Also known as “seven eight” or “stud eight”, eight or better is the most common form of high-low split stud. Played as seven-card stud, but the pot is split between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand (using the ace-to-five low values). An 8-high hand or lower is required to win low. Betting takes place as if playing standard high-hand stud; that is, low card pays the bring-in, if any, on the first round, and subsequent rounds start the betting with the highest showing poker hand. The showdown is cards speak, that is, there is no declaration for high and low. Each player may choose a different subset of five cards to play for high and low. For example, a player with A-A-8-6-6-4-3 can play a high hand of A-A-6-6-8, and a low hand of 8-6-4-3-A. A player with K-9-8-7-6-5-4 can play a 9-high straight for his high hand, and 8-7-6-5-4 for low (which is the worst possible qualifying low, but it does qualify). A player with K-9-8-7-7-6-5 can play the 9-high straight for high, but cannot play any low hand, because he cannot make an 8-high or lower. If there is no qualifying low hand, high hand takes the entire pot.
This game plays well with a bug or two in the deck.
Played with one joker which acts as a bug. Must be played with antes and no blinds. Each player is dealt five cards. The first betting round begins with the player to the dealer’s left, who may check or open with anything. If any player opens, the game continues as traditional five-card draw poker. If the first round is passed out (that is, no one opens), then the player to the dealer’s left may now open if he chooses, but the game has switched to California lowball. On the rare occasion that the deal is passed out yet again, players re-ante and deal again. This game plays well head-up (that is, with only two players). When the game is played that a pair of jacks or better is required to open on the first high-hand round, the game is called “Jacks back”.
Some examples might help clarify: On the first deal, players ante and Alice deals five cards around. Bob sees that he has a 6-high straight, which is a very good hand for both high and low. He also wants to be deceptive about the value of his hand, so he checks. Carol opens for $1, David folds, Alice raises to $2, and Bob (who now realizes that Carol and Alice want to play high hands) reraises to $3, which is called by Carol and Alice. Bob announces that he “stands pat” (draws no cards). Carol draws three cards, and Alice draws two. Bob bets $2, Carol folds, Alice raises, and Bob calls. Bob shows his straight, but Alice has made a full house and wins the pot.
On the second deal, Bob has the same hand: a 6-high straight, and makes the same play, checking. This time, Carol also checks, as does David, and finally Alice. Now it is Bob’s turn again, but now they are playing lowball. He opens for $1. Carol folds, and David raises to $2. Alice folds, and Bob reraises to $3 (a 6-high is a very good low hand; much better, in fact, than a 6-high straight would be for high). David calls. Bob stands pat, and David draws one card. Bob bets $2 (he is required to bet under California lowball rules since he has a hand better than 7-high), and David calls. Bob shows his 6-5-4-3-2 low, and David shows 7-5-4-3-A low, and Bob wins with his 6-high.
Italian playing cards most commonly consist of a deck of 40 cards. Hundreds of different designs are in use in different parts of the country (about one per province). The suits are coins (sometimes suns or sunbursts), swords, cups and clubs (sometimes batons), and each suit contains an ace (or one), numbers two through seven, and three face cards. The face cards are:
King – a man standing, wearing a crown
Knight – a man sitting on a horse
Jack – a younger man standing, without a crown
Unlike Anglo-American cards, Italian cards do not have any numbers (or letters) identifying their value. The cards’ value is determined by identifying the face card or counting the number of suit characters.
A game played with a spread limit betting structure allows a player to raise any amount within a specified range.
For example, a game called “one to five limit” allows each bet to be anywhere from $1 to $5 (subject to other betting rules). These limits are typically larger in later rounds of multi-round games. For example, a game might be “one to five, ten on the end”, meaning that early betting rounds allow bets of $1 to $5, and the last betting round allows bets of $1 to $10.
Pot limit
A game played with a pot limit betting structure allows any player to raise up to an amount equal to the size of the whole pot before the raise.
For example, let us assume that there is $10 in the pot at the start of a betting round. The first player may open the betting for up to $10. If he does in fact open for $10, the next player may raise to $40 (after calling the $10 bet, the total amount of the pot is $30, so he may raise $30). The third player would be entitled to raise to $140 (after calling $40, the pot would contain $100, thus he may raise $100). Any player may also raise less than the maximum so long as his raise is equal to or greater than the immediately previous bet or raise.
In pot-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha, many structures treat the little blind as if it were the same size of the big blind in computing pot size. In such a structure, a player can open for a maximum of four times the size of the big blind. For example, if the blinds are $5 and $10, a player may open with a raise to $40. (The range of options is to either open with a call of $10, or raise in increments of five dollars to any amount from $20 to $40.) Subsequent players also treat the $5 as if it were $10 in computing the pot size, until the big blind is through acting on the first betting round.
