The game:

Poker is a popular card game played at casinos and even online. The game involves players holding one or more cards with their values concealed. The players place their 'wagers' into a central Party Poker pot. This pot then becomes the prize of the player or at times players, with the best combination of cards. The central poker pot may also be awarded to a player who makes what is called the 'uncalled bet'.

Types of Party Poker:

• Video Poker: This is a single player game that is most often seen in casinos. The video poker is quite like the slot machine. There are a number of video games that use poker hand rankings.
• Card Poker: This game has a number of variations. The standard method of playing applies to card poker too. A card poker game involves the specifcations of the card values, hand vlues, the exact number of betting rounds and the actions taken between rounds.
• Draw Poker: Draw poker is a game in which the players are dealt a complete hand. They then improve what they have by replacing the cards.
• Stud Poker: In this type of poker, each player is dealt a combination of face-up and face-down cards. The distribution is within many betting rounds.
• Community card poker: In this game, the incomplete poker 'hand' of each of the players is combined with the shared 'face-up' cards.

The Party Poker strategy:

The right to deal a hand is generally via tokens called buttons or bucks. When playing poker at a casino, the dealer handles the cards. A button or a plastic disk is rotated to indicate the order of betting.

The game involves one or more players who are required to make induced bets to create a stake. It is for this stake that all the players contest. The poker dealer shuffles the cards well and cuts the pack. Thereafter, the players are given the appropriate number of cards, one at a time. The way the cards are dealt largely depends on the type of poker being played.

Some Party Poker terms:

Betting: After dealing the cards, the game that follows and the calculated awards are called betting rounds.

Bluffing: When there is a possibility of winning a central poker pot, without disclosing a hand, it is referred to as bluffing.

Poker hand rankings: These are the primary features of the poker game that distinguish one from the other.

Show down: In the final betting round, if more than one player is still remaining, then there is what is called a showdown. Here the players reveal their hidden cards and evaluate their hands.

The Party Poker future:

The introduction of 'online poker' has now enabled players from around the world to play with one another. The 'hole card camera' poker is another variant of the game that has contributed towards it becoming a spectator sport, with viewers being a part of the drama synonymous with Party Poker.

There has been a surge in the coverage of Party Poker events and the professional players are now more like celebrities. There are dedicated Party Poker fans all over the world who have optimized the camera exposure now associated with the game. This has ushered in a new dimension to the Party Poker game.