Poker standard 52-card deck is made up of four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Each suit has thirteen ranks. Ace is the highest-ranking card, then go the king, queen, jack, and ten through deuce, in descending order. But an ace can be used as the lowest-ranking card for a low straight or a low hand.
Hand rankings depend upon the order of probability to appear in the hands of the players. That is why the rarer the hand, the more valuable it is.
These are the rankings in descending order:
Royal flush
Simply an ace-high straight flush (more details below) and is best possible hand in poker. There are only four of them – A-K-Q-J-T of the same suit.
Straight flush
Five sequenced cards, all of the same suit, such as 8-7-6-5-4 or Q-J-T-9-8.
Four-of-a-kind
Four-of-a-kind, is made up by a five-card hand with four cards of any rank, plus one unrelated card, such as 7-7-7-7-3. Of course, the higher the rank of these four-of-a-kind, the better the hand.
Full house
Three cards of any given rank and a pair of another. The rank of a full house is determined by the three-card grouping. For example, J-J-J-4-4 is better than T-T-T-5-5
Flush
Any five cards of the same suit make a flush, these cards should not have to be sequenced. If there are two or more flushes at showdown, the winning hand is determined by the rank order.
Straight
Five sequenced cards, not of the same suit. A 9-high straight beats a 6-high straight.
Three-of-a-kind
Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards, also called trips or a set.
Two pair
Two cards of one rank, two cards of another, and one unrelated.
If two players each have two pair, the highest ranking pair held shows the winner. If the same high pair, the rank of the second pair is used to determine the winner. If both hold the same two pair, the rank of the unrelated sidecard determines the winner. If all elements are the same players split the pot.
One pair
One pair is two cards of one rank and three unrelated cards.
No pair
No pair is five unrelated cards. The rank order shows the winner. For example, A-K-8-7-3 and Stan has A-J-8-7-3 then A-K beats A-J.
A very useful thing for most of the players (with the exception of poker gurus) is poker hand calculator. This like having in your hands a tool that tells you ‘Well, this very poker hand that you have at the moment has XYZ chances to win against this hand, and this hand, and this hand.’
Of course, this poker hand calculator has nothing to do with what happens in every particular case. Even if the winning odds are 60% or 70% (which is very nice), that does not guarantee that you are going to win right now.
So, if poker hand calculator is just about stats, then what’s the point of using it?
Because smart poker playes do not make money from one game. A good player is the one who will pass through the bad hands with minimum losses, and through the great hands with maximum gains.
And when we are talking about a big number of game in a row, this is already the field of statistics and statistics is the mother of all chances and odds calculators.
Poker is a simple game to learn with the objective to win money, by winning pots.
Each poker hand starts with the blind bets. In case blind bets (antes) are used, then each player must post this token amount of money in order to receive cards. If blinds are employed, one or two players are required to post a bet or portion of a bet before the hand is dealt. This requirement rotates around the table.
Each time a round of cards is dealt, players have an opportunity to check, bet, fold, call or raise. There are different rules for each specific version of poker, but basically poker is simple.
Nevertheless, poker is about strategy. Strategy gives you more control over your destiny at the table.
Poker objective is to win money. not to win pots! This is important to understand, because by playing every hand until the bitter end – you can win every pot you possibly could. But will lose plently of money along the way. This means that sometimes you need to lose your shirt, in other words, you need to be selective about the hands you decide to play. There’s no need to play every hand. But when you enter a pot – do everything possible to maximize the amount to win.
So, one of the secrets of poker is – anyone can win in the short run, but in the long run the better players win more money with good hands and lose less with weak hands.
Now let’s talk about Texas Hold’em strategical issues.
You need to know what the best possible hand is and count from it. For example, to have four-of-a-kind or a full house, a pair must reside among the community cards. Or there is no flush without at least three common cards of the same suit.
These combinations help a lot to be ready for all possible situations and choose the most affordable.
With the communal cards Q-J-T-8-A – it is very likely that one of opponents made a straight, but with K-6-5-3-A on board the chances for it are weaker, because in the first example anyone with a nine or a king would have a straight, and in the second – a straight requires a four and a deuce, or a four and a seven.
