What is poker game?

Poker is a card game that is growing in popularity throughout the world at a lightning speed. There’s still some controversy about the origin of the game. Many consider poker a gambling game whereas in many countries it is thought to be a kind of sport. In real situation your success in poker game in the long run directly depends on your skills.

For the first time a card game called “poker” was mentioned in XVI century. Poker is thought to be invented in Europe more than 450 years ago. There’re several versions about the origin of the name of poker. Some sources state that the name comes from German “pochen” (knock) from the way players knock the table once they miss the action at a certain betting round. The others, however, stick to a version about sharpers who blustered to win the purses of inexperienced newcomers.

Poker game is about collecting a winning hand combination from a certain number of cards. Nevertheless the rules of the game may vary depending on the type of the game.

Today 7 types of poker are mostly widespread throughout the world and the most popular one is Texas Hold’em. The peculiarity of the game is the following: each player should collect a combination using two pocket cards and five community cards.

The other types of poker are much sought after as well, however, they still fall behind Hold’em:

• Omaha comes second-most popular poker game type. Players get 4 pocket cards and need to collect a winning combination that consists of any 2 pocket cards and 3 common cards.
• Stud has previously been the most popular poker type but was later driven out by Texas Hold’em. This poker version requites certain skills from a player and some sort of patience. Each player gets 3 cards on hands (2 cards face-down and one face- up for everyone).The combinations are similar to those at Hold’em.
• 2-7 Lowball is different from other poker versions in that player needs to collect the weakest combination out of 5 pocket cards to win the hand.
• Badugi - player has to collect the weakest combination with different suits using 4 cards only.
• H.O.R.S.E. - includes 5 game versions (by capital letters: H- Hold’em, O - Omaha, R - Razz, S - Stud, E - Eight or Better Stud Seven Card), that vary following a strict order over a certain time.
• Chinese poker - is the newest poker version that allows maximum 4 players only. In order to win you have to collect the best combination out of 13 cards.

The Internet evolution has led to the explosive popularity growth of poker as it has become possible to play with other players online. As the result, many platforms (poker rooms) have emerged where everyone who feels like it can sign up and start playing all poker versions listed for free.

Offline poker is also very popular all over the world. For example, last WSOP 2015 series has seen the most grand-scale tournament in history - the Colossus - that had gained 22, 374 buy-ins.

What is WSOP?

World Series of Poker has been considered to be the world’s first largest poker event for 47 years already. It takes place in Las Vegas every year and the winners of each tournament get the most prestigious prize out of all poker awards along with money prizes - golden WSOP bracelet.

Some popular poker series that also stand to mention are WSOPE (World Series of Poker Europe), WPT (World Poker Tournament) and EPT 9 (European Poker Tour).

However, it’s worth mentioning that poker is indebted to Internet for its popularity. Thanks to possibility to study poker rules and start playing absolutely for free, the number of poker lovers keeps growing steadily. In order to attract new players, poker rooms hold gainful special offers, issue no deposit bonuses poker and organize freerolls. The major poker site is PokerStars that has 95 million players registered on it. Up to 90 thousand players simultaneously play poker on the website and their number increases in several times during rush hours.

What do we have now?

For the moment anyone has a chance to become a decent poker player. It takes either time, desire to learn, patience and persistence to reach high-level results. You may learn both individually or with a coach who’s work won’t definitely come for free.

You can study poker rules and game strategies + find some books on poker on our website.