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Poker

There are numerous TV shows featuring the game together with hundreds of books telling you how to play better poker and win.

Online poker has been exploding in popularity in recent years and there are numerous websites where you can play either for free or with your own money.

Even if you play with your own cash there are sites with extremely small limits allowing you to have a good nights card playing entertainment with minimal risk to your bank balance!

Texas hold em

This is the most popular form of the game on TV and online.

Two cards are dealt face down to each player after which betting commences.

Subsequently five more cards are dealt which can be used by all players to make the best five card hand when combined with their two original cards.

We won't go into the full rules on this page at this moment, but can assure you it's an easy game to pick up.

Most sites let you watch others playing before you join the table so you will quickly get the hang of it.

Pot limit vs. No limit

With a pot limit game the amount you can lose is limited. If you play at a table where the compulsory bets (blinds) are small the pot limit will be relatively small. The larger the blinds the higher the limit on the pot.

With no limit poker all of your money is potentially at risk. You can throw it in the middle at any time.

Poker tournaments

1. Sit'n'go tournaments

   Played on a single table, usually with 10 players. You pay an entry fee which consists of an amount which goes into the prize pool plus a commission for the tournament organiser. You will see it written as $5 + .50c - ie. $5 goes into the prize pool with 50c going to the organisers.

   In this example 10 players paying $5 would give a total prize pool of $50. Usually this is split between the last three finishers.

   The compulsory bets (blinds) rise quickly meaning there is plenty of action and the game is usually over within an hour. It's a lot of fun and with tournaments starting from $1 entry fee it's a cheap hours entertainment with the possibility of a profit at the end of it.

2. Multi table tournaments

   Much the same as a sit'n'go tournament but there can be many hundreds, if not thousands of entrants. As players are knocked out the remaining players are moved from table to table until only ten remain at the final table.

   Again entry fees can be very low but with many more players prizes are much larger and can be distributed between many more people. There are also bonus prizes like entries to some of the most prestigious poker tournaments in the world for the winners.

   The largest tournament with the biggest prize in poker is the World Series of Poker which is the unofficial world championship of poker.

Other poker information

For a guide to poker terms and terminology visit our poker glossary.

For a full guide to texas holdem poker in easy printable format go to our complete guide to texas holdem poker.