Hello,
I’m wondering if cards always play themselves in poker, particularly in Texas Holdem or else it’s actually on the hands of the player to determine the best 5 card. What do you think?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Joe Schmidt
Joe,
In a casino, cards speak. This mean it is the dealer’s responsibility to award the pot to call the hand and award it to the correct winner. The player should know what their hand is, but it is not required.
Hi there!
I played poker last night. At near mid part of the event, a player went all in although he only had river card to show up. I remember I had the A-10 straight then and a draw to the Queen high flush. On the board, well, a flush was possible however he seemed like bluffing and all. Eventually, I flopped my cards over and announced that I’ll still be pondering on if I’d call his bet or not. At such point, many players have given their opinions. Few minutes passed and I called all in. He had a two pair and so I won. He then had his cards as well as chips in and afterwards left in an instant. Well, without saying anything, we have had people throw cards up before.
Am I right by doing all of those?
Thanks!
Dino Todd
Dino,
Exposing your hand before calling an all-in move has been outlawed in tournament poker. This is considered a move used to get extra information in an unfair way. Some casinos allow this in a cash game, some do not. Many pro’s don’t like that this rule is in place, but the only reason one uses this is as a move trying to get a read.
Your opponent thought you were cheating, and based on the rules, you were.
Monday night I played poker with some friends. I remember we had a permanent dealer then and a certain hand by which two players were at. After the button was player 1 and then player 2 followed. Before the flop, both players were in. Eventually, player 1 checked and so player 2 placed a bet. Player 1 then called and afterwards turn came. Player 1 checked. Unfortunately, the dealer turned the river card unintentionally. Player 2 then placed a bet while player 1 called afterwards. At much later part, we argued as we don’t know what to do with the river card.
In your opinion, the original river could have been used up or else could have been just considered as a burned card?
Thanks and nice site!
Marek
Marek,
In this case, the river card is pulled back, put back into the deck, the deck shuffled, and a new river card dealt without burning since the burn already occurred.
Hello,
Just a couple of months ago, I’ve started playing poker. As of the moment, I really love no limit and limit poker.
Well, I must admit, before I started out playing, I totally don’t have any experience playing the game however maybe my advantage was that I like gambling a lot. Back then, I was also very open to suggestions on how I could improve my playing potential. Also, I even checked on some sites that have lots of tools that could help me understand basic poker concepts, rules, feel and strategies. However, of course, there were still some stuff that were not so clear to me.
I hope you could help me.
In an online event, the randomness is closer to true randomness compared to a brick and mortar game as it takes almost 58 shuffles to randomize a deck of cards entirely. Unfortunately, not all players shuffle the deck as many times as such.
Well, a home game is not a clear picture of poker with completely random settings unlike online poker which is with true settings.
I noticed that players usually play and see more blinds playing online rather than playing in brick and mortar game, therefore probability for all players to have a good hand at an an instance is much better.
Players who believe there’s cheating in brick and mortar games are just bitter losers.
By the way, the stat regarding card shuffling has a basis. I’ve taken up statistics course in a certain university.
Thanks!
Gill
Gill,
Johnny Moss took up cards at a very early age. Unlike many players, Moss learned more about cheating at cards than actually playing. He learned so much that he was hired by a local card house to keep games honest. While working at the card house, he would observe other players and would develop the strategies that would be necessary for him to become a professional player.
Moss was among the road gamblers that would travel around the country playing in various legal and illegal card games. One of his best friends was Binion’s Horseshoe owner Benny Binion and in 1949, the Horseshoe hosted one of the highest stakes cash games of all time. Johnny Moss and Nick “The Greek” Dandalos played in a high stakes cash games that was described by Binion to be the highest stakes game that anyone had witnessed in history. After playing for over five months, Dandalos was down Millions and told Moss, “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.”
This started the legend that was cemented at a new type of event that was designed by Binion to draw the greatest poker players in the world. It would be known as the World Series of Poker. The first WSOP was a series of cash games and at the end of it, players took a vote to see who’s the best poker player, and that person would be World Champion. According to legend, each player cast a vote for himself and a second vote had to be taken. Players were all asked to vote for whom they thought was the best player besides themselves. The winner was Johnny Moss.
After the first World Series of Poker, the decision was made to hold a freezeout tournament to determine the winner of the event. The 1971 WSOP Main Event ended up heads-up between Moss and Walter “Puggy” Pearson. In the end, Moss took the title and the $30,000 top prize. The 1973 WSOP saw Moss finish 2nd behind Pearson. Moss would go on to win a third WSOP Main Event title in 1974 when he defeated Crandall Addington.
Besides his three Main Event titles, Moss took 6 other WSOP bracelets. 3 were in 7 Card Stud, 2 were in Ace to Five Draw, and the other was in Stud 8 or Better. Besides his WSOP wins, Moss is credited with over $680,000 in tournament wins. It is unknown how much he truly won because many stats on tournaments were not kept in the early days of poker tournaments.
Moss played poker until his death in 1995 at the age of 88. To show how remarkable a player this man was, he won his 9th bracelet in 1988 at the age of 81. Moss was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. Doyle Brunson credits Moss as being one of his poker mentors when he got started in the game. Few players have been able to sustain a career as long at the “Grand Old Man of Poker” was able to. There have been very few players of the caliber of Moss and chances are we will never see anyone quite like him again.
Johnny Chan moved to the United States with his family in 1968. In 1973, his family moved to Houston, TX because his family owned restaurants there. Originally Chan had intended to go into the restaurant business but a visit to Vegas when he was 16 changed his mind. By the time he was 21, he left the University of Houston and became a professional gambler.
Chan rose to prominence in poker in 1987 when he won the World Series of Poker Main Event. That year he outlasted a final table that included Bob Ciaffone, Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington. The top prize for his finish that year was $625,000. This was Chan’s second bracelet at the time as he had won the $1,000 Limit Holdem bracelet in 1985. The very next year, the scene that was immortalized in the movie Rounders took place. He was heads-up again for the Main Event title against Erik Seidel. Chan slow played his straight to perfection and when Seidel went all-in Chan pounced and took home his 2nd Main Event title. The very next year, Chan nearly made it three in a row before losing to a young Phil Hellmuth. Chan was the last player to win back to back Main Event titles.
In total, Chan holds 10 World Series of Poker bracelets. Four of his bracelets are in NL Holdem, two are in Pot Limit Omaha, and he has one each in Limit Holdem, 2-7 Lowball, 7 Card Stud, and Pot Limit Holdem.
All of Chan’s major tournament wins have occurred at the World Series of Poker. He has wins in several other events including the Legends of Poker, the defunct Hall of Fame Poker Classic, and the also defunct Super Bowl of Poker. He also has three victories in on NBC’s Poker After Dark series. Chan has admitted in the past that he doesn’t play as many events as he has in the past so that he can focus and compete harder in the ones he plays in. He is still a force at the table finishing 4th in Event 28 at this years WSOP and making a deep run in both the World Championship Mixed Event and the Main Event at the WSOP.
Outside of poker, Chan owns a fast food restaurant in the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. He also has aspirations of someday owning a casino. He has served as a consultant to both casinos and game makes. In addition, he has been a regular author, writing columns for Card Player and Trader Monthly magazines. He opened his own online poker room in 2007 called Chanpoker.com. Unfortunately, the site never really took off and was closed in August 2008. Chan has also had two books released. The first is Play Poker Like Johnny Chan, and the other is Million Dollar Holdem: Winning Big in Limit Cash Games.
Whether in the card room, on the big screen, or on television, Johnny Chan is a name that transcends poker. He is only one bracelet away from tying Phil Hellmuth for the all-time lead. As Norman Chad likes to say, “He’s Johnny Chan. His name even sounds like a poker player. Johnny Chan.” He has recently turned 51, so he still has many good years left in him. Don’t be surprised if in a couple of years if Hellmuth is chasing Johnny Chan.
When you think of champions of poker, the first person that should come to mind is Doyle Brunson. Doyle is known to the poker world as the Godfather of Poker and has been on of the true pioneers of the game of Texas Holdem.
Doyle grew up with aspirations of becoming a professional athlete, but an injury to his leg ended his playing days and he proceeded to get his masters degree in Administrative Education. He used to play 5 card draw in college to help pay for expenses. Soon after he graduated school, he took a job as a salesman. During his first day on the job he was invited to a 7 card stud game where he won enough money in 3 hours to pay his salary for a month. He left the company to pursue a life in professional poker.
For years, Brunson traveled around the United States playing in various games and living the lifestyle of the road gambler. He developed a reputation as being one of the top poker players on the planet and was among those invited to the first World Series of Poker in 1970.
Brunson is one of only four players to ever win the World Series of Poker Main Event twice. He won the event in both 1976 and 1977. Both years the winning hand was a 10-2, which is now known as the Brunson. Overall, Doyle has won 10 bracelets at the World Series of Poker which is tied for second all time with Johnny Chan. His bracelets are in Holdem, 2-7 Lowball, Stud, Stud 8, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., and the now defunct Mixed Doubles event. Doyle was also one of the final table participants in the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, which is considered to be the strongest final table in WSOP history.
Doyle is also well known for his book Super System which taught millions of poker players how to improve their game. The book was originally published in 1978. In 2004 Super System 2 was written. Both books featured a collection of some of the greatest poker minds in the world. Brunson self authored the No Limit Holdem chapters but the other games were covered by those he considered the best in the world. We shouldn’t neglect to mention that Doyle Brunson owns his Poker Room, DoylesRoom.
Brunson’s only WPT title came in 2004 when he won the Legends of Poker event at The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA. He also finished fourth in the WPT Championship that year. Overall, Brunson has won over $5 Million in live tournaments over his lifetime and nobody really knows the amount of money he has won in cash games.
At the age of 75 Doyle Brunson is still a force to be reckoned with in poker. He is the first to admit that he may have lost a step or two, but his experience still keeps him near the top of the game. He is considered by many to be the greatest living poker player and there doesn’t seem to be any stopping this timeless legend.