On April 15, 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down three major poker sites, Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, and Absolute Poker. A grand jury has charged 11 defendants, including the founders of the poker sites, with bank fraud, money laundering, and violating gambling laws. The prosecutors are claiming that the sites tricked and bribed U.S. banks to receive profits from online gambling, an act that violated UIGEA. The same day, former Senator D’Almato released a comment on behalf of the PPA. He asserts that, “Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such.” D’Almato made no comment on the specific charges raised but promised a response once the “full facts become available.” (Wikipedia)
3 online poker houses face fraud charges in NYC Forbes Authorities in New York City have unsealed an indictment charging 11 people with bank fraud and illegal gambling in a prosecution of the three largest Internet poker companies. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan …
Lawyer: Utah bank exec arrested in online poker case had no authority to make … Greenfield Daily Reporter A Utah bank executive arrested in a federal prosecution of the three biggest Internet poker companies had no authority to make deals for the bank, its attorney said. Lawyer Loren Weiss, who represents SunFirst Bank in St. George, …
Three largest online poker sites shut down by FBI Lottery Post Its illegal to play online poker in the US. If Joe doesn’t drive even to the nearest casino the bustards fooling with oil futures will be in a deep trouble. Its illegal to play online poker in the US. If Joe doesn’t drive even to the nearest casino the …
Possible Australian Connection In US Online Poker Debacle Online-Casinos.com It has been speculated in a few reports that the Online Poker shut down in the USA has been brought about by the young Australian entrepreneur Daniel Tzvetkoff. A short while ago in August of last year Daniel Tzvetkoff was arrested in Las Vegas under …
The Morning After: Players Speak on the Online Poker Shutdown Bluff Magazine It’s only been 24 hours since the news broke that online poker as we know it in the United States is over, but the impact the news has made on the poker community is already far-reaching. Players instantly took to Twitter to joke about being unemployed …
Casino mogul ends PokerStars association following ‘Black Friday’ Manx Radio A statement released by Wynn’s firm says, ““Wynn Resorts Limited announced today that it terminated its alliance with PokerStars, the online poker company. “The decision was reached as a result of the indictment unsealed by the US Attorney for the …
Poker company indictments further cloud legislative debate Las Vegas Sun It also doesn’t look so hot for Wynn Resorts, coincidentally represented by Perkins, too, which signed a deal March 25 with the online poker behemoth. Or for Station Casinos, which partnered with Full Tilt less than a week later. …
US clampdown a massive blow to online poker Winnipeg Free Press I wanted to discuss the Manitoba Poker Championship in this column, but due to the magnitude of Friday’s events, that will have to wait at least one more week.
DOJ indicts founders of top US online poker sites MarketWatch Federal authorities unsealed an indictment Friday against the founders of the three largest internet poker companies operating in the US The indictment charges eleven defendants, including the founders of …
Blogosphere
FBI shuts down poker sites in online gambling crackdownTechnology Boing Boing On Friday, the FBI shut down three of the world’s most popular online poker sites, replacing their home pages with the message: “This domain name has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an Arrest Warrant.
FBI Shuts Down Top Online Poker Sites The Big Lead Yesterday the department of Justice charged the owners of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with bank fraud, illegal gambling offenses and money laundering.
The Fallout From The Full Tilt / PokerStars Pullout Bill’s Poker Blog I said I was going to cover what this all means on a few topics when I got home and as I start to write this it’s 6:07am and I’ve just spent a sleepless night on the bus from Phetchabun so I’ll probably just do a quick draft and finish up after …
FBI Shuts Down Online Poker Sites Drudge Retort Eleven executives at the online poker sites PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have been charged with bank fraud and money laundering
Poker Sites Charged with Gambling Offenses [H]ardOCP Eleven defendants from 3 online poker sites were indicted on multiple charges stemming from illegal gambling profits. The Manhattan US Attorney charged the operators of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker with conspiracy.
One of the easiest ways to cheat at poker is with a partner or many partners, called collusion. This is basically playing differently against one or more players than you do against others at the table (in contrast to mechanics, which is directly manipulating cards or chips in violation of the rules). The gravity of such cheating ranges from the subconscious to the conspiratorial. Some common forms of collusion are soft play, that is, failing to bet or raise in a situation that would normally merit it because of your opponent; whipsawing, where partners at opposite ends of the table raise and reraise each other to trap players in between; and dumping, or deliberately losing to a partner (perhaps someone you are backing financially or with whom you have traded a percentage stake). Signalling (that is, trading information between partners) is probably the most egregious example of such cheating, but all of these are considered bad play and should not be tolerated at any poker game.
In friendly games it is common to be playing against someone you know well. Perhaps your spouse may be playing at the game with the rest of your friends. Suddenly your luck turns for the worse. Subconsciously, you are less willing to take the money of the people you know or love. Perhaps one fellow has been getting bad hands all evening, and you know he has car payments to make, and this changes the game being played. The best advice is to leave friendship outside the poker game. Especially in tournament poker, soft-playing a friend is cheating all of the other players out of their chance to see you bust your friend, getting them closer to the prize money.
For this reason, there are laws in some U.S. states saying that a husband and wife cannot play poker at the same table. Perhaps the easiest way to exploit such a situation is to agree to split the profits (after all, couples often have shared bank accounts). Even without any explicit collusion during the game, this reduces the variance of the team as a whole.
It should come as no surprise that two people sharing information about their hands enjoy a great advantage over the other players. If you do not believe this, deal out a few poker hands, but deal yourself two. The idea is that these players signal one another and only play the better of the two hands. Signals can take many forms, from the placement of the chips on the cards to morse code tappings on the table. The key ingredient in all signaling systems is the ability to be repeated unobtrusively. In order for this advantage to make money it has to be done many times without someone realizing it. In a game where people (hopefully) are always watching each other, this can prove problematic. When a cheat is signaling the value of his hand to his partner, he is also signaling the value of his hand to everyone at the table. The result of a system of signals being figured out is nothing short of financial disaster. Some games are more susceptible to this kind of cheating than others: in Five-card stud and Lowball, for example, signalling the rank of just one card can give another player sufficient information to make many otherwise difficult decisions.
Collusion in online poker is relatively easy and much more difficult to spot if executed well. The main reason is that the cheaters can engage in instant messaging discussing their cards with no one looking at them. Sometimes the same person can be using two or more computers and playing under different aliases. This gives him an advantage that’s difficult to work against. However many poker rooms have imposed a maximum of one account per household, though a determined cheater can still bypass this by using multiple connections thus having different IP addresses. However, online poker sites keep records of every hand played, and collusion can often be detected by finding the appropriate pattern. Many sites also offer head-to-head (heads-up) games, where collusion is not useful.
Another concern in online poker is the use of software called “bots” (short for computer robots). These are programs that make decisions on behalf of the player based on odds etc. and also play on their behalf. Though their accuracy and ability has been questioned, it has nevertheless been seen as unfair practices by the poker room and has sought to ban them. With improvements in software and hardware it is expected that in the near future a bot that can beat a human consistently is a near certainity.
Should two people wanting to cheat be in close proximity, they might decide to hand-muck. That is, to switch hands or alter them in some way (though this particular form of cheating might be considered mechanics rather than collusion). A simple idea of this is to have two people sitting next to each other in a game of draw poker. While they receive two mediocre hands, they could switch certain cards between themselves in order to form a worthless hand and a winner. There are many sleight of hand methods to this. Hand-mucking is also a problem in blackjack.
Perhaps the most odious way of cheating with a partner is to have a weekly game at your house, agreeing with all your regular players that you split the profit from cheating a single player. This hot-seat game invites a new player every week, only to play against six players all working together. The mechanics are the same, players signal their hands, then play proceeds as to drive the hot-seat out, or to put all his money in the pot.
If you are at a poker game and you detect that your opponents are cheating, but are not very good at it, you can use this information to your advantage. You may be better off exploiting their inept cheating than leaving or turning them in. Dr. Frank R. Wallace wrote a book on this, in which he coined the term neocheating (He later developed a philosophy called Neo-Tech. The book consists of 2 parts easy to spot cheating techniques (marking the deck, crimping cards, false cuts, etc) and 5 parts philosophical content and stories.
In poker, to bluff is to bet or raise with an inferior hand, or with a hand believed to be inferior. The term is also used as a noun: a bluff is the act of bluffing.
