If you are just starting out to learn the game of Texas Hold’em Poker, you might not realise quite how much there is to learn! That being said, it is quite an easy game to dive straight into, and if you have got a good handle on what the order of rank in terms of poker hands is, then your best bet is to start out playing to build your knowledge. When you have read this article and you want to try online poker, then you should read our article starting off at an online poker site first.

The statement comes with a disclaimer though: If you are new to the game, ease yourself in! By this I dont mean hold back on playing, far from it. You should play as much as you can, but just because you are participating in a game of HoldEm, doesnt mean you have to bet on every hand! Learn to be selective with the hands you put money on. This is what all of the best players do and it will benefit a beginner to the power of ten, because it further enables you to observe and learn.

Firstly, if you ignore specific suits, there are 169 different possible opening hands. Out of all these, only five are considered premium hands:

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (Suited)
5. JJ

These hands should always be played, whatever position you hold at the table so long as no one ahead of you is raising. If someone does raise, particularly if there are people calling and re raising, you should still proceed with caution.

If you think of HoldEm in this respect you can quite quickly see how risky it is to play too many hands. There are always an enormous amount of variables which will affect whether or not you should play or fold, but erring on the side of caution is always advised, particularly if youre just starting out. You should always look to avoid being dominated at the table, and a golden rule for beginners should be to keep tight unless you know you have a great hand. Look at it this way: If someone ahead of you is raising and you have KQ, think carefully. It seems that you have a great hand but actually AA, KK, QQ, AK and AQ are all very dangerous for you. As your poker skills develop over the coming weeks and months you will learn how and when top lay hands like this but for now you really have to be looking out for the moments where you shouldnt be playing these hands.

I lost a lot of money playing poker in my first few months, and if I were starting out again I would restrict myself to playing only the best 15 hands available to me. As time progresses and you keep studying the game you will learn how to out think and outwit opponents as well as learning how to pick up on some of their tells, developing your game to be able to include good bluffing skills.

Until that time, you should stick to playing only these fifteen hands:

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (Suited)
5. JJ
6. 10/10
7. AQ (Suited)
8. AJ ( Suited)
9. AK
10. KQ (Suited)
11. A/10 (Suited)
12. KJ (Suited)
13. AQ (Off Suit)
14. 9/9
15. JQ (Suited)

Remember that the stronger your opening hand, the fewer decisions there are to make. Help yourself by keeping the game simple until you have a proper handle on how to develop your skills. Until that point, hold back!

Seven card stud is one of the oldest forms of poker. This article will discuss how to play seven card stud and tell you where to best place to Seven Card Stud poker is. If you’re someone who only ever plays Texas Holdem then branching out into a new form of the game has many benefits most notably when the Holdem games are full of regs then you have another avenue for finding fish. There are far less players who play Seven Card Stud to a high standard than there are players who play Holdem to a high standard. Learning another game really can help increase your bankroll and give you the opportunity to play weaker opponents. Seven Card Stud is virtually the same as Razz poker so if you can play one you can play the other.

Here’s How To Play 7 Card Stud

- First all players must put an ante into the pot (this is a forced bet before the cards are dealt)
- Each player then receives two cards which are face down on the table and one card which is face up
- In 7 Card Stud the player who has the lowest value card showing must act first
- A round of betting commences
- After the first betting round players are given another card face up by the dealer
- The player with the highest card showing will now start another round of betting
- Once all betting is completed players are given a sixth card by the dealer
- Another round of betting occurs
- Finally players who remain in the pot receive one more card from the dealer which is dealt face down so that other players at the table cannot see it.
- There is one last round of betting and the player with the best five card hand is the winner (hand rankings are the same as in Holdem from high card right up to a royal flush)

Where To Play Seven Card Stud

There are quite a few online poker rooms who offer Seven Card Stud to players. However, there is only really one poker room on the net which has enough traffic to support regular Seven Card Stud games and that is Pokerstars. Seven Card Stud games do also run on Fulltilt and other online rooms that we endorse here at Carolina Gambler, but less often than they do on Pokerstars.

Hopefully now you know a bit more about how to play Seven Card Stud and where to play Seven Card Stud online. If you can make a commitment to becoming a good Seven Card Stud player then your game selection options will open up significantly.

Badugi is one of the newest poker games in the online world and as a result there isn’t alot of information available on the web about how to play badugi. One of the first rooms to have the game is Carbon Poker. This article will show you how to play Badgui. Once you have finished reading it you should be have enough knowledge of the game to play online in the small stakes games.

A maximum of 8 players can sit at any Badugi poker table, players are dealt 4 cards straight off the bat. The player who sits directly to the left posts the small blind and the player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind (the same as any Holdem game). Play starts with the player who is on the left of the big blind and moves around the table in a clockwise direction.

A betting round takes place immediately and all players who remain in the pot the proceed to a drawing round. During any drawing round players have the option of discard any or all of their cards and replacing them with new cards from the deck. Once the first drawing round is over another round of betting commences. After a total of four betting and three drawing rounds play goes to a showdown.

Find "Budugi" and many other poker games by clicking here.

Badugi uses very different hand rankings to all other forms of poker. The best possible hand is an A-2-3-4 rainbow. When playing Badugi suited cards and pairs count against you, a hand with 4 non paired and non suited cards in is known as a Badugi. If you get to showdown and you hand contains a pair or two cards of the same suit then you are forced to discard one of your cards leaving you with a 3 card hand. You can be left with 4 card, 3 card, 2 card and 1 card hands when playing Badugi.

Note: In an 8 max Badugi game a 3 card hand is rarely good at showdown.

Most Badugi games online are fixed limit, in fact all online Badugi ring games are fixed limit. When playing fixed limit Badugi the betting limits are restricted to just the small bet amount until two betting rounds have passed. Then players can bet and raise in the big bet amount. In a $1/$2 game the small bet is $1 and the big bet is $2.

Badugi has only been available online since 2008 and as a result there just isn’t a lot of Badugi strategy advice out there. This is great for players who have mastered the game but if you are trying to learn how to play Badugi then it can be a right pain.

One of the best Badugi resources out there is the Badugi Poker Tips website. It covers everything you could want to know about Badugi and some top quality articles which can help you improve your win rate when you play Badugi online.

You can find some easy tables for Badugi Poker at Carbon Poker .

Royal Flush - The five highest cards, the 10 through the Ace, all five of the same suit. A royal flush is actually an ace-high straight flush. Which suit it is doesn’t matter in poker.

Straight Flush - Any five cards of the same suit in consecutive numerical order.

Four of a Kind - Any four cards of the same denomination.

Full House - Any three cards of the same denomination, plus any pair of a different denomination. Ties are broken first by the three of a kind, then the pair.

Flush - Any five non-consecutive cards of the same suit.

Straight - Any five consecutive cards of mixed suits. Ace can be played high or low.

Three of a Kind - Any three cards of the same denomination.

Two Pair - Any two cards of the same denomination, plus any other two cards of the same denomination. If both hands have the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both pairs tie, the high card wins.

Pair - Any two cards of the same denomination. In a tie, the high card (known as the kicker) wins.

High Card - If no hand is achieved, the highest card wins.

7 Card Stud was the most popular game of poker in the U.S.A. until Texas Hold’em took over. This is one of the games that I first learned to play back in the 70′s. This is a game that players can win a lot with at the online poker rooms like FullTilt Poker due to the fact that a lot of the young players have not fully grasped the game. Though I enjoy the game, I don’t claim to be no expert of stud (or any game for that matter), but here are the basic rules of play.

Dealing Cards & Betting Rounds

3rd street:

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7 Card Stud begins with each player being dealt two cards face down and one card face up for everyone at the felt to see. Most online poker rooms will have a bring-in, this is a forced bet that happens after the cards are dealt, but before any other action. The poker player with the lowest-ranking up card pays the bring-in, and betting proceeds after that in normal clockwise order. The bring-in is considered an open, so the next player in turn may not check. They must either call, raise or fold.

If there is no bring-in, as is the case of a lot of home games, then the first betting round will begin with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check. If two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

4th street:
Another card that is known as 4th street is then dealt up to each player and starts at the dealer’s left as will all other rounds, followed by a second betting round beginning with the player whose upcards make the best poker hand. On this and all other betting rounds, the player whose face-up cards make up the best hand will act first, and may check or bet up to the game’s limit.

