Poke-her

I have no idea why this game is called Poker. I also don't have much clue about the terminology, but I am sure hooked on to this game. Let me clarify that I haven't played this game in real, ever, the only place I play this on is Zynga (Facebook), with only virtual chips. Never real money, never ever.

This is a good excuse to meet people from all over the world, in a casual, friendly environment, exchanging chats and virtual "gifts". For some guys it is yet another place to "woo" hot women. Although I have serious reservations how much a "picture" of Rose or a champagne would win the ladies. I play only for fun, not to "achieve" anything. I can say this so easily because I've already crossed the psychological 1 Million $ mark long before ;)

This game is about skill and luck. It is about betting. There are a million guides available for Texas Hold'em Poker across the web, and probably a thousand books written on the subject, so I won't delve much on it. But i will tell you that it is not as mindless as other popular games (farmville, mafia wars etc). It is not about refilling anything while you are not playing, nor it is about a short burst of spending (energy etc) while you are at it. This game is all about playing. Also, it is about you alone. There is no point of recruiting "neighbours" apart from the odd, चिल्लर (change) random chips, but if you play well you won't be needing them anyways.

The basic principles of this game are the same wherever you play it. Bet when you have a good hand. Fold when you don't. A good place to start would be to learn which hands to bet here and which to fold here (before the flop). Just by doing this your game would improve leaps and bounds. Then after playing a while you'd get a hang of it, like which hand beats which, when to raise and how much to raise, when to fold when the other is raising. You'll also learn a little about psychology or trends, that is, after playing with a person for a few hands, you'll be able to predict whether he is bluffing or not, or whether he has a higher hand than you or not. It will be very useful for you if you can quickly calculate probability. One very good site is this one.

It's called gambling for a reason. Only those with big balls win big. Obviously not all the time. Many a times have I lost a straight when someone has a higher straight, or a flush when the other has a full houses or even a full house when the other has a bigger full house. It's not necessary that you'll win with all the possible big hands, but you have to take a chance sometime.

I think that this game is very close to how trading on stock market works. A little bit of judgement, a lot of guts.

The screenshot is of a very rare phenomenon. The dealer dealt 3 Kings on the river. The only way for someone to beat that hand was to have another King in his hand, or to have a pair (to make it a full house). Then by the river it became even more shocking. All 4 Kings had been dealt, and there was no way to beat that hand. You can judge the surprise on everyone by the comments in the chat (bottom right corner).
The next comment was "Beat that". I wondered if the pot will be split or a "kicker" will be used to decide, in the end it was split between two guys who had an A each.

I wish to play Poker sometime with my friends, without money, just for fun. It will be interesting to see how many can hold a "poker face" in real life.