Whatever the case, there are some online poker rooms that continuously stand out amongst the rest. Some have the service to back the marketing that they promote. Triple 8 poker is one of the big names, and for good reason. People do like its user friendly interfaces, great generous welcome and mid playing bonuses, flash games for practice and a no download version also gets those internet hesitant types going. Australian online poker is a great up and comer to keep those poker eyes on.

So, what are you waiting for, there really is no excuse to have not started playing yet!

In 1998, the movie Rounders starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton gave moviegoers a romantic view of poker as a way of life. Texas hold ‘em was the main game played during the movie and the no-limit variety was described, following Doyle Brunson, as the “Cadillac of Poker”. There was also a clip of the classic showdown between Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel from the 1988 World Series of Poker incorporated into the film.

CommanderBond.net reports that the centerpiece card game in the next James Bond film, Casino Royale, will be no-limit Texas hold ‘em instead of Baccarat as in the original Ian Fleming novel.

Spectator sport

Hold ‘em first caught the public eye as a spectator sport in the United Kingdom with the Late Night Poker TV show in 1999. The popularity of the show led to lipstick cameras also being used for American poker programs.

In 2003, hold ‘em exploded in popularity as a spectator sport in the United States. This was due to several factors, including the introduction of lipstick cameras that allowed the television audience to see the players’ hidden cards. ESPN’s coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker featured the unexpected victory of Internet player Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who gained admission to the tournament by winning a series of online tournaments. Moneymaker’s victory initiated a sudden surge of interest in the WSOP, based on the egalitarian idea that anyone – even a rank novice – can become a world champion.

In 2003, there were 839 entrants in the WSOP Main Event. In 2004, that number tripled. The crowning of the 2004 WSOP champion, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut whose trademark holographic sunglasses have become legendary, further fueled the popularity of the event among amateur (and particularly internet) players. In the 2005 Main Event, an unprecedented 5,619 entrants vied for a first prize of $7,500,000. The winner, Joseph Hachem of Australia, was a semi-professional player. The runner-up, Steve Dannenmann, an amateur from Maryland, opined that he was only “the fourth or fifth best player” in his regular home game.

Two additional hold ‘em series debuted in 2003, the World Poker Tour and Celebrity Poker Showdown. All three of these shows are still currently in production and garner a large and loyal viewership.

With the ability to edit a tournament that lasts days into just a few hours, ESPN’s World Series of Poker focuses on showing how various star players fared in each event. Key hands from throughout the many days of each event are shown, and similar, highly edited coverage of final tables is also provided.

The World Poker Tour does not offer general coverage of the multi-day poker tournaments. Instead, WPT covers only the action at the final table of each event. With aggressive play and increasing blinds and antes, the important action from a single table can easily be edited into a two hour episode. Although the tournament fate of fewer stars are chronicled this way, it allows the drama to build more naturally toward the final heads up showdown.

Celebrity Poker Showdown coverage is a single table like World Poker Tour, however, the players are much less skilled and are invited to participate instead of winning their way on.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Optimal starting hand standards can be very sensitive to factors such as the betting structure of a game, position, and the character of the other players, as well as the rules of the game being played.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Pocket Aces refers to a starting poker hand that contains two Aces. The most common context is a game of Texas Hold’em.Other names for Ace-Ace include American Airlines, bullets, and rockets.

In a conventional game of hold’em, Ace-Ace is the best possible starting hand. It is the best hand before the flop, is the hand most likely to form the best hand after the flop, and in the long run shows the most earning potential of any starting hand. The second-best starting hand is King-King.

It is also possible to have pocket aces in a game of seven-card stud, if the two hole cards are aces.

The odds against being dealt pocket aces are 220:1.

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In poker, the nut hand, or just the nuts, is the strongest hand possible in any particular situation. The term applies mostly to community card poker games to mean the individual holding that makes the strongest hand possible with the given board of community cards. By extension, the term is used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.For example in Texas hold ‘em, if the board is ♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding

♠ 8♠ has the nuts (a -high straight flush in spades), and cannot lose. Sometimes it is useful to know that your hand is the second or third best possible. On this same board, the hand ♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand, four fives; and the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a full house A-A-A-5-5.

In high-low split games one often speaks of “nut low” and “nut high” hands separately. With an Omaha board identical to the one above, any hand with

Finally, one also hears terms such as “nut flush” or “nut full house” to mean the highest hand possible in that particular category in the circumstances, even though that may not be strictly the nut hand. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the “nut full house”, even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible.

The phrase originates from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America. If one bet to the sum of everything he possessed, he would place the “nuts” of his wagon wheels on the table. Most likely, this was to ensure that, should the wagerer lose the hand, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Obviously, to make such a bet one would need to be sure that he has the best possible hand.

