Ahead Poker Texas Holdem

World Series of Poker (WSOP)  Las Vegas

Last year the winner of the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main event won $5,000,000. This year it could be even bigger. This is the biggest poker tournament in the world, where the best players meet to see who will be crowned the World Champion.

During the coming weeks you can win a seat to the WSOP 2005, being held at The Binions Horseshoe in Las Vegas from the 7th to the 15th July. The WSOP main event is a $10,000 entry No Limit Hold’em Freezeout played over nine days.

Ahead Poker are offering a $12,500 package, which comprises $10,000 entry to the main event and $2,500 travel / accommodation expenses.

You can win one of these seats via the Satellites running 24/7 over the next few weeks. ‘Satellite tourneys’ are feeder tournaments to bigger events. The top finishers in these satellites win their place in the more expensive main tournament.

Event schedule for $10,000 event

 

Days 1-5 will be held at the Rio Casino, Day 6 and the final day will be played at Binions Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.

Thursday 7th July - Day 1A - ⅓ Field - 1,000 – 2,200 play down to 500-600
Friday 8th July - Day 1B - ⅓ Field - 1,000 – 2,200 play down to 500-600
Saturday 9th July - Day 1C - ⅓ Field - 1,000 – 2,200 play down to 500-600
Sunday 10th July - Day 2 – play down to 500-1,000
Monday 11th July - Day 3 – play down to 200- 400
Tuesday 12th July – Day 4 – play down to 100 -150
Wednesday 13th July – Day 5 – play down to 27
Thursday 14th July – Day 6 – play down to 9
Friday 15th July – Final Day – play to a winner

Terms & Conditions – WSOP Promotion

  The Promoter of this promotion is Ahead Poker.

  The tourney event that represents the prizes is The Main Event of the World Series of Poker at the Binions Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. (The tournament is No Limit freeze out, no Rebuys, $10,000 entry) to take place on 7th – 15th July 2005. The prizes includes $2,500 travel/spending money.

   The minimum age limit for the tourney is 21.

  In the event of a service crash or a disruption, the promotion for that day will be rerun at the discretion of Ahead Poker. Ahead Poker will be the sole arbiter as to whether a promotion will be rerun.

  Ahead Poker accepts no responsibility whatsoever for system or connection problems that might affect any player during any of these promotions, such as a fold / timeout.

  The promoter reserves the right to refuse this offer to any player or to withdraw this / or part of this offer / promotion at any time. The Promoter cannot be held responsible for any 'fold / timeouts' or disconnects as per the general rules of the Ahead Poker Poker service. If the game is disrupted by system or network issues Ahead Poker reserves the right to resolve the issue as it sees fit.

  Ahead Poker reserves the right to amend the tournament rules at any time.

  Ahead Pokerx Tournament rules apply.

  In the event of event cancellation or buy-in unavailability, cash equivalent will be awarded.

  Any player who wins any of the promotions has the right not to participate. There is no cash alternative. In this instance, Ahead Poker will usually pick the runner-up as the replacement, subject to their total discretion.

  The winners will be required to wear Ahead Poker branded clothing at the main event whenever they are playing, subject to event permissions.

  By participating in the tournament you agree to reasonable publicity, including betting markets around the event. Event reports will also feature the name and alias of the winners.

  Seats for the WSOP are not transferable and there is no cash alternative. Should a player win two seats then he or she will forfeit one of them.

  Players can only win one satellite entry to a WSOP online qualifier, there is no cash alternative and seats are not transferable. Should any player win two seats then he or she will forfeit one of them.          

This section will inform you on gaming procedures, rules, policies and limits of PlayWebPoker´s game of Texas Hold’em.

is abbreviation for Rules.

• Dealing the Game of Texas Hold’em

• Texas Hold’em Blind Rules

• Ahead Poker Texas Hold’em Games

Dealing the Game of Texas Hold’em

All Texas Hold’em games that are offered at aheadpoker are “fixed” limit games. The object is to create the best five-card hand using seven cards 

$100 Bonus

As a invitation to new players at Ahead poker we are offering $100 to new players who opens an account.

All you have to do to claim your $100 bonus is to play on the real money tables.

Please note that you will NOT recieve this special start bonus if you have opened an account with the same user information at PlayWebPoker earlier.

This is because Ahead Poker is a partner to PlayWebPoker and the registration bonus offer is only valid once.

 

Terms and Conditions

1. The sign up bonus will be automatically credited into your aheadpoker account as follows: When you have raked your first 250 hands you will be credited with $25 and when you have raked a further 750 hands you will receive the remaining $75.

2. Only the hands played on real money tables will count to complete the number of raked hands needed to claim the bonus.

3. The bonus is for new players only and valid for 120 days after registration. If the number of raked hands on real money tables not are reached within the first 120 days after registration at aheadpoker the right to claim this bonus is lost.

4. This promotion apply to only one account per player and household. If you already have multiple accounts you are NOT eligible for the offer in the additional accounts. Any player attempting to claim multiple bonuses for which they are not eligible will have their accounts closed and any winnings on all their accounts will be null and void. All cash outs will be cancelled.

5. All promotions are available only once per person, family, household address, e-mail address, credit card number, and environments where computers are shared (university, fraternity, school, public library, workplace, etc).

6. If, while playing at the poker room, you win a sum or a promotion regarded by the Management as worthy of publicity, we reserve the right to use your 'Nick Name' in any announcement about this result. Your real identity will NOT be published.

7. In the event of dispute of any kind, the decision of aheadpoker Manager or Boss Media AB will be considered full and final.

8. Employees, officers and directors of the poker room, its promotional or other agencies, licensees and licensers, service providers and any other associated or affiliated companies shall not be eligible for entry. The same terms shall apply to the direct families of such persons.

9. Entrants who fail to comply with any of the stipulated Terms and Conditions of this promotion will forfeit their bonus, which will subsequently be removed from their gaming account.

10. The poker room reserves the right to bar any promotion abusers from receiving any further promotions, and or lock the players account as well as the right to pass on any information regarding known abusers to other Boss Media poker room operators. This will ensure that they will be barred from promotions at all poker rooms utilizing the services of Boss Media.

11. aheadpoker reserve the right to change the terms of this promotion without prior notice.
 

Tournaments

There are two types of tournaments:

Single Table Tournaments and Multi Table Tournaments.

Click HERE to see this weeks tournaments details.

A Single Table Tournaments is launched once the required number of players has registered. A Multi Table Tournament is launched at a specific starting time.

To join a tournament, players pay an entry fee before a tournament starts. There is no rake for tournaments. Instead, players pay a small fee on top of the entrance fee which goes to the house. Winnings are awarded to the top finishers in the tournament using a predetermined prize structure.

Players do not choose a seat at a table and then buy in. Instead they register in a tournament and wait to be assigned a seat. The players are seated at random around the table and each player is given a predetermined number of chips.

Players cannot buy more chips during a tournament. Once players lose all of their chips, they are out of the tournament (freeze-out).

A tournament finishes when one player has won all of the chips.

Play is the same as for Cash Games with the following exceptions:

• Players must always post blinds on their turn. They may not leave the table. If they are disconnected or stop playing, the blinds are posted automatically from their stacks, and the hands are automatically folded.

• Every player must post a big blind followed by a small blind once around the table. In some situations (when either the player currently on the small blind or the big blind is knocked out) there may be a “dead dealer button”. This means that the dealer button does not move to the next player, but instead stays where it is. This is because the big blind and the small blind must not miss any player at the table on its way around. Another consequence of this is that sometimes a small blind is not posted.

• Once a player has lost all his/her chips he/she cannot buy any more and is automatically removed from the table.

Timeouts and disconnections
If a player times out during a hand in a tournament, the hand is folded if a bet has been made, or checked if no-one has bet (regardless of whether the player is connected or disconnected).

Registration cancellation
If a player wishes to cancel his/her tournament registration, he/she is able to unregister at any time during the registration period. The player will then receive a full refund of his/her tournament buy-in and entry fee costs.

Cancellation or Failure
If the tournament is by some reason cancelled by the house, the buy-in and entry fee costs will be automatically refunded or at a failure manually refunded within 48 hours.

Tournament Status
A tournament can be in several states and information about this is shown in the lists of tournaments in the client.

Another term for "betting," that is, to start the action is to start the betting.

Ante:

A small sum of money, placed in the pot by each player. Antes are used in Stud and Draw, but not in Hold'em or Omaha.

Big Blind:

A bet that must be posted by the player two seats to the left of the button. It is equal to the amount of the smaller betting limit in a game, for example, in a 10-20 game, the big blind would be $10.

Blind:

Forced bets placed in the pot by the first two players in front of the dealer button, in Hold'em and Omaha. See "small blind" and "big blind."

Bluff:

To bet when you hold a weak hand, hoping that the intimidation factor of your bet can win the hand.

Bring-in:

In Stud, a bet that must be made on the very first betting round. Usually the player showing the lowest card is forced to make a bet; in some games, the player showing the highest card is forced. The bring-in applies only on the very first betting round, though. On all further rounds, the player showing the highest hand on board has the OPTION to bet first, but need not.

Call:

To match a bet that has been made.

Check:

To possess the option to bet, but decline. A player cannot check once someone else has bet; at that point, the player must call, raise, or fold. But if no one has yet bet, a player can check, allowing the betting option to pass to the next player.

Check-raise:

To check, indicating weakness, with the intention of raising after someone else bets.
Check-raises are allowed in all casino poker games; in some home games, they are frowned upon.

Fifth Street:

The fifth community card in Hold'em or Omaha (in these games, 5th street is more often called "the river."). Also sometimes used to refer to the fifth card received in 7 Card Stud.

Flop:

In Hold'em or Omaha, the first three community cards, turned up all at once.

Fold:

To drop out of a hand.

Fourth Street:

The fourth community card in Hold'em or Omaha (in these games, 4th street is more often called "the turn."). Also sometimes used to refer to the fourth card received in 7 Card Stud.

Hole cards:

Cards that are face down and cannot be seen by the other players.

Kicker:

Two meanings.

1) A single card kept along with a pair, in Draw, in an attempt to make two pair. For example, someone might keep 3-3-K, drawing two cards, in the hope that he might get either a three (for trips) or a King (making two pair, Kings-up).

2) The highest single card held by two players in Hold'em who each hold the same pair. For example, if the board in Hold'em is A-10-8-5-2, and Player One holds A-J as his hand, and Player Two holds A-Q, each player has a pair of Aces, but Player Two has a better kicker and would win the hand.

Narrowing the Field:

To bet or raise in the hopes that you will drive out some players whose hands are currently worse than yours, but who might improve if allowed to stay in.

Nuts, The:

The best possible hand. This phrase is almost always used in the context of a particular hand (otherwise "the nuts" would just be a term for a royal flush). For example, in Hold'em, a player holding 8-9 would hold "the nuts" if the flop came 6-7-10. At that moment, the 6-7-8-9-10 straight is the best possible hand. However, if the Turn card were a Jack, and the River a Queen, a player holding A-K would then have the nuts-a 10-J-Q-K-A straight.

Pot:

The money in the center of the table, being contested by the players still remaining in the hand.

Rake:

The amount of money the casino takes from the pot to make money from the poker game. In low limit games, the casino usually rakes some percentage of the pot, usually a maximum of 10% of the pot. In higher limit games, the casino makes money either by charging players an hourly fee to play, or by collecting a fee each time a player holds the button.

River:

In Hold'em or Omaha, the fifth and final community card. Also sometimes called fifth street.

Rock:

A player known to be very conservative, who usually bets or raises only when he has a very powerful hand.

Small Blind:

A bet that must be posted by the player one seat to the left of the button. It is usually equal to one half of the smaller betting limit in a game, for example, in a 10-20 game, the small blind would be $5. Occasionally, the small blind is some other fraction of the big blind.

General House Policies

This section will inform you on all-in procedures and general house policies.

All–In Procedures:

What happens if a player runs out of money during a hand or is disconnected?

If a player runs out of money during a hand or is disconnected by his ISP or system, by no means does a player have to fold his hand: the player may go “all-in.” This means that a player cannot be forced out of a hand if he/she doesn’t have enough money to complete the hand he/she started. When a player runs out of money in a hand and wants to stay in, he/she places what chips he/she does have into the pot and the game computer automatically places him/her ”all-in.”

