Poker Poker Poker

I’m not really an expert at poker. I prefer a good game of blackjack, to be honest. And if I’m really looking to win money I’ll go bet on the horses – after all, how often can you regularly bet 12-1 at the casino?

But we all know poker is freaking everywhere. It’s like renting a movie back in the mid 80s when even the dry cleaners had videos to rent. I bet if I crawled under my desk and waited long enough someone would tunnel through the earth to ask me if I’d like to play a few hands of Omaha.

If you are new to poker, maybe you see it on TV and you play 5-card stud with the guys occasionally, you should step up. The primary casino poker games are Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha, and Pineapple (at least around Seattle. I’m sure you’ll have a slightly different list in Vegas). The biggest of these is the fabled Texas Hold ‘em. Two cards in your hand, and 5 cards shared across all players.

I know, you know that already. You want a little more concrete advice. No problem.

Assuming you’ve never played in a casino before, there are basically 10 hands you should start with, and otherwise fold anything else:

• Pair of Aces through 10s.
• Ace-King (AK), AQ, AJ of the same suit. (From now on I’ll write that, as most poker writers do, with a small ’s’. So an ace and a queen of the same suit is AQs)
• KQs
• AK non-suit.

That’s it. That simple.

There is more to it than that, but this is where to start when you walk into a casino. Trust me – if you aren’t aware of the value of these hands in your average Hold ‘em game, you need to re-think going into the casino.

For now at least. Stick with me kid, you’ll get it.