Tobias, Author at EasyPoker

Blog Archives

Why MrBeast Suck at Poker

MrBeast is a genius video creator and businessman – but in my view also one of the biggest fish in modern poker. Although Jimmy loves the game, he is careless, impatient, and a gambler who likes to put on a show.

Depends on Dumb Luck

MrBeast’s poker game basically depends on dumb luck. In the showdown between MrBeast and Ninja in a high stakes poker game, MrBeast went all in pre flop with a queen, six off-suit. When accessing the value of a good non-paired starting hand you look at the high card value, suiteness and connectedness. Taking all these in consideration, this hand is not a good starting hand, so on paper this is a really bad play. It’s clear that he doesn’t try to limit the risk with mathematical probability.

What my full video on this here.

As you can see in the video, MrBeast got extremely lucky and won the pot against an ace and a king.

But analyzing his poker game in debt shows that he has a long history of making bad bets and calls with a variety of mathematically weak hands. And in the long run luck will always run out.

MrBeast’s Gambling Problem

This urge to make risky plays might come from his interest in gambling. During his appearance on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, MrBeast talked about how he enjoys high stakes gambling. He mentions that he was once denied by a casino, as they did not accept bets larger than 10.000 USD on the roulette.

Bringing this carelessness to the poker table will cause him trouble, as most serious poker players use math to eliminate risk. This is in deep contrast to MrBeast, who seems to let his urge to gamble control his poker playing style.

MrBeast Huge Poker Bankroll

Having a huge bankroll might allow MrBeast to make risky plays, but luck can quickly turn when you are this careless. This was proved when MrBeast made an appearance in a charity poker game with poker legend Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, US senator Ted Cruz, and other public and internet figures.

Phill Hellmuth tells MrBeast how he was warned that he (MrBeast) plays a lot of big pots. MrBeast replies that he usually loses, so this should basically be free money for his opponents, as he only really started playing 6 months ago. This indicates that he sees himself as a newbie, and might not always know what he’s doing when it comes to playing poker pros. He confirms this by calling an All In for a potential straight after having played only a couple of minutes.

He ends up losing 126.000 USD on this move and is busted out of the game. Having only a 33% chance of hitting the straight, this is also considered a bad and risky play. Phil and Doyle Brunson even tell him it was a bad play and they both would have folded in his place.

MrBeast Poker Doyle Brunson Phil Hellmuth

MrBeast also ends up making some bad plays because of, what looks to be, impatience. We all know the feeling of impatience when playing live games and you keep getting low tier hands. But MrBeast takes this to a whole new level – especially when he plays high stakes poker. We see lots of examples of this when analyzing his playing style.

MrBeast Plays Low Tear Poker Hands

One example is from a big poker game between MrBeast, Tom Dwan, Ninja, Ludwig, Phil Hellmuth, xQc and Alex Botez.

Poker pro Tom Dwan had a top tier starting hand, and made a 3-bet for 35.000 USD. MrBeast is sitting on a 7, 2 off suit. This hand is famous for being the weakest starting hand you can have in poker, as it’s the lowest combination of cards that doesn’t have connectedness or suiteness.

Jimmy calls and the flop comes out 4, 10, 2. MrBeast immediately goes all in, holding only a pair of deuces. This is the lowest pair you can have in poker. Tom, who is sitting on a pair of kings, obviously calls and busts out MrBeast.

Jimmy might have played like this for the show and entertainment, but for a high stakes poker player this is a horrible play. And these types of plays are the reason why he busts out so often.

In conclusion MrBeast treats poker like a game of chance instead of a game of skill. I’m not claiming that he is a gambeling addict, but according to himself he loves gambling. Bringing this mindset to the poker table is not ideal, especially when playing with pros, who can exploit this weakness. Depending this much on luck will empty out his bankroll in no time.

How MrBeast can Improve his Poker Skills

In order for MrBeast to up his game he needs to control his impatience. This means playing less hands and chasing less mathematically bad hands. It’s definitely not his playing style, but it’s an easy way for him to improve his game tremendously. However this might not be easy for him, as he loves to put on a show. His mindset is that watching him needs to be entertaining and a rush. So having a tight playing style will truly compromise this mindset.

He does however claim that he’s already working with a poker coach, so we might soon see a MrBeast that will actually play as a real poker beast.

Want to Play Poker with MrBeast?

You can also improve your poker game by playing private games on the EasyPoker app. All you need to do is create a private table, share the game PIN with your friends – and you are ready to play poker. You can get the app for both iPhone and Android.

Discover: Voice Chat

Human interaction is ever so important. This has become even more clear after the international pandemic closed down for almost all social activities. For EasyPoker this ment we needed to “pivot” to host online poker nights instead of live poker games.