As an all-in player, he/she can only contend for the money in a pot that he/she contributed to. Using this kind of all-in does not use up one of your two daily all-ins; those all-ins get used up only when you fail to act in time, either because you got distracted from the game, or disconnected from the game. All other action of remaining “active” players goes into a “side pot” to be fought for by them.

How do you go all-in?

Players may go all-in for whole dollar amounts only. When you make a bet, call a bet or raise a bet that will reduce your balance to less than $1, you will be prompted to: “go all-in?” Yes or no?

Once a player is all-in:

1. The player receives all cards as usual.

2. The all-in player has no option to bet (obviously).

3. All other money bet after the player is all-in cannot be won by the all-in player and will be put into a side pot for all active players to win.

4. If the player who is all-in has the action, then the dealer will move to the next player clockwise. This will continue until an active player shows a better top hand.

5. The player may fold his cards only on the river and only after the side pot (if there is one) has been awarded to active players.

Other House Policies

1. Server Crash or Game freeze:

In the event of a server crash that removes all players from the table or prevents the hand from continuing, the hand will be considered dead (void) and all monies will be returned to all players.

2. Errors that do not cause a dead hand:

In the event the game pushes the pot to the wrong player or misreads the winning hand, certified poker support service members will correct the error by adjusting the players’ accounts within 24 hours.

3. Cheating of any kind:

If management suspects such an activity, the player(s) accused will be investigated. Players found to have been, or reasonably suspected of cheating in any form, will have their account privileges terminated throughout Boss Media’s casinos indefinitely. Using the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt" to indicate cheating, Ahead Poker has the right to confiscate any funds won while cheating. Confiscated funds will be distributed to victim players. Boss Media/Ahead Pokerwill never keep confiscated funds. Any player who has funds confiscated for cheating will be told the screen names of the players who have received their money.

4. Team play or collusion:

Team play or collusion is the act of two or more players “teaming up” to gain a competitive advantage by signaling card values or making raises and re-raises that are intended to force a victim player out of a pot. If customer service receives a complaint about such an activity or management suspects such activity, the players accused/suspected will have their accounts and playing activity reviewed by management. Players found to have been acting, or reasonably suspected of acting as a team, will have their account privileges terminated throughout Boss Media’s casinos indefinitely. If warranted, Ahead Poker has the right to confiscate any funds won while acting as a team. Confiscated funds will be distributed to victim players.

5. Violations of house rules - If a player commits any of the following acts, he is in breach/violation of house rules:

1. Players may not chat about a hand while it is in progress (i.e., a comment like “I have a heart flush draw.” General comments like “I’m going to get my revenge this hand” may be considered acceptable);
   

2. Players may not offer advice to another player through the chat during a hand, or urge a player to take any kind of action;
   

3. Only English may be written in the chat;
   

4. Any foul, abusive or threatening language will not be tolerated on any game table;
   

5. Players may not chat about any mucked cards they held during a hand; and
   

6. Players may not chat about any current cards being held during a hand.

Management will judge the severity of a violation. Ahead Poker has the right suspend or revoke membership privileges.

Mock Hand on Texas Hold'em

Basic Strategy and the Importance of Position

In home poker games, the deal rotates from individual player to individual player; each player deals one game from start to finish, and then passes the deck to the player on his left, so the deal moves around the table clockwise. The player to the dealer's left must act first, and the dealer acts last. Usually it is a big advantage to act last, because you have more information available to you-the other players may all fold, or several may raise. In casino games, a professional dealer is used, and so the casino must do something to make sure that all the players get a chance to play a hand while acting last. If they didn't, everyone would fight over the right to sit just to the dealer's right, and no one would want to sit just to the dealer's left. The game would never start.

The Button

Casinos solve this problem by representing the dealer position with a small plastic disc that says "dealer" on it. This disc is called "the button." The player holding the button is considered to be the dealer for that hand, even though the professional dealer actually deals the cards. After each hand is completed, the button is moved one player to the left. As a result, everyone at the table gets an equal chance to "hold the button" and thus hold the advantageous position of going last.