No limit
A game played with a no limit betting structure allows each player to raise any amount of his stake at any time (subject to the table stakes rules and any other rules about raising).
In poker, a drawing hand is a hand that is not yet “complete”; that is, one which does not yet rank highly, but which may do later, depending on what cards a player receives. This contrasts with a “made hand” – a hand which is already somewhat strong.
An illustrative example from Texas Hold ‘em: if Alice holds A♣ K♣, Bob holds 6♦ 7♦, and the flop comes 5♠ 8♠ K♥, then Alice has a fairly strong “made hand” (a pair of Kings, with an Ace kicker), while Bob has a drawing hand: an open-ended straight draw. If allowed to see the final two community cards, Bob can expect to catch a 4 or a 9 (thus completing his straight and winning) about a third of the time.
Whether to continue with a drawing hand is usually a function of pot odds and implied 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”.
One possible algorithm for shuffling cards without the use of a trusted third party is to use a commutative encryption scheme. A commutative scheme means that if some data is encrypted more than once, the order in which you decrypt this data will not matter.
Example: Alice has a plaintext message. She encrypts this, producing a garbled ciphertext which she gives this to Bob. Bob encrypts the ciphertext again, using the same scheme as Alice but with another key. When decrypting this double encrypted message, if the encryption scheme is commutative, it will not matter who decrypts first.
Games may be classified and sub-classified according to many different criteria. Each scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages.
What sort of challenge / skill is involved (e.g. abstract calculation, anagramming, luck, bluffing, verbalizing, coordination, speed, etc.)?
This leads to the “Folk Model” theory of 4 categories: games of skill, games of chance, games of strategy, Simulation game propagated by Anderson/Moore and Brian Sutton-Smith. This scheme is probably most natural, and quite neatly separates billiards from chess from Tomb Raider. The main disadvantage is that too many games fall under more than one head. For example Scrabble relies a great deal on word knowledge and anagramming, but also has significant strategic aspects.
Games of skill can be further subdivided into physical-skill games and mental-skill games.
What equipment is used to play the game (e.g. a computer, a board, cards, tiles, dice, etc.)?
This categorization is also very natural and common, but sometimes problematic. For example, Balderdash is a commercial board game, whereas Fictionary is almost identical but uses no board.
This scheme seems odd since it forces similar games to be listed under completely different headings.
Other distinctions are less important, and apply more or less well to different major headings.
For example, the difference between team and individual sports is fundamental, whereas team board games are so rare as to hardly merit a category. The remaining distinctions apply mostly to non-physical games.
How many players does the game accommodate?
The most important division is between two-player and multiplayer games, because nearly all multiplayer games involve negotiation or coalition-building to some degree. Among multiplayer games it is also important (particularly to whoever is organizing the party) what range in the number of players can be accommodated. One disadvantage of this distinction is that a few games such as Titan are equally good two-player or multiplayer.
To what extent to which chance is a factor?
Games run the gamut from having no chance whatsoever (checkers, Pente) to being entirely determined by chance (roulette, Chutes and Ladders).
How deep is the strategy?
Some games (bridge, Go) can be studied for years without exhausting what there is to learn, whereas others (Three Men’s Morris) can be mastered relatively easily.
How easy is it to learn the rules of the game?
Chess and Go are often compared for their depth and abstraction, but chess has considerably more difficult rules. This consideration is particularly important for family games, where ideally children should be able to play along easily, without making the game so simple it holds no interest for adults.
Is the game relatively abstract or does it attempt to simulate some aspect of reality (e.g. stock market, war scenarios)?
For some simulation games, the realism is more important than all other factors, whereas some games (Set) are so abstract that the names and shapes of all the pieces could change without affecting playability. However, most games lie somewhere in between, with a balance between abstraction and simulation.
Are players eliminated as the game progresses, or can everyone play along until the end?
This is most important socially, as a host may wonder how to entertain guests who have been knocked out of the main event.
What is the objective of the game?
This is most useful as a sub-subheading, because different types of games tend to have different types of objectives. For example, card games have natural categories of trick-taking and shedding games, which don’t apply to board games, whereas board games have categories of capture, racing, and immobilization which don’t apply to card games.
To call a final bet while not expecting to win, for the primary purpose of discouraging future bluffs.
kicker
A card not directly involved in evaluating a hand, but that may be used for breaking ties.
A non-paired card kept before the draw in draw poker in hope of pairing it.
kill, kill pot
An occasional hand played at double the usual stakes at an agreed-upon time; often when a player wins two hands in a row, or when a player scoops in a split-pot game. The “lucky” player is often required to post an extra blind for double the usual blind amount. See also “half-kill”.
The custom of dealing one card face down to the side for each card dealt face up as community in community games. The cards dealt face down (not to any players) are out of play (have been killed) and ensure that the deck is not stacked.
kitty
A pool of money built by collecting small amounts from certain pots, often used to buy refreshments, cards, and so on. The home-game equivalent of a rake.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a collection of poker tournaments featuring most of the world’s professional players. It was started by attorney/television producer Stephen Lipscomb who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises (WPTE), the firm that controls the World Poker Tour.
The tour had its debut season in the latter part of 2002 and early part of 2003, climaxing with the WPT Championship in April 2003 at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first season aired on the Travel Channel on American cable television in the spring of 2003. The show made its network debut on February 1, 2004 on NBC with a special “Battle Of Champions” tournament, which aired against CBS coverage of the Super Bowl XXXVIII pre-game show.
The World Poker Tour is a collection of Texas hold ‘em poker tournaments held internationally and on board cruise ships, but mainly in the United States. The television show has led to a boom in the table game across American homes, local casinos and poker rooms, and online. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the key sponsors of the tour are casinos and online poker sites. The show, which is syndicated internationally, is co-hosted by World Series of Poker winner Mike Sexton, and actor Vince Van Patten. Former model Shana Hiatt served as the show host and sideline reporter in its first three seasons. Former newscaster Courtney Friel took over the host role for the fourth season in 2005-06.
First exemplified by the long-running World Series of Poker main event, a poker tournament gives each player an equal amount of chips to start, with colors representing different values. Play continues, typically over several days until one player has acquired all of the chips. When that occurs, that player has won the game and captures the grand prize, approximately 30-35% of the total prize pool. The resulting winner’s check can exceed one million dollars. All other competitors finish with no chips, but win a portion of the prize pool according to the order in which they left the tournament. The last player to lose all of his chip-stack finishes in 2nd position, typically worth approximately 20% of the prize pool.
The drawing power of the WPT, like any poker tournament, is that anyone who can pay the “buy-in” (an entry fee usually worth a few thousand dollars) or win a “satellite” tournament is able to compete against the top professional players, such as Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, or the top 2004 tournament money and multi-WPT tournament winner, Daniel Negreanu.
Fans of the show find it interesting due to technical innovations such as the ability to see the players’ hole cards through a small camera in front of them on the poker table (an innovation first seen on the UK programme Late Night Poker). Due to the success of the show, special programs, such as the “Hollywood Home Game”, featuring celebrities playing for charity, and “Ladies Night”, where six of the top women played against each other, were developed.
In 2004 the World Poker Tour created a Walk of Fame, inducting poker legends Doyle Brunson and Gus Hansen as well as actor James Garner.
Now in its fourth season of broadcast, it still remains among the highest rated television programs on cable. It airs Wednesdays on the Travel Channel. The first three seasons of WPT are also available on NTSC DVD. (The second season DVD set features audio commentary by several of the players. The third season is only available in a “Best Of” format, featuring just half of the episodes.)
A series of spin-off tournaments, titled the Professional Poker Tour, began filming in 2004. No episodes have as yet been broadcast, partly due to a dispute with the Travel Channel over rights. In the fall of 2005, WPTE announced that “a cable channel” (believed to be ESPN) had withdrawn from bidding for the PPT series, and that WPTE was negotiating with the Travel Channel to air the series.
In 2008, the WPT started offering bracelets to its event champions. Players who won a title prior to the release of the bracelet, were given one retroactively.
Player of the Year
Points are awarded for all Open events as follows:
Winner: 1000 points
Runner-up: 700 points
3rd place: 600 points
4th place: 500 points
5th place: 400 points
6th place: 300 points
7th place (TV bubble): 200 points
This award is given out to one player per season.
This award is given out to one player per season. The winners so far are:
Season 1: Howard Lederer
Season 2: Erick Lindgren
Season 3: Daniel Negreanu
Season 4: Gavin Smith
Season 5: J. C. Tran
Season 6: Jonathan Little
Season 7: Bertrand Grospellier
Below are the World Poker Tour events that have broken the record for the first prize.
