Site Index

How to Play

Rules, order of play and hand-making requirements for the poker variants dealt in card rooms and online.

• Texas Hold'emTwo hole cards, five shared community cards and four betting rounds: the full order of play, the blinds, the showdown rules and the vocabulary that goes with them.
• Pot-Limit OmahaFour hole cards, five community cards and one rule that changes everything: exactly two hole cards must be used. Rules, pot-limit betting and the hands that actually win.
• Omaha Hi-LoOmaha with the pot split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low. How the eight-or-better qualifier works, how to read a low, and why scooping decides the game.
• Seven-Card StudThe game played before hold'em took over: no community cards, five betting rounds, and information that comes from the cards your opponents show.
• RazzSeven-card stud played for low: the worst hand wins, straights and flushes are ignored, and the best possible holding is five-four-three-two-ace.
• Short-Deck Hold'emHold'em with the deuces through fives removed: 36 cards, a reordered hand ranking, ante-driven betting and far more big hands than the full deck produces.
• Five-Card DrawThe oldest form still dealt in card rooms: five private cards, one chance to exchange them, and two betting rounds in which the only information is how many cards an opponent took.
• BadugiA four-card draw game with a ranking of its own: hands must avoid both pairs and repeated suits, and the best holding is four unpaired cards in four different suits.
• Open-Face ChineseA points game rather than a pot game: three rows must be arranged in order of strength, cards are placed one at a time, and a mistake in the order costs the whole hand.
• 2-7 Triple DrawFive-card lowball with three draws, where the ace is always high and the best hand is seven-five-four-three-two of mixed suits.

Strategy

The decisions that decide most hands: position, starting hands, pot odds, bet sizing and bankroll discipline.

• Starting HandsWhich two cards are worth playing, why suitedness is worth less than it looks, and how domination explains most of the money lost before the flop.
• Table PositionWhy acting last is the single largest structural advantage in poker, what each seat is called, and how opening ranges change from the blinds to the button.
• Pot Odds and EquityHow to turn a drawing hand into an arithmetic question: counting outs, converting them to a percentage, and comparing that figure with the price the pot is offering.
• Bet SizingWhy bets are measured against the pot rather than the hand, what each size offers an opponent, and how sizing changes between value bets, bluffs and draws.
• BluffingWhat a bluff actually needs to work: a believable story, a hand that cannot win at showdown, and a price that makes folding reasonable for the opponent.
• Continuation BettingThe bet that follows a pre-flop raise: when the flop justifies it, which sizes to use, and why betting every flop stopped working years ago.
• Bankroll ManagementWhy stakes are chosen from the money set aside rather than from confidence, what the common buy-in guidelines are, and how variance makes losing stretches normal.
• Cash vs TournamentThe same game with different incentives: chips that convert to money against chips that cannot, fixed blinds against rising ones, and what each change does to strategy.
• ICM and Payout PressureWhy a tournament call that gains chips can still lose money: how the independent chip model values a stack, and where payout pressure changes correct play.
• Live and Online TellsWhat physical tells are actually worth, which patterns hold up in practice, and why timing and bet-size habits are the reliable signals online.

Reference

Hand rankings, probabilities, table positions, betting structures and tournament formats in one place.

• Hand RankingsThe ten poker hands in order, how often each one appears in a five-card deal, and the rules that settle ties between hands of the same rank.
• Poker ProbabilitiesThe numbers behind the common decisions: how often hands are dealt, how often draws complete, and what each flop texture appears at.
• Table PositionsEvery seat at a poker table named and explained: the blinds, under the gun, the lojack, hijack, cutoff and button, at nine-handed, six-handed and heads-up tables.
• Betting StructuresNo-limit, pot-limit, fixed-limit, spread-limit and cap games compared: what each allows, how raises are calculated, and how the structure changes the way a variant plays.
• Tournament FormatsFreezeouts, re-entries, bounties, satellites, shootouts and turbos: what each format changes about entry, elimination and the way a stack should be played.
• Poker TimelineHow poker reached its present form: the betting games that preceded it, the spread of the 52-card deck, the arrival of community cards, and the online era.

Tournaments

How the best-known live tournament circuits are organised, and what the formats mean for the people who enter them.

• World Series of PokerHow the WSOP is structured: a summer schedule of open events across many variants, bracelets as the prize for winning one, and a no-limit hold'em main event.
• World Poker TourA touring series of televised no-limit hold'em championships: how stops, main events and final tables are organised, and why broadcast shaped its format.
• European Poker TourA festival-style circuit of stops across Europe: a main event, a schedule of side events, high rollers, and online satellites that fill much of the field.
• High Roller SeriesHow super high roller events differ from open tournaments: small fields, very large buy-ins, re-entry, short-deck variants and structures built for experienced players.
• Poker Hall of FameWhat the Poker Hall of Fame recognises, the criteria used for induction, and why the standard covers contribution to the game as well as results at the table.

Reference and editorial

• GlossaryAn A to Z of poker terms, from action and ante to the wheel and the wrap, written as they are used at the table rather than as formal definitions.
• Site IndexEvery page published on PokerAddict in one list: the game guides, the strategy pages, the reference tables, the tournament explainers and the editorial pages.
• AboutWhat PokerAddict publishes and why: a reference desk covering poker rules, probabilities and terminology, written to stay accurate rather than to be current for a week.
• Editorial PolicyHow PokerAddict decides what to publish: where figures come from, how rule variations are handled, how pages are reviewed, and what the site refuses to print.
• Responsible PlayPoker is played for money, and money staked can be lost. The limits worth setting before playing, the signs that play has stopped being a choice, and where to look for help.