There are many types of poker games. While poker was originally played with each player receiving five cards and only one betting round, it has expanded to include hundreds of variants. Currently, the most popular one is Texas Hold’em, but other variants are very popular.
Here are some common rule variations:
1. High-low split: the highest and lowest hands split the pot. Generally there is a qualifier for the low hand. For example, the low hand must have 5 cards with ranks of 8 or less. In most high-low games the usual rank of poker hands is observed, so that an unsuited broken straight (7-5-4-3-2) wins low (see Morehead, Official Rules of Card Games). In a variant, based on Lowball, where only the low hand wins, a straight or a flush does not matter for a low hand. So the best low hand is 5-4-3-2-A, suited or not.
2. Players can pass cards to each other. An example of this would be Anaconda.
3. ‘Kill game’. When a fixed limit game is played and a player wins two pots in a row, the stakes are doubled.
4. Wild cards are added. This can range from simply making deuces wild to the wild 7-stud variant of baseball.
5. A twist round in which players can buy another card from the deck. If a player does not like their card, they can purchase another one by adding money to the pot. This is sometimes called a “Tittle.”
6. A stripped deck may be used. Poker was first played with only 20 cards. In the spirit of poker history, players will sometimes only play with a stripped deck. A popular poker game in Spain is played with cards 8-A. It is played similar to hold’em, except that one card is dealt at a time and you must use both of your hole cards.
7. Each player is dealt a certain amount of cards. Then there is usually a number of community cards that all players can use. When forming a poker hand a player may use cards from his hand and the “community cards”. Examples of community card poker include Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold ‘em
Set of 52 French style playing cards with two jokers
A playing card is a typically hand-sized rectangular (in India, round) piece of heavy paper or thin plastic used for playing card games. A complete set of cards is a pack or deck. Playing cards are often used as props in magic tricks, as well as occult practices such as cartomancy, and a number of card games involve (or can be used to support) gambling. As a result, their use sometimes meets with disapproval from some religious groups (such as conservative Christians). They are also a popular collectible (as distinct from the cards made specifically for collectible trading card games). Specialty and novelty decks are commonly produced for collectors, often with political, cultural, or educational themes. One side of each card (the “front” or “face”) carries markings that distinguish it from the others and determine its use under the rules of the particular game being played, while the other side (the “back”) is identical for all cards, usually a plain color or abstract design. In most games, the cards are assembled into a “deck” (or “pack”), and their order is randomized by a procedure called “shuffling” to provide an element of chance in the game.
Some typical Anglo-American playing cards from the Bicycle brand
Reference
Parlett, David. The Oxford Guide to Card Games. 1990. ISBN 0-19-214165-1.
The game of poker as played today requires that players agree before play on allowable amounts for betting (called limits), and the use and amount of forced bets. These are collectively called the betting structure of the game.
The betting structure of a poker game is a more significant factor in its balance of luck and skill than the game variant being played. Higher forced bets and smaller limits increase the influence of chance. Smaller forced bets and larger limits increase the element of skill. Good games are carefully balanced so that skillful players will win in the long run while recreational players can win often enough for the game to be exciting to them.
The reason that higher forced bets with smaller limits increases the luck factor is simple enough. With a lot of money in the pot due to the antes, the small forced bet is getting high odds – it is, therefore, worthwhile calling with any hand.
For example, in Texas Hold ‘em, suppose the antes are $10 per player, and the blinds are at $5 and $10. With nine players the pot is $105 before the first player to act has to decide whether or not to call the $10 big blind. That first player is getting odds of 10.5 to 1 on a call – this makes any hand worth playing.
Consequently, various skills such as hand selection and reading player’s hands are reduced in value and the game becomes a dice-shoot.
Pokerspecs are a new design of sunglasses, invented by Graham Hiew, and made especially for poker players. They débuted at the World Poker Series in July 2005. Pokerspecs work by tilting the lenses so that a poker player is able to see his cards, but not reveal his eyes to his opponents.
Describing an action taken before receiving information to which the player would normally be entitled. I’m drawing three, and I check in the dark.
dead blind
A blind that is not “live”, in that the player posting it does not have the option to raise if other players just call. Rarely used.
dead button
A dealer button placed in a position where there is no player. This occurs in some casinos when the player who would otherwise be entitled to the button leaves the game (other casinos move the button forward to the next player). This occurs frequently during poker tournaments, due to player elimination.
dead hand
A player’s hand that is not entitled to participate in the deal for some reason, such as having been fouled by touching another player’s cards, being found to contain the wrong number of cards, being dealt to a player who did not make the appropriate forced bets, etc.
dead man’s hand
A dead man’s hand is the famous hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot and killed in 1877, consisting of a pair of aces and a pair of eights of the black suits (spades and clubs); but often refers to any two pairs of aces and eights.
dead money
Money placed into a pot that does not represent equal bets and calls by active players in the pot. This can be the earlier bets of players who have folded, or money placed in the pot before the deal.
By extension, it is used as a derogatory term for money put in play by unskilled players who are legally eligible, but unlikely, to win it back. Can also refer to the player: Let’s play that stud game–Joe and Diane are dead money.
deadwood
The muck.
deal
To distribute cards to players in accordance with the rules of the game being played.
A single instance of a game of poker, begun by shuffling the cards and ending with the award of a pot. Also called a “hand” (though both terms are ambiguous).
An agreement to split tournament prize money differently from the announced payouts.
dealer
The person dealing the cards, or the person who assumes that role for the purposes of betting order in a game, even though someone else might be physically dealing. In the latter case, that player is often marked with a button, and may be called “the button”.
dealer’s choice
A version of poker in which the deal passes each game and each dealer can choose, or invent, a new poker game each hand.
declare
To verbally indicate an action or intention.
decloak
To raise after having sandbagged for a time (making it clear that you were, in fact, sandbagging).
deep
Describing a large amount of money, either in play or having been lost. How deep are you? (meaning “How much money do you have”, in anticipation of making a very large bet). I won that large pot, but I’m in much deeper than that.
defense
Playing to minimize investment or loss rather than maximize a win; for example, with a drawing hand that is risky but that you think should call an opponent’s bet, you might make a smaller “defensive bet” yourself that you think your opponent will just call, rather than checking and calling a larger bet, or showing weakness.
Occasionally calling with weak hands to discourage opponents from bullying, especially when in the blinds.
deuce
A 2-spot card.
Any of various related uses of the number two, such as a $2 limit game, a $2 chip, etc.
deuce-to-seven
A method of evaluating low hands.
discard
To take a previously dealt card out of play. The set of all discards for a deal is called the “muck” or the “deadwood”.
dog
Underdog; that is, a player with a smaller chance to win than another specified player. Frequently used when the exact odds are expressed. Harry might have been bluffing, but if he really had the king, my hand was a 4-to-1 dog, so I folded.
dominated hand
A hand that is extremely unlikely to win against another specific hand, even though it may not be a poor hand in its own right. Most commonly used in Texas hold ‘em. A hand like A-Q, for example, is a good hand in general but is dominated by A-K, because whenever the former makes a good hand, the latter is likely to make a better one. A hand like 7-8 is a poor hand in general, but is not dominated by A-K because it makes different kinds of hands.
donation
A call made by a player who fully expects to lose; made either out of boredom or irrational optimism.
donk, donkey
Epithet for an inexperienced, unskilled, or foolish poker player. I played that hand like a donkey.
donk (verb)
To play a hand poorly. I donked off 15 bucks on that last hand.
door card
In a stud game, a player’s first face-up card. Patty paired her door card on fifth street and raised, so I put her on trips.
Window card.
double-ace flush
Under unconventional rules, a flush with one or more wild cards in which they play as aces, even if an ace is already present.
double-board, double-flop
Any of several community card game variants (usually Texas hold ‘em) in which two separate boards of community cards are dealt simultaneously, with the pot split between the winning hands using each board.
double-draw
Any of several Draw poker games in which the draw phase and subsequent betting round are repeated twice.
double gutter, double belly buster
In games involving six or more cards, a draw to a straight that can be filled by two ranks, but that is not an open-ender. For example, K-J-10-9-7, which can become a straight with any Q or 8.
double through, double up
In a big bet game, to bet all of one’s chips on one hand against a single opponent (who has an equal or larger stack) and win, thereby doubling your stack. I was losing a bit, but then I doubled through Sarah to put me in good shape.
downcard
A card that is dealt facedown.
down to the felt
All in, or having lost all of one’s money. Refers to the green felt surface of a poker table no longer obscured by chips.
drag light
To pull chips away from the pot to indicate that you don’t have enough money to cover the bet. If you win, the amount is ignored. If you lose, you must cover the amount from your pocket.
draw
Draw poker.
To replace one or more cards in one’s hand with new ones from the deck stub, as in draw poker.
