Poker... Is anybody here any good?

Posted by: stevie d on 13 July 2004

Hi All

The reason I ask is that I may have the chance to go to Las Vegas next year and I want to have a higher chance than I have now at winning a bit of cash.

I sort of know the basics, but some of the winning combinations I am a bit unsure of.

So the question I ask is does anybody in here considder themselves good enough to pass on a bit of knowledge to me so I can hold my own if I ever need to. Or does anybody know of any non gambling based web sites I could access. I say non gambling as my work have the strictest website policy known to man.

Many thanks

Steve
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by Simon Perry
Matthew Robinson is probably your man....
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by matthewr
I assume we are talking Texas Hold Em (ie. the sort of Poker we see on "Late Night Poker") but a Limit ring game rather than a No Limit Tournament?

I can certianly point you in the direction of how to play Texas Hold Em but you'll need to be a little more specific. In a nutshell though if you want to play well (or even not badly) you are going to need to practice online (you can play with play money and for "micro limits" of real money) and do some reading.

"I sort of know the basics, but some of the winning combinations I am a bit unsure of"

Can you be more specific? Do you mean you know the basics of Texas Hold Em or you know that a flush beats a straight?

Matthew
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by stevie d
Matthew

By basics I mean basics, and yes I was talking texan hold em up.

OK. I know what some of the combinations are i.e. Royal Flush, full house, 2/3/4 of a kind but that is it. I have never been shown how to play properly.

I have picked up the limited amount of knowledge that I have from watching other people play and from general things that are easily picked up.

I think that I am OK with the process of discarding unwanted cards from your hand in that I know you get a couple of turns to swap what you have to hopefully get the winning hand.

I have also never played for money so I don't know how betting goes. I have heard certain terms used:
Call
See your... raise you...

As you can see after writing this my knowledge is pretty shite so would buying a book help at all or would it be better to find somebody willing to teach hands on whilst they win all my matchsticks at the same time?

Cheers
Steve
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by matthewr
Steve,

"the process of discarding unwanted cards from your hand in that I know you get a couple of turns to swap what you have to hopefully get the winning hand"

That's draw Poker and you wont find much (if any) of this in Las Vegas.

The main casino games now are Seven Card Stud (which is classic Poker and is increasingly rare) and Texas Hold Em (which is the "Late Night Poker" version). They are completely different from draw poker and there is no discarding of hands, etc.

The only one I can help you with is "Texas Hold Em". It is the best one to learn though as it now completely dominates the Poker scene both online and in casinos and it's by far the most fun of all the variants.

However, if you don't know even the most basic Poker information (like hand ranks, how to bet, etc.) you probably need to do some basic reading and then find someone to show you how to play. See http://www.pagat.com/jerrycooley/pokerrules.html for a start.

Matthew
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by iancity
Best place to learn is at Empire Poker, where you can join tables for 'virtual' money and play all sorts of games.
I knew the order of the cards, but even after watching late night poker, I still didnt quite understand the betting, but after a couple of plays (and a few sarcastic comments from other players, all n jest) it was easy to pick up.
You can just look around the tables as well, no computer players, theya re all genuine other people playing, and I believe its the site where the 'stars' play.