Poker Heroes

Poker and Me

My first encounter with poker was in the movie Parent Trap which was shown some time in the 1990's. The movie showed the girls at camp laying 5-hand poker. For a long time, I thought that was the only type of poker that exists. However, I was proved wrong when I have an encountered poker once more not so long time ago.

About three months ago, I was surfing all the channels in our cable, trying to look for something good to watch on television. That was how I chanced upon these men who are playing cards with chips. It looked interesting so I stayed in that channel and tried to watch. Although it sure looked exciting, I could not really grasp the whole idea because I do not know the rules of this poker game. All I know is that they are playing poker. However I was puzzled by the way they were playing poker, it was so unlike the one I've watched in the movie Parent trap. Instead of five cards, the players were dealt with two cards each. Then five more cards are drawn face up to the table. I got curious, so what I did was ask around about that poker game. That was when I learned that the poker they're playing is called the Texas Hold'em.

I was surprised when my friends told me that the tournament I've witnessed has long been famous. Obviously, I haven't watched that much television. When I checked the other channels, poker was also being played, some poker games were even being played by celebrities. I decided I no longer want to be left behind, so I looked for someone to teach me Texas Poker.

Luckily, one of my friends' friend knew how to play Texas Hold'em poker. I found it easy to master because first of all, I already was familiar with the ranking of poker hands - the royal flush, straight flush, quads, full house, flush, straight, three-of-a-kind and pairs. So we moved on to the other poker basics like players' positions and what the actions are - check, raise, bet, fold. I found it little complicated though, but I wanted to learn so badly that I concentrated on the lessons. When we started to try playing, I was a little confused with the blinds and the dealer position, how much to bet and when to act. But when I got it into my system, I found myself enjoying this type of poker a lot.

Three months later, I now consider myself an advanced poker player. Even though Texas Hold'em poker can be difficult to learn, all the hard work is definitely worth it.