The act of staying in a hand in hopes of improving, usually to a straight or flush–on a draw.
A drawing hand.
drawing hand
In any game, an incomplete hand which is not likely to win unless future cards, received by whatever means the game specifies, improve it. For example, having four club-suited cards but no pair in a stud game, hoping that one of the cards to come will be a fifth club, making a flush.
drawing dead
Playing a drawing hand that will lose even if successful (a state of affairs usually only discovered after the fact). I caught the jack to make my straight, but Rob had a full house all along, so I was drawing dead.
drawing live
Not drawing dead; that is, drawing to a hand that will win if successful.
drawing thin
Not drawing completely dead, but chasing a draw in the face of poor odds. Example: a player who will only win by catching 1 or 2 specific cards is said to be drawing thin.
drink pot
A pot won by a player with the agreement that drinks will be bought from the proceeds.
drop
To fold.
Money charged by the casino for providing its services, often dropped through a slot in the table into a strong box.
To drop ones cards to the felt to indicate that one is in or out of a game like guts.
dry pot
A side pot with no money. Created when a player goes all in and is called by more than one opponent, but not raised. Bluffing into a dry pot is a play that cannot possibly earn a profit, so doing so is considered foolish. It may also be unethical, because it serves to protect the all-in player at the expense of the bettor and the other players, and so is a form of collusion.
dump, dumped
To lose a large quantity of ones stack to another player on a particular hand or set of hands in short succession. I dumped half my stack to John after he cracked my Kings.
duplicate
To counterfeit, especially when the counterfeiting card matches one already present in the one’s hand.
In poker, a Multi-table tournament (MTT) is a tournament that involves multiple tables. A table generally sits 9 or 10 players, and MTT tournaments can incorporate up to 200 or more tables, for a total of 2000 entrants. MTTs are attractive because the payouts are rather large near the top. For a small investment (and a lot of time) one can win a large monetary prize if they finish In the Money.
A simple faux pas is to not act in accordance with the cardroom’s rules. For example, to raise, one typically places all the chips, those to call (if any) and the raise in one motion; you cannot do two hand gestures (this is called a string raise), unless you state your intentions prior to placing chips.
Cards are to be face-down to other players until showdown. If you fold, you hand in your cards face-down. If you are in the hand until showdown, you turn up your cards if either you are first to show (last person to raise shows first) or if your hand is superior to the hands previously exposed. Do not expose cards prior to showdown; depending on local rules, this may mean a comittment to check all raises or you may forfeit the hand.
If you are requested to cease an activity by a dealer or any other representative of the cardroom, cease that activity.
Damaging cards is both fairly difficult (because most places use cellulose-acetate cards which are hard to mark, scratch, and bend, and last approximately five years in daily play) and forbidden.
Don’t blame the dealer for a string of bad hands. Don’t ask the dealer to “switch decks”. This may annoy the other players and it will slow down gameplay.
Speak only English in an American cardroom. If they can’t understand you, they may assume you are in collusion with someone.
Turn off your cell phone, or set it to vibrate mode. Do not pick it up during game play. If you pick it up, there’s the possibility you are receiving information that may provide a clue to the other players’ hands, and are therefore cheating.
Keep your food and drinks off the table. The table is for playing cards and poker chips, not soda pop and potato chips. You have small stands around the tables to hold beverages and food. Food at the table, though, is not recommended if it leaves a residue on your hands. Sandwiches OK, BBQ ribs and fried chicken, no.
Cheating is right out. Having said that, do not accuse other players of being cheaters. If you are wrong (most likely), you will make an unnecessary scene and end up tossed from the room. If you’re right, the cameras above you will catch the guy in the act for you.
You cannot buy more chips while a round is in progress.
Failing to call out, “all-in” when you are is a minor issue.
All your chips must remain on the table during play. You may not remove chips from the table to your pockets, or vice versa.
Remember when you must pay forced bets, such as blinds in Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha Hold ‘em.
Keep the game play flowing. By the time the bet comes round to you, you should know what your course of action is. Calling for “time” when you have a difficult decision to make is acceptable as long as you don’t take excessively long or do this very often.
Remember, the cards speak for themselves. When the hand is over, don’t overstate your hand in an effort to cause an opponent to throw away a better hand. Also, don’t throw away your own hand until your opponent shows a better hand; he might not have read this etiquette page, and could be lying about having a straight flush. The dealer is the adjudicator of each round.
