Love Nuke

LONDON: The pop diva Lady Gaga great singer Alicia Keys at the top of the list of the best charity for the year 2010.

The explicit support “Poker Face” singer of the rights of gays and their endless efforts in the campaign to repeal the U.S. military do not Ask Do not tell policy of its position in the first place with the following keys in it, who led the charge against HIV this year, reported contact music.

The ladies dominated the summit of ‘Celebs Gone Good’ countdown, compiled by charity teen DoSomething.org.

Meanwhile, country star Taylor Swift rounded, actor Matt Damon, celebrity couple Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore and Teenage sensation Justin Bieber the top 10.

If Hellmuth Twitter feed is to be believed, the Poker Brat is set to join the cast of Dancing with the Stars – the U.S. version of Strictly Come Dancing – when it is sent to next March.

Writing in his Twitter last weekend (Dec. 18), Hellmuth said, “OMG! Phil Hellmuth (me!) on “Dancing with the! Stars” Outrageous! May make a fool out of myself Worldwide Television, once again …”

If the rumors are true, Hellmuth could make a monumental fool of himself, as for those unfamiliar with the show, it features celebrities prancing around on screen in skimpy sequined outfits. Contestants are paired with professional ballroom dancers as they shimmy across the floor performing a host of dance routines, including the foxtrot and the rumba, in a bid for the Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) crown.

And if Phil’s Jitterbug is as good as his gambling he may just find himself rubbing shoulders with past DWTS champions Donny Osmond and Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey. 6ft6 portly Phil should be warned, though, the public doesn’t take kindly to contestants carrying a couple extra pounds.

In the last series, which finished in November, Sarah Palin’s recently-pregnant daughter Bristol graced the dance floor, only to receive a barrage of criticism from the media. One comedian branded her “the white Precious” and said she was “the only contestant to gain weight”.

In response to the comments Bristol said winning SWTS “would be like a big middle finger to all the people out there that hate my mom and hate me.” Sadly she finished third so she never got to swear. But let’s hope Hellmuth – who seems equally inept at handling criticism – fares better if he does take part in 12th series. Perhaps the thought of all the sequins and lycra will motivate him to shed the pounds and have the last word on Huck Seed’s $100k weight loss bet.

Only time will tell whether these promises are good, but one thing is for sure though, if the Poker Brat is not getting his jive on national television, the poker player will surely be in some respects …

Phil Hellmuth is now considering as one of the most successful poker players on the planet. Although not everyone cup of tea, his career earnings are unusual, the profits are still undefeatable cuff and no one could argue that he has raised the profile and awareness of the game of poker.

Born in 1964 in the United States and after crossing to the university, like many players today have only managed three years before he finishes his studies to concentrate on his poker career, a choice some would say.

He has collective over $11million in live tournament winnings alone which leaves him in 4^th place on the all time earnings list but you have to feel that considering his big wins came at an early age, if he had been born a couple of decades later then his earnings would be excessive. His one Main Event win in 1989 came with a prize of $755,000 at the time; certainly not a figure to turn your nose up at but paling in comparison to the $8-9million that it is worth these days.

He has held plenty of records throughout his career but there are two that stick out as being his biggest and most well-known achievements.

11 bracelets and still going strong

He won the WSOP Main Event at the age of 24 against Johnny Chan, who was defending his title at the time, in 1989 and with that victory came the honor of being the youngest player to have ever taken a Main Event victory. In itself, this is a great achievement but this record was not beaten until 2008 when Peter Eastgate at just 23, won the event. That’s an amazing 18 years that Hellmuth held this record, showing just how good you had to be at that age to win it.

The other record that sticks out and is still a record to date, is that he has won an amazing 11 WSOP bracelets throughout his career and sits atop a pack of players looking to overtake him.  There are a couple currently on 10 bracelets but it will surely take a while for Hellmuth to be dethroned, especially as he still has plenty of poker playing years in him; if Doyle Brunson can play into his 70s then why can’t Hellmuth?!

Should he be called Phil Hellmouth?

Hellmuth has always been a colorful figure and has been in some absolutely crazy bust-ups during his career. In recent years, with the emergence of strong online players, big tournament fields and younger and younger players, Hellmuth has been deemed to be a terrible loser; often exploding with rage when beaten by what he feels are inferior hands and players.