The bluff is an important part of the strategy of any poker game, though it will come into play more in some games than in others. This is because a bluff is intended to represent a strong hand. For example, bluffs are much stronger in pot-limit and no-limit games, because your opponent will have worse pot odds, in addition to the threat of larger bets in future betting rounds if there are any. On the other hand, bluffing is less common in limit Omaha, because it’s often likely that if you don’t have the hand you represent, one of your opponents does.
Strategy
Do not be predictable. If you always bluff in certain situations, your opponents will figure this out and start calling more. On the other hand, if you never bluff, they will figure that out too and stop calling your non-bluff bets, which is a bad thing—even though you might win the hand, you will fail to win the amount of their call. The exact ideal bluffing frequency in each game situation is a complicated exercise in game theory that you will not be able to solve at the table, so you may have to rely on rules of thumb, prior analysis, experience, and intuition.
General guidelines
Bluffs are more successful with fewer people in the pot. Against only one or two opponents, your chances are often good that no one has a hand good enough to call. Against three or more opponents, at least one of them probably does, so bluffing is unlikely to succeed.
Bluff much less in high-low split games—some very weak hands will call hoping for half the pot, and the likelihood of splitting the pot greatly reduces your pot odds in any case. In some games such as limit Omaha high-low, you would not be giving up much advantage if you never bluffed at all.
In games with many betting rounds, bluffs are more often successful in early rounds rather than late ones. Once other players have put a lot of money into the pot, they are less likely to give up (this tendency is based on the false concept of being “pot-committed” and goes beyond the correct strategy of calling more often with higher pot odds. cf. sunk cost fallacy)
Value bet your strong hands, consider bluffing with hands you are almost sure cannot win any other way, and check the ones in between: On the last betting round, if you have a hand that might be good but that is not very strong, you are probably better off checking and then calling a bet by your opponent rather than bluffing. A player with a worse hand will probably not call if you bet, but a check might induce your opponent to bluff, allowing your call to win more money. On the other hand, a player with a better hand than yours will almost certainly call, and may raise, costing you money. You also do not need the protection of a bet.
A raise, and especially a check-raise, as a bluff is more psychologically intimidating than just opening. Of course it also risks more of your money and makes the pot bigger (and therefore more likely to be called), so it must be used with care.
Semi-bluffs
In games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior or drawing hand that might become a much better one by chance in a later round is often called a semi-bluff. Semi-bluffs thus afford a player two opportunities to win the pot: everyone may fold, or the player still might win the showdown if called.
For example, a player in a stud poker game with four spade-suited cards showing (but none among their downcards) on the penultimate round might raise, hoping that others believe they have a flush even though they do not. If their bluff fails and they are called, they still might be dealt a spade on the final card and win the showdown (or they might be dealt another non-spade and try their bluff again, in which case it is a pure bluff or stone-cold bluff on the final round rather than a semi-bluff).
Randomizing devices
In performing bluffs, it often helps to have a randomizing device: for example, if your analysis or experience leads you to believe that you should bluff half of the time in a certain situation, use a device such as the color of the last card dealt. Another strategy useful in short-handed games is to give yourself fake outs: if a jack is not a scare card, pretend that every jack is an out for you, even if it is not. This strategy has a mathematical basis in game theory.
Bluff (the game)
Bluff is an ancient predecessor of poker played in the 1800s, where only the cards from 10 to Ace were used, and straights and flushes hadn’t been invented yet.
A cheat with moderate skill always has the option to hand-muck, that is, switch their hand with one they have secretly hidden on them somewhere. This may also be done with a confederate. Mechanical devices have been invented for the purpose of switching hands. Though such machines are outdated, the modern equivalents (clips that hold cards on the underside of the table) should not be overlooked. The “hands above the table” house rule is recommended to prevent this. If it is done above the table, then anyone at the table can see it. This type of cheat runs the risk that he plays the same card as someone else at the table; at which time there must be a cheat at the table. Most people, not wanting to point fingers, will just end the game for the evening.
Skilled methods
Never doubt that a skilled cheat may deal a card from any place in the deck. A skilled cheat can deal the second card, the bottom card, the second from bottom card, and the middle card. The idea is to “cull“, or to find the cards one needs, place them at the bottom, top, or any other place the cheat wants, then false deal them to himself or his confederate. Suppose the cheat is next to deal. In the previous showdown, there are four sevens in different hands. The cheat pick up the cards so that all four sevens end up on the bottom of the deck. He then false shuffles the deck and deals himself the four sevens off the bottom of the deck.
There are many tells as to this kind of cheating:
Beware of anyone gripping the deck with the index finger in front of it. This is referred to as the mechanics grip. It not only allows better control of the cards, but provides cover as, showing the back of the top card, and without moving the hand holding the deck.
Beware any shuffle instantly followed by a cut. This is a well known way to undo a shuffle. The idea is that, as the halves of the deck are taken apart, the bottom half is shuffled so its top card is on top. Cutting the cards, and in doing so, unweaving the interlaced cards, places the bottom half right where it started. Completing the cut places the deck in its original order.
Dealing mechanics
Despite all this high power sleight of hand, the cheat still won’t win money with four sevens if everyone else has a bust, so the cheat stacks two hands. Obviously the cheat will get the better one. Let’s say he has two hands one on the bottom of each half of the deck, ready to shuffle (let’s say four kings and four aces). All the cheat has to do is to shuffle the two halves PERFECTLY, that is, alternating from one half to the other. When done with the whole deck this is called a faro shuffle. This places in alternating order on the bottom of the deck the cards K,A,K,A,K,A,K,A. He can then false shuffle to his heart’s content without disturbing those eight bottom cards, and begin dealing. When he gets to his mark, he deals that player the bottom card. He deals himself bottoms too. This places the big fish with four kings, a real betting hand, and the cheat with four aces, hence the cheat cleans up. This is called the double duke.
The best way to foil mechanics of this nature is to burn them, to watch their hands at all times and to always insist on a cut. This may not prevent them from cheating, but it forces them to undo the cut – a difficult and dangerous move. Only world class cheats will undo a cut while being burned. Note: no other shuffling or cutting is allowed after EVERY player is offered the option of cutting. A cheat may bend the entire deck so as to reveal where the cut was, so that his confederate sitting to his left may undo the cut or he may do so himself should the appropriate distraction present itself.
Switching decks
This pales in comparison to the granddaddy of all cheating – the “cold deck“. After all the shuffling and cutting has been done (everyone nicely pacified) the cheat can switch the deck for one he has stacked beforehand so that everyone has a real betting hand, but, of course, the cheat has the best one. Other versions of the “cold deck switch” utilize the cutting sequence to perform the “work.” Any deck switch is difficult, and may require distraction, but once done, no other sleights are necessary to win. The only defense is to simply always watch the deck. Many players believe that it is bad luck to look at your cards before the dealer is finished as you might miss your opponents’ reactions to their cards, and might miss burning the dealer.
In poker, the probability of each type of 5 card hand can be computed by calculating the proportion of hands of that type among all possible hands.
Derivation
The following computations show how the above frequencies were determined. To understand these derivations, the reader should be familiar with the basic properties of the binomial coefficients and their interpretation as the number of ways of choosing elements from a given set. See also: sample space and event (probability theory).
Straight flush — Each straight flush is uniquely determined by its highest ranking card; and these ranks go from 5 (A-2-3-4-5) up to A (T-J-Q-K-A) in each of the 4 suits. Thus, the total number of straight flushes is: 40.
