| |
Adventurous poker players go to extremes
Published: 2006-04-27
 By Connor Ennis
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Move over freestyle skiing. Poker is now an extreme sport.
That’s right, the game that has long been extreme only in terms of money wagered is venturing into a world populated by X Games enthusiastics. The reason?
“We wanted to come up with something that really showed what we’re all about,” said Peter Marcus, a spokesman for Inter Poker.com, the online poker room that is behind the card game’s extreme move.
So just how does poker go about getting extreme? Do players make bets while doing aerial flips on a moguls course? Not quite.
The extreme part refers primarily to the locations of the tournaments InterPoker.com has been putting together. So far there have been two: underwater in the tropical waters off the coast of St. Kitts and on a snowy tundra in Finland.
The underwater tournament came in November when Juha Helppi overcame his opponents and passing sting rays to win. Chips were weighted down, as was the poker table, to prevent them from floating away, and cards were placed under elastic bands on the table so they wouldn’t be carried off by the water. Players, who were all outfitted with necessary breathing equipment, said that after they adjusted to being underwater they started to play as they normally would.
Poker pro Phil Laak said the best twist to playing underwater came after he got eliminated.
“Normally when you bust out of a tourney you end up back in your hotel room, and the bust out might linger for a bit,” Laak said in an e-mail interview. “But with scuba poker, you forget about the bust out after your third sea sponge.”
In March, it was Rob Varkonyi who won amid the snow and ice of Finland.
“Winning this title makes my suffering through the most excruciating cold I’ve ever experienced worth it, and I know this tournament will prepare me well for the 2006 World Series of Poker,” Varkonyi said after the tournament.
Ulrik Jensen, who qualified for the “Arctic Freeze Out Tournament” through the Internet, said he was happy to get the opportunity to play against professionals even though “my face, fingers and toes are all numb.”
Where all this is leading is anyone’s guess. Marcus said InterPoker.com wants to continue with the extreme thinking. Possible future events include playing while going down whitewater rapids on the Amazon, competing in the extreme heat of Death Valley and playing while bungee jumping.
The idea might seem like a bit of a – ahem – gamble, but it might not be a bad one. Poker’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years and the “extreme” approach could be another way to draw more fans to the game. At least some poker players – who are, by their nature, prone to taking risks – seem to be open to the idea of more extreme tournaments.
“I love to skydive as well,” Laak said, “but I think it would be hard to deal flops at 180 miles per hour.”
| |
Texas Hold 'Em Poker
Published: 2006-04-24
 by TJ Boyd
Texas Hold ‘Em is the most popular of all poker games played and for good reason. Not only is it such a simple game to enjoy and understand but the betting strategy involved makes it the one version of poker where fortunes can change on the turn of a single card.
Each player at the table starts with two cards face down. These are called the “hole cards”. After a round of betting, three cards are presented face up in the middle of the table. These three cards are known as “the flop”.
After another round of betting a fourth card is presented face up on the table. This card is called “the turn”. There is another round of betting and then the fifth and final card is presented face up on the table. This card is called “the river”. After the final round of betting the “hole cards” are revealed and the best five-card poker hand made from the two cards in each players’ hand and the five shared (community) cards face up on the table wins the pot.
The betting starts before the cards are dealt with the “small blind” and the “big blind”. The blinds are predetermined and the “small blind” is half the size of the “big blind”. It is not uncommon for the size of the “blinds” to go up in amount at regular intervals as the game progresses. The “small blind” is paid (posted) by the player sitting immediately to the left of the dealer and the player sitting immediately to the left of the player who posts the “small blind” posts the “big blind”. As the dealer position(button) shifts around the table to the left after each dealt hand, so do the players posting the “blinds”.
There are three types of betting systems used in Texas Hold ‘Em: Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit. Limit poker has a predetermined limit for the amount that can be bet during each round and the limit in the final two rounds of betting is always double that which is the limit for the initial two rounds.
Pot Limit poker means that the maximum amount bet during any round can only be as high as the total amount of money that is already in the pot (consider the amount of money bet in the given round as being “in the pot” for figuring this limit). No Limit poker means that at any point during any round the betting player has the option to bet any or even all of his available chips in an action that is know as “going all in”.
The No Limit version of play is the selected version of poker playing for most tournaments including the World Series of Poker and is considered to be the most skillful form of play. Because every player at the table has the potential to double his chip count (or lose all his chips) in any one hand it is also considered the most exciting version of play and is favored by most players.
Once we have discussed and understood the basic rules of Texas Hold’Em we can continue this series with selected examples of the strategy involved and types of hands to play or not to play.
| | |
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska