How to Bet in Texas Hold’Em Card Game

To check, raise or fold? This is the most important questions to answer when it’s your turn to make the bet in a poker game. Deciding which call to make takes strategy, patience and a string understanding of the game. While there are tips to guide you on betting in a Texas Hold’em card game, practice is still your best bet.

The Pot

In a Texas Hold’em card game, the pot depends on the amount of money players have contributed to the pot, either through ante or blind betting. Ante means the predetermined amount all players place on the pot as the initial fund. This is usually a small quantity, just enough to get the pot started. Technically, a player’s ante is not an actual bet but just a token to start with even before the cards are dealt.

The pot money can also come from blinds. Starting from the left of the dealer clockwise, players make “forced” bets either as a big blind or small blind alternately. For this betting round, the big blind is equal to the minimum betting amount, while the small blind is half the sum. As this is the startup bet, no one can make a “check” or pass the bet yet.

After determining the starting pot amount, the four rounds of card dealing and betting progresses. It is during this time that you will determine the amount of your bets based primarily on the hand that you are dealt with.

Check, Raise or Fold

There are three types of bets you can make in a Texas Hold’em card game. To check means to match the bet placed before you, to raise means to increase the bet amount, and to fold means to give up on your hand.

It is important to have a mindset that whenever you place money on the pot, it technically isn’t yours anymore. Experts say this is the windfall of many novice players, where they play just to protect their money. Think of the pot as a whole, and play according to your best strategies, not whether your bet is big or not for that round.

There are many ways, play patterns and statistics to consider when deciding your next bet. But for starters, there is the basic rule of betting depending on the hands that you have.

In simple terms, when you have a starting weak hand, you need to fold. Some people mistakenly believe that they can still stand a good chance depending on how the game plays out, so they still put more money to the pot even when they get the weakest combinations such as 2-7 and 2-8. But more often than not, with a weak hand, you rarely win.

Meanwhile, a strong hand allows you greater chances of winning, especially if it’s among the strong suits of Ace-Ace, King-King, Queen-Queen and Ace-King. However, excellent cards alone don’t help you win big – you also need to apply the right strategies to play well in a Texas Hold’em card game.

In a Texas Hold’em card game as with any casino game, winning is your ultimate goad but when you’re just starting out, you are also after the experience itself. The more games you play in, the more skilled you will be and be quick in making the right decisions in different card situations.

Have Fun With Math Card Games – Seven Ways to Use Card Games in Math Class

Using a deck of cards in math class can be a quick fun way to have fun with math. A perfect way to quickly review or reinforce math facts and concepts is for students to have fun with math card games. It does not matter if you use regular cards (Ace to King) and make up fun math games to use with them or create specialized decks based on math fact drill or concepts being taught (i.e. fractions, factors, place value). What does matter is that the students are manipulating these cards and actively involved in retrieving the answers and having fun at the same time.

Use a deck of fact cards when playing a board game. Simple as can be, roll the dice whatever number is on the dice is the number of fact cards that must be read before moving.
Make memory matching sets. The problem on one card the answer on another. Be careful not to have too many problems with the same answer. This kind of memory game should only have about 10-15 problems, 20-30 cards total.
This leads to playing what we used to call war. The answer takes the problem. Add a second or third set so multiple problems and answers are there to make it interesting. Another variation would be have only problems, no answer cards and the highest answer takes the cards.
Use a standard deck of cards (Ace -King). Play any traditional card game, but make the student do something with the numbers. If it is a discard game, they add or multiply the card being discarded to the one already there. If it is one where you place three of a kind , or three in a sequence down you have to do something with them, add the all up, add the first two subtract the next one. Name all the factors using the numbers and so on.
Use a standard deck (A-9 only) for place value. They have their decks of cards, call out a number see how long it takes them to find the numbers and get them in the correct order. Face cards can be commas.
Fun Card games where you fish around for cards. This is based on an old favorite where the players have 4-5 cards and pick up from a scattered pile and ask others if they have certain cards. The goal is four of a kind, placed on the table. Put problems only on the card. The question is, “Do you have a problem with the answer ____?” Make sure there only four problems with the same answer.
Use a popular card game with numbers, colors, wilds, skips and Draw 2/4 cards. Play it with the standard rules. The wilds would change the operation. Start out adding, every time you put a card down you add it to the one already there. Older students keep a running total. When a wild is played the operation changes. A teacher will have to decide if they want to mess with division!
As you can see the possibilities are endless, these are just some ideas to get the creative juices moving and help you think of ways to have fun with math card games in your math class. Card games can be quick and a great reinforcement drill as students do not mind seeing the same facts over an over again when a bit of competition is thrown in.
Sue Gnagy Fegan used a structured, sequential multi-sensory teaching approach for the past 34 years. She saw first hand the benefits of engaging students in productive, hands on activities in class. She created and has presented Make it Fun! Make it Challenging! Make it Multisensory! workshop at conferences across the country. Teachers and parents will benefit from having a secret weapon available to them with a variety of well researched, fun and innovative ideas at their fingertips.

