Poker hands, from highest to lowest:

• Royal Straight Flush (an Ace high Straight Flush)
• Straight Flush (five consecutive* cards of the same suit)
• Four of a Kind
• Full House (three of a kind and one pair)
• Flush (five cards of the same suit)
• Straight (five consecutive* cards)
• Three of a kind
• Two Pairs
• One Pair
• High Card
• * Aces count as 1 or 14

Texas Hold'em

Overview

Cards dealt to each player	2 concealed
Community cards dealt	5
Number of betting rounds	4
Limits	Fixed limit Pot limit No limit Raise or fold
Blinds or antes	Blinds

Introduction

Texas Hold'em is a relatively new member of the poker family. But it is the variation that has been the most popular around the world in the last years. The unofficial world championship of poker is contested in no limit Texas Hold'em – a game sometimes called the Cadillac of poker.

The Game

In Texas Hold'em you get two hole cards, cards that the other players cannot see. Then five cards are dealt face up on the board, successively. They are community cards that all players can use to put together a five card poker hand.

To form the best possible hand, you can use either both your hole cards together with three of the community cards on the board, or one hole card with four community cards, or simply all five community cards.

The player who can put together the highest poker hand wins the pot.

Blinds

Texas Hold'em is played with blinds. Before the cards are dealt, the first two players to the left of the dealer post a small and a big blind respectively to create a starting pot.

The deal

When the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt two cards face down, the hole cards.
Then the first betting round takes place, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.

The flop

When the first betting round is finished, three cards are dealt face up on the table. They are called "the flop".
Then the second betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.


The turn (fourth street)

After the second betting round, the fourth community card is dealt. It is called the turn.
The third betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

The river (fifth street)

The fifth and last community card is called the river. Now the hand is concluded by the fourth and last betting round, again starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.
If more than one player remains in the hand after the betting, there is a showdown.

Game Advice For Texas Hold'em

• Play good starting hands - Do not enter the betting with any two cards! With ten players around the table, someone will have a better starting hand most of the time. When you enter the game with the second best hand, your opponent is a favorite to win the pot.
  
• The importance of position - In Texas Hold'em, your position remains the same throughout the entire hand. A player that acts after you will act after you all the way to the river. This is a great disadvantage for you. As a rule, play only very strong hands in early position. On the other hand, when you are in a late position, the advantage is yours to exploit.

Tournaments

Introduction

An increasingly popular way to play poker is in tournaments. In a poker tournament, all players start with an equal amount of chips, and then the game goes on until all players have lost all their chips. Except one – the winner.

Your ranking in the tournament

Division of the prize pool

Usually in poker tournaments, the winner does not take it all. Instead, the prize pool is divided among the best placed players, who all finish in the money. But the winner gets a large piece of the cake, so winning a tournament is still nice. Very nice, actually.

Increasing blinds and antes

To make sure that the tournament reaches its end within a reasonable time, the blinds or antes are increased in fixed intervals. This way, if you do not manage to make your chip stack grow, you will find the blinds or antes very costly after a while.

Types of Tournaments

Poker tournaments come in different varieties. Often, ten people sit down around a table to play a tournament. Other torunaments gather hundreds or even thousands of players. But you may also play a tournament against just one opponent!

Sit and Go tournaments

A sit-and-go tournament (S&G) begins as soon as enough players have joined in. Usually, a S&G consists of nine or ten players around a single table, but there are also S&Gs for two or three tables.

Multi-table tournaments

A multi-table tournament (MTT) starts at a preset point of time. It may be open to hundreds or even thousands of players.

Heads-up tournaments

Satellites

A satellite is a tournament where the first prize is not a cash payout, but a seat to another tournament. The idea is that you can enter an expensive tournament by winning a tournament that is not as expensive.

For example, if ten players sit down and play a $10 tournament, the winner could win a seat to a $100 tournament.

In large satellites, there may be several seats up for grabs.

Rebuys and add-ons

The particular thing about tournaments is that you cannot reach into your wallet and buy more chips, as in a normal cash game. When you are out of chips, you are out of the tournament.

However, some tournaments actually allow you to buy more chips – make a rebuy – but only during the so called rebuy period at the beginning of the tournament. Depending on the rules of the specific tournament, you may make a limited or unlimited number of rebuys. When the rebuy period ends, you may make a last rebuy, called an add-on.

