The History of Poker
 The true origins of poker are unknown but it is thought to have evolved over the combinations of many games starting in 969 A.D. with the Emperor Mutsung. The Egyptians were known to play with a form of cards in the 12th and 13th centuries and in 16th Century Persia a variety of cards were used for betting games.
France and Germany also are thought to have contributed to the modern day game's of the 17th and 18th centuries, "Poque" (FR) and "Pochen" (DE).
New Orleans is well known for its contributions to poker, brought by French Canadians. These games were played on floating boats, hence the name "Riverboat Gambler."
 The American Wild West saloon would not be complete without a poker table and it was in 1875 when the Ace was formally declared a "wild card."
The game has gone through much evolution since the early days with new varieties and rules but regardless of which poker game you play, it is still one of the most popular games around.
We could go on and on here but with this site, we are more concerned about the "how" of the game rather than the "when.
Poker Theory
Poker is a game requiring various skills and abilities. Poker is a game of psychology and math. Focused thinking and education on the structure and basic concepts of the game is required through instinctively knowing the poker hand rankings, the common poker odds, how your opponents act in a particular situation, what the odds are that your opponent has any particular hand and much, much more.
The Science of Poker
Poker is largely a game of probabilities and odds, understood using simple algebraic expressions.Since we know at least 2 constants in the equation (the number of cards in the deck and the number of players pulling from that deck) we can then use simple algebra to determine the chances of a card that is adventageous to us being presented.
By knowing poker math, we can then determine what the likelihood of making our hand will be and whether the bet proposed is worth the risk.
There is a set of common poker odds that will be universally true for this information, computers can calculate the probabilities or odds of any combination of cards appearing at any point in a game.
You calculate the probability of making a hand by the number of "outs" you have. For instance, your hole cards are A 2and the flop is K4J . There are 13 cards in a standard 52 card deck and 4 are now showing. When you subtract the 4 showing from the 13 in the deck, there are 9 remaining which are your "outs".
To calculate your probabilities of making that hand, not THIS hand, but overall, you would multiply the number of outs times 4 to get the % of hitting another on the turn, and times 2 on hitting another on the river. In this case you would have a 36% chance of making a K highflush hand on the turn and an 18% chance of making it on the river.
The psychology of poker
You must have some ability to "read" what your opponents may have in their hands by their patterns of play previous to and up to that hand. This requires close observation in many different areas depending on the venue you are playing in.
Every person has tells, or little signals such as a facial or eye movement, that will give their hand away. I believe this is where the term "poker face" derived from yet have no evidence to that fact. Online poker is much more difficult to find an opponents "tells" than at a real poker table. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is an excellent example of a "poker face" being perfected.
The original games have evolved through out the years which have given us a wider range of strategies to understand.
Each game bases itself on the standard poker hand rankings and usually a 52 card deck of cards, but at times it is NOT the highest hand that win's the game.
Often, as in Badaugi (I have only found this game on PokerCS and it is FUN!!), your hand needs to be the crappiest hand you could get if you were playing a standard poker game such as Texas Hold'em or 7 Card Stud. Other games will require that you make either a low card hand or a high card hand. The variations are mind boggling!
Blind Man's Bluff is hysterical since it requires you to look ridiculous with the actions required to play. As of this writing I have never played this game. I did watch Clonie Gowen once play and it seems to me that it would require a much greater degree of opponent reading to win.
Tournament or Ring Games
I personally play both types of tables, depending on my mood at the time. Ring games offer a faster payout and are more contingent upon your skills at the moment, tournaments take longer to pay out if you win and you must compete against many players instead of just a few.
Ring Games
Ring games are a blast! You sit at the same table generally playing the same players for a sustained period of time.
This is great as it allows you to get to know your opponents style of play, whether they bluff alot of hands or are solid players.
There are various levels of blinds or minimum buy ins you can join from .05¢/.10¢ blinds all the way up, depending on the site you play on.
There are pitfalls to watch out for in ring games, however. I have listed a few below.
Table Hoppers
Since depositing funds into accounts on a couple of sites, I have found that some players will jump from table to table making large bets in order to force others to fold.
After winning a couple of hands, they then leave, giving you no chance to win your money back.
These are nothing more than blind stealers, not poker players and you need to be wary of anyone who starts placing high bets in a no limit game when they first join the table.
Constant Bluffers
These players are always in hands, no matter what rag hand they hold. They make constant calls or raises, hoping to make you belive that they actually have something that will beat your hand.
My advise is to play a solid hand. Know your outs and probabilities of making your hand vs. your opponents making their hands.
If you are poor at math, there are helper programs that can assist you in these calculations but I promise, over time, you will get an innate feeling about your hands and odds of winning.
Tournaments
Pre-flop craps shooters
This term is not common, it is one I made up after playing in hundreds of tournaments on Full Tilt Poker and other sites.
I comment often in the chat that these people tend to watch too many WSOP tournaments where seasoned professionals will often call "All In" and think this is the proper way to play.
I also call them "hope and a prayer" players as they go AI "hoping and praying" they will catch the winning hand but all too often they don't and end up out of the tournament with the winner being one who had a hand you would have never bet on! |
