES

The limit for each player is the number of chips the player has in front of them. If the player has only 10 chips, they may bet no more than 10 and he may call any other player's bet to that extent. In table stakes, no player may withdraw chips from the table, or return chips to the banker, until they leave the game. A player may add to their stack, but only between the deal just completed and the beginning of the next deal.

WHANGDOODLES, OR ROODLES

In a fixed-limit game, it is often agreed that following any very good hand - a full house or better, for example - there will be one deal by each player of Jackpots, in which everyone antes double, and the betting limit is doubled for these deals as well.

POVERTY POKER

A maximum limit is put on the number of chips any player may lose. Each takes out one stack at the start; if they lose that stack, the banker issues the player another, without charging for it, and in many cases, the player can still get a third stack free before dropping out of the game. (Some limit should be placed on the number of free stacks so that a player will have the incentive to play carefully.)

NO LIMIT

In these sessions, the "sky's the limit," but such games are rarely played today.

LIMITS ON RAISES

In almost all games played today, there is a limit on the number of raises at each betting interval, and this limit is invariably three raises.

DRAW & STUD POKER

The players should first decide what form of Poker they will play

The main forms of Poker are Draw Poker and Stud Poker. In Draw Poker, all the cards are dealt face down to the players. In Stud Poker, some of the cards are dealt face up as the betting progresses, so that all of the other players get to see a part of each player's hands.

Unless the host, or the rule of a club, has already established the game, the players should first decide what form of Poker they will play. Two factors should influence their decision: the number of players, and whether the group has only experienced players or has some inexperienced players. The following selections are recommended:

2, 3 or 4 players: Stud Poker in any form. Usually, with so few players, only the very experienced play Draw Poker and they will often use a stripped deck, which is a pack with cards removed, such as all the deuces (twos) and treys (threes).

5—8 players: Any form of Poker, either Draw or Stud.

9 or 10 players: Five-card Stud Poker

More than 10 players: One of the games in which fewer than five cards are dealt, such as Three-Card Monte or Spit-in-the-Ocean. All of the Poker variations are described later in this chapter. Another alternative with so many players is to simply form two tables and organize two separate games.

DEALER'S CHOICE

When the Poker session is Dealer's Choice, each dealer has the privilege of naming the form of Poker to be played and to designate the ante, wild cards (if any), and the maximum limit of chips that can be wagered during each round. However, the dealer may not require one player to ante more than another. If a game such as Jackpots is selected and no one opens the betting, the same dealer deals again and everyone antes again.

WILD CARDS

While most Poker purists choose to play with no wild cards, in many games, especially Dealer's Choice, various cards may be designated as wild. A wild card is specified by the holder to be a card of any rank or suit, such as a fifth queen, or the card needed to combine with the other four in a player's hand to form a straight or a flush. Wild cards in a Poker game add variety, and of course, they greatly increase the chances of getting a rare combination such as a full house or a straight flush. The usual choices for wild cards are as follows:

THE JOKER

Note that most packs of cards include two jokers for use in such games as Canasta. Poker players are increasingly adding one or both jokers as wild cards.

THE BUG

This is the joker, but its wildness is limited: It counts as an ace; or as a card of any suit for making a flush; or as a card of any rank and suit for making a straight or straight flush.

DEUCES

"Deuces Wild" is a popular form of Draw Poker. Every two is wild. Sometimes the joker is included as a fifth wild card. Note that the number of wild cards in a hand does not diminish it in anyway; thus, with deuces wild, five of a kind comprised of 10, 10, 2, 2, 2 (five 10s) beats 8, 8, 8, 8, 2 (five 8s).

ONE-EYED CARDS

The king of diamonds and the jacks of spades and hearts show only one eye, whereas the other face cards all have two eyes. One-eyed jacks are sometimes designated as wild cards, but the king of diamonds is rarely selected to be wild.

LOW HOLE CARD

In Stud Poker, each player's lowest "hole" card (that is, the lowest card that is dealt face down and not seen by the other players) is wild. In Draw Poker, the wild card would be the lowest card in a player's hand. When such a card is designated, it means that every card of that rank in that player's hand is wild, but the fact that a certain card is wild in one player's hand does not make that same rank of card wild in other players' hands.

LAWS AND ETHICS

In every game, a written code of Poker laws should be used as the final arbiter for settling all questions. No Poker laws are universally followed - there are many local customs and preferences - but the Poker laws on this site embrace the latest customs of the most expert games and are recommended for adoption. It is a tradition of Poker that any club or group of players may make special rules, called "house rules," to suit their personal preferences. Of course, any such house rules should be written down.

TIME LIMIT

Before play begins, the players should set a time limit for when the game ends and stick to it. Violation of this principle could eventually turn pleasant sessions into unpleasant ones. Often when the time for quitting is approaching, the host or one of the players will say "three more deals" or "through Zane's deal," so that players will know how many deals are left and can gauge their strategies accordingly.

Read more »