Bohnanza Card Game Review

Game Overview

Bohnanza is not a new game. It’s been originally published in 1997 and throughout the years many expansions have been keeping up the interest in it. I only recently had the chance to play it so here is my review:

Bohnanza is designed by Uwe Rosenberg, well-known for many other successful games, such as Agricola, Le Havre and the more recent Ora et Labora. It is actually the game with which he became famous in the board gaming world.The name “Bohnanza” is a pun on the words “bonanza” and “Bohne” (German for “bean”). It is essentially a card game, its only components being cards depicting beans. Players take the role of bean farmers, their sole purpose being to successfully plant, harvest and sell beans. Each player starts out with 2 bean fields in which they can grow any variety of bean, with the restriction that they may plant beans of one variety in each field. The more the players wait for the beans to grow, that is the more beans of the same variety they plant in each field the more coins they can get for harvesting and selling them. But sometimes they may be forced to give up a specific crop of beans before even having the chance to sell them for profit.

Each player starts with 5 bean cards in their hand and the rest of the cards becomes the draw deck. And here is the most important and unique rule of the game which may seem a bit awkward at first: You are never allowed to change the order of the cards in your hand! This is a pretty unusual rule and difficult to follow at first as in most card games you can do whatever you want with your cards (and many times will find yourself pretty much playing nervously with the cards in your hand changing their order continuously). After a while though you will get accustomed to this rule, which plays a great role in the game because you must plant beans in the order you received them. Whenever you draw new cards you must draw them one at a time and place them behind the last card in your hand. On your turn you must do the following actions:

Plant beans. You must plant the first bean in your hand in one of your fields. If you want, you can plant the second as well.

Draw, trade and donate cards. You draw the 2 topmost cards from the draw deck and put them face up on the table. You may keep any of these cards, setting them aside to be planted in the next step, and trade the others along with any cards from your hand. Other players may offer any number of cards in their hands in order to buy a specific card from the active player. They will also have to plant immediately the cards they will gain from trading. If no one is interested in buying you offer, you may donate them to any other player. You might want to do that because you might not have an empty field to plant them and will be forced to sell some planted beans for less profit than you would like or maybe for none at all. You may continue to trade/donate cards from your hand after the 2 faceup cards have been set aside, traded/donated. The player who is the recipient of a donation is not obliged to accept it. In such an occasion you will be forced to plant the cards nobody else wants.

Plant traded / donated beans. During this step all cards set aside, traded or donated must be planted. Players may (and may need to) harvest and sell beans from a bean field in order to plant the new beans.

Draw new bean cards. You draw 3 cards from the draw deck, one at a time and put them at the back of your hand.
When the draw deck is exhausted, the discarded cards are shuffled and placed on the table, becoming the new draw deck. The game ends when the draw deck is exhausted for the third time. Players then harvest and sell beans in their bean fields. The player with the most gold coins wins the game.

The most recent edition of the game by Rio Grande includes the first edition of the first German expansion as well as rules for up to seven players but also two player rules. The two player game, described as “bean duel” has some significant modifications that change the feeling of the game drastically. That could really be expected though as there can’t be any trading with only two players in the game. The most important changes in this version are:

A player can only sell beans on their own turn

The game ends when the draw deck is exhausted for the first time

During the initial step of each turn a player must plant or discard cards donated to him last turn.

The player draws three (instead of two) cards from the draw deck and puts them face up on the table. If the topmost card on the discard pile matches the cards revealed this way, the player adds it to them and continues to do so until the topmost card of the discard pile don’t match any of the cards drawn. Then he/she can keep any of these cards and donate the rest to his/her opponent.
Impressions

When I was proposed to try this game, I must admit I was a bit reluctant about it cause I thought that it would be a somewhat silly game(I guess that the title didn’t help a lot towards that). Looking at the bean cards was a pleasant surprise, as I saw beans depicted in a way I would never expect to. And what strange beans that were! Stink beans (yuck!) and beans with blackened eyes from a box fight and wax beans polishing the floor. Hey, this is fun! I admit I had a bit of trouble at first having to remember not to mess with my cards’ order probably because I play a lot of Magic the Gathering, hehe! In the course of the game I found myself trying to think of the best strategy to gain more coins and make profitable trades and there were a lot of laughs and player interaction to never get me bored. The end of the first game found me pretty excited and eager to start a new game (and to get my sweet revenge). Since then I’ve played a lot of games of Bohnanza, so, let’s get down to our little analysis of the core aspects of the game:

Components:

Components of the game are plain and simple cards but with much attention to detail. Cards are made of hard, quality card stock, glossy and very resistant to wear. I have rarely seen a card game with cards of such quality. 9/10