Spoiler: we added Voice Chat to EasyPoker. Check out how to add Voice Chat to your next digital poker game in the video.

Pivot to online focus

In order to make the switch successful we needed to make some critical changes to the app infrastructure and interface. And big changes can give big issues. Especially when users really liked our current interface because of its ease of use and simplicity.

Voice over video

We love video. It’s a great medium and I personally love YouTube (check out our channel). So we were obviously thinking about adding video chat to our platform. This would take a lot of time to programme, a lot of effort to update the UI – and be really expensive to host.

And as you might know, EasyPoker is bootstrapped – meaning we finance everything out of our own pocket. So before making the switch we really needed to make sure it was the right move. We did this by playing around on HouseParty and similar apps – and we learned a very important thing.

People hate video chat…

…Well hate might be a strong word but hear me out. Video chat was cool the first couple of times, but after some time we always ended up just leaving the phone on to record the ceiling or the top of the heads.

Not the cool “immersive” experience we were aiming for… People just seem to have had enough of zoom meetings and video chats.

Why Choose Voice Chat?

Voice chat really seems to be the big winner. We don’t need to rebuild the whole interface and get cribbled by its limitations for something that currently seems like a cool “gimmick” (and I might be wrong).

By adding voice chat our players can interact, without compromising the poker experience on the platform. EasyPoker delivers a clean live mixed audio, that will allow you to easily connect with friends through poker.

Check out the app for Android and iPhone. Or use the download buttons below.

Virtual Christmas Games

The Christmas holiday is just around the corner. Friends and family will gather and need virtual Christmas games to keep the spirit going. We have picked our favourite games to play during Christmas. Here are our top five of virtual christmas games to play at home.

Virtual Christmas Games ideas

There are certain benefits to virtual games. They are easy to access, always with you and also germ-free. Virtual games can give us new ways to play old and beloved games. We have chosen five games that do just that. Virtual Christmas games that focus on being together with friends and family – without the restrains of a physical game. The virtual games are meant to be played at the same location, but most of them, can also function as online games. It is plan A and B – all in one package.

5. Virtual christmas quiz

A good way to have fun is by making a christmas quiz. It can be about whatever you want. You can either do it by making the questions yourself or by making all your friends/ or family answer a couple of questions. For example: What is your favorite/ least favorite christmas song; How do you celebrate christmas; When did you last believe in santa.

The goal of making a quiz is to make it relevant and fun for everybody. It does not have to be long, but long enough to make it a social activity.

You can use kahoot to make a free quiz (The first 25 questions are free). It is super fun and easy to make. Everyone can join in on their phone. You can either play it at the christmas dinner or online. You can share your screen if everybody is far from each other. This way everyone can see the results and have a jolly good time – even apart.

Tip: You can even upload pictures. This is a cool way to make the quiz more personal for the player. Message your friends and family in advance, so you have time to make a great quiz.

4. Virtual charades

You can play charades in many forms, you can even do it virtual. Make a virtual chat room, so that everyone can see each other. Take turns to make the charades. You can each make up some different words/ characters that the other players have to guess. If you want to spice it up, then you do it via. Snapchat and use snapchat- filters while maintaining your charade.

You can also play draw and guess

The main point of this game, is to draw the word/ character instead. Facebook, as well as other services, have the opportunity to draw a virtual picture, so if you are not in the same room, you can still maintain the fun activity of playing draw and guess.

If you mix both virtual charades with draw and guess, you have an evening full of fun and surprises. When it comes to virtual christmas games, charades is a match made in heaven.

3. Virtual poker

Poker is a great game at gatherings with friends and family. You can easily talk while playing and feel connected with the other players. It is not always about winning, but more the feeling of playing a game with your friends. You can play virtual poker by getting the EasyPoker app. It is free and you can play it at the christmas party, but also on the way there. It facilitates poker, so you can focus on calling someones bluff.

If you want to, you can use christmas candy/ or gifted presents as ‘chips’ and play a poker tournament with a christmas theme. You could also have a present ready for the winner of the tournament. Easypoker is made for players by players, so you can easily make it your ‘own’ by introducing your own elements into the game.

If you dress as Santa or santas helper, it might even help your bluffing. Nevertheless, poker is a great way to maintain social and active while on a digital device.

2. Virtual Sing Along

Okay song birds. Your time is up. Virtual Sing Along is a great way to perform “Last Christmas” by Wham, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey or the depressingly funny “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues. You can do it virtually by someone choosing an instrumental version of a track. It is free, fun and will bring out the christmas spirit in everyone – no talent needed.

You can play it at the party or share a screen and Sing Along from home.