Betting Structure

Except in high stakes no-limit games filled with professionals, hold'em is played with what is called structured betting. That is, the bets are always a specific size. This allows players to choose a game that is appropriate to the amount of money they wish to risk. I will use a "10-20 game" as an example. In a 10-20 game, the bets are always either $10 or $20, depending on whether it is early in the hand or late in the hand (more on this in a moment). You can't bet $16, or $34, or $2. If you are going to bet, your bet must be $10 or $20. In a 2-4 game, your bets must always be $2 or $4. Beginning hold'em players should certainly be looking at playing 1-2 or 2-4 games, until they learn more.

How The Cards Are Dealt

In hold'em, each player is dealt two cards face down. These cards belong to him, and only him. After a round of betting at the $10 level, the dealer turns three cards face up in the middle of the table. These three cards are called "the flop," and they belong to EVERYONE at the table. They are "community cards."

So if Player Number One holds a Jack and a King in his hand, and the flop is A-Q-10, Player Number One now holds an ace-high straight (A-K-Q-J-10). If Player Number two is unfortunate enough to hold a good hand like an Ace and a Queen in his hand, Player Number Two is probably going to lose a lot of money, because Player Two has "flopped" an excellent-looking hand: two pair, aces and queens.

After those players who called pre-flop sees the three-card flop, and examines how well the flop does or does not "fit" with the cards they hold individually, there is another round of betting, again at the $10 level. Then the dealer turns a fourth community card up in the middle. This fourth card is usually called "the turn" or sometimes "fourth street." There is another round of betting, but now it is at the $20 level. When that round is completed, the dealer turns a fifth and final card up in the middle. This card is usually called "the river," or sometimes "fifth street." There is now a final round of betting, again at the $20 level.

Completing Your Hand With Zero, One or Two Cards

To make one's final 5-card hand, each player may use both of the cards in his own hand, just one, or none! When would you use none of the cards in your own hand? Supposed the five cards on the board were the 3-4-5-6-10 of diamonds, for a flush. If you did not have a diamond in your own hand, nothing you had in your hand could improve the board. Even if you had a pair of Tens in your hand, and thus "could" say your hand is three Tens, you would be making a mistake, because the flush available to you is better than your three Tens. In this situation, you are hoping that no one else has a diamond either, and so you would split the pot. If someone else had, for example, the eight of diamonds in his hand, you would lose, because your 10-6-5-4-3 flush would lose to his 10-8-6-5-4 flush. At the table, they would say his "10-8 beat your 10-6."

So in our hypothetical 10-20 game, you see that there are two rounds of betting at the $10 level, and two rounds at the higher $20 level.

The Blinds

To start our 10-20 game, the player sitting to the left of the button must place $5 in the pot before any cards are dealt, and the player sitting to HIS left must place $10 into the pot before any cards are dealt. These sums are called "the blinds," because you must put the money in before you "see" any cards. The $5 is called the "small blind" and the $10 is the "big blind."

Why force players to bet blind? For the same reason players must put an "ante" into the game in seven card stud. Unless there is something sitting there to be won, there would be no good reason to ever enter a hand unless you had the absolute best possible cards, and poker would be very boring. By forcing players to put some money in at the start, the players have something to shoot at. Hold'em thus begins as a battle for the blind money.

Players For a Hypothetical Hand

Now lets fill our hypothetical 10-20 hold'em game with nine players:

Seat 1 (the button): Andy Seat 2 (the small blind): Bob Seat 3 (the big blind): Chuck Seat 4: Dave Seat 5: Ed Seat 6: Frank Seat 7: Greg Seat 8: Hal Seat 9: Iggy

The dealer will now deal two cards, face down, to each player. He deals them one at a time, starting with Bob. These two cards belong only to the player to whom they are dealt, and that player should take care to avoid letting anyone else see them. The cards dealt are:

Andy: King of hearts and Jack of hearts (Kh-Jh) Bob: Four of spades and Six of diamonds (4s-6d) Chuck: Seven and Eight of diamonds (7d-8d) Dave: Seven of clubs and the Seven of spades (7c-7s) Ed: Ten of hearts and Two of clubs (10h-2c) Frank: Nine of diamonds and Four of hearts (9d-4h) Greg: Queen of spades and Two of hearts (Qs-2h) Hal: Ace of spades and Queen of diamonds (As-Qd) Iggy: Jack of clubs and Five of spades (Jc-5s)

Since Bob and Chuck already have blind money in the pot, Dave is the first to act. Dave has three choices. He can CALL, which means he will put $10 into the pot, matching the size of the previous player's bet. He can RAISE, which means he will put $20 into the pot, matching the $10 that had already been bet with another $10 increase. Or he can FOLD, throwing his hand away. Let's assume that after looking at his two cards, Dave calls. There is now a total of $25 in the pot.