He calls himself the ‘Poker Brat’ and has made a secondary living from a merchandise range bearing that very name. He has developed this character well and while I have no doubt that he is normally being as genuine as possible, it wouldn’t surprise me if he hammed it up a bit now and then, especially when the TV cameras turn to him; fans love nothing more than to see Hellmuth blow up and even he believes “if it weren’t for luck, I’d win ‘em all”.

His success is impressive in the WPT as well; although he is yet to actually win a title he has made the final table four times and has cashed in their tournaments thirteen times to date. With his popularity and wallet swelling he was a perfect choice for TV show Poker after Dark where he battles it out with other huge pros like Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke.

Married with children, Hellmuth is a very big family man and is ready for life away from the feel through the publication of numerous books, videos, DVDs, and created his own publishing house.

Whatever your personal opinion on the great man, you can not deny he is a great talent to the table and has brought anything but good exposure to the world of poker. Deserves his Hall of Fame site, it is also worthy of the Legends of Poker profile.

Two new tournaments added to the 2011 World Poker Tour calendar, which become the stops of this season tour. Along with the launch of WPT championships, he makes three new European tournaments WPT brand in the next year.

These two tournaments will be located in foremost European cities, and they are probable to be televised on Fox Sports Net. The First tournament will be held at the Casino de Venezia in early February which has a €3,000 + €300 buy-in,  while another will be turn to Austria in March at the Montesino which carry a similar €3,200 + €300 buy-in.

Both stops will also feature high-roller events with buy-ins that are noticeably larger than those of the televised events. The Venice high-roller tournament has a €10,000 buy-in, while the Vienna stop reportedly features a €15,000 high-roller contest.

According to a press release issued by World Poker Tour President Adam Pilska, the WPT is excited about the new additions to their tour.

“We are looking forward to returning to Venice, debuting our WPT National Series and High-Roller event in Paris, and taking the Tour to Vienna for the very first time,” said Pliska. “The future is exciting and these international events give players even more chances to compete on poker’s premiere stage.”

The National Series is the European equivalent to the Regional Series that the WPT will be holding in the United States. In both cases, the events will carry World Poker Tour branding, but will not award points toward the WPT Player of the Year race, and winners will not receive free entries into the $25,000 WPT World Championship.

The next World Poker Tour event in this period is not a televised event in Marrakech this weekend. The “Five Diamond World Poker Classic”, next televised event held at the beginning of the Bellagio in Las Vegas on December 3.

Online poker allows players to place their bet and play in the virtual environment. There are thousands of websites that offer players a virtual table to play poker. Sometimes you may need to create software to your desk top to play.

In some cases you may need to pay for it, and sometimes can be free of charge. The installation takes a few minutes and then begins the process of signing your membership account. New players may start playing the incentive money if they are on these sites. Thousands of these sites offer new players to enjoy in the form of bonus incentive.

If these players are just not good enough to play then you can use that money for their contribution. When you play the style of practice does not really need to pay any price in order not to lose money. These poker rooms offer excellent graphics and some of them may also offer true 3D graphic capabilities, and some may be close enough to the real world.

Players around the globe sit in one poker table and enjoy playing this game, but to learn the basics of online poker you might have to go through various poker strategies.

With our country’s federal government nearing validation and regulation of online poker, the Supreme Court of South Carolina is involved in a debate over the game’s official classification.

Long considered by politicians to be a game whose results are comprised merely of chance, poker has recently begun to make inroads into the territory of skill. This comes on the heals of numerous research studies which prove that, while susceptible to luck in the short term, the winners and losers are often determined by shrewd play and mathematics.

Why South Carolina? The answer lies in an incident which took place four years ago, when 25 individuals were arrested during a raid on a private residence. Their crime? Playing poker for money. Each person was arrested, with 20 pleading guilty to the charges. Five players refused to give in, and were ruled guilty at trial.

This conviction was later overturned by Circuit Judge Markley Dennis, who ruled that Texas Hold’em fell under the umbrella of games of skill. As one would expect, the Poker Player’s Alliance took a special interest in the litigation. John Pappas, the group’s executive director, has spent a great deal of time in the state over recent weeks, preparing to assist in the cause.

Under official state law, it is currently illegal for residents of South Carolina (and most other states) to play online poker for money in their own homes. Assuming that the five justices continue on their current course, this stance could change partway through 2011.

With every new event that advertise whether it’s in prize amount or number of players entering, Online poker tournaments continue to grow in size. It’s become just as popular as any land based poker tournament and can give any Vegas Poker event a run for its money. Just to prove a point just look at the online poker room managed by Intertops Poker. By Announcing their Global Gaming Event Poker Tournament, which will added some of the biggest money in online poker tourney that never held before in the online gaming industry.

Intertops will hold a series of 7 poker tournaments titled the Online Forum Challenge Mega Money Event over a four month period and will be adding over $23,000 in cash and prizes making it the largest overall GGE series since it started hosting these massive added prize pool tournaments.

Poker Tournaments that were worth anything decent in the past could only be found at big land based casinos where there was a big entry fee and specific days and times in which you had to show up in person to play. Now granted some of these tournaments are worth millions of dollars, but you need to travel to get to them and pay for all your own expenses because these tournaments can go on for more than one day and it could get expensive.

But in current times, you can find yourself entered into some huge “online” poker tournaments that are also worth millions of dollars and can be done right from your living room chair. No travel expenses, no food or lodging expense, just you and your pc, maybe a beer or two and probably the TV set playing in the background is all you need to enter an online big money poker tournament. With online poker becoming such a popular way to get your poker fixes now, land based casinos are going to have to step up their game and start offering better deals and bigger prizes if they want to stay competitive in the future with online brands like Intertops.

In a controversial new autobiography, Jerry Hall former model and wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, has revealed her ex-husband’s addiction for poker and women. The book, “My Life in Pictures”, explains how Jagger’s love for poker caused him to nearly destroy his life, and that of his family, and how his addiction for women finally led to the end of their marriage.

Mick Jagger reportedly gambled away the family home, as well as the farm in poker games. Hall reveals that he was so racked by guilt that he tried to commit suicide, however, he was as successful in that department as he was in poker.

“He succeeded only in breaking almost every bone in his body and losing a kidney, leaving Mama with five children to raise, no home and a husband destined to spend a long time in hospital,” said Hall.

“He detonated our entire existence,” she added.

“My Life in Pictures” reveals a love-affair with one of the most high profile singers in the history of music – a relationship that began in 1977 and ended with an annulment in 1999, mainly due to the singer’s problems as a sex cheat.

“Although I loved him and he wore undying love for me, I felt very unsure of him,” writes Hall. “I had weaned him off drugs, but they had been replaced by sex.”

Hall speaks of her dismay when her husband was linked with other girls in gossip columns, although he denied these encounters at first.

It was only in 1990, after model Luciana Gimenz announced that she was pregnant with Jagger’s child, that the relationship finally came to an end.

Jagger and Hall had four children together – Lizzie, Georgia , James and Gabriel.

Playing poker with a group of friends for money in a house game is legal in most states. In North Carolina, authorities made it clear this past week that playing poker for large amounts of money will not be tolerated.

The North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement on Thursday raided a poker game and arrested eight people in the process. Authorities are contending that playing high stakes poker is illegal in the state, thus justifying the raid.

“After receiving multiple complaints from members of the public regarding the illegal games ALE agents promptly investigated,” said John Ledford, Director of Alcohol Law Enforcement, as reported by WTVD. “High stakes card games like this one are illegal in the state, and I commend our agents and officers with the Mt. Olive Police Department for taking action.”

In addition to the arrests that were made, poker tables, chips, cards, and $23,700 were confiscated. The question as to whether the game was a tournament or cash game has yet to be revealed, but either way, there is a chance that the Poker Players Alliance will get involved.

The PPA has successfully helped poker players across the US get their cases dismissed by arguing that poker is a game of skill and not luck. No word has come yet as to whether they will help the eight defendants in this case.

“This is going to be another case where a judge is going to have to rule on the game of poker and determine whether it is skill or luck,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. “In North Carolina, previous cases have indicated that poker is illegal, but with no clear determination, this could be another case that ends up before a judge to decide whether the game is skill or luck.”

Frenchman Bruno “King” Fitoussi, born September 21, 1958 in Paris, can often be found playing in the biggest poker games in the world. But Fitoussi isn’t your regular high-stakes card shark. An architect by trade, Fitoussi was also a music producer before founding the consulting firm VIP Gaming, where he still holds a position as President. He also created the poker magazine 52, which can be found in casinos all over Europe.

The entrepreneur has said in interviews that he isn’t a professional poker player, but that is certainly debatable based on his results. Fitoussi first made his mark in the poker world by defeating legendary pro Amarillo Slim at the 2001 World Heads-Up Championship in Vienna, Austria. He earned $101,727 for his first title on the circuit, amplifying his love for the game that has continued into the next decade.

In 2004, Fitoussi was voted into the European Poker Hall of Fame, joining superstars like David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Carlos Mortensen, Marcel Luske, and Surinder Sunar. The honor not only rewarded his talent at the tables, but also his contributions to the emergence of Texas Hold’em in France, especially through the Aviation Club. Fitoussi helped bring in some of Europe’s top players to the famous poker club, including David Benyamine, Tony G, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, and the Boatman brothers.

In 2005, Fitoussi made his first final table at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing second in a $1,500 Seven Card Razz event for $70,275. He made another final table at the 2006 WSOP, taking fifth in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $54,486.

Fitoussi’s biggest achievement came at the $50,000 HORSE World Championship at the 2007 WSOP, where he faced off against 147 of the best poker players in the game. After five days of play and a 14-hour final table, he came within a few hands of winning his first bracelet, finishing as the runner-up to Freddy Deeb for a cool $1,278,720. The tournament was aired by ESPN and put Fitoussi on the poker map, helping lead to his appearance on more television shows in the future.

Since then, Fitoussi has found a lot of success on the World Poker Tour (WPT). He took second place in a $5,000 event at the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, collecting $205,385. He then took 10th at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2009 for $98,050, an event ultimately won by internet phenom Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. In total, Fitoussi has more than $2.4 million in live tournament earnings.

Despite his success, Fitoussi still isn’t one of the more recognizable faces in the world of high-stakes poker. He isn’t flamboyant like Daniel Negreanu, obnoxious like Mike Matusow, or temperamental like Phil Hellmuth. His quiet, polite behavior on the felts hasn’t helped land him any sponsorship deals with major online sites, but the cool-headed “pro” seems to be just fine with that.

Outside of the cards and the money, the bluff is probably the most celebrated element to poker.

Poker, unlike a table game like blackjack or a pull of a slot machine, is the only game in the gambling world where money can be won without having an outright win. All you have to do is convince your opponent that you hold a superior hand to theirs, forcing them to fold.

The bluff is a powerful tool in poker, especially in a game such as no-limit Hold ‘Em, but it can also be a tremendous leak if attempted too frequently and against the wrong opposition.

Here are a few select tips (there’s no way to cover them all in 20 articles, much less this one) of key points in the art of the bluff:

Preferably have a backup draw: On the flop and turn, it’s best to do the bluffing with a chance to improve into a hand that no longer needs a bluff to take down the pot. Bluffing (often referred to as a semi-bluff in this situation) with a straight or flush draw, or even to a high pair such as a king or ace that could eventually produce top pair would all fit into these criteria.

Keep opponents at a minimum: It’s easier to convince one or two players that you are telling the truth than three or four. Ideally, the action preceding the bluffing has you heads-up against a lone opponent.

Don’t bluff to be a showoff: While a gutsy bluff is likely to rouse a great response from your tablemates that should never be the goal. You bluff because you notice a weakness in your opponents and are convinced it was the right thing to do, given the situation.

Bluff a hand that’s possible: It’s common to see boards with three cards of the same suit by the time the action gets to the turn. It would be perfectly logical for an opponent to believe that you hold a flush. By bluffing with a specific hand, it gives the move more power versus simply trying to push your opponent around with perceived strength.

Weigh in the stack size: Opponents with either significantly large or short chip stacks are not good bluffing targets for obvious reasons. The big-money player is more likely to call your bluff. A short-stack is likely to respond by moving all-in, which can force a somewhat embarrassing fold if you aren’t bluffing with any potential draw.

Blinds can have anything: If you are sitting in either the small or big blinds seats, your perceived range of hands is much larger than that of a player in another seat because you are already invested in the hand, and it’s cheaper to see a flop. So, it’s very logical that a junk flop with low cards can hit your hand, making it an opportune time to steal the pot.

Checks around: In any situation where the table checks around the action in a multi-way pot, it’s never a bad idea to fire away at the pot when the action gets to you.

