Bernell Dorrough“I’m going all in.”
The drama builds as the player pushes all of his chips to the center of the table. If he loses this hand, he’s out-dead broke, leaving with nothing. There is only one other player still in the hand. He has more chips than the first guy, but if he calls and loses the hand, his opponent will double up, and be ahead of him in chips.
“I call,” he says confidently. Both men flip over their cards. The tension builds as the dealer reveals the rest of the cards.
These sorts of situations are common in Texas Hold-em, an old poker game gaining new popularity. Its latest rise began with the 2003 World Series of Poker, held at Binion’s in Las Vegas. The television coverage of this year’s World Series was revolutionary-never before in televised poker had the home audience been able to see the hands of the players as they played. Knowing the cards led to a new excitement, and the World Series of Poker was a surprise hit.
When amateur accountant Chris Moneymaker-great name, huh?-won the World Series after winning a Satellite Tournament on the Internet, millions of people in homes across the nation decided, hey, I can do that too.
Texas Hold-em games are cropping up all over the place. Fraternities on campus have had tournaments, grad students try to win money from their professors, and people who have never played poker before are starting now, captivated by a game that seems deceptively simple, but is in fact impossibly difficult.
The basic rules of Hold-em are simple. Each player is dealt two cards face down, in “the Pocket,” that only he or she can see. Then there is a round of betting. After that, three more cards are turned over in the middle of the table. This “Flop” acts as community cards for everyone at the table. There is another round of betting. A fourth card, the “Turn,” is revealed, followed by another round of betting. After that, the fifth and final card, the “River” is turned over and the final round of betting occurs. Players try to make the best five card poker hand out of any combination of their two pocket cards and the five on the table.
The game seems simple because it is easy to learn the basic rules and most of the cards are visible for everyone at the table. What is difficult about it, though, is reading the other players. As with any poker game, bluffing is an important part of Texas Hold-em, as is knowing when to fold.
Going all in
The World Series of Poker, as well as the World Poker Tour, televised on the Travel Channel, involves a No Limit rule. This is how most Hold-em tournaments, amateur or otherwise-one is held every Saturday on the President Casino at 3pm (sign up weeks in advance, it is quite popular)-are played. What this means is that if a person is low on chips, he or she can go “all in.” Then the betting cannot go above what that player has in chips. These moments are what create the drama that has made the televised events so popular.
Where to see it
The Travel Channel shows the World Poker Tour at least once a day, usually in prime time. The 2003 World Series of Poker is rerun quite often on ESPN and ESPN2. Even celebrities are getting in on the action. Bravo has shown a Celebrity Poker Challenge featuring a bunch of B-list celebrities playing poker for charity. The popularity of Texas Hold-em was proven when episodes of this beat Bravo’s formerly highest rated show, “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
If interested in playing Texas Hold-em, opportunities to do so on or off-campus are easy to find. It seems right now like everybody’s doing it.
Reading up on your Hold-em strategy
The best bet for a quick read on how to master Texas Hold-em is Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson’s “Super System,” a guide to power poker. There are chapters on just about any poker game you can think of, but world-class Hold-em players such as Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer recommend the book as the first to read if just learning how to play. Texas Dolly was a college basketball player being recruited by the NBA who had a career-ending injury. He decided to go into poker instead, and became one of the best tournament and cash game players in the world. He regrets having written his book now, because if he hadn’t, he thinks he still might be one of the top players.
Brunson’s strategy for Hold-em is to play aggressive. He writes that you never win a hand when you fold, so fold as little as possible. His most interesting tip is to always play “suited connectors” when you are in control of the betting. Suited connectors are consecutive cards in the same suit-they offer both a possible flush and a possible straight, or even a possible straight flush.
Where to play
Texas Hold-em is played in the Poker Room at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles and at the President Casino right by Laclede’s Landing. But remember, you gotta know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.
Hold-em Lingo
Pocket: the two cards dealt face down for the starting hand
Big Slick: a starting hand of Ace and King
Pocket Rockets: a starting hand of a pair of aces
Suited Connectors: a starting hand of two consecutive cards in the same suit (Big Stick as a Suited Connector is probably the best starting hand)
Check-Raise: an underhanded betting strategy where one player checks to get the other players to think he has bad cards, then raises
Nut or the Nuts: the best possible hand given the cards in play at any point in the hand
Cinch: best possible hand given the cards in play at the end of the hand