Texas Hold em. My hobby is not only a game, also something that I like to spend a lot of my time on. It

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1 Browning 1 Justin Browning ENGL /25/11 Essay III, Final Draft Texas Hold em Buy In My hobby is not only a game, also something that I like to spend a lot of my time on. It keeps me on my toes and always thinking about my next move. I get excited when I am winning and anxious when I am losing. I have learned that patience can be the key to having success in this game. This hobby can be played for fun or for money. My favorite hobby is Texas Hold em, which is a variation of the standard card game of poker. For example, about two weeks ago, I went to Hamilton Jai Alai and played poker and Texas Hold em in Jasper, Florida. I have been a few times before that and did not do too well, because I was not patient enough and made some calls that ended up causing me to lose all of my money. The guys at that poker house play a lot, and they can tell most of the time what a person has in their hand by the way the person bets. Since I did not do my best, I found books to improve my knowledge of how to play Texas Hold em. In the book, The Education of a Poker Player: Including Where and How One Learns to Win, Herbert Yardley writes, Never, I say never stay with a hand that you do not have confidence in. (Yardley 20) I changed my game plan this past time I went and played in a totally different way. I did not win very many hands, but I was patient this time, and I came out of the poker house with two hundred dollars. My improvement of an efficient strategy helped me to dominate the competition.

2 Browning 2 Ante Up There are several variables attached to Texas Hold em that keep players moving in and out of the game depending on the results. Players compete for money or chips supplied by the players themselves (which is called the pot ). First, blinds and antes are set, so that there is an initial structure to get the game started. The dealer uses a standard, fifty-two card decks. He then deals out two cards face down to each player. These cards are called the pocket or hole cards, and then five more cards are placed face-up: a series of three cards are dealt called "the flop. After that, two additional single cards called the turn and the river are dealt, and players now have the opportunity to check, bet, raise, or fold after each deal. After the betting ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck, which is called the burn card. Each player tries to control the money in the pot based on the hand that he is holding or according to his best guess as to what his opponents may be holding. One strategy that a lot of players use is to bet high, if they think they do not have the best hand, or bet low, if they think they have the highest hand at their table. It also depends on if the cards are hot or cold and if the chips are going up or down. In other words, on how all of the cards are coming out on the flop and how other people are betting. It is a very time consuming game. In the book, Proposition Player, Bill Willingham explains the different types of hands. There are many different types of hands that a person could have. A pair means that a player has two of the same cards. A two pair hand just means that two different kinds of pairs, such as two sevens and two jacks, are included in the hand that the player has. A triple is the next best hand in poker which is having three of the same kind of card. The next hand is called a straight which means

3 Browning 3 having five cards in numerical order. A flush is a hand where a player has five cards that are all of the same suit. A full house, also called a boat, is a hand in which a player has a pair and a triple at the same time. The next hand is called a quad and means that a player contains four of the same kind of card. A straight flush is a hand that is in numerical order of lower numbers, for example two, three, four, five, six that are in the same suit. The best hand that a player could have in Texas Hold em is called a royal flush. A royal flush consists of a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace that are all in the same suit. (Willingham 8) It is very rare and hard to get a royal flush. A bad hand can be a good hand and a good hand can be a bad hand. (O Neal) In other words, even a bad hand could get a player a win, it just depends on how the cards flow. Check or Bet In Practical Poker Math, Pat Dittmar wrote that it is unclear who actually played the first game of Texas Hold em, but the game was started in Texas. There is a very popular theory that the game was first played in Robstown in the 1900 s and spread to Dallas around After reaching Dallas, it was introduced to Las Vegas by Texan gamblers, and a man named Crandell Addington wrote the first rules of the game. For a while, the game was offered only at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Then, the game s popularity spread about 1970, when the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino was opened in Las Vegas also. Tom Moore added the first ever poker tournament to the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention held in 1969 which featured several games including Texas Hold 'em. This convention eventually became known as The World Series of Poker. Over the years, the game has evolved with new technological inventions that make it possible to play over the internet or on a cell phone. Texas Hold em

4 Browning 4 tournaments have been televised since the 1970 s. (Dittmar 4) I like to watch the World Poker tour on television every year to learn strategies from professionals. Check The amount of money required to play a game of Texas Hold em depends on who plays it and where it is played. My friends and I usually just play for fun without money involved. If we do play with money, it is usually a twenty dollar buy-in. That means who everyone that pays gets a certain amount of chips, and the winner gets the money. The boat in Brunswick lets players buy-in for however much they want to pay, and the place in Jasper costs sixty dollars or more to play. Tournaments have different buy-in s that range anywhere from zero to thousands of dollars. I would only be willing to pay sixty dollars at the most to play. It takes a lot of dedication and time to learn the rules of Texas Hold em. It is a game that is very time consuming and involves a lot of patience. It took me about two weeks of playing to understand and grasp the ideas of the game fully. The time it takes to complete a game depends on how often the blinds are increased and what the time limit is on each table. According to Second College Edition: The American Heritage Dictionary, the definition of blinds is a compulsory bet made without prior knowledge of one's hand. ( American Heritage ) The time involved varies depending on where a person is playing. Typically, a game with five players would last anywhere from three to four hours. Professional poker players usually have been playing since they were old enough to understand the game. Good players typically have been playing for more than two years. The

5 Browning 5 more experience a person has in playing Texas Hold em, the better they will get at it. In the magazine article Hit and Run by Storm Reback, he says, For many talented young poker players, turning pro is the dream alternative to a life of textbooks, alarm clocks, and commuter trains. (Reback 21) When playing Texas Hold em I agree that alarm clocks always have to be set just to finish a decent game in four hours. In the book, Poker Faces: The Life and Work of Professional Card Players by David Hayano, he explains some of the strategies that professionals use. The most common traits in playing Texas Hold em are the mental alertness and concentration on the task at hand, strong self-discipline, a great desire to win, tremendous self-confidence, the ability to surprise, an excellent knowledge of the probability of events, a better than average analytical mind, and the ability to judge other individuals correctly. (Hayano 72) I would have to say I do have a lot of those traits because being successful in poker is having all those traits and knowing how to use them in certain situations. Call I got my first deck of cards from my Dad, when I was about five years old. He also likes to play various types of poker. I started my card game career with games like Go Fish and Slap Jack. This was when my interest in card games began. Eventually, these kid games got old, and I began learning more advanced games such as Solitaire and Spider Solitaire. When I became a teenager, I started to play poker and then, over time, Texas Hold em. I always have competed in games just for fun, although winning money from a game is a plus. It also teaches me stuff that can relate to my life, and one is discipline. Nesmith Ankeny wrote in, Poker Stragery: Winning With Game Theory that the role of psychology also is played in Texas Hold em and any other poker game. Psychology in poker can be reduced to this simple, most important rule: one should

6 Browning 6 keep their own emotions under control; they should not cloud one s judgment. (Ankeny 7) I agree with what Ankeny is saying, because Texas Hold em is a very mind challenging game, and if a player can conceal what he or she is thinking, then have a good chance of coming out on top. Raise I first played Texas Hold em about five years ago. My best friend got me into it by introducing me to the game and its rules. I have developed a love for the game over the years, because I love good competition. I usually play at my friend s house with just a few friends. We also like to play in Brunswick, Georgia, where they have a boat that goes out into international waters. Many big tournaments are held there. The first time I played on the boat I won two hundred seventy-five dollars. Another place that we like to visit and play is Jasper, FL. There is a big poker house there that also holds a lot of tournaments. When I graduated from high school, my friend and I took a cruise to the Virgin Islands. We played a lot on the cruise ship. That is one of my favorite memories of playing because of the fun-filled atmosphere. I play Texas Hold em about two or three times a week (mostly on the weekends with my friends). All In Texas Hold em is a very complex card game that requires a lot of concentration and patience to play. It is something that I like to spend a lot of my time doing, because it keeps my interest and brings me closer to my friends and family. It is a game that everyone can join in and have a good time while they are playing. For example, the other night, a group of us were playing. The game came down only two of us. It got really intense, because there were a lot of cards on the flop that could have given me the win. However, I ended up folding, because I did not think I

7 Browning 7 had the best hand. After the game was over, it turns out that my friend and I actually had the same cards. I did not win, but I still had a good time playing and laughing with my family and friends. The rules of the game take a while to explain and even longer to comprehend, but the competition keeps me going back to play. Texas Hold 'em is fun, so if a person is planning on playing poker, they will want to learn it. This game teaches players the ropes of more difficult poker games by focusing on the basics from hole cards to the river to the flop. It is definitely my favorite hobby, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new, competitive way to spend their time.

8 Browning 8 Works Cited Ankeny, Nesmith C. Poker Strategy: Winning With Game Theory. New York: Basic Books, Print. Dittmar, Pat. Practical Poker Math. Toronto: ECW Press, Web. 17 Feb Hayano, David M. Poker Faces:The Life And Work of Professional Card Players. Berkeley: University of California Press, Print. The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, Print. O Neal, Cale. Personal interview. 1 Feb Reback, Storm. "Hit and Run." All In. January 2011: 21. Print. Willingham, Bill, and Paul Guinan. Proposition Player. New York, NY: DC Comics, Print. Yardley, Herbert O. The Education of a Poker Player: Including Where And How One Learns to Win. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957 Print.