“…gulp”

An ellipsis and four letters.  So simple, yet it says so much.  This was the Tweet made by Howard Lederer at 4:49am Las Vegas time in response to fellow Team Full Tilt member Phil Ivey winning his eighth World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.  Ivey out-dueled poker author and 2006 double bracelet winner Bill Chen to win the $3,000 HORSE event and $329,840.  Ivey has now pulled into a tie with Erik Seidel for fifth on the all-time WSOP bracelet list behind Phil Hellmuth (11), Johnny Chan (10),Doyle Brunson (10), and Johnny Moss (nine).

But that princely sum of just over $329,000 pales in comparison to the amount of money Ivey may have won in side bets with other poker pros.  It is not known for certain exactly how much Ivey will be collecting from top players such as Eli Elezra and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, but put it this way, word is that after winning, Ivey turned to someone and asked, “So how much is first, anyway?”

This brings us back to Lederer and his concise Tweet.  According to PokerListings, before this year’s WSOP, he bet Ivey $5 million that the young poker stud would not win two WSOP bracelets by the end of 2011.  Lederer is obviously starting to sweat now that Ivey is halfway there with all of next year’s WSOP plus 17 events this year still remaining.  After the tournament, the 33-year old Ivey told WSOP officials, “I think I can win 30 gold bracelets.  I think I can reach that if I keep playing and stay healthy.”

Ivey’s run to the title was one of the more impressive of the 2010 WSOP.  He was in decent shape when play started Monday with 25 players remaining, but when the field was narrowed to 16, or the final two tables, he was lagging behind as the shortest chip stack.  He then made a tremendous run and to reach the final table in second place behind only Chen.

He would need all of those chips to beat an extremely tough final table.  In addition to Chen, it included a combined eight bracelets from Jeffrey Lisandro, John Juanda, Ken Aldridge, and Chad Brown.  And those are just the final table players.  Bowing out Monday on the way to the final table were names like David Singer, Scott Seiver, Dan Heimiller, Farzad Bonyadi, and David Benyamine.

But even after knocking out Juanda in third place, Ivey entered heads-up play with Chen facing a 3-to-1 chip deficit.  After about 10 minutes, the gap had widened, as Ivey’s stack fell below one million.  But just over a half-hour into heads-up, Ivey took the lead, eventually flip-flopping the stacks that the two players had to start the one-on-one match.  Chen didn’t give up, though, and took the lead back, but Ivey turned the tables once again and didn’t look back.

After about two hours, the end came on a Razz hand.  On fifth street, all of Chen’s chips were in the pot and the two players showed their hands.  Chen had a strong one – a made 7-6 – but Ivey had him beat with a made 6-5.  Chen would need either a 3 for a chop or running 3-4 for a wheel to win the pot.  Both players received a 7 on sixth street, changing nothing, and Ivey was the one who made his wheel, drawing a 4 on the river to seal the deal.  Chen won $203,802 for second place.

According to TheHendonMob.com, the win gives Ivey $4,886,988 in total winnings in his WSOP history, putting him 12th on the all-time list.  The $329,840 in prize money for the tournament moved him back ahead of Daniel Negreanufor the top spot on the overall live tournament winnings leaderboard.  Ivey now has $12,836,394 in brick-and-mortar tournament earnings in his career, just ahead of Negreanu’s $12,633,218.

Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has a new gig. After parting ways with Harrah’s last November, Pollack is the new Executive Chairman of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and will serve on the company’s Board of Directors, according to the Sports Business Journal.

Former PBR CEO Randy Bernard stepped down in February to make his way to the Indy Racing League (IRL). Pollack has already made an impact on the new company despite having little tenure. He told the Sports Business Journal, “We’ll take a fresh look at scheduling and where we hold our competitions” and added, “We may retire the title of CEO, that’s something we haven’t decided.” Pollack makes his home in Los Angeles and PBR is based in Colorado.

In addition to the WSOP, Pollack previously held down positions with the NBA and NASCAR, making him one of the industry’s top sports marketers. He once expressed his desire to have poker players competing at the annual WSOP look like NASCAR drivers, leading to the deluge of high-profile logos gracing the series’ telecasts. He joined Harrah’s in 2005 and was instrumental in serving as the primary liaison between poker players and WSOP management.

