Simplified Poker
Poker is a cool game. How does the game proceed? There is a generalized way of how all poker games progress.
Before the start of the game, players decide the limits one can bet. It could be small for a group of friends and big bucks for people with a lot of money they are willing to either win or lose with. Setting the limit could prevent some to back out from the game. Then each player gives out an ante otherwise called a token inside the pot. This ante can be of any amount of money. The ante entices players that there is something to be won on each hand.
With the ante inside the pot, the dealer hands out the cards face to the player starting with the player on the left and proceed clockwise. The dealer is dealt last if he is also playing. When each one has five cards the remaining card of the deck is placed in the middle.
All players wait until the dealer is dealt if he is also playing before they get their cards and look at it. When all had a look of their hand, first player makes a bet. Usually the person to the left of the deals makes the first bet. The person left to the person who made the previous bet makes the bet in the next hand. Betting will go on around the table.
As the first round of betting goes and no one has called a bet yet one may choose to open or to check. To open means that no one has started and its your turn. Or a player may check. That is when neither opens the pot nor does one quit. To check means to wait and see what will happen next.
If someone has opened the betting, there are three choices to choose from. These are to call, to raise or to fold. To call means a player wants to match another players bet. This is done by putting the same amount of bet another player has made into the pot. A player can also raise and this requires seeing the previous bet and increasing the bet. And lastly to fold means to give up. In folding player places card face down on table and lose his or her bet. One resolves to fold when the cards in one's hand really cannot compete with the hands of the other players. The cost of folding is losing one's bet.
After the betting round, plays draw card from the pile on the middle, the remaining cards of the deck. A player can get a maximum of 3 new cards and rids at most 3 cards as long as the player has 5 cards in hand. All discarded cards are placed on the table face down. It is wise no one sees the new card one just drew.
When players are done with drawing new cards betting starts all over again. That gives a player a chance to open or check. And after one has opened, others may, see, fold or raise the bet. It will be the end of the game when no one opts to raise and all the rest except one folds. The last one who does not fold is the winner.
After five round in Texas Hold'em, there is a showdown of the players who have not folded. This is when they will see how they fared against each other. Whoever gets the highest hand wins the pot. In cases of tie, the pot is split.