Four of a kind — Any one of the thirteen ranks can form the four of a kind, leaving 52 − 4 = 48 possibilities for the final card. Thus, the total number of four-of-a-kinds is: 624
Full house — The full house comprises a triple (three of a kind) and a pair. The triple can be any one of the thirteen ranks, and any three of the four suits. The pair can be any one of the remaining twelve ranks, and any two of the four suits. Thus, the total number of full houses is: 3,744
Flush — The flush contains any five of the thirteen ranks, all of which belong to one of the four suits, minus the 40 straight flushes. Thus, the total number of flushes is: 5,108
Straight — The straight consists of any one of the ten possible sequences of five consecutive cards, from 5-4-3-2-A to A-K-Q-J-T. Each of these five cards can have any one of the four suits. Finally, as with the flush, the 40 straight flushes must be excluded, giving: 10,200
Three of a kind — Any of the thirteen ranks can form the three of a kind, which can contain any three of the four suits. The other cards can have any two of the remaining twelve ranks, and each can have any one of the four suits. Thus, the total number of three-of-a-kinds is: 54,912
Two pair — The pairs can have any two of the thirteen ranks, and each pair can have two of the four suits. The final card can have any one of the eleven remaining ranks, and any suit. Thus, the total number of two-pairs is: 123,552
Pair — The pair can have any one of the thirteen ranks, and any two of the four suits. The remaining three cards can have any three of the remaining twelve ranks, and each can have any of the four suits. Thus, the total number of pair hands is: 1,098,240
No pair — A no-pair hand contains five of the thirteen ranks, discounting the ten possible straights, and each card can have any of the four suits, discounting the four possible flushes. Alternatively, a no-pair hand is any hand that does does not fall into one of the above categories; that is, any way to choose five out of 52 cards, discounting all of the above hands. Thus, the total number of no-pair hands is: 1,302,540
Frequency of 7 card poker hands
In some popular variations of poker, a player uses the best five-card poker hand out of seven cards. The frequencies, probabilities, and odds are calculated as above; however the total numbers are greater since there are 133,784,560 (over 50 times more) 7 card combinations. It is notable that the probability of a no-pair hand is less than the probability of a one-pair or two-pair hand. (The frequencies given are exact; the probabilities and odds are approximate.)
In a typical tournament, a player pays a fixed entry fee (called a buy-in) and receives, in return, a certain quantity of in-game currency, called play money, invariably represented in the form of poker chips. Typically, the amount of play money given each player is an integer multiple of the buy-in. Only this in-game “play” money can be used in the game, real money cannot. Additionally, real and play money cannot be interchanged at any time. Some tournaments, however, offer the option of a re-buy; this gives players the option of purchasing more chips. In some cases, re-buys are conditional (for example, offered only to players low on chips) but in others they are unconditional, or offered to all players. When a player has no chips remaining (and has exhausted all re-buy options, if any are available) he or she is eliminated from the tournament.
In most tournaments, the number of players at each table is kept even by moving players, either by switching one player or (as the field shrinks) taking an entire table out of play and distributing its players amongst the remaining tables. A few tournaments, called shoot-outs, do not do this; instead, the last player (sometimes the last two or more players) at a table moves on to a second or third round, akin to a single-elimination tournament found in other games.
The prizes for winning are usually derived from the entry fees, though outside funds may be entered as well. For example, some invitational tournaments do not have entry fees. (These tournaments are referred to as freeroll.) Play continues, in most tournaments, until all but one player is eliminated, though in some tournament situations, especially informal ones, players have the option of ending by consensus.
Players are ranked in reverse chronological order — the last person in the game earns 1st place, the second-to-last earns 2nd, and so on. This ranking of players by elimination is unique amongst games, and also precludes the possibility of a tie for first place, since one player alone must have all the chips to end the tournament. (Ties are possible for all other places, though they are rare since the sole tiebreaker is the number of chips one has at the start of the hand in which one is eliminated.)
Sometimes tournaments end by mutual consensus of the remaining players. For example, in a ten-person, $5 game, there may be two players remaining with $29 and $21, respectively, worth of chips. Rather than risk losing their winning, as one of them would if the game were continued, these two players may be allowed to split the prize proportional to their in-game currency (or however they agree).
Prizes are awarded to the winning players in one of three ways:
Fixed: Each placing corresponds to a certain payoff. For example, a ten-person, $20 buy-in tournament might award $100 to the first-place player, $60 for second-place, $40 for third, and nothing for lower places.
Proportional: Payouts are determined according to a percentage-based scale. The percentages are determined based upon the number of participants and will increase payout positions as participation increases. As a rule, roughly one player in ten will ‘cash’, or make a high enough place to earn money. These scales are very top-heavy, with the top three players usually winning more than the rest of the paid players combined.
Tournaments can be open or invitational. The World Series of Poker, whose final event (no limit Texas Hold ‘Em) is considered the most prestigious of all poker tournaments, is open.