Ed now must act, facing the same choices that Dave did. Let's say he folds, as do Frank and Greg. Hal now decides to raise, and puts $20 into the pot.

Now it's Iggy's turn. He too can call, fold, or raise, but now the numbers have changed. It will cost Iggy $20 to call or $30 to raise. He decides to fold.

Now Andy, holding the button, must act, and now perhaps you start to see why holding the button is considered a big advantage. Unless Dave is being tricky, Andy now has some pretty useful information at his disposal. He knows

1) That Bob and Chuck had to put their money into the pot without ever looking at their cards. While they MIGHT have good hands, the odds are against it. 2) That Dave probably has a good but not great hand, because he only called, rather than raising. 3) That he will not have to face Ed, Greg, Frank, or Iggy in the hand, because they have all folded. Compare this to what Dave knew when he called the original $10. Dave knew nothing about the strength of these four players' hands. 4) That Hal probably has a fairly strong hand, because he raised. Again, there was no way that Dave could have known this when he called the $10.

Andy looks at his hand and decides it is pretty good, and decides to call the $20. Now it is Bob's turn. Bob already has $5 invested in this pot, via the small blind. He too can fold, call or raise, but because he was forced to put the original $5 in, the amounts are a bit different. It will cost him $15 to call, or $25 to raise. He looks at his cards, realizes that both Hal and Andy probably have good hands, and also realizes that he will be in the uncomfortable position of having to act first on each and every betting round of the game. He folds.

Chuck looks at his cards. He faces a decision similar to Bob's, but not quite identical. Because Chuck was forced to put $10 in before he ever got his cards, it will cost him only $10 more to play on. He also raise, if he wants, but he sees that his hand isn't very good and decides just to call, and see if the cards to come improve his hand.

Dave, who called early, must now call another $10 (Hal's raise) if he wants to play. Because someone raised after Dave called the original $10 bet, Dave is also allowed to raise, but decides to call. This completes the pre-flop betting. There is $85 in the pot: $20 each from Chuck, Dave, Hal and Andy, and $5 from Bob. Hal can't raise again because he was the player who raised originally, and no one raised him.

The Players Remaining After the Pre-Flop Betting

The players now contesting the pot are:

Chuck, in seat 3 (7d-8d) Dave, in seat 4 (7c-7s) Hal, in seat 8 (As-Qd) Andy, in seat 1 (Kh-Jh)

The dealer now deals out the flop: The Ace of diamonds, the Queen of hearts, and the Ten of diamonds (Ad-Qh-10d). Let's see what this flop did for, or to, everyone.

Chuck, who was in the big blind, has flopped two diamonds to go with the two diamonds he has in his hand. He is said to have a "flush draw," because he needs one more diamond to make that powerful hand. If one more diamond arrives on the turn or the river, Chuck will be in good shape, but at the moment, he has nothing but possibilities.

Dave, who held the highest hand before the flop with his pair of sevens, is now losing, because there are many high cards on the board, and players tend to call in hold'em with big cards in their hands. So even without seeing the other players' cards, Dave is pretty sure he is trailing.

Hal, who held a good hand with two high cards in it before the flop, is thrilled, because he has flopped two pair. Although someone else COULD have a straight, the odds against it are long.

Andy, whose hand was worse than Hal's before the flop, has improved to a terrific hand, a straight. If there were no more cards to come, Andy would win, but as it is, he must survive two more cards. He does not know that Hal has two pair or that Chuck has a flush draw. At the moment, Andy has the best possible hand, which is usually called "the nuts." Let's see how it works out.

Hypothetical Betting After the Flop

Chuck, as the first player to the left of the button still in the game, must act first. He has two options. He can CHECK, meaning "I pass but retain the option to stay in the game if someone else bets," or he can BET, in this case, $10. Theoretically he could also fold at this point, but even if he thinks his hand is hopeless, he loses nothing by checking. He can always fold later. So Chuck looks at his promising but not yet complete hand, and decides to check, hoping that no one else will bet and that he will get a "free" chance to complete his flush.

