Poker -

In recent years, poker has made the transition from the dining room and the casino to the game console. Whether you are just starting out with video games, just starting out with poker, or an old hand at poker and you're just starting to play the game on Xbox 360™, there are some basics that you'll need to keep in mind to raise your chances of winning.

Experience the singular thrill of poker.

The Basics
The word poker is often used to represent a specific game, but it is actually a broad genre of card games. For simplicity's sake, this article will only address generalities that are true of most poker games. Several books would be needed to cover poker comprehensively, but you have to start somewhere. Before you start laying down your bets, check out these tips.

The quality graphics of Xbox 360 bring Poker to life.

Most poker games have some elements in common:

• A poker game consists of two to ten players at a table.
• At the beginning of standard play, one player is randomly chosen to be the dealer. The Dealer Button symbolizes the dealer, and rotates around the table with each successive hand, so every player will get a chance to be the dealer.
• Play proceeds in a series of rounds. The number of cards dealt depends on the game. Each round begins with new cards and new bets, allowing players to easily drop in and out. 
• In any given round, your goal is to build the best hand possible by matching numbers, face cards, and/or suits.
• All poker games use a standard order to determine the winning hand. A poker hand has five cards, no matter how many cards you are dealt. These are the values of the hands, in ascending order. If two hands are tied, you can use the suit to determine the winner, with clubs valued the lowest, then diamonds, hearts, and spades being the most valuable.
  1. High card
  2. Pair
  3. Two pair
  4. Three of a kind 5.Straight (five cards in a row)
  5. Flush (five cards in a suit)
  6. Full House (a pair and three of a kind)
  7. Four of a Kind
  8. Straight Flush (five cards in a row of the same suit)
  9. Royal Flush (10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit)
• Poker's not much fun if there isn't a bet involved. You place a bet based on how well you think your hand will do against the hands of the other players. That's the idea, anyway. Bluffing is betting even if you don't think you have a superior hand, but you think you can convince the other players that you do.
• If you want to give up and remove yourself from the hand, you fold. This closes your hand and takes you out of the betting. You can enter the game again with the next hand. All Xbox® and Xbox 360 poker games use fake money only.

Everybody loves Texas Hold 'Em.

Poker Terminology

• All In: If the current bet has gone beyond what your bank, you can go "all in." This means you bet everything you have left, and if you win, you receive a percentage of the pot appropriate to your bet. If you lose, you're cleaned out.
• Ante: The minimum bet that signifies you' want to be dealt into the hand.
• Blind, Big and Small: The two players to the left of the dealer are required to bet. The Small blind is half the value of the ante, the Big blind is equal to the ante.
• Community cards: Any cards dealt face-up on the table for the use of all the players.
• Door: The face-up card dealt first in 7 Card Stud.
• Fold: You drop out of the round, forfeiting any money you currently have in the pot.
• Flop: The first three cards dealt to the table in Texas Hold 'Em.
• Nuts: The best hand possible given the cards shown on the table. If you don't have it, someone else might.
• Pocket cards: The cards that are dealt, face-down, just to you.
• Raise: Increasing the total bet on the table. Other players may see your bet by putting down an equal bet, raise the bet, or fold.
• River: The fifth and final card the dealer lays face-up on the table in Texas Hold 'Em.
• Tells: Any behavior of your opponents that gives you an insight into their plans or their hand.
• Turn: The fourth card the dealer lays face-up on the table in Texas Hold 'Em.

For some more advanced tips on playing videogame poker, check out Poker for Pros.