Satellite tournaments to high-profile, expensive poker tournaments are the means of entering a major event without posting a signifcant sum of cash. These have significantly smaller buy-ins, usually on the order of one-tenth to one-fiftieth the main tournament’s buy-in. Top players in this event, in lieu of a cash prize, are awarded seats to the main tourney, with the number of places dependent on participation. Chris Moneymaker, who won the 2003 World Series of Poker, was able to afford his seat at this event by winning an Internet tournament with a $40 buy-in. Greg Raymer, 2004 World Series of Poker champion, acquired his seat via a $165 Internet tournament.
The easiest method for a cheat, hard or soft, requires no ability of manipulation, but rather the profound nerve to blatantly cheat. Such methods include miscalling of hands, shorting the pot, and peeking at cards. Such cheating should not be tolerated. However, it is very difficult to prove because when confronted the cheat often calls the cheating an honest mistake.
A simple and fair way to go about preventing this kind of cheating is to simply follow the rules. For example, “Cards speak” is the common expression for the rule that no matter what the player says, it is the cards that determine who wins the pot. While it’s barely legal to call a bad hand a full house in the hopes that people will give up, the players should want to see this hand: they paid to look at it. Should such honest “mistakes” occur, it is best to ask the player to leave for that evening. If it was an honest mistake, he is in no condition to play poker (put aside your greed on this one – he will come back). If he did mean to cheat, he can’t do it from outside the game and is unlikely to come back.
The minimal skill methods of cheating occur far more often than one might suspect. It is common for a player who has folded to appoint himself tender of the pot, stacking chips, counting them, and delivering them to the winning player, just so he doesn’t have to get up. Nobody seems to notice the chip palmed in the hand of this helpful player. This is called check-copping. This happens a lot. In fact, odorless adhesive can be used for this purpose. Once again, the answer is to follow the rules. Only at the showdown should a player touch the pot. In fact, it is a considerate player who obeys the rule concerning placing chips in the pot; the player does not throw the chips in the pot (splashing) but places them in an easily counted stack in the center of the table.
Cheating can happen even when the cheat does not have the deal. In draw poker, a player can discard two cards, throwing these two in the pile of discards so as to avoid counting (or if there is no pile, throw them on top of another player’s discards), while calling for three. Not only does the cheat get the one card advantage in this hand, but before the showdown, he can ditch this extra card in his lap or vest, and thereby retain this one card advantage throughout the game. In this case, it is the dealer’s job to regulate the discards, and to ensure the fairness of the process. In a way, this is the most fair. In exchange for the huge positional advantage the dealer has, he has responsibilities to occupy his time.
The history of poker is a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely descended from the French poque, which descended from the German pochen (‘to knock’), but it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time). It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now.
English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, four players betting on which player’s hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green’s book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (G. B. Zieber, Philadelphia, 1843), described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime.
Soon after this spread, the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight. Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the game to other countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military.
The game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases as ace in the hole, ace up one’s sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one’s bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table.
Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began in 1970. It was also during that decade that the first serious strategy books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (ISBN 1880685000), Super System by Doyle Brunson (ISBN 0931444014), and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro (ISBN 0897461002).
Poker’s popularity has experienced an unprecedented spike in recent years, largely due to the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card camera which finally turned the game into a spectator sport. Viewers can now follow the action and drama of the game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors.
Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. Currently, in western society, it generally has an economic definition and meaning and typically refers to “wagering money or something of material value on something with an uncertain outcome in hope of winning additional money or material goods”. Furthermore:
the outcome of the wager is typically evident within a short period of time
the primary intent of the bet is to win additional money or material goods
This definition of gambling usually excludes:
emotional or physical risk-taking where what is being risked is not money or material goods (e.g., skydiving, running for office, asking someone for a date, etc.)
buying insurance, as the primary intent of the purchase is to protect against loss, rather than to collect or win
all forms of long-term ‘investment’ (stock market, real estate) with positive expected returns and economic utility
starting a new business, as time and effort are also being wagered and the outcome is not determined in a short period of time
situations where the possibility of winning additional money or material goods is a secondary or incidental reason for the wager/purchase (e.g., buying a raffle ticket to support a worthy cause)
Gambling varies on four dimensions:
1. What is being wagered (money or material goods).
2. How much is being wagered.
3. The predictability of the event. For some things such as lotteries, slot machines and bingo, the results are random and unpredictable. No skill or system will give you any advantage. For other things such as sports betting and horse racing there is some predictability to the outcome. In this situation greater knowledge and skill gives a person an advantage over other bettors.
