Poker Tropical

There are many types of game you can find in a home poker game, but I would say the tournament style of play has become more popular. The only negative aspect of playing tournaments at a home game would be that once someone is eliminated, they have to sit out. There are of course ways around this, such as playing a rebuy tournament, or simply setting up a side game if you have enough chips spare.

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The most original games of poker are generally recorded as being cash games, I suppose this is because it is much easier to set up a game when all you need is a deck of cards and a pocket full of money. Despite the game having its roots in cash games, I feel that the tournament is more synonomous with the game of poker. There is something about trying to prosper and survive by outwitting those around you, which is extremely enjoyable. The knowledge that one mistake could be your last in a no limit tournament, makes it all the more thrilling.

There are many different tournament types evolving online these days, with bounty tournaments, double or nothing tournaments, and all manner of new twists on the original poker tournament. Call me old fashioned, but none of the newer tournaments really appeal to me as much as the regular freezeout variety.

Tournaments are great to play in for many reasons, and it says a lot, that it is tournament play that decides world champions, and major events across the world. Of course deciding them with cash play would be impractical, but the whole feel of getting far into a freezeout tournament, is unlike any other type of poker game I feel.

Each year the schedule for the WSOP is announced before it begins, and whilst there are tournaments that will always be a fixture, there are sometimes new tournaments added too. This year, there have been many interesting tournaments scheduled, with each of the best known games having their own ‘World Championship’ event.

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These events have started to feature more heavily in recent years, and I think that they effectively provide a more expensive buy in tournament that attracts a small field peppered with professionals. This is good for the game I feel, as it gives people the chance to see professionals sat around the same tables playing great poker against each other.

In the regular bracelet events, we do of course see some professional players ocassionall. However, with huge starting fields, and buy ins that do not provide enormous prize pools, professional players do not seem to feel this is the best use of their time.

I must say that I do have a slight fear of these $10k buy in World Championship events, becoming something very special. Consequently, the bracelets for regular events could become devalued in terms of prestige. This would take away the magic of a normal everyday poker player being able to turn up at the WSOP with their cash, and walk away having achieved a dream. Despite my slight concerns in this area, I cannot deny the fact that the World Championship events provide great entertainment, and are seeming to capture a lot of peoples imagination.

The fundamental equipment needed to play poker can be purchased freely online these days, with many online stores around, some of which are attached to poker rooms.

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Most of this equipment is reasonably priced, especially so if you are using points from poker play in an online store.
We all need cards to play poker, but chips are more of an essential tournament play item. With both of these items, there are higher quality goods, and there are lower quality goods.

Personally I find that even at the lower end of the market the poker chips and cards serve their function well enough, so it really comes down to how sophisticated you want your equipment to look and how much you want to spend.
It is important you acquire these supplies if you wish to start a home game, and some basic equipment can be bought with relative ease.

I haven’t ever seen a shop on the street which caters solely to poker equipment, but that does not mean that you cannot pick up some basic supplies whilst in town. Just look for any shops related to non computerised gaming and you are likely to find basic cards and chips there. For more high quality goods I really feel you would have to order them online, but that in itself is easy enough. From my experience of buying playing cards, nice quality decks of cards are usually bought as a pair, for around $20. Chip sets vary depending on the type and number of chips in the set, but most accessories can be looked up and purchased at the click of a mouse.

The following hands show how quickly a tournament can change in poker, as my reasonable stack of 16,000 disappeared in the space of three or four hands.

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The first of these hands involved me trying to force my way to a pot on the turn, when I really should have known that I was being slow played when I was flat called on the flop. This led to a hand shortly afterwards when I was probably still a little frustrated by my error. I had 1,200 already invested in the pot from the big blind, and one of the players moved all in for around 4,200. This would mean that around half my remaining stack was on the line, but I felt my opponent could be weak as the raise had come from late position. With (Kc,Qs) I made the call, and was delighted to see the hand I was up aginst, (Q,10). I couldn’t ask for a better position to be in, and was happy enough with the flop and turn that missed both of us. With only three tens left in the deck for my opponent to hit, I was left feeling desperately unlucky as the (10s) landed on the board.

Still hurting somewhat from the previous hand, I decided to take a shot at the blinds with (10h,Jh). For some reason the big blind decided to call with (Ks,3c) and neither of us hit any of the board cards.

Each of these hands played their part in ending my tournament, but I did not really feel at fault for the second two hands. I had to get aggressive with a hand soon when I picked up (Jh,10h) because if you wait too long, you get blinded down so low that several players call you when you do push the rest in.

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We all know about the more populated games to be found online today, with Texas Holdem and Omaha being the most popular of these. Some sites will offer only these better known games, but you can still find some of the lesser known games online, particularly at Pokerstars.

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The other game most regularly offered besides Holdem and Omaha, is probably Seven Card Stud. This involves each player having Seven board cards which only they can use to make their hand. There is a betting round after the first three cards have been dealt, then after each following card. the first two, and final one card is dealt face down, with the rest of the cards being exposed.

Another fairly commonly found game is Five Card Draw. This involves each player being dealt their own five cards, with a betting round to follow. Then each player can swap or ‘draw’ as many cards as they choose, only once. After this is another betting round followed by a showdown. This was where I learned the basics of poker, and it remains one of my favoured games.

Other obscure games you might find online is Razz. This involves players being dealt cards in a similar pattern to Seven Card Stud, although the aim with Razz is to make the lowest possible hand of unpaired cards. The wheel, (A,2,3,4,5) being the best possible hand.

Sometimes you will find variations of games already mentioned, such as Omaha hi/lo, or Five Card Stud. All these games offer an interesting and enjoyable challenge to players, so if you have never tried them, I would recommend taking a look.

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