Dave is pretty sure his pair of sevens is no longer in the lead, and so he checks also, hoping that no one will bet and so that he will get a "free" chance to catch a third seven. This is not an impossible hope. Often flops containing three high cards scare everyone, even those who have made strong hands, and so the weaker hands get a shot to improve without paying for it. That won't happen here, though.

Hal looks at his very strong hand and decides to bet. He could try to be tricky and check, hoping that by indicating weakness he will get other players to call his bets later, but with all the high cards on the board, as well as two diamonds, he is worried that someone else will improve to a better hand, so he bets to try to win the hand right now, or at least to make the players who are drawing "pay for the privilege." He doesn't want to give the other players a "free" card.

Andy would like to lick his lips, clap his hands, and laugh, but this is poker and he knows it is important to disguise his hand's strength. He has "the nuts," at the moment. He certainly could raise, and many players in his position would raise, but he decides just to call, because his hand is so strong, he wants to lure the other players into a false sense of security, and hopefully to keep them in so he can win bets from them at the higher $20 level.

Chuck, who might have hesitated at calling $20, sees that he has a fairly inexpensive chance to catch a big hand, and calls $10. Dave decides his pair of sevens is hopeless, and folds. There is now $115 in the pot. This completes the betting on the flop.

Hypothetical Play After the Turn Card (4th Street)

With the flop betting completed, the dealer deals the turn card, which turns out to be the Six of clubs.

The board now shows Ad-Qh-10d-6c. What has this card done? Let's review the players' holdings:

Chuck, in seat 3 (7d-8d) Hal, in seat 8 (As-Qd) Andy, in seat 1 (Kh-Jh)

Chuck has not made his flush, although he still can do so on the river, and he has also picked up a chance to make a straight if a Nine hits on the river. He has no idea that the Nine would not help him; although it would give him a straight, Andy already has a bigger straight. So while a Nine on the river might seem like a dream card to Chuck, it would actually be a nightmare.

Hal likes this Six of clubs, because it doesn't help any of the flush draws that might have been out there, and can't give anyone a straight either.

Andy is even happier, because his straight is still "the nuts."

Chuck is still first to act, and he checks, hoping to get a free card. Hal decides it is time to show everyone who is boss, so he bets $20. Andy thinks briefly about calling, just to suck everyone in until the river, but sees the two diamonds on the board and decides the time to act is now. He raises $20, which means that it will now cost Chuck at least $40 to draw to his flush (the $40 he faces immediately, plus the possibility that Hal will re-raise Andy). Chuck, like many poker players, can't bear to throw away a potential flush, so he calls.

Hal is now a bit worried. His original $20 bet was raised and that raise was called. He probably has the best hand-Andy could be raising with something like Ace-King or, better yet, Ace-Ten, or could even be bluffing-but Andy could also have a straight, three Queens, three Tens, or even three Aces. Nonetheless, Hal decides he wants to find out what is happening now, rather than waiting. He raises again by putting $40 into the pot-the $20 Andy raised, and $20 more of his own.

Andy tries to contain his delight. He raises again, knowing he holds the best hand. Perhaps Hal has the same hand as him, but no one can have a better hand, at least not yet.

Chuck is now not happy at all. He knew he was trailing before the betting action started, knew that he held a "drawing hand," but had hoped to be able to make his draw inexpensively. He has only two consolations. First, the strong betting by both Hal and Andy makes it likely (although not a certainty) that neither is drawing at a flush with a hand like Kd-9d; they each probably already have some sort of "made" hand. If one or the other did hold Kd-9d, that would be a disaster for Chuck because even if he made his flush, he would lose to a higher flush. Because it appears that no one else is "drawing," Chuck can feel fairly sure that if he makes his flush, it will win.

The second consolation is that if Chuck calls, he can't be raised again, because there is a limit of three raises per round (the limit is four in some casinos, but because most casinos use the three-raise limit rule, we're using that rule here). If Chuck had known it was going to cost him four big bets (one bet and three raises) when the 4th street betting began, he probably would have dropped out. As it is, he already has two big bets in the pot, which is now quite large. So he calls.

