Opinion

Mastering the flop, turn and river

Friday, January 21, 2005

Unless you have been living under a rock, were raised by a rock or have a pet rock as your only friend, you've likely heard of No Limits Texas Hold 'Em, a poker game which is everywhere.

This last Christmas, either you or someone you know likely bought a loved one something poker-related. Just ask around and someone will have received a set of poker chips.

My family already had three sets of chips so we moved into the advanced territory of a poker table cover. The cover, as well as a boxed set of chips, now have permanent status in the back of my van along with the jumper cables and emergency water supply, because you never know when you'll need them.

Texas Hold 'Em has taken over as the favorite card game, largely due to 24-hour TV coverage of card tournaments involving professionals, celebrities, janitors, flight attendants, etc. A game can be found just about anywhere: on the Internet -- day or night, for play money or real money, with pros or novices; through parties devoted to the game; or anywhere where two or more people are gathered in one place, although I've learned that winning and taking money from my husband isn't that much fun.

The game actually is quite basic. You are dealt two cards. That's it. No more struggling to fan out five cards in one hand, although I remember  mastering this skill at age seven with great pride.

The community cards consisting of the flop (three cards), the turn (one card) and the river (one card) are placed in the middle. The player who can create the best five-card hand wins. It's that simple. Of course, there is that little thing called "betting" that takes places following each of the three rounds. That's where you can win big or you can lose your shorts, thus the name "No Limit."

We won't go into the endless strategy and terms, ranging from medium-strenth hands, drawing the low end of a straight or a garbage flop, all which you would want to know if you're heading to a game at a casino. At least the first four pages of today's paper could be devoted to the topic and I don't think my editor is going to go for it, especially since he was out early in last weekend's game.

Texas Hold 'Em has taken over our family gatherings, relegating our once standard card game pitch to second-tier status. Family members are required to arrive at the door not only with a potluck item, but a stash of $1 bills for the poker buy-in.

While pitch revealed the temper (or lack of control over a temper), poker reveals much more about the family members.

Some don't have the patience to wait until a game is over and will continue to buy-in, as long as the other players let him. Others like to keep their opponents "honest" by not letting them bluff, even if that means losing most of her chips to see her opponent's hand.

And some just don't bluff, folding if the hand is bad, raising if the hand is good. At least we assume that's how the hand is played, because he's not kept "honest" every time.

If you can't bring yourself to throw away good money on a card game, there are other options.

A crowd favorite discovered recently is to use Jelly Belly jelly beans instead of standard poker chips. By using different flavors, the winner could end up with a banana split, a strawberry daiquiri and cheddar-flavored popcorn just by mixing the right jelly beans. I would spread the wealth by making my opponents take the licorice and jalapeņo flavored jelly beans.

Or you could just watch a movie featuring poker. Although not about Texas Hold 'Em, Ocean's Eleven has a wonderful scene near the beginning that features dealing to the right (dealing is done to the left), a hand with three pairs (you can't have three pairs in a five-card game) and a winner with "all red" cards (three hearts and two diamonds, which beats absolutely nothing).

Then there is the movie Rounders, which is devoted entirely to Texas Hold 'Em. The best line of the movie again comes at the beginning with the main character covering the basics of the game, including your chances of winning.

"If you haven't figured out who the sucker is in your first half-hour at the table ... then you're the sucker."

-- Ronda Graff's children haven't taken to the game of poker and enjoy playing with the poker chips more than learning the hands. When asked to get the chips for our game, they promptly returned -- with a bag of Doritos.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: