Pai Gow Poker originated from the traditional Asian game played with tiles that look like dominos. To make it easier to understand, an American version was invented using standard playing cards and the hands were likened to poker.

Pai Gow is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and one joker. The joker either is used as an ace or a wild card to complete a straight, straight flush, or flush only. The game holds up to six players and a banker. The players play against the banker, which is usually the casino, but players can choose to bank the game if they wish. They just have to have enough money to cover all the other players’ bets.

At the start of the game the players make their bets. The dealer then shuffles the cards and deals out seven piles each containing seven cards, it doesn’t matter how many players it’s always seven. Then the banker shakes a cup containing three dice to determine who gets the first hand.

The player must set up the cards into two hands — a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card must be a higher value than the two-card hand. If you make a mistake, you automatically lose. If both your hands beat the banker’s hands, you win. If one hand wins and one hand loses, it’s a push. And if your hands equal the bankers, the banker wins.

Pai Gow is a slower paced game with a lot of pushes, which I like because I can play a lot longer on the cash I have on hand. The banker has a slight advantage due to the fact that it wins the copies. But if you like to gamble for the fun of it, Pai Gow is the way to go.

The European wheel has thirty-seven slots that are numbered zero to thirty-six making the house edge 2.63%. The American wheel has thirty-eight slots because it features a double zero slot which ups the house edge to 5.26%. Not a great game for the player, but here are the bets and the odds.

When you buy into a roulette table you have to get special roulette chips. Each player at the table receives a different color so there are no arguments about who placed which chip where. It also allows players to bet on the same numbers because everyone has his or her own color. These chips are only good at the table you buy them. When you’re done playing you have to cash them out at the table and be given regular casino chips.

Each table has a minimum and maximum bet, and you can’t combine the two to make the table minimum. If the table is a $5.00 minimum, you must place five dollars on the inside and the outside for a $10.00 total.

Inside Bets:

1.) Straight up - wager on a single number (pays 35 to 1)

2.) Split bet- wager on two numbers (pays 17 to 1)

3.) Street bet - wager on all the numbers in a straight row (pays 11 to 1)

4.) Quad bet - wager on four numbers in a square (pays 8 to 1)

5.) Basket bet - wager on 00, 0, 1, 2, 3 (pays 6 to 1 and the worse bet)

6.) Double Street bet - is a wager on six numbers (pays 5 to 1)

Outside Bets:

1.) Red, Black, Odd, Even - wager is placed on corresponding spot on the table (pays even odds)

2.) Dozens bet - a wager placed on twelve consecutive numbers 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36 (pays 2 to 1 but if zero or double zero comes up — you lose)

3.) Column bets - also a 12 number bet, but in vertical columns not consecutively (pays 2 to 1)

The poker game that is all the rage these days is Texas Hold’em. It became so popular that there even were televised events of celebrities playing the game for their favorite charities. This particular game relies more heavily on strategy than other forms of poker, and with all the cards on the table the game can seem a little daunting. But really the rules are quite simple to learn.

Here is how a hand of Texas Hold’em is played, including when you bet:

Ante up.

1) Hole Cards. Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are the players’ cards, and no one else at the table can use them to help their own hand.

Place a bet here. Tip: if you have low cards and no pairs, fold and sit this hand out. It is better to lose only your ante and not all your chips.

2) The Flop. Three cards are dealt on the table face up. These are community cards that any player can use for the betterment of his or her hand.

Place a bet here.

3) The Turn. The fourth card is a community card and dealt to the table face up.

Place a bet here.

4) The River. The fifth and final card is dealt to the table and is also a community card.

Place final bet.

You can fold at any betting point, and that is why strategy is so vital to this game.

To determine the winning hand, you make the best poker hand that is possible by using five out of the seven cards dealt — a combination of your two hole cards and the community cards. It is important to remember that any player at the table has the use of the community cards, so and take that into account when you devise your strategy for each round.

As you walk through a casino, the loudest area of the room will be where the craps tables are located. Craps is one of the most high-paced, exciting, and energetic games in the casino, and players really get into the game. They aren’t afraid to let their emotions show with whooping, hollering, and slapping each other high fives. Because of how fast the game moves, the crowds it draws, and how much noise it generates, it can be quite an intimidating table to walk up to, especially if you’ve never played it before.