Generally speaking, one should try to set the highest two-card hand that you can legally set (that is, the best two-card hand that still leaves a higher five-card hand behind). More specifically, one should expect and “average” hand to be something like a medium-to-high pair behind in the five-card hand and an ace-high in front. Detailed computer analysis has been done to determine ideal strategy, but this requires memorizing large tables. A close approximation can be done with only a few rules of thumb. If you are playing in a casino, you can always ask that your hand be set “house way” if you are in doubt; most house strategies are quite reasonable and can be quite close to optimal strategy.
If you have no pair, no straights, and no flushes, set the second- and third-highest cards in your two-card hand. For example, with K-Q-J-9-7-4-3, play Q-J and K-9-7-4-3. There are a few minor exceptions to this (for example, with A-Q-10-9-5-4-2 it is slightly better to play Q-9 and A-10-5-4-2), but these are rare and don’t affect your win rate much.
If you have nothing but a single pair, set it in your five-card hand and put the two highest remaining cards in your two-card hand. For example, with A-Q-Q-9-6-5-3, play A-9 and Q-Q-6-5-3. There are no exceptions to this rule. This rule and the rule above will cover 90% of the hands you play.
Two pair is the most common case where strategy isn’t obvious. You can either play the high pair behind and small pair in front, or else two pair behind and high cards in front. The smaller your high pair and higher your remaining cards, the more you should be inclined to play two pair behind. If your side cards are small, or your larger pair is large, split the pairs. You should always split pairs if your high pair is aces, and almost always split if your high pair is kings or queens; they are high enough by themselves. With something like J-J-4-4-A-Q-5 you can consider playing A-Q and J-J-4-4-5-, since A-Q in front is not much worse than 4-4, but two pair behind is much better than a single pair of jacks. Jacks and tens might be more inclined to split, because tens in front is much better than A-Q. With pairs as small as 7s and 8s, you might consider playing two pair behind if you can play a king-high or better in front. With 2s and 3s, you might even play as little as a queen-high in front. If you have no side cards higher than a jack, always split pairs, even 2s and 3s. (Most house ways split if there’s a pair of 6s or higher, and split small pairs if there’s no Ace for the low hand.)
Three pair is a very good hand. Always play the highest pair in front, no exceptions. For example, with K-K-7-7-4-4-A, play K-K and 7-7-4-4-A.
If you have three of a kind and nothing else, play three of a kind behind and remaining high cards in front, unless they are aces–always split three aces, playing a pair of aces behind and ace-high in front. Occasionally, you can even split three kings if your remaining side cards are not queen-high (for example, with K-K-K-J-9-7-6, it is slightly better to play K-J and K-K-9-7-6 than to play J-9 and K-K-K-7-6). Most house ways only split three Aces.
If you can play a straight or a flush or both, play whichever straight-or-better five-card hand makes the best two-card hand. For example, with K♠-9♠-8♣-7♠-6♣-5♠-4♠, playing the flush would put 8-6 in front, playing the 9-high straight would put K-4 up front, but the correct play is K-9 and 8-7-6-5-4. Occasionally, you will have a straight or flush with two pair; in that case, play as if it were two pair and ignore the straight or flush. This rule applies even if you can play a straight flush: if a straight or flush makes a better hand in front, play it that way.
With a full house, generally play trips behind and the pair in front. The exception is if the pair is very small and your side cards are very high, for example, with 5-5-5-3-3-A-Q, it might be better to play A-Q with the full house behind. These are rare, though, and you will never be making a big mistake if you never play a full house behind. House ways will always split the full house.
With two sets of trips, play the higher as a pair in front, and the smaller trips behind. For example, with Q-Q-Q-7-7-7-A, play Q-Q and 7-7-7-A-Q. No exceptions.
With four of a kind, play as if it were two pair, but be slightly less inclined to split. For example, with 10-10-10-10-J-5-4, play 10-10 and 10-10-J-5-4; with 3-3-3-3-K-Q-7, play K-Q and 3-3-3-3-7. Most house ways always split the four of a kind.
With three pair and a straight or flush (only possible with the joker), play as three pair (aces in front).
The cases below will probably never happen to you, but just in case:
With four of a kind and a pair, play the pair in front unless it is very small and the four of a kind is very large. For example, with 9-9-9-9-7-7-K, play 7-7 and 9-9-9-9-K, but with Q-Q-Q-Q-3-3-9, you might play Q-Q and Q-Q-3-3-9. House ways always put the quartet in back and the pair in front.
With a full house and a pair, play the higher pair in front and a full house in back.
With four of a kind and trips, split the four to play a pair in front and full house behind. House ways will tend to break the trips.
With all four aces and the joker, play a pair of aces in front and three aces (or a full house) behind UNLESS your back pair is a pair of kings; you get the honor of gloating on this one.
