Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Poker Players Speak Pig Latin

By Ronald Donnio


A language of their own is spoken by poker players. A few basic words needs to be learned by those who want to start playing poker but have never played to keep them from being automatically ambushed as a novice. Other players will not gang up on them if the new players learn the language.

The different items in poker have odd names. The most different language of all the poker games is in Texas Hold'em. By learning the lingo of Texas Hold'em, a new player will be able to understand any other form of poker.

In a game of Texas Hold'em, the game starts out with up to five players and a dealer. In private, at-home games, a player is the dealer and still is allowed to bet and play. A chip or small device is passed around to let all the players know who is the first person to bet during each round.

The person to the dealer's left receives the chip. This person also is the first person to bet what is called the small blind. After this person, to their left, is the second person to bet what is called the big blind.

The small blind is half of the big blind and usually the minimum in most games. The first two face down cards are dealt to all the players after the first two place their blinds. After this, which is called an ante in regular games of poker, the players decide if they are going to bet or fold after looking at their hole cards, the two that were dealt face down.

The player puts their two initial cards into the middle of the table if they decide to fold. If the player decided to bet, they will bet the same amount as the big blind. The first person who had placed the small blind then decides if he or she would like to stay in and if so, they will add to their small blind making it equal to the big blind.

The dealer will place the flop onto the middle of the table once it has been established who is going to continue in the game. The first three face-up cards are the flop. The flop is the start of the community cards that sit in the middle of the table for all the players to use.

The community cards in the middle of the table are called the window. All the players use these five cards plus their two hole cards to determine a winning hand. The last two community cards are called the turn and the river, respectively.

After each time the dealer deals cards, the hole cards, the flop, the turn and the river, the players place bets. Unless he or she has folded, the first person to bet would be the person with the dealer's chip. If this person has folded, the next person in line to the left would bet first.

After all the bets have been made, the players will then perform what is called a showdown. That is, if there is more than one player left at the end of the round. The showdown is when the remaining players show their cards to reveal who has the highest-ranking hand.

The highest-ranking hand wins the round. If a player bets all their money and loses, they are eliminated from the game. Knowing the language will help you look like you know what you are doing and if you practice it, it is not a very complex language.

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