After the rebuy period, the tournament will go on as a normal tournament, with players busting out as they lose their last chips.

The rebuys and add-ons are added to the prize pool.

A tournament with no rebuys or add-ons is called a freezeout.

Game Advice For Tournaments

Seven Card Stud

Overview

Introduction

Seven card stud is perhaps the most played variation of poker in the world. It has been around since the time of the American Civil War.

The Game

In seven card stud, you get seven cards, successively. Three of them are dealt face down, only you will know what they are. Four are dealt face up, so that all players can see them. When all cards are out, you can combine any five of your seven cards to the best poker hand. // Suitable to place a picture of a 7CS hand.

Antes

Seven card stud is played with antes. Before the cards are dealt, each player posts a mandatory bet to create a starting pot. The ante is normally 10% of the small bet.

The deal

When the antes have been posted, each player is dealt three cards: two face down and one face up. Then the first betting round takes place, starting with the player with the lowest displayed card. If two players have equally high cards, the one to the left of the dealer begins. The first player to act must bet ("bring in") but has the choice of betting either a small bet or half a small bet. If half a bet is made, the following players can either call that bet or raise to a full small bet. (Or fold - you can always fold.)

Fourth street

When the first betting round is finished, each player receives their fourth card face up. The second betting round takes place. Now and on the remaining betting rounds, it is the player with the best cards showing who starts the betting.

Fifth street

Each player receives their fifth card face up. The third betting round takes place, starting with the player who shows the best three card hand.

Sixth street

Each player receives their sixth card face up. The fourth betting round takes place, starting with the player who shows the best four card hand.

Seventh street (river)

Each player receives a seventh and final card. It is dealt face down, concealed to the other players. The fifth and last betting round takes place, again starting with the player who shows the best four card hand. If more than one player remains in the hand after the betting, there is a showdown. The best high hand wins. If there are not enough cards left to deal a seventh card to all remaining players, the river is dealt face up on the board. It works as a community card, which all players can use to form their poker hand.

Game Advice For Seven Card Stud

• Starting hand requirements - A strong starting hand consists of either a high pair, three of a kind, three cards to a flush or three cards to a straight.
  
• Live cards - In seven card stud it is important to notice when other players get the cards you need. Suppose, for example, that you are dealt three hearts. You would like to stay in the hand and draw to a flush, but if other players receive a lot of hearts, your chances of making the flush diminish. Or if you have a pair of kings, your chances of hitting one of the remaining two kings almost vanish if you see one of them in the hand of another player.
  
• Can you beat what you see? If you cannot beat the part of a hand that is face up in front of a player, you certainly cannot beat that hand with the concealed cards included.

Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo

Overview

The Game

Split pots

Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo is played exactly the same way as Seven Card Stud, with one exception: In the showdown, the highest hand only wins half the pot, while the other half is won by the best low hand.
However, this is true only if a player shows down a qualifying low hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the best high hand wins the whole pot.

Low hand requirements

To qualify as a low hand, a hand must not contain any card higher than 8, and no pair or better.
However, a straight or flush does not disqualify a low hand. So, for example, 6h-5h-4h-3h-2h qualifies as a low hand. (At the same time, it is a very strong high hand, a straight flush.)

Forming a high and a low hand

In the showdown, you use five of your cards to form a high hand, and five to form a low hand. You can use one or several cards in both the high and the low hand, without restriction.
For example, if you hold A-2-4-5-6-7-8, you would use A-2-4-5-6 for your low hand, and 4-5-6-7-8 for your high.

Game Advice For Seven Card Stud

• Scoping - As in Omaha Hi/Lo, trying to win the whole pot is important. You can do this is in two ways: Either by winning both the high ant low sides, or by having the best high hand while there is no qualifying low hand.
  

Omaha

Overview

Introduction

At a first glance, Omaha looks a lot like Texas Hold'em. But in Omaha, each player receives four cards - this gives Omaha an interesting complexity.

The Game

In Omaha, you get four hole cards, cards that the other players cannot see. Then, successively during the hand, five cards are dealt face up on the board. They are community cards that all players can use to put together a five card poker hand.
When all cards are out, you must use two of your hole cards and combine them with three community cards in order to form the best possible poker hand.

