Five year old beats Mom at poker, this and other news.

posted by Melissa
Tonight is another poker night.

"Let the chips fall where they may."  (please be in my pile!)

So far, it has been super fun to learn, or re-learn, poker.  We start out with five card stud.  We learned it from a book aptly named, The Big Book of Poker, by Ken Warren.  We didn't try any of the variations, just trying to get the basics down at this point.  In five card stud you start by putting in the ante, a forced contribution to the pot required by every player that wants to be dealt in for that hand.  Next every player that's in gets dealt on card down and one card up.  At this point there is a round of betting.  Next everyone gets another card face up, and consequently after each new card that is dealt face up, there is another round of betting.  This goes until everyone has a total of five cards.  After the betting is finished, everyone that is still "in" (i.e. didn't "fold" their cards and drop out of the hand) shows their cards and the winner is called.  The winner gets everything that was bet during that hand.

The way you win at poker is to have the highest hand, or combination, of all five cards.  Here is a list of the rankings, as learned from the aforementioned book.  Listed from highest to lowest.

• Royal Flush  This is a straight, all the cards in sequence and in the same suit, and being the 10, jack, queen, king and ace.  If four players were to have a straight flush (ha!) then the suit ranking is spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts.
• Straight Flush  This is a straight, all cards in sequence, and in the same suit.
• Four-of-a-Kind   Like it says, four cards of the same face value.
• Full House  Three-of-a-Kind and One Pair.
• Flush  All five cards are of the same suit. (do not need to be on any order)
• Straight  All five cards in sequence, but are of different suits.
• Three-of-a-Kind  Three cards of the same face value.
• Two Pair  Two cards of the same face value and two other cards of the same face value, for a total of four cards.  The fifth card could serve as a tie breaker.
• One Pair  Two cards of the same faec value.  The three other cards can serve as tie breakers.
• High Card  If no one has any of the above rankings, then the player with the highest card wins.

The next poker night we had we played seven card stud.  It is very similar to five card stud, and yes, like you guessed, with seven cards.  You get dealt two cards face down, a round of betting, then four cards face up with a round of betting after each card.  The last card is dealt face down.  There is a final round of betting and then all players that have not folded how their hands.  Same rankings apply.  

Amy came down one night this week and we played some penny poker to learn how to play five card draw, the game we will be playing tonight.  The kids joined us, and while it was fun at time, we also had to deal with pre-adolescent upset at times.  wow.

Then yesterday, while waiting for Lily and Levi to get their cavity filled teeth worked on at the dentist, Tallulah and I played some five card draw in the waiting room.  It kept her focused for the whole 2 hours, without asking for treats.  If you knew Tallulah, you would know what a miracle that is.  Maybe it was because she was winning most of the time.  So, if I don't win any money this month, at least maybe I found something that entertains my kids.

(Note - We did't gamble with money at the dentist.  The other moms maybe thought we were playing an innocent game like War.)

I remember loving poker as a kid.  Maybe that's why I picked it.

Cheers!

Melissa