Before playing Pai Gow Poker or Let It Ride Poker, you should master Five Card Draw. It’s the most basic form of poker and what most other card games are derived from. It’s a community game, so you are playing against other players.
Five Card Draw Poker starts with an ante from each player. The ante is a small bet to play the hand. As you might expect, each player gets five cards. You use standard poker rankings to form a hand. Then, you bet. This weeds out those who don’t have any good cards. Next is the only round of discarding, where you can throw out any or all of your five cards. But if you’re throwing out all of your cards, you shouldn’t be in the hand. That is followed by a second round of bets. After everyone has called or folded, the cards are shown and the hand is decided.
Unlike some casino games, poker requires more strategy than luck. You need to know hand rankings and some odds before playing. The best players know the odds of each hand winning. Unless you play a lot, you won’t be able to do this, but with a little practice, you will know when to get out of a hand. Start by playing poker online for free. You will learn when and how to bet. Then, choose a table with low stakes and work your way up. An online casino is the easiest route for this because there is a variety of tables and it’s easy to join.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Trying out Pai Gow Poker
Like Let It Ride, Pai Gow is another widespread type of poker game. It can be found easily at online casinos and at land-based casinos because not everyone wants to play the standard card games like Five Card Draw and Texas Hold’em.
Pai Gow Poker began in China and is played only against the dealer, which is actually the banker in this casino game. The table has seven spots for players, a dealer and a banker. Each player bets and gets seven cards and form two hands to try to beat the banker. The role of the banker rotates every hand to each player, including the dealer. The dealer actually plays the hand just like a player when they aren’t the banker.
The hands each player forms is made up of five cards and two cards. The difficult part of Pai Gow Poker is the that the two-card hand must have a lower value than the five-card hand. If you have a top pair, it must be part of your five-card hand. You might think that this gives the dealer a clear advantage but Pai Gow actually has reasonable odds as a skill game and the house only takes about a 5% commission on winning bets. You must win both hands to win the round. The banker wins with equal hands. If one wins and one loses, you get your money back as a push. There can be more than one winning player each round. The winning players get paid by the dealer from the banker. The losing player bets go to the banker.
Pai Gow Poker began in China and is played only against the dealer, which is actually the banker in this casino game. The table has seven spots for players, a dealer and a banker. Each player bets and gets seven cards and form two hands to try to beat the banker. The role of the banker rotates every hand to each player, including the dealer. The dealer actually plays the hand just like a player when they aren’t the banker.
The hands each player forms is made up of five cards and two cards. The difficult part of Pai Gow Poker is the that the two-card hand must have a lower value than the five-card hand. If you have a top pair, it must be part of your five-card hand. You might think that this gives the dealer a clear advantage but Pai Gow actually has reasonable odds as a skill game and the house only takes about a 5% commission on winning bets. You must win both hands to win the round. The banker wins with equal hands. If one wins and one loses, you get your money back as a push. There can be more than one winning player each round. The winning players get paid by the dealer from the banker. The losing player bets go to the banker.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Trying out Baccarat
Baccarat is another casino card game that doesn’t get talked about that much. It originated in France and still draws some high stakes.
The objective of baccarat is a total value of 9 (or close to it as possible) in two or three cards dealt. 2 through 9 count as face value and aces count as 1. 10’s and face cards have a value of 0. If your value totals more than 9, 10 is subtracted. So, a 4 and a 7 has a value of 1 (11-10=1). In other words, you don’t want to go over 9.
You may not receive more than three cards in a baccarat hand. If the value of your first two cards is 6 or higher, you may not take a third card. When the first two cards total 8 or 9, it’s called a natural hand. When this happens, the dealer can not draw a third card, and vice versa. As many as 14 players can play at any time. The dealer shuffles and places the cards in the cardshoe and players take turns dealing. A full table has three dealers. The middle dealer is known as the caller, who announces the totals and oversees third-card draws. The two dealers on either table end calculate wins/losses and money owed to the banker.
Players have three options to bet. They can bet that their hand will win, bet that the banker’s hand will win, or bet that the two hands tie. The table has corresponding rows for each. Baccarat is a steal for players as far as casino games go with only a 1.4% house edge.
The objective of baccarat is a total value of 9 (or close to it as possible) in two or three cards dealt. 2 through 9 count as face value and aces count as 1. 10’s and face cards have a value of 0. If your value totals more than 9, 10 is subtracted. So, a 4 and a 7 has a value of 1 (11-10=1). In other words, you don’t want to go over 9.
You may not receive more than three cards in a baccarat hand. If the value of your first two cards is 6 or higher, you may not take a third card. When the first two cards total 8 or 9, it’s called a natural hand. When this happens, the dealer can not draw a third card, and vice versa. As many as 14 players can play at any time. The dealer shuffles and places the cards in the cardshoe and players take turns dealing. A full table has three dealers. The middle dealer is known as the caller, who announces the totals and oversees third-card draws. The two dealers on either table end calculate wins/losses and money owed to the banker.
Players have three options to bet. They can bet that their hand will win, bet that the banker’s hand will win, or bet that the two hands tie. The table has corresponding rows for each. Baccarat is a steal for players as far as casino games go with only a 1.4% house edge.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Trying out Let It Ride Poker
Let It Ride is a form of poker that you may not be accustomed to. Unlike the other poker varieties, you play against the dealer. The betting is also different but the game is still a popular game at brick and mortar casinos and online. I don’t know about you but I like my odds against one opponent than five opponents.
So, Let It Ride almost looks like a blackjack table. The rules are actually pretty easy. Five cards are dealt face down. Two go to the dealer and three go to each player. The player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $. If you don’t like your three-card hand, you can remove two of your three bets. If you do like your hand, you keep playing, otherwise known as “letting it ride.”
The winning strategy involved with Let It Ride starts with looking at your three cards. You can withdraw bet 1 or let it ride. In any case, the dealer turns over their first card, which is also the fourth card in your hand. Now, you can withdraw bet 2 or continue to let it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their second and last card. Next, all players must turn over their cards since the dealer’s cards are face up. The value of the hands determine the winner based on standard poker hand rankings.
That’s all there is to it. It may seem like you have to bet a lot but the minimums are usually very low since you must place three bets. Let It Ride is a nice variation on the same old poker game.
So, Let It Ride almost looks like a blackjack table. The rules are actually pretty easy. Five cards are dealt face down. Two go to the dealer and three go to each player. The player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $. If you don’t like your three-card hand, you can remove two of your three bets. If you do like your hand, you keep playing, otherwise known as “letting it ride.”
The winning strategy involved with Let It Ride starts with looking at your three cards. You can withdraw bet 1 or let it ride. In any case, the dealer turns over their first card, which is also the fourth card in your hand. Now, you can withdraw bet 2 or continue to let it ride. Then, the dealer turns over their second and last card. Next, all players must turn over their cards since the dealer’s cards are face up. The value of the hands determine the winner based on standard poker hand rankings.
That’s all there is to it. It may seem like you have to bet a lot but the minimums are usually very low since you must place three bets. Let It Ride is a nice variation on the same old poker game.
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