Moreover, most players are not going to stick around with hands like that as hands like 7-4 or 4-2 are very weak starting hands. At the same moment nines and kings are right up to stay and not fold. This is the example of gamers’ psychology.
When you are holding the nuts – the best possible hand – your job and tactics is to get as much money as you can into the pot by betting and raising at every opportunity. This is when you are squeezing the most from the lady luck. Professional players will do everything to raise as much as possible from this chance.
Also do not forget that Texas hold em is a positional game, as the betting order is fixed for each round. This means that when you act last before the flop, you are getting a serious advantage of deciding what to do after all of your opponents have acted.
More tips in other posts of this blog or in this Free Online Poker School (quick registration and you are reading top selected poker game tips)
The list of placed to download poker games for free is pretty big, but before doing that you must ask yourself a question – "What exactly do I want from this game?"
Depending upon the answer you will need to pursue different places to download.
If you are looking for a game that you download to your PC and play with the robots on the computer, not in some online poker rooms – then you can go to any reputable site and download the game from there. Do not download the games from "free stuff" sites that do not have reputation in the poker world, because with the game you can download a virus inside.
If you plan to play in online poker rooms, then you need special kind of games. They are the same blackjack or texas hold em or 7 hand poker that you know, but these games are specifically tailored to provide you proper level of:
Plus, another advantage of downloading the poker games from reputable poker rooms is that you get the biggest package of different games available and can be sure that this is top quality and security game packages – biggest room care about their reputation, because the competition in this niche is crazy and one mistake with security can cost them hundreds of players.
We are offering you to compare 2 free poker game packages. All you need is register (free registration) to download them and be sure that you get a certified top quality product with support.
Download online poker games – Free Package 1
Download online poker games – Free Package 2
Poker is actually belonging to the group of related games with a number of common elements; hand rankings, checking, betting, calling, folding, raising, bluffing, etc.
If money wasn’t a major element in this game, poker would be a game of luck. Beause each player retaining his or her hand until the very end and the best hand wins. But it’s not all, and it’s the element of money that makes poker the exciting game it is.
Players win money via capturing a pot withall the wagers made by various players during a hand. Why does a player bet? Because this player believes to have the best hand, or gives the impression of holding a strong hand. With a weak hand to be represented as a strong one, a player is bluffing.
Knowing when to fold a hand that appears to be beaten is just as important as knowing when to bet. Regardless of how many cards you’re dealt – the best combination of five cards is the best hand.
Win a Pot in Two ways!
Show Down the Best Hand
After the betting is done and just two or more players remain active – they show down their hands by turning them face up. The player with the best hand wins the pot.
When you play online, the best hand is always correctly rewarded. After you called all bets in the final round of wagering (or gone all-in – you’ve put the remainder of your money into the pot during a hand) virtual dealer automatically awards the pot to the winning player. Or whatever portion of it the winning player is entitled to if he or she has gone all-in.
When All Opponents Fold
If all opponents junk their claims to the pot – you win. If you win because of the opponents fold – it does not matter if you have had the best hand or bluffed.
The number of poker players can be from 2 to 10.
One of the real advantages of online poker rooms is that the computer tracks your chips. You do not need to count down your stacks.
More tips about poker in this online room.
Poker etiquette is important becuse is a very social game. That is why no wonder that people who go beyond these globally accepted rules are not welcome and sometimes are seriously punished for breaking poker etiquette.
You will save you from much troubles if you know and follow these simple rules at the online poker table.
Clear and polite language.
A player is expected to use clear and polite language, even despite the fact that you are playing online. That is why if you break this rule, you ca be simply kicked out from the room forever.
One account per household.
This is simple and logical measure to prevent possible collusion attempts. So, one person – one account.
Disclosing hand value.
This is a very nasty thing to do and you can get slapped for it very seriously. Basicaly this is about killing the interest in the game. People came here to play and you ruin this.
Sharing your ideas during the game.
When you play poker – keep you thoughts to yourself. If you feel like talking, quit the game for a while and go to some buzz chat room, even in the online poker room.
Leaving the game when reaching the Blinds position.
This is fishy and lousy. You might not get banned for it, but in the eyes of other players this behavior says that you are a coward or morally unstable player. Would you like to be treated like this? Even online?
Timely play.
Don’t make others wait too much to make your move. Surely you have to make an intelligent and sensible decision, but this does not mean abusing your opponents by making them wait for too long.
For more great tips about all types of poker issues – go to poker school – it’s never late to learn 
Below you will see one of the best examples of online casinos "stripping to the bottom" to attract the potential player.
Most of the people think about poker game in terms of losing money. Well, risk is involved, no one is going to argue that. But the knowledge + proper time can make wonders about milking online casino.
Let me share one example. A big portion of bonuses is shared for so-called sign up or deposit bonuses. This is great for you, because casinos are hungry about getting new players and you can play on this feeling.
You sign up, make the first deposit and get 100% over your deposit. Then in addition you instantly get + 20 EUROs. Not bad for a start – from the very beginning you have earned more than invested. Surely you need to spend the money on the game, you cannot withdraw it instantly, because that would be a rip off.
But, over 100% to play is ok to make extra money. This gives you 2+ more times chances to win.
All you need to know is the proper online casino that gives away that much in sign up bonuses. Well, we hinted you – join here and get the mentioned bonuses automatically.
For some reason part of the online poker playing audience thinks about online poker rooms or casinos just in terms of "online." This is wrong, because your online poker room – surely if you are registered in a reputable online casino – is your shortcut to meeting other skilled poker fans, play with them and spend nice time.
Players are often given a chance to participate in globally recognized poker tournaments, gain skill and celebrate.
For example, a simple guy from Portugal celebrated his 27th birthday on Salzburg Poker Cup 2008 at the tournament welcome party. Do you think he’s been training for decades? No, just 3 years. And some play in real tournaments with just 6 months’ experience. This is just thanks to being part of reputable online casino and keeping the eye on poker main events updates.
Here you can read more about what we thing of the importance to track poker main event updates. And as part of the promise we publish the upcoming poker events list:
Poker Events for Week of May 11, 2008:
$250,000 Guaranteed
Tonight May 11, 2008, at 19:00 GMT+1
Buy-ins = $200 + $15
Satellites available.
Win part of a huge guaranteed prize pool for an amazingly low buy-in!
WSOP 2008 Super Satellite
Tonight May 11, 2008, at 20:00 GMT +1
Buy-ins = $500 + $35
Satellites from $5.50 + $0.50
$14,000 Prize Package including entry to the WSOP Main Event.
This is your chance to win a seat at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event
in Las Vegas!
New Players $2,000
Titan Poker and TonyGPoker
Tonight, May 11, 2008 at 20:00 GMT+1
Freeroll tournament to players who qualified during week of May 1-10.
Eligible players have been notified.
New Players $800
Titan Poker and TonyGPoker
Tonight, May 11, 2008 at 20:00 GMT+1
Freeroll tournament to players who qualified during week of May 1-10.
Eligible players have been notified.
Asian Poker Tour Super Sat R/A
Tonight, May 11, 2008, at 22:00 GMT+1
Buy-ins = $40 + $4
Re-buys and Add-on available.
Satellites from $3 + $0.30
$6,000 Prize Package
Two packages guaranteed!
Here is your chance to play poker in the Far East!
Asian Poker Tour Super Sat
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 20:00 GMT+1
Buy-ins = $250 + $18
Satellites from $3 + $0.30
$6,000 Prize Package
Four packages guaranteed!
Here is your chance to play poker in the Far East!
WSOP Side Events Super Sat
Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 20:05 GMT+1
Buy-ins = $200 + $15
Satellites from $2.50 + $0.20
$6,500 Prize Package
Winner(s) will receive entry to two World Series of Poker No Limit Hold’em events in Las Vegas!