In fact, craps is a really easy game to learn and one of the gambling games with the best odds in a casino. In reality there are over forty bets you can place on a crap table, but you only need to know two. With the other thirty-eight the odds are against you even more, so I never really play them. Why bother, when you’re almost guaranteed to lose.

The first bet you need to know is the Passline Bet. The passline bet is when you place your bet on the passline before a new shooter comes out. The Shooter rolls two dice, and if the total of the dice equals either a seven or an eleven, you win. If they roll a two, three, or twelve — you lose. If the Shooter rolls anything else it’s the point number. Your money stays on the table, and the Shooter has to roll that number again before a seven is rolled. If that happens, you win even money. If it doesn’t and they roll a seven first, you lose.

The other bet is called an Odds Bet. An odds bet is made after the Shooter has rolled the dice and gotten a point number. Then if the Shooter rolls the point number again before the seven, you win.

Now you can confidently be a part of the rowdiest game in the casino. Let’s roll.

Poker players soon learn that one of the most important skills they can have is to have a poker face. “Poker face” is an expression often used, but what is a poker face and how do players use one to their advantage over a game of poker?

A poker face means keeping all expression hidden behind a facial mask. Grins and smiles can reveal a good hand just as a frown or sour expression might indicate a less than perfect hand. Experienced poker players show nothing, no expression of any kind.

The next step is how to develop the skill of keeping a poker face.

First, concentrate on the game. Watch the cards; know when to hold cards and when to discard them. Think about the game, not about possible wins or losses.

Next, stay calm and don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Excitement over what seems to be a great hand, disappointment over poor cards, or eagerness to win all can reveal more than you should to your opponents. A good poker play never wants his or her opponents to know what cards he or she has and if he or she is bluffing.

Third, don’t fidget. Telltale signs of nervous stress like tapping fingers or feet can give an opponent the advantage. Whether your hand is a potential winner or a big loser, be calm and still. You just might bluff a win over someone who had a better hand but folded in the face of your icy calm.

Last, if keeping a bland poker face is too difficult, think about using sunglasses, a hat with a low brim, or tinted cosmetic glasses that hide your eyes.

Body language is a big part of keeping a poker face, so be still, keep emotions under check, and play to win!

Poker is a classic American game of cards, a popular pastime whether it is played by a group on Friday nights or taken more seriously at a casino table. Unlike most games of chance, poker was created in the United States, in the rowdy seaport of New Orleans some time around the start of the 19^th century. Poker most likely has roots to both a French card game called Poque (although the game itself is quite different from poker) and a British card game Brag. Brag is the most similar to poker of other card games that predate poker in the United States, but the final game, the poker we know today, has elements not found in either of the earlier games.

By the mid to late 1840’s, the game of Brag vanished, apparently assimilated into the new game of poker. Poker became common almost everywhere within the United States by the time of the Civil War, and soldiers on both sides who played during that conflict spread it further.

The original game was draw poker but stud poker, said to be a cowboy version, showed up around the mid 1860’s. Another version originally called Jackpot poker appeared in Hoyle, the official manual for card players everywhere, by 1875. Today, many games still use the Jackpot theory which is that players must have “Jacks or better”, meaning at least a pair of Jacks, to play in the game.

Official poker rules first appeared in a New York newspaper in 1904, and the following year the first book about the game of poker debuted, “Practical Poker” by author RF Foster.

Poker remains one of the most popular games, and the newest version is Texas Hold ‘em.

Earlier this week, I played for two nights at Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno, California. A decent, but a little run down, card room in northern California. The only table open when I got there the first night was a 1-2-2 No Limit Hold ‘em. I had been on a plane all day, so I only wanted to play for a couple hours.

I bought in for $200 and took the #7 seat at the full table. The table was fairly aggressive, but I was able to catch a few decent hands and rake in about $75 over a few pots. About an hour in, I looked down at the hole cards and saw the delight of aces. (I will tell you that my first impression for aces is to play them aggressively, but I hoped to use the aggression of the table against itself so I smooth called $5 with 6 players left.) The flop came, rainbow and all low. I was second to act so I bet $15 on a pot of about $30. Everyone folded except a guy that bet $100. I looked at him and read a small pocket pair trying to steal the pot. He had about $100 left in his stack, so I pushed all in, and he called. He turned over pocket 5’s and groaned when I rolled over aces. He was a big dog at this point and had little chance of winning (about 15%). Well, low and behold, he caught the miracle 5 on the river, and I was tapped out by a miracle. Being fairly exhausted, I decided that it was time to pack up for the evening and write the evening off as a loss.