There is also a possibility of having a nut losing hand (a hand that will lose to anything). For example, this occurs when the board has four of a kind and a deuce. In this situation, if you hold pocket 2′s, there is no possibility of this hand winning a showdown with any other hand, as any opponent must have a better kicker than you.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Hand Two – Individual Hand Tutorials

Non-standard poker hands are hands which are not recognized by official poker rules but are created by house rules. Non-standard hands usually appear in games using wild cards or bugs. Other terms for nonstandard hands are special hands or freak hands. Because the hands are defined by house rules, the composition and ranking of these hands is subject to variation. Any player participating in a game with non-standard hands should be sure to determine the exact rules of the game before play begins.The usual hierarchy of poker hands from highest to lowest runs as follows (standard poker hands are in italics):

• Five of a kind: Five cards of the same rank, only possible using one or more wild cards.
• Skeet flush: The same cards as a skeet and all in the same suit.
• Straight flush: The highest straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 suited, is also called a royal flush.
• Four of a kind: Between two equal sets of four of a kind (possible in wild card and community card poker games), the kicker determines the winner.
• Big bobtail: A four card straight flush (four cards of the same suit in consecutive order).
• Full house
• Flush: When wild cards are used, a wild card contained in a flush is considered to be of the highest rank not already present in the hand. For example, in the hand (Wild) 10♥ 8♥ 5♥ 4♥, the wild card plays as the A♥, but in the hand A♣ K♣ (Wild) 9♣ 6♣, it plays as the Q♣. A variation is the double-ace flush rule, in which a wild card in a flush always plays as an ace, even if one is already present. In such a game, the hand A♠ (Wild) 9♠ 5♠ 2♠ would defeat A♦ K♦ Q♦ 10♦ 8♦ (the wild card playing as an imaginary second A♠), whereas by the standard rules it would lose (because even with the wild card playing as a K♠, the latter hand’s Q♦ outranks the former’s ♠).
• Big cat: See cats and dogs below.
• Little cat: See cats and dogs below.
• Big dog: See cats and dogs below.
• Little dog: See cats and dogs below.
• Straight: When wild cards are used, the wild card becomes whichever rank is necessary to complete the straight. If two different ranks would complete a straight, it becomes the higher. For example, in the hand J♦ 10♠ 9♣ (Wild) 7♠, the wild card plays as an (of any suit; it doesn’t matter). In the hand (Wild) 6♥ 5♦ 4♥ 3♦, it plays as a
• (even though a would also make a straight).
• Wheel: The sequence 5-4-3-2-A. This could technically be considered a round-the-corner straight, but is frequently played even if other round-the-corner straights are not allowed, particularly in pai gow poker. When wheels are recognized as distinct from round-the-corner straights, they are ranked as straights: in most games they are considered five-high, and thus the lowest possible straights, but in pai gow poker they rank between king-high and ace-high straights.
• Wrap-around straight: Also called round-the-corner straight. Consecutive cards including an ace which counts as both the high and low card. (Example Q-K-A-2-3).
• Skip straight: Also called alternate straight, Dutch straight, or skipper. Cards are in consecutive order, skipping every other card. (Example 3-5-7-9-J).
• Five and dime: All cards are fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, or tens with no pair.
• Skeet: Also called pelter or bracket. A hand with a deuce; a three or a four; a five; a six, a seven, or an eight; and a nine.
• Three of a kind
• Little bobtail: A three card straight flush (three cards of the same suit in consecutive order).
• Flash: One card of each suit plus a joker.
• Blaze: Also called blazer. All cards are jacks, queens, or kings.
• Two pair
• Russ: Five cards of the same color.
• Bobtail flush: Also called four flush. Four cards of the same suit.
• Flush house: Three cards of one suit and two cards of another.
• Bobtail straight: Also called four straight. Four cards in consecutive order.
• One pair
• High card

Some poker games are played with a deck that has been stripped of certain cards, usually low-ranking ones. For example, the Australian game of Manila uses a 32-card deck in which all cards below the rank of 7 are removed, and Mexican stud removes the s, s, and s. In both of these games, a flush ranks above a full house, because having fewer cards of each suit available makes full houses more common.

Cats and dogs

“Cats” (or “tigers”) and “dogs” are types of no-pair hands defined by their highest and lowest cards. The remaining three cards are kickers. Dogs and cats rank above straights and below flushes. Usually, when cats and dogs are played, they are the only unconventional hands allowed.

• Little dog: Seven high, two low (for example, 7-6-4-3-2). It ranks just above a straight, and below a flush or any other cat or dog.
• Big dog: Ace high, nine low (for example, A-K-J-10-9). Ranks above a straight or little dog, and below a flush or cat.
• Little cat (or little tiger): Eight high, three low. Ranks above a straight or any dog, but below a flush or big cat.
• Big cat (or big tiger): King high, eight low. It ranks just below a flush, and above a straight or any other cat or dog.

Some play that dog or cat flushes beat a straight flush, under the reasoning that a plain dog or cat beats a plain straight. This makes the big cat flush the highest hand in the game.

Kilters

A Kilter, also called Kelter, is a generic term for a number of different non-standard hands. Depending on house rules, a Kilter may be a Skeet, a Little Cat, a Skip Straight, or some variation of one of these hands.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Poker Hands – Initial Guide

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Whether to continue with a drawing hand is usually a function of pot odds. Typically, if a player with a strong “made hand” suspects another player of being “on a draw”, the player with the made hand will make a strong bet, so that it is mathematically incorrect for the other player to “chase”.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

One of the things that makes no limit Texas hold ‘em strategically rich and interesting is the unusual relationship of advantage and dominance among various Starting hands. For example, the hand A♣ K♦ is a slight favorite over J♠ 10♠; this hand is a slight favorite over ♠ 4♣; and in a non-transitive relationship, the fours are a small favorite over A♣ K♦. None of these hands dominates any other, but A♣ K♦ does dominate A♥ Q♦, ♠ 4♣ is dominated by ♠ ♥, and J♠ 10♠ is dominated by Q♣ J♣.