The popular belief is that Poker evolved from a card game played by the Chinese in 969A.D, when The Emperor Mu-tsung supposedly played "domino cards" on New Years Eve with his wife. He couldn’t have realized what he had started!
Nightmares and dreams have been a result from the creation of this very addictive game, which is epitomized by skill, bravery, bluffing and a great deal of tactical knowhow. Poker is the biggest and most famous card game in history.
Poker has seen a massive resurgence within the past decade, via online gambling websites and televised Poker competitions making the game more popular and accessible than ever before. From China to Monte Carlo, Las Vegas to the World Wide Web.
Rules of Poker
Texas Holdem is the most popular form of Poker in the world, with easy to understand rules. The main aim of the game is to win the money in the pot, by having the strongest hand at the table or being the last remaining active player in the game, after the other players have already folded.
Each player is dealt two downward facing cards, with five up facing community cards being dealt in the middle of the table. The main aim is to make a hand of five, using your two cards and the community cards in the middle of the table. The best hand is defined by an agreed standard hand strength hierarchy.
Each player places a stake before the hand is dealt. After receiving your two cards the betting commences, with the opportunity to Fold (opt out of this hand, losing your stake money), Call (match the amount of money it requires for you to stay in the game), or Raise (increase the betting amount).
Once each player has chosen one of the three options, the first community card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. This procedure is repeated until the five community cards have been dealt or each player has folded beforehand leaving a winner. If there is more than one player left at this point, the hands are shown and the highest collects the pot of money accumulated during the hand.
