Position in poker

One of a key concept to be winning player in poker. You must always know what position you are every round. UTG = under the gun. This means you are the first on act and without knowledge at least one opponents´ decission it is the worst position in Texas Holdem poker. The rest of them are better. What are the best positions? The best postion is to be on a button (dealer). Someone can say the best position is to be on a big blind, but with trash hand you put money in a pot and you are very vulnerable to opponents´ raise.

So on a button, you have some knowledge about strenght of opponents before you and only two players on blinds are remaining. You can raise them both and in many cases they fold and congratulations, this was your first steal of blinds.

The more later your position is the worse cards you can play.
On button you can try to play almost every two cards. Your game will be more winning when you play only from late positions.

10 players table

• 3 early positions
• 4 middle positions
• 3 late positions which are:
• button
• small blind
• big blind

Next time you will player poker, try to concentrate more on your position in game.

Poker hands ranking

You have to perfectly know the order of hands ranking. What is the best combination and what is almost trash. As you win a poker game when you have better combination on showdown you have to know well how your cards are staying. We sorted them from the best to the worst and here is the list:

Royal Flush

Royal flush is the best poker hand. You can be absolutely sure that no one is stronger then you and it´s fine to play poker this time. For Royal flush your combination must consist from cards of the same color and they should be A-K-Q-J-10. There are only four different royal flushes as there are four colors in a deck.

Straight Flush

When you know what is royal flush, straight flush is easy to learn. It is made from cards of the same color and they must create a row of five consecutive values. No matter it is A-2-3-4-5 or 6-7-8-9-10 it is always straight flush. So royal flush is only kind of straight flushes.

If two opponents have the same kind of combination, then the one with higher of them is a winner.

In our example, A-2-3-4-5 will be beaten by 6-7-8-9-10. Ace can be used as the highest OR lowest card but it must stay always at the end of a row, never in the middle. Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight.

Four of a kind – Poker

It is strange but in fact Poker is not the best combination. When you have four cards of same value you have poker. Pretty strong combination but it can be overestimated and these loses are very painful.

Full House

Full House is combination consisting of three cards of a same value plus two cards of a same value. Example of Full House: 3-3-3-9-9 or 8-8-8-2-2. The one with higher three cards is better. When both full houses have the same three cards then value of a pair is a key to determining winner.

Flush

You have flush when all cards from your combination are the same color. Ah-Kh-8h-4h-2h and Ah-Kh-6h-5h-2h are both a flush. The first is bigger as 8 is higher then 6.

Straight

When you have a row of five cards but they are not in one color then you have a straight. There are again the same rules for determining the strength of two straights.

Three of a kind

Three cards of a same value are called three of a kind. Examples: 6-6-6-8-A or 6-6-6-10-A. The second is bigger as 10 is higher then 8.

Two pairs

When you have two cards of same value plus another two cards of same value it is called two pair. Player with higher pair is the winner. When both players have both pairs the same then the last card (kicker) must be considered.

One pair

When you have only two cards with the same value you have a pair. It is pretty weak combination but its strength grows with fewer opponents at the table. When you play only heads-up (2 players’ game) then a pair can be strong enough to beat your opponent.

High card

If you have absolutely nothing, no pair, then it comes to high card comparison. Going from the highest cards of both players to the lowest, the first difference indicates the winner.

Now you have complete order of Texas Hold´em poker hand rankings. It is no shame to start playing poker with a paper with this order but in life poker it says much about your experience.

Texas Hold´em Poker Rules

Texas Hold´em is the most popular variant of poker and rules are easy to understand in 5 minutes. So let’s start.

Texas Hold´em is played with a deck with 52 cards (without jokers). Each player gets two cards. There will be five cards put at the poker table:

• First three cards are put at the same time and they are called The Flop.
• Fourth card is called The Turn.
• Fifth card is called The River.

No matter of cards in your hand or at the table you are going to make the best and the strongest combination of FIVE cards. These five cards are called The Board.

For your best combination you can use:

• Two cards from your hand and three cards from the board or
• One card from your hand and four cards from the board or
• No card from your hand and all five cards from the board.

This is common mistake of beginning players. They forget the last option.

Betting and stakes in Texas Hold´em Poker

Betting is what makes Texas Hold´em poker amazing for millions of men and women players.

Before you get your two cards, one player is chosen as a dealer. The player on his left is called Small Blind (SB) and has to put some of his chips in the middle of poker table. The player on his left side is called Big Blind (BB). He has to put some chips (usually twice more then SB) in the middle of poker table. (Next rounds these three positions are moving clockwise.)

Let’s say you are on left side of Big Blind. You have cards in hand and you are first to act. What you can do or say? :

Fold

you have trash hand like 2 7 and you don’t want to waste money with it. You give your cards away and the game will continue without you.

Call

You have something better but not enough. You only call the bet of Big Blind which means you put the same amount of chips or money in the middle.

Raise

Cards like AA, KK or AK should be raised. You are showing your strength but you don’t want some luckers in a pot. When you raise you are putting more chips or money then a man behind you in the middle. It is usually 3 to 4 times big blind.

Check

When there is no bet or raise behind you and you don´t want to bet you can say Check. Imagine you are on big blind, everyone fold and only small blind says Call. Now you can check and see a flop. Or after different situation, after flop is dealt when you will be first to act you can say Check too.

After you choose your action, player on your left continues. He has the same options. Betting round ends when all players staying in game have the same amount of chips in the middle. This is time for dealing Flop and then there is next betting phase starting with player on dealer’s left side. As there are still two players in game at least, game continues with few next phases. Here is a summary of complete life of one Texas Hold´em poker round:

• 1st betting phase
• Flop and 2nd betting phase
• Turn and 3^rd betting phase
• River and 4^th (the last) betting phase
• Showdown – showing cards in hands and the one with better combination receives all chips or money from a pot.

This is it! Is it difficuilt? Maybe it could be written in different order so we appreciate your ideas. What are The Combinations and which one is the highest is a topic for the next lesson.

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