4. The ‘expected value’, the positive or negative mathematical expectation.
Bibliography
Brisman, Andrew. American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling: Winning Ways (Stirling, 1999) ISBN 080694837X
Ortiz, Darwin. Gambling Scams: How They Work, How to Detect Them, How to Protect Yourself (Carol, 1990) ISBN 0396083668 (Hardcover) ISBN 0818405295 (Paperback)
Reith, Gerda. Age of Chance: Gambling in Western Culture ISBN 0415179971 (Hardcover) ISBN 0415263093 (Paperback)
Steinmetz, Andrew. The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims Gutenberg text
Thorp, Edward O. Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One (Vintage, 1966) ISBN 0394703103
The following is a list of standard equipment needed for a game of poker:
Cards: Standard Anglo-American playing cards are used. In home games it is common to have two decks with distinct backs, and to shuffle the unused deck while each hand is in progress. Casinos typically change decks after 15 minutes of use, because the quality of the cards declines with each shuffling. For friendly home environments, this is not an issue, but some dealers can perform intentionally corrupt shuffles even with a lightly-worn deck. Poker players are advised to have at least one “back-up” deck on hand to replace decks with worn, soiled, or bent cards. High-quality plastic-coated cards can be purchased for approximately $3.00, and last much longer than paper cards.
In some poker games, particularly stud poker it is not unusual for cards to become bent quickly, as players often read their “hole” cards by peeking at the corner rather than lifting the card. Card quality can be preserved for longer if players agree not to bend cards, and proper shuffling techniques are used.
Rarely, multiple decks are used in poker; however, this noticeably alters the game. Using additional decks will make certain hand configurations significantly more common than they are in single-deck poker.
Poker Chips: Currency is difficult to stack or handle, so most poker games are played with chips, or coin-shaped tokens of uniform size and weight, usually 39mm wide and anywhere from 5 to 16 grams in weight, whose money value is determined by their color. Traditionally, poker chips were made of bone; however, modern casino chips are often made of clay. Clay chips (which can cost as much $1.70 per chip, or $850 for a set of 500) are considered the most upscale variety of poker chip. Another high-end variety of chips are ceramic chips, ceramic chips that can be customized easily cost around $1 per chip. Plastic chips are also available, at a wide variety of quality levels.
The standard color scheme for poker chips is as follows: $1 chips are white; $5, red; $10, blue; $25, green; $100, black; $500, purple; $1000, orange; $5000, gray; $10000, pink. There is no requirement that casinos use these colors, and there is much variance regarding the colors used for denominations above $100.
Poker Table: A typical poker game will have between two and ten players. For the sake of convenience, each player should be able to reach the central pot, so circular or oblong tables are best. A soft table top is preferred to facilitate picking up chips and cards.
Lammers: Lammers are plastic, chip-shaped tokens with text written on them. Most commonly used is a “dealer button” with either the word “DEALER” or a “D” written on it; this item (also known as the buck) indicates who shall deal next. In a casino setting, lammers are also used to indicate which variant is being used, and whose turn it is to pay the blind.
Cut card: This is a thick plastic card, the same size and shape of a playing card. The dealer will place the deck upon this card before dealing, in order to prevent the accidental exposure of the bottom card of the deck. While rarely used in home games, the cut card is universal in casino play.
Timer: If playing a poker tournament, a timer is used to count down periods in which the blinds are at certain levels. When the timer reaches 0:00, the blinds go up, and if chips are no longer useful (say, the blinds have gone up to $25 and $50, so $5 chips aren’t needed any more), the unneeded chips are converted to higher valued ones.
Card protectors:: In games where all of a player’s cards are facedown, some players use items like specialty chips or glass figures to place on top of their cards to protect them from being accidentally discarded.
Purchasing poker equipment
For most home games, high-quality plastic poker chips, still cheaper than clay chips, will suffice, though casinos generally prefer clay, considered the most authentic type of chip. Tables should have a soft surface; hard-surfaced “poker tables” are generally no more convenient than a standard dining table with a poker cloth. Card decks of reasonable quality can be purchased for about $3 a piece, and it’s best to have at least three of them on hand.
