Thu, 09/08/2011 – 07:12 – PokerPages Staff

The Deal
After antes or blinds have been placed, the deal is carried out. Each player receives five hidden “hole” cards. Unlike Texas Hold ‘em, none of the cards are community cards, each player’s cards remain hidden until the showdown.

First Betting Round
After the deal, there is a first round of betting, this is undertaken by the player directly to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option to call, raise or fold, when it is his turn. A player choosing to call will add the same amount of money as the preceding player. A raise involves adding some more to the bets already placed, whilst folding players do not bet and take no further part in the hand. The first player in the round has the option of checking, where he neither bets nor folds, passing the responsibility of betting to his neighbor. Players can only check if no other player before them has bet. The round of betting concludes when each player has bet an equal amount or only one player remains.

The Draw
After the first round of betting is the draw. The draw is where players get to discard and replace cards in their hands, in the hopes of building a better hand. At this point, a player can change any cards in his hand, from all five cards, to not changing any. Following this draw is a second round of betting.

The Showdown
Once the second betting round has been completed, all remaining players must reveal their hands. The highest hand will be the winner.

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Mon, 09/05/2011 – 10:23 – PokerPages Staff

While browsing through the list of poker games at PokerStars, a beginner poker player will see many tournaments.  Although various aspects of tournaments will differ dependent on special poker rules or circumstances, the basic principles remain the same.

Buy-In
Each tournament will have a buy-in amount advertised.  Buy-ins are types of poker bets that you use to enter tournaments, and purchase the stack of chips you are given to bet with during the hands of poker.  The chipstack you have in front of you has no monetary value outside of the poker tables.  Prize money for the tournament will be amassed from the buy-ins of all players entering.  If a tournament is billed at being $5/$.50, it means that you pay $5 into the prize pot, and $.50 goes to the “house”.

Single or Multi Table Tournament
As your chips have no monetary value, you play until you either run out of chips, or you run out of opponents.  You cannot ‘walk away’ from tournament play without forfeiting all of your chips.  Single table tournaments consist of one table, and the last player left wins the jackpot.  There may be prizes for other players, depending on the tournament rules.  Multi-table tournaments can carry on for a long time, with multiple tables running in tandem.  As players are eliminated, the tables consolidate until you are down to the last table, where the winner will be found.

The Bubble
In tournament play, the bubble is the name given to the time when all players left are guaranteed a prize.  This will only be calculated when the total number of players has been determined, and the prize structure confirmed.  

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