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The
Real Basics
Poker
is a simple games; even a child can learn it. It's a game
of money and of people, played with cards. The object of
the games is to win money or chips, collectively called the
"pot," wagered during the play of each hand. (Don't
get confused here, but a hand also refers to the cards in
a player's possession.) A pot can be won in just two ways:
- By showing down the best hand: When two or more players
are still active after all betting rounds are over, they
show down their hands by turning them face up. The player
holding the best hand wins the pot. While with in-the-flesh
play it's possible for an all-too-human dealer to goof by
misreading your winning hand at showdown, in Internet poker
it's not. Online, your winning hand will always be rewarded,
whether you've read it correctly or not. As long as you've
called all bets in the final round (or gone "all-in,"
meaning you've put the remainder of your table stakes into
the pot in the course of the hand), the games's "invisible
dealer" automatically awards you the pot, or whatever
portion of it you're entitled to if you've gone all-in.
- By having all opponents fold their hands: No, their hands
aren't clasped in front of them. Folding means a player
relinquished any claim to the pot by deciding not to match
(call) an opponent's bet. He discards his hand - also called
"folding" or "mucking." To "muck"
one's hand means to fold it. Either way you put it, those
losers bit the dust. But in Internet poker, rather than
see folded cards in a physical discard pile, or "muck,"
you'll simply see them vanish into the void of cyberspace.
Poof! They're gone!
If you win the pot because all your opponents fold, you
may have had the best hand, or you may have been bluffing
it doesn't matter. If all others surrender their claim to
the pot, it belongs to you.
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