On the second night, I grabbed another seat at a 1-2-2 No Limit table. I bought in $300 tonight and fell right into my saga. My second hand, I looked down and found American Airlines. I was in the small blind, so after all of the action there were 5 people left in the hand when it came back around to me. I decided to try and make a big splash, so I went the slow play route and just smooth called the $5 minimum bet. The flop offered a pair of nines and a 5 of hearts. I bet $40, and everyone folded except the button who came over the top with a bet of $100. I decided to make the big splash, so I went all in and in two seconds he called. I knew I was screwed as soon as he called and flipped over his deuce-nine. I missed on the turn and river and $300 disappeared in two hands.

Not deterred, I bought in another $200 and had some luck, winning $3,000 throughout the evening. But my saga with pocket rockets was not over. The very last hand I was going to play, I looked down and found my friends in the hole again. I was first to act so I decided no slow playing. I raised to $25. Everyone folded in turn, and I wound up taking down the blinds of $5 total!

For those keeping score, I had pocket rockets three times in about four hours of playing: 2 huge losses (one an ugly bad beat, one stupid playing by me), and I won a whopping $5 on the third!

When walking through a casino, some of the games can seem daunting - they’re played quickly and the players seem to speak in a foreign language, using terms you don’t understand.

One of the easiest games to learn is Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one, and the only person you have to beat is the dealer, no matter how many players there are. The goal of the game is to get your cards to add up to twenty-one or as close as possible without going over and beating the dealer’s hand by the dealer either busting or not coming as close to twenty-one as you did.

The Cards:

Cards 2 through 10 are face value (their suit doesn’t matter).

Jacks, queens, and kings are counted as ten.

Aces are special and they can either be worth one or eleven depending on how it helps the player’s hand.

Playing:

Each player is dealt two cards face up, and the dealer is dealt one card face up and one face down. If you are dealt a 10 or any face card with an ace, that’s a blackjack.  Unless the dealer’s got one, too, you’ve automatically won. If you didn’t get a twenty-one, then you have to decide to “hit” or “stay”. Hitting means you want to be given another card to add to the ones you already have, but remember the closer you are to twenty-one the easier it will be to “bust”. Busting means that you’ve gone over twenty-one, you’ve automatically lost - for you it won’t matter if the dealer ends up busting or not. If you decide to “stay” that means you’ve decided you’re close enough and you are done with your turn. Then the dealer takes his or her turn, and you hope he or she either busts or your cards are higher so you can win.

The other day I had just a half hour to kill and conveniently drove by Sharky’s Card Room in Nashua, NH. I had not been in Sharky’s for about a year so I figured I would stop by and see if maybe I could find someone to play a quick heads-up game for $100. Unfortunately, there was no one there to play a heads-up match, and the only table with an open seat was a 2-4 Omaha High Only table. I generally like Omaha and think the opportunity to make a few dollars is greater because most people play it poorly. So I grabbed the #2 seat and bought in $40 worth of chips.

But 2-4 Omaha is not really poker at all. It is however a reformatted form of a lottery! Because the stakes are so low people will call with almost any opening hand. They will call with any flush draw, gut shot straight, or low two pairs. 2-4 Omaha is a game where people see a dream in every hand!

I played for my half hour, which saw me get a set snapped off once on the river with a guy who had a two card out.  I made two flushes that were winners, and I made a full house on the river that beat a guy that had me until that point. You win some, you lose some, but in low stakes Omaha you just keep hoping!

After a half hour I walked away with $55 ($15 profit), but the key is that it was fun. The table was chatty and friendly and that is all you can hope for in low stakes Omaha.

Last week, I was playing at Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno, California. I had my name on the list for 3 different games and finally was able to squeeze into a 1-2-2 No Limit Game ($100 minimum Buy-in, $300 Max). I bought in $200 and grabbed the number four seat.

About 20 minutes into the table, I had been able to steal a few small pots and I was up $20 or so. With the button two in front of me, I looked down at my hole cards and found:

Feeling pretty good about that, I made a pre-flop bet of $15.

I got one caller and we were left with a pot of about $30.

The flop comes:

Nothing on that flop scares me so I bet the pot, $30.

My counterpart has about $75 left and says, “All in.” I smell a bluff, so I call.

He turns over:

I feel like a champ!

The turn and river change all of that when I see:

As the nutjob rakes in the chips, I am left in amazement why anyone still plays this game!!