5th street: There is then dealt a third up card known as 5th street and a betting round.

6th street: The fourth up card dealt is known as 6th street and then you have another betting round.

7th street: The last card, 7th street, is then dealt face down card with a fifth round of betting. After this comes the showdown if necessary and the best five card hand wins.

Just remember in 7 Card Stud it’s “two down, four up, one down”. Another good piece of advice is at your home games, due to the number of cards in a deck (52), only have seven players dealt in a hand. But if you do decide to have eight and you run out of cards to deal each player a final hole card, just place 7th Street face up on the board. It is then similar to a community card like in Texas Hold’em.

If you need further help to understand the game, here is a nice little video to help. Just click here to view.

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Omaha Poker is played in the same format as Texas Hold’em, with there being a pre-flop, flop, turn and river. The betting pattern is the same with there being a round of betting after each round of cards are dealt.

The most noticeable difference right off the bat is you are dealt four cards face down instead of the two hole cards you get in Texas Hold’em. The poker player then uses two of them, plus three of the five community cards on the board to make his hand. Unlike Texas hold ‘em, a player cannot play three or four of the cards on the board with fewer than two of his hole cards, nor can a player use three or four hole cards to disguise a strong hand.

I always tell players that are new to this game to just remember two in the hand, three on the board.

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I consider Omaha Poker a HUGE drawing game, with so many cards being dealt that you can use to make a hand, your best hand can change dramatically during each round of play. For example, a player may have both a draw to a flush and a full house using different combinations of cards. At times, even the seasoned players of the game need additional time to figure what draws are possible for their hand. So be very cautious of folk outdrawing on you !

There are other variations to Omaha Poker like Hi/Lo . In high-low split, each player makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand (eight-high or lower to qualify), and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player). To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called “eight-or-better”, or simply “Omaha/8″). A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. Each player can play any two of his four hole cards to make his high hand, and any two of his four hole cards to make his low hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins (scoops) the whole pot.

If you need more info on Omaha Poker, I suggest maybe reading Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

You can find plenty of Omaha action at Fulltilt Poker !

Types of Texas Hold’em Poker :

The three choices of Texas Hold ‘em Poker are no-limit, limit and pot-limit. The basic rules for each of the games are the same except for how much the player can bet, which changes the strategy on each game. With no-limit hold’em you can bet any amount equal or above the big blind and even pushing allin (betting all your chips) at anytime.

In limit hold ‘em, bets and raises during pre-flop and the flop must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting, the turn and river, bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet. Any time you wish to re-raise, you must raise at least the amount of the previous raise. With pot-limit holdem, the maximum raise is the current size of the pot . (the total amount that has been played)

Basic Texas Holdem Poker Instructions :

Texas Hold ‘em Poker is played by using small and big blinds. What this does is force bets by two players and in most tournaments the size of the blinds will get larger as the tournament progresses. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and who has to post the small and big blinds. So at the table, everyone will take their turn .

Betting and Playing in Texas Hold’em Poker :

Each player is dealt two cards face down,known as your hole or pocket cards, with the player in the small blind receiving the first card and the player on the button having the last card dealt. This is known as the “pre-flop” betting round . Betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind and continues clockwise. Players can either check, bet, raise or fold.

Next comes “the flop” which is three cards dealt face up on the table. This is the board and all cards there are community cards (cards that everyone uses to make their hand). Another round of bets are then made beginning with the player to the dealer’s left and continues clockwise.

After the flop betting ends, another card is dealt on the board. This card is known as “the turn” and is followed by a third round of betting.

After the turn round, the final card is then dealt on the board. This is “the river“. Another round of betting is done, and then it’s time for a showdown if two or more players are left in the hand.

Just remember that in Texas Holdem Poker, your hand consist of both hole cards, one hole card or no hole card (playing the board), along with the community cards in an effort to make a hand . The best five card hand wins !

So good luck at the felt and never bet more than you can afford to gamble with .

A great place to play Texas Holdem Poker online is at Carbon Poker !