I play poker online, mostly for play money but I occasionally play for real - and lose. I play Texas Hold'em No Limit which is a type of poker where you have 2 cards of your own, you bet, then 3 cards are laid out in front of all of you, you bet again, another card is laid and another round of betting and finally a 5th and final card is laid down. The idea is to get the best poker hand using any 5 cards out of the cards on the table and your own (hidden ) two. With me so far? Oh and the No Limit means you can bet any amount of money that you have in front of you (you start with a sum of a few thousand $ when you join the table).
The online versions don't enjoy the cut and thrust of the real smokey atmosphere with a glass of bourbon and the gangster with his moll and all the other stereotypes. However, there are thousands of people playing at any one time and you can chat to your fellow gamblers. There's a bit of playing around abuse etc. and it can be very funny as well as fun.
So, here's (finally!) how to win. When you get dealt your cards, the secret is to tell everyone else what they are. No, really! Try it! Nobody ever believes that you would tell the truth. Here's an example:
You get 5 spades and 7 of diamonds. You say "75o" which is code for 7 and 5 off suit.
You bet a little. The next 3 cards are shown to everyone, this is called the flop, and it queen of diamonds, 4 of hearts and 8 of spades.
This is good as it is unlikely that there is going to be a flush and someone might join you in the betting if they have a queen.
So, just to reaffirm your position you say "I just need a 6 for the straight". I did this today and, bugger me, the next card was a six. Two other people kept on raising me and I won.
Simple huh? but don't tell everyone as it only works well if one person is doing it. Oh and it can annoy the heck out of the other players sometimes so don't overdo it. In one game someone said what kind of moron calls out his cards? Two hands later and that kind of moron, hello it's me, called their cards and beat him. the other guy said "So you really do tell the truth!". Crazy huh?
Posted by grahame at March 2, 2004 10:21 AM | TrackBack