Knocking the table is a check, tossing your cards is a fold. Saying “Check” or knocking the table is the same thing. Placing your chips down without a spoken amount commits you to the full value of the laid chips or the table maximum, whichever applies. Calling a raise means following through.
The most important thing: NEVER EVER PLAY WITH MONEY YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE.
“Bottom dealing” is a form of cheating in poker and other card games. It consists of placing high cards on the bottom of the deck while shuffling and dealing those cards to yourself or your teammates. Bottom dealing is both easier to commit and easier to detect than second dealing.
Sandbagging (also called slow play) is deceptive play in poker that is roughly the opposite of bluffing: betting weakly with a strong holding rather than betting strongly with a weak one. The check-raise is one such play.
This might involve a check or call with a hand that you might otherwise raise with, to lure other players into the pot who might fold to a raise, or to lure them into betting more strongly than they would if you had bet or raised. This is often dangerous because it sacrifices the protection that a bet or raise would give you, and it also risks losing the pot-building value of a bet if your opponents also check. It can nonetheless be profitable to do this under circumstances that include the following:
Your hand is so strong that protection isn’t needed.
An opponent is likely to bet when you don’t.
Opponents are likely to fold or just call if you bet.
Here’s an example from a four-handed draw poker game among Alice, Bob, Carol, and David: After anteing, Alice looks at her hand to find a pair of aces, and opens the betting for $2. Bob raises an additional $2, bringing the bet to $4. Carol folds. David calls the $4, and Alice puts in an additional $2 to match the raise. Drawing three cards, she receives another ace, and a pair of fives. Since her aces-full is almost certain to be unbeatable, it does not need the protection of a bet (and this is the last betting round, where protection applies less anyway). Also, Bob earlier raised, and David called a raise, so they likely have strong hands and one of them will bet if Alice doesn’t. Finally, since Bob and David earlier showed strength, and they know that Alice knows this, Alice betting into them would be seen as a bold move likely to scare one or both of them off, especially if they weren’t as strong as they seem. This is a perfect place for a check-raise. Alice checks. As she hoped, Bob bets $2. David thinks for a minute, then calls the $2. Alice now springs the trap and raises $2. Bob calls the additional $2, and David (who now realizes that he is probably beaten) folds. Bob reveals three sixes, and surrenders the pot to Alice. If Alice had just bet her hand on the second round, it is likely that Bob would just have called and David may or may not have called, earning Alice $2 to $4 on the second round. But with the check-raise play, she earned $6.
Even in games (such as California lowball) where the check-raise is not allowed, one can make other sandbagging plays such as just calling (“flat calling”) instead of raising with a very strong hand and then later raising.
In games with many betting rounds, such as stud poker and community card poker games, one can make multiple-round sandbagging plays. Let’s say, for example, you are playing Seven-card stud and your first three cards are all fours. An opponent with a king showing bets first, and you raise, getting two callers. On the next round, the first bettor catches another king, and you miraculously catch the last four. You suspect he has two pair or three kings, and he suspects that you have two pair or three fours (four of a kind is so unlikely that he will probably ignore the possibility, just as you can probably ignore the possibility that he has four kings). He bets again, and you just call. You should probably just call for next round or two, and maybe even check if no one bets, rather than raising, for several reasons. Your hand is so strong that the chance of getting beaten is negligible, so you don’t need protection. If the bettor just has two pair and you act strongly, he may think you have three fours and fold if he doesn’t improve. Allowing other players to continue for smaller stakes might allow one of them to catch a hand such as a straight, flush, or full house that will call your final bets or possibly even raise you back, building a very big pot. Finally, keeping as many players in the game as possible will make a bigger pot. At some point, though, you will have to “come out of the woodwork” and bet strongly; after all, the point of the exercise is to get more money in the pot, and you can’t do that by continuing to check on every round.
Another common sandbagging play that occurs only on the last betting round is called “fishing for the overcall”. This occurs when the last card you are dealt makes you a very strong hand, a player in front of you bets, and there are more players to act behind you. While you might normally raise with your hand, just calling may encourage the players behind you to overcall when they would have folded to a raise. This play is best when there are several players behind you, and they are the kind of player likely to call one bet but not a raise. If there is only one player behind you, for example, then getting the overcall gains no more money than raising and having the initial bettor call (at least in a fixed limit game). This play also sacrifices the profit you might have made from players who would have overcalled even the raise.
Set of 52 French style playing cards with two jokers
Some typical Anglo-American playing cards from the Bicycle brand
Paul Cézanne – The Card Players, 1895
