Low Stakes Poker - Low Stakes Poker Player

Despite its current popularity, the game of poker is thought to have originated more than ten centuries ago.  Most poker historians believe it to be a combination of different games that usually have involved ranked cards and the process of bluffing one’s opponent.

Most people believe that poker came from the Chinese around 969 A.D.  Legend holds that Emperor Mu-tsuang played “cards” with his wife on the eve of the New Year.  On the other hand, some poker aficionados believe that the Egyptians deserve the credit for introducing the first poker variant.  Egyptians in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries played several forms of cards; and in the sixteenth century, Persian peoples used “Treasure Cards” for a variety of gambling games.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the French game Poque and the German game Pochen were very popular.  Both of these games developed out of a Spanish game called Primero.  This game was played by dealing three cards to each player and involved bluffing as a large part of the game.  This was actually the first game that directly relates to what we now consider poker.

The game was brought to North America by the French and it was eventually introduced into New Orleans in the eighteenth century.  After this, it didn’t take long for the game to spread throughout the country.
In the 1800s, Jonathan H. Green referenced poker in his writing when he mentioned the rules to the “cheating game.”  This game quickly replaced three-card monte, as many people felt it was more honest and more challenging.  Green looked again at the game and named it Poker.

Following this came a time in US history when there wasn’t a saloon across the country that didn’t have a poker table.  During the Civil War, both armies played the game.  The influence from Europe on the game of poker ended in 1875 with the introduction of the joker.

In just over two hundred years, poker has become so popular that there several different variants of the game that have dominated the poker scene.  Five card draw was the most popular for over a hundred years.  In fact, the State of Nevada determined that five card draw was a game of skill, and therefore could not be affected by existing gambling laws.  However, stud poker was still illegal since it was believed to be a game based only on chance.

In 1931, Nevada reversed its decision and legalized gambling in its entirety.  Seven card stud became all the rage after the Second World War and lasted for almost forty years as the most popular variation of poker.  Texas Hold’em hit the circuit in the 1970’s when it was introduced as the title game in the famous World Series of Poker, and it continues to be the most popular variation of poker today.

You’ll also find many other variations on the game, including Omaha, Draw, Razz, and Manila, but none are anywhere near as popular as No Limit Texas Hold’em.  It definitely looks as though poker is going to stick around for awhile.  With the advent of poker rooms online and the ease of playing with real or play money, its safe to say that poker will continue to grow in popularity for some time to come.

Of all of the concepts in a poker game, perhaps the most important in low-stakes games is pot odds. Quite simply, pot odds determine whether or not it makes sense to call to see the next card. If you are hoping to hit a flush or a straight, you use pot odds to determine whether or not it makes sense to call and see another card.

Pot odds are so important since many hands in low-stakes games see a showdown. Most often, hitting a high pair like kings isn’t enough to win; you need to have a very strong hand like a straight or a flush. By using pot odds, you can tell if it makes sense for you or your opponents to call and try to hit one of these hands.

To calculate pot odds, you divide the amount of the bet by the pot. So if the bet is 10 and hte pot is 40 (including your bets contribution to the pot), then the pot odds are 25%. In this case, you need a 25% chance of hitting your hand to call.

How do you know what percentage chance you have of improving your hand? First, you determine the number of cards that would help your hand (these are called ‘outs.’) You mulitply your number of outs by 2 and then add two. So if you have 7 outs, you do 7X2 then +2, so 16%.