Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
Issue: 41   Editor: MadamNyxxie


Poker - A Guide. Moatilliatta
Poker; It’s the worlds most popular card game. It’s also an extremely popular game on Bootleggers. But with so many different techniques and ways to play, it can often be difficult to learn. This article is a basic guide on how to play Poker on Bootleggers.

The aim of Poker is to get a five card hand that beats any other players hand.
All hands in order of strength can be viewed on the Poker page.

The game has several stages:

First: The Ante.
The Ante is any amount in cash (chosen by the dealer) in which all players must pay, before seeing their cards.
Note that an ante can be refunded if you leave before the game starts.

Second: First round of betting.
At this stage you will be dealt two cards of which only you can see, and you may choose to make a bet based on your confidence at this point.

Third: The Flop
This is where the first three community cards are dealt. All players can see community cards. Again, players now have the choice to bet depending on the strength, if at all, of their hand.

Fourth: The Turn.
At this point one more card is added to the 3 existing community cards, and there is another round of betting.

Fifth: The River.
Now, a fifth and final card is added to the community cards, followed by a final round of betting.

Finally, after the last round of betting, all players are to choose a five card hand from either their own two cards or the five community cards. The player with the best hand wins the pot.

Betting Rules
Betting starts at the player next to the dealer.

In each betting round, players may:
• Raise (To make a bet, or raise a current bet.)
• Call (To meet the current bet)
• Check – place no bet. (This can only be done when there is no bet to call)
• Fold (Exit the game)
To move on from a betting round, all players still in play must have put an equal amount into the pot.

Obviously this game has many techniques and possible skills to it, but these differ when playing on a browser.

• Bluffing – Players may purposely raise the bet in order to make their hand seem better than it is. It is often hard to spot a bluffing player on Bootleggers, and you will most likely have to go by instinct.
• Gradual Betting – If you are confident with your hand, it may not be a good idea to put in a large bet right away, as this might give it away and most players will probably not want to meet this.
• Large Ante games – Entering a large Ante game is also all down to confidence on what hand you think you will get, these games often have small maximum bets, so there are no real betting rounds.
• Large maximum bet games – Be careful when entering a game with a large maximum bet as a player may set a bet which is more than you have. (Depending on your wealth status it is usually a good idea to check other players’).
• Using aces and high cards – If you have a relatively weak hand (high card/pair) Select an ace/high card when selecting your five card hand. This will make it a slightly stronger hand.

There are a few that you might, of course, discover yourself too.

Thanks for reading. Good luck!