Poker


Why I like Poker

Earlier in life I enjoyed playing 5 card draw. I wasn't particularily good at it, but it was a fun game to play. 5 Card Stud was also a great game to play, made it more interesting. I'd play mostly by feel rather than with any scientific method. The results were pretty much random, but it was always a fun time.

After going to school I stopped playing poker; folks wanted to play drinking games with dice (Mexican) instead of playing cards. Or on the heavier side Bridge and Sheepshead were also popular for all night bullshitting sessions. The problem with bridge is that I'd bid on what I thought was possible, rather than religously following the bidding conventions. In particular it really drove my aunt Maria nuts. It was playing by feel instead of using the conventions!

Poker changed over time, with Texas Hold'em, limit at first and then no-limit, becoming the dominant force in poker. I mostly ignored it, having fond memories of the older poker games I used to enjoy.

Then .. A couple of friends introduced me to Hold'Em and I found that I still enjoyed poker quite a bit. Playing games with good poker players was quite pleasant; Great camaraderie and competition at the same time! Then Todd introduced me into Texas Hold Em on Xbox 360, and I started playing a lot more poker with online competitors. Even though there is no real money, you run across such a wide range of competitors and situations. Both ring games and tournaments.

So now I play poker more often and have fun. I'd like to get into some tournaments with reasonable entry fees ... the environment is a lot different from playing with friends or online, or even at a Casino (which has full size poker tables and a trained dealer, a luxury you don't see other places).


Poker Resources


Poker Hands

Wiki's List of Poker Hands & Probabilties


Poker Chips

Poker Chips or Casino Chips are used in lieu of cash at all casinos and most private venues. Why? They are compact, easy to distinguish, easy to count, and easy to use.

Although colors are not required to be standardized in all casinos, there are a common set of chip colors which are used at many casinos & private games.

These colors are less agreed upon:

The worst thing is when some groups don't use the standard color denominations, and go strange on colors. It is really confusing! They tried to do right by making most chips 5x the previous chip, which simplifies chip handling compared to 4x/5x stack differences. For Example ...


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Last Modified: Sat Jun 21 10:20:29 CDT 2014
Bolo (Josef Burger) <bolo@cs.wisc.edu>