Gameplay:

Bohnanza is a game that I think I will never be bored to play. Turns are fast and interesting for all players. The trading mechanic is the key factor for that. Many would say that this game is pretty much straight forward with not much strategy involved but I think that there is much food for thought here. Players are required to make profitable trades trying to benefit from the trade more than they will help their opponents and also have to decide when is the best time to harvest their crops. Many important questions will require wise decisions. Should I harvest now and sell for less than maximum profit in order to be able to plant a new crop or should I wait a little longer to gain maximum profit? Should I buy a 3rd bean field? A very positive aspect of the game is its flexibility to the number of players. Referring to the latest edition by Rio Grande, there are modified rules adjusted to 6-7, 4-5, 3 or even two players. These rules guarantee that the game will remain playable and fun enough regardless the number of players which something that in general isn’t given attention and must be praised. Overall, simplicity in the mechanics and enough intrigue is the key of success in Bohnanza! 8/10

Learning Curve:

Rules of the game are pretty simple. During the first few games you may find yourself a bit forgetful and mess up with the order of cards in your hand. The best way to deal with that is never remove a card from your hand until a trade or donation has been accepted by the other player. Other than that you don’t have to remember any complicated rules. The value of each bean crop is depicted on the cards, on the “beanometer” as well as it’s rarity so you basically only have to remember the sequence of actions during your turn. 8/10

Theme:

The game’s theme is pretty simple. You are a bean farmer!! You are constantly reminded of that cause all you see on the table is bean cards and on your fields you see beans of the same kind planted one under the other which is close how your real farm would be. All beans don’t have the same rarity and don’t have the same market value, meaning that some are rarer than others, like cocoa beans that can be found only 4 times in the deck and therefore are very valuable (selling only 4 of them yields 4 coins). That also relate to real market conditions. What may spoil a bit the immersion in the theme is the strangeness of the beans you plant! Some are really ridiculous but that’s part of the fun, so definitely no complaints here. 7/10

Replayability:

As I said before Bohnanza is a game I will never be bored to play. It’s simple and fast and each game can never be the same with any other. You will want to play numerous games in order to polish your strategy and test your ideas but it all really comes down to one factor: it’s fun, I want to play again! 9/10

Fun:

Player interaction usually is the key for a game to be interesting and this game is no exception. Trying to make the best trading deal and donating cards will make you and your friends laugh and tease each other and that’s what I call fun. Moreover designs of the beans are pretty hilarious. Many times I found myself just staring at the cards and smiling……Yeah, It’s definitely fun! 9/10

Pros:

Player interaction

There Are Legal Online Card Games In The US That Take Skill And Practice To Win

On June 7th 2007, Congressman John Wexler of the 19th District Florida, introduced the The Skill Game Protection Act H.R. 2610 . This was a big step forward for millions of Americans who had been turned into common criminals by the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). At the heart of the problem is the fact that many law abiding Americans enjoy playing games of skill against one another online. It is called recreation and the Bill of Rights and Constitution of the United States guarantee each citizen the right to the pursuit of happiness. According to Senator Barney Frank from Massachusetts, who is also questioning the legality of the UIGEA, it is not the government’s business to tell adult American citizens what they can do with their own money in the privacy of their own homes.

So what is the difference between gambling and skill games? Also, what has happened to all the people who enjoyed playing poker and other card games online. Have they just stopped playing online games? To answer the first question, what is the difference between gambling and a skill game, we need only consider that skill means the outcome of a game is determined by the ability of the players. According to the act in section one paragraph two, “(2). While each of these games contains an element of chance, over any substantial interval, a player’s success at any of these games is determined by that player’s relative level of skill and is widely recognized as such.”

For instance, a beginner poker player wouldn’t stand much of a chance in a poker game with experienced poker players. On the other hand, in a game of war, in which the turn of the cards determines who wins and loses with no skill or interaction by the players, it is merely chance that determines who wins and therefore is a game of chance regardless of how many times you play or how much experience you have. The difference is obvious.

What has happened to online card players since the passage or the UIGEA? Many are still playing card games online through offshore venues, illegally. But many others have discovered skill games that are legal in many states and hosted by U.S. companies. Even video poker players have found poker games that they play against other poker players. Taking poker playing skill or video poker playing skill and using it against other players is challenging and a lot of fun. Many card game players who enjoy spades, hearts, cribbage, gin rummy and more are enjoying skill games as well. Skill game venues offer video arcade games, word games and card games. For people who have developed their poker playing skill it is a way to continue to enjoy the thoroughly American game of poker.

When Congressman Wexler’s Act is finally passed Americans will be assured of the opportunity to enjoy their favorite skill games provided by American companies in the privacy of their own homes.

There are legal U.S. card games available online in many states just click here to find a site that offers the best online card games available to U.S. players.