Hal is now fairly sure he does not hold the best hand. He calls, though, because the pot is now quite large, and it only costs him $20 to see the last card. If the last card is an Ace or a Queen, Hal will have a full house. If the last card doesn't help, Hal can still hope that Andy has been pushing Ace-Ten, and that Chuck has been hoping to make a straight or a flush.

We had $115 in the pot before the 4th street betting frenzy began, and the players have now shoved $80 each in, a total of $240 more for a pot of $355.

Hypothetical Play After the River Card (5th Street)

The dealer deals out the river card: the nine of spades. The board now shows:

Ad-Qh-10d-6c-9s

The player holdings are:

Chuck, in seat 3 (7d-8d) Hal, in seat 8 (As-Qd) Andy, in seat 1 (Kh-Jh)

Chuck gets excited. With a six, nine, and ten on the board, plus the seven and eight in his hand, Chuck has a straight: 6-7-8-9-10. The only way anyone can beat him is if he holds K-J. Chuck forgets how aggressive both other players have been during the hand, and just looks at how good his own hand is. He bets $20. $375 is in the pot.

Hal is now VERY unhappy. Chuck has been sitting there meekly calling all hand long, and now suddenly has come out firing. He couldn't have 7-8, could he? Probably Chuck has been slow-playing a strong hand like three Tens. And there is still Andy to think about. Does he have A-10, or one of the hands Hal can't beat, like K-J, 10-10, Q-Q, or A-A? But maybe Andy will be scared by Chuck's bet too. Hal calls the $20. The pot sits at $395.

Andy pauses, stares at the board is if he is trying to see how he can win, while knowing that he cannot possibly lose, only tie. Eventually he realizes that it is hard to act sad believably while raising, and goes ahead and raises, bring the pot to a total of $435.

Chuck is tempted to raise again-after all, he has a straight, doesn't he? But he remembers how Andy kept raising the last time, and sees how the possible straight with 7-8 does not seem to have scared Andy. So Chuck shows some moderation and calls. Now there's $455 in the pot.

Hal sighs and throws his hand away. Even though it only costs $20 to call this last bet, and even though the pot is now fairly large, Hal decides that he cannot beat BOTH Andy and Chuck. If Chuck's bet on the river was a bluff, it didn't scare Andy. If Andy's raise on the end was a bluff, it didn't scare Chuck, at least not much. Against just one player, Hal would probably call. But he is sure his hand can't beat both of them.

Note that many (perhaps most) players would call in Hal's position, especially at lower limits, and that calling could easily be the right play. It depends a lot on how much Hal knows about how Andy and Chuck play. If he knows them to be loose players who bluff a lot or who overvalue their hands, calling is certainly correct. If he knows them to be very solid conservative players, folding is probably better. If Hal doesn't know much about Andy or Chuck, it is probably worth $20 more just to be sure.

Even if it is very likely that Hal will lose, he would be getting excellent odds on his call. He would be risking $20 to win $455. If he has even a one in twenty-two chance of winning, his call is correct. Although it turns out that Hal has made the correct play by folding, Aces and Queens-the "top two pair"-is a fairly strong hand. Given how loose most 10-20 games are, I would say Hal's decision to fold is wrong, unless he really knows Andy and Chuck to be tight, conservative players-and if he does know that, he probably should have slowed down the betting action earlier.

Andy and Chuck now turn their cards over, and Chuck sees that the "lucky" straight he made on the end cost him an extra $40. If the dealer had just turned over some worthless card, Chuck could have thrown his hand away. But instead, Chuck found himself in the worst possible position: second place. He made a straight, and now finds himself much poorer than Ed, Frank, Greg, and Iggy, all of whom just threw their hands away before the flop.

The large pot goes to Andy, who started the hand in the best position (the button), and because of that position was able to call a raise when he didn't hold the best hand (pre-flop). Chuck, who started the hand in a poor position (holding a drawing hand in the big blind), lost a lot, because the hand he was drawing to wasn't "the nuts." Ideally, if you are in a hand you know you are trailing, you would like to be sure you will win if you hit your card. If not, your dream card can turn into a nightmare pretty fast… one of those classic cases of "be careful what you wish for, you might get it!"

 Welcome to Texas Hold'em.