Blinds

Omaha is played with blinds. Before the cards are dealt, two players to the left of the dealer post a small and a big blind to create a starting pot.

The deal

When the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt four cards face down, the hole cards.
Then the first betting round takes place, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.

The flop

When the first betting round is finished, three cards are dealt face up on the table. They are called "the flop".
Then the second betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

The turn (fourth street)

After the second betting round, the fourth community card is dealt. It is called the turn.
The third betting round takes place, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.

The river (fifth street)

The fifth and last community card is called the river. Now the hand is concluded by the fourth and last betting round, again starting with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.
If more than one player remains in the hand after the betting, there is a showdown.

Game Advice For Omaha

• Four of a kind – an easy fold! - In Omaha, picking up your four hole cards and seeing a monster hand is not that great, since you can only use two of them. If, for example, your hole cards are four kings, you do not have four of a kind! As a matter of fact, you cannot even make three of a kind, since no king can come on the board.
  Or, if you have four hearts, your chances of making a flush are worse than if you had had only two hearts. If you have two hearts and two spades in your hand, your flush chances are even better.
  So, do not be fooled when you look down at a fantastic hand in Omaha.
  
• Big straight draws - After the flop in Texas Hold'em, a made hand (such as three of a kind) is usually the favorite against a drawing hand (such as four cards to a straight). In Omaha, this is not the case, since there are so many ways of making a really good hand. With these draws, you can put in a lot of bets.
  For example, if you hold T-9-6-5 and the flop comes K-8-7, there are 20 cards that will make you a straight if they came on the turn or river: four fours, three fives, three sixes, three nines, three tens, and four jacks.
  With Ah-Ks-Th-9s and a flop of Qh-Jh-3c, there are 22 cards that would make you either a straight or a flush. 16 cards would make you a straight: four eights, three nines, three tens, three kings, and three aces. The nine remaining hearts would give you a flush, but three of them have already been counted, since they also give you a straight: the 8h, 9h, and Kh.
  In both these cases, you have equal or better chances than a player who made three of a kind on the flop.
  
• Starting hands with connecting cards - With four cards, there are much more combinations than with two cards. Since all four cards can be combined with any of the other three cards, an Omaha hand is not like two Texas hands, it is like six. So, in Omaha, look out for hands where all four cards connect in some way.
  

Omaha Hi/Lo

Overview

The Game

Split pot

Omaha Hi/Lo is played exactly the same way as Omaha, with one exception: In the showdown, the highest hand wins only half the pot, while the other half is won by the best low hand.
However, this is true only if a player shows down a qualifying low hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the best high hand wins the whole pot.

Low hand requirements

To qualify as a low hand, a hand must not contain any card higher than 8, and no pair or better.
However, straights and flushes do not disqualify a low hand. So, for example, 8s-7s-6s-5s-4s qualifies as a low hand. (At the same time, it is a very strong high hand, a straight flush.)

Forming a high and a low hand

As in Omaha, you must use two of your hole cards to form a poker hand with three cards from the table. But you are free to use any combination of two cards for the low and the high hand. One or two of your hole cards may be used for both the high and the low hand, or you may use two cards for the high hand and the other two cards for the low hand, as you wish.
For example, if you hold AKT2 and the board is AA764, your best high hand is AK+AA7 (three of a kind), and your best low is A2+764. You use the ace in both hands.

Aces up and down

In Omaha Hi/Lo, the ace is the highest card, but it is also the lowest. This is what makes the classic hand A2345 (“the wheel”) so strong. It is the best possible low hand, but at the same time, being a straight, it is a strong high hand.

Game Advice For Omaha Hi/Lo

• Scoping - You should always be on the look-out for a chance to win the whole pot – an activity called scoping. There are two ways to scope. Either, you have the best high hand and the best low hand. Or you have the best high hand and there is no low hand. If you aim at winning only the high or only the low part, the reward is only half as big.
  
• Being quartered - Even if you have the best possible low hand, you can never be sure of winning even half the pot. It is always possible that another player has the same low hand, so that you will split the low part of the pot, that is, you will get only a quarter of the pot. This means that you get very bad odds for playing your hand. In fact, you may even lose money on the hand if you win only a quareter of the pot.
  Of course, high hands sometimes also split the high half of the pot. But it is possible to hold a high hand of which you know that no other player can match it.