As you understand, becoming part of this life is quite easy with reputable online casinos. Just join, play, gain experience and you are welcome to the club. Who told you that people with 6 months’ experience are better than you – with online poker people have equal chances to learn!
Poker cash prizes are one of the most amazing part of the online gambling industry. Online poker rooms need to hook you with something and get you into the game, that is why they are giving away loads on cash in prizes.
For example, a popular poker room is giving away a load of $350,000 of cash prizes to celebrate its first billionth poker hand. But this does not mean you have to be the hand No 1,000,000,000 to win.
What they to heat up the playing community and make more people win cash prizes was a simple and yet smart idea. Instead of piling up all money to one winner, they run 2 contests:
As this room/casino is very popular, the number of hands played daily is increasing very fast. Due to this players naturally experience the chance to get a prize every second. At this very moment of publishing the post there are over 22,000 players who are actively increasing the number of hands every second.
Basically this can be a poker strategy in itself – play tight (if you don’t know what this term means – read more about tight and loose poker playing) and you can reap off the room for its cash prizes.
To get the right for the cash prize, get free registration in this online casino and start playing.
Online poker rooms are a great place for the hackers to try their luck in cheating you. The demand is obvious - online poker rooms have to deal with technological issues and you do not see who is in front of you.
Due to this online poker rooms take necessary precautions. But are these precautions enough?
Learn how to check the "online poker room hack proof level" of your favourite room.
When some items in the list abive are obvious, some still need more detailed explanation.
For example, the game integrity. Quality online poker room is recording all types of actions during the game: every card, hand, move, win, loss, and other details. This info is recorded and analyzed by special algoritms that are designed to prevent you from collusion. Player collusion is a form of cheating – two or more players are working together to gain an unfair advantage over other players on a table.
Professional software will "see" these schemes and fight for the fair play. Plus, top quality online poker rooms have special teams of real human beings (professional players) who check this issue.
Now a few words about confidentiality. Surely poker rooms do not want to disclose your personal info. But be aware that they have the right to ask for official documents to make sure you are the true account holder and a real person, not some fake personality. This may seem not very ok, but after you read in the previous passages that many people try to cheat – you understand that being a real person one would hardly fall for such a stupid step. So this is providing extra security.
We want you to be aware that not all online poker rooms are taking this full list of precautions. This does not necessarily mean you will become the object of scam or cheating, but this increases the chances for you to get cheated.
Check this example of poker room security standards and compare them with what you have at the moment.
Online poker rooms need to stand out of the line: this is the only way to attract you – the potential gamer.
As the competition among online poker rooms is very tough, they need to do the best about offering different types of bonuses. Now remember what I say…
BONUSES – Can be Your Treasure Box
if
You Know How to Choose
Basically all online casinos have sections like "Promotions" or "Bonuses" – these are the places to dig deeper.
First of all you should check the site for signup bonuses
Usually online poker rooms are ready to give you some free cash just for singing up. Surely you need to qualify to get this money. For example, you need to make a deposit. But usually the reward is still great. There can be:
By comparing the two sites mentioned in the links above you will see that they practice different approach. What is better? Well, if you are more about testing the poker room for a while, then the fast grab bonus is better. If you plan to stay with the poker room for a long time, then the scoring points can give you more advantages. You can even style your game to get more bonuses, but this is the question of poker strategy.
Good luck bonuses
This is an encouragement for getting a nice extra reward for what is called the Hand of the Day. Usually this means that in case you win a game with a nice combination – you get the bonus. The Promotions section of this site officially claims they give extra $100 bonus to the player who wins the game with 4 kings or higher at hands.
Bad luck bonuses
This is another face of the luck and how poker rooms are ready to compensate them. You have great cards at hand, and someone beats you. Oops. But no need to cry. The mentioned Promotions section in the link above is an example of how you can earn $250 even if you lose with great cards.
That is why any time you see a new online casino – poker room – check for the sections of Bonuses or Promotions and investigate their sign up bonuses, good luck or bad luck. This can be a nice extra source of cash into your pocket.
RSS FEED