Three days following Joe Cada’s victory over Darvin Moon in the finale of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Pollack announced that he was leaving his post. Appropriately for the new-age WSOP Commissioner, he Tweeted his final statements to the poker world: “Thank you for allowing me to be part of the WSOP these last few years. I will always be a fan and friend to the poker community.” Pollack has not made a Twitter entry since November 13th.

On TwoPlusTwo, posters reacted to Pollack’s new gig with PBR. TwoPlusTwo member “PADRE24” questioned, “Congrats to Jeff! He did a great job and will be a good rep for bull riding. I wonder if he has to wear a cowboy hat now?” Meanwhile, “Eponymous” joked, “He probably just wants to meet Jewel, who is married to one of the PBR founders.” Jewel is married to Ty Murray, who is an advisor to the PBR’s Board.

Pollack is a half-brother of Gary Bettman, the Commissioner of the NHL, and was instrumental in bringing on several non-poker sponsors to the WSOP including Sirius Satellite Radio, AOL, Milwaukee’s Best, and Planters Peanuts. The latter sponsored the “Good Instinct Moment” during WSOP on ESPN telecasts. Current WSOP sponsors include Everest Poker, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, and Bluff Magazine.

In a December interview with Poker News Daily, UB.com pro and reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke explained what Pollack’s departure meant to the poker community: “The community agrees that it may be bad for the players. What that speaks to, whether it’s true or not, was that he was a big friend to the players and that’s his legacy. What an amazing legacy for someone to have.”

WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart has assumed many of the front-line duties of Pollack, but no new Commissioner has been named. During the first bracelet ceremony of 2010, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel took on the duties of awarding the piece of hardware to Hoai Pham, winner of the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em tournament.

Bluff Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley told Poker News Daily that PBR was wise to Pollack into its ranks: “I think the PBR is lucky to have somebody like Jeffrey on board with them. Jeffrey will probably admit he knows as much about bull riding as he did about poker when he started with Harrah’s – and that’s a good thing. They didn’t bring him onboard for his cowboy expertise – they brought him onboard for his experience taking a brand to the next level.”

In Texas Holdem, after players place required blinds or antes (see the Robert’s Rules of Poker in the upper right for basic structure rules), all players receive two down cards which remain hidden until the final showdown of hands. After the first two cards are dealt, a round of betting occurs. Next, three community cards are turned over at the same time. This is called the flop. Another round of betting follows. Then a fourth community card is exposed, the turn card, followed by another betting round. Finally a fifth community is dealt, the river card, and a last round of betting ensues.

After the completion of all betting comes the showdown. Players make hands by using the best five-card combination of their two personal cards and the five community cards. A player may use one or both cards out of their hand, or use only the five community cards.

A dealer button rotates around the table so each player is in the dealer’s position once a round. Normally two blinds are used, but other structures, including antes instead of or in addition to blinds can be used.

Irregularities
If the first card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results, meaning the dealer will reshuffle and re-deal the cards. If during the course of the deal any of the other down cards (hole cards) are exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. After completing the deal, the dealer replaces the exposed card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burn card. If during the deal more than one hole card is exposed, this a misdeal and the cards are re-dealt. There is no option for a player to keep an exposed card.

If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player a third down card, that card is returned to the deck, placed on top, and used as the burn card. If the dealer accidentally deals two or more extra cards, it is a misdeal regardless of any betting that may have already occurred.

If the flop contains too many cards, the cards are retrieved, re-shuffled and the flop is re-dealt — even if it is possible to surmise which card is the “extra” card.

If the dealer accidentally turns the fourth card before a betting round was completed, the exposed card is taken back out of play, even if the remaining player or players choose to not call any final bets. Once betting is genuinely completed, the dealer burns and exposes what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card’s place. After the next round of betting, the dealer will reshuffle the remaining deck, but not burn cards or discards, including the card that had been incorrectly exposed, and then exposes a river card without burning a card. If the river card is exposed prematurely, the deck is reshuffled/re-dealt similarly.

Cards Speak
Cards Speak, which means no matter what a player says about the value of their Texas Holdem hand, the actual value is the best possible hand the combination of cards can make. Player’s should protect their own hands, but the casino dealer should read the proper value of what a player’s hand is.

To win a pot you must show both your cards. Showing one but discarding the other will cause a player to lose the pot. A player must first declare they want to play the five community cards (play the board) before discarding their hole cards. If a player discards their hand before stating they want to play the board, they relinquish their claim to the pot.