1. The play with presents (requires gifted presents)

The ‘play with presents’ is a fun and thrilling game that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is the FIFA equivalent of christmas games that will ignite any christmas dinner.

The main purpose of the game is to steal as many presents as possible, before the clock runs out.

Before you begin, you will need the following:

1. An app that facilitates a virtual dice (or two depending on how many are playing).

2. 1-2 gifted presents per player. The presents do not have to be expensive. Sometimes cheap presents are more fun.

This is how you play:
The game consists of two rounds. In the first round every gifted present is placed in the middle of the table. All players are seated around the table. To get a present you need to ‘roll’ six with the dice. You can grab whatever present you want as long as it is not already taken. The dice rotates clockwise until all presents are gone. Consider introducing more ‘dices’ if you are more than 4 players. When all presents are gone, you move on to the second and final round.

In the second round a game master starts by starting a clock. They are the only ones to know for how long the round takes(estimate a time frame between 5 – 15 minutes max.). In this round you are able to steal from the other players. To steal a present for yourself, you still have to roll six. BUT if you roll one, you have to steal a present and give it to someone else. When the time runs out, you get to keep your presents. If you got any. Let the game begin and have fun with it.

Want to share your favourite ACTIVITY?

Please tell us if you have any virtual christmas games. We would be more than happy to add them to our list. The more the merrier. Write in the comments below and help keep us updated on the best virtual games to play at home.

Until then, take a game of virtual poker. It’s free, it’s fun and you can get it here.

Merry Christmas.

WANT MORE POKER CONTENT?

We’re constantly adding new blogs about all things poker. You can find them all on our blog.

If you have a suggestion for a story you would like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

Top Danish Poker Players

There is a lovely country. It is called Denmark. It is small, but it has had an historical impact of size and matter. Once the danes ruled the seas as vikings and in the year of 92, they won the European Championship in football. The danes have also proved themselves in something else. Poker. In this article we celebrate some of the four most influential danish players and the achievements.

Peter Nicolas Eastgate

Fortune favors the bold – and young. Peter was only 22 years old when he won the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. It made him the youngest poker player to have ever won the World Series. He beat Pro Phil Hellmuth’s 19 year old record. Phil won at the age of 24.
Peter learned to play the game with his friends and had only played professional 2 years, prior to his major win. He took home an astounding amount of $9.152.415. Peter held the record one year until 21 year old Joe Cada won the very next year.

Peter used his winning as any other 22 year old would. On having a good old jolly time with his girlfriend in Las Vegas. He admits that he did not do much to promote the game following his major win. Nevertheless. His win made history and threw Phil of the mantle. A new and young generation had arrived and it started with Peter.

Jan Vang Sørensen

As a former professional football player, this guy craves to win. Jan spent his early career as a footballer in the best football league in Denmark. A knee injury ended his career. He transferred his competitive ability to poker and stands tall as the dane with most won bracelets.

Jan won The World Series of Poker with PL Omaha in 2002 and 7 Card Stud in 2005. He began playing poker in the mid 70’s, so he has a long standing history with different iterations of the game. His favourite is 7 Cards. Jan is a fighter and a true testament to hard work, ability and dedication.

When reaching the final table, Jan never relied on mathematics. He always went with playing what he could see. The stakes, the cards, the players. He had at an interview in 2007 played roughly 50 final tables. Needless to say. He knows what he is talking about. His best live earnings is at an $800,972.He seems not to have been active in poker since 2013 when he attended The No Limit Hold’em – Main Event in Copenhagen and finished 12th.

Mads Mikkelsen “Le Chiffre”

There are benefits of playing the part of the most despicable poker player in the world. Renowned danish actor took on the role of “Le Chiffre” opposite Daniel Craig’s depiction of “James Bond”. Mads Mikkelsen contributed to unfold the intensity of high stakes poker on the big screen. Sure, he might have had to break some balls (literally) getting there. There is no denying that the movie “Casino Royale” succeeded in using poker as the primary drive of the story. Each hand made it all more hard to watch.

Casino-royale_mads-mikkelsen_danish-poker-player

The movie was released in 2006 and made $606,1 million in box office earnings. Sadly, 2006 was also when the poker boom was near its end. If it had to finish on a high note, Casino Royale and Le Chiffre did it justice. Just not enough to keep the boom booming.

Mads Mikkelsen was because of the storyline coached in playing the game. He took home his newfound knowledge and used it to win money from his friends. They were not so happy. He was.

A fun fact. Mads Mikkelsen appeared in a danish mockumentary called “Pokerface”(Danish: Pokerfjæs) playing ‘himself’ in a tour de force of five friends’ failure of trying to make it big with poker in the U.S.

If you are interested and want to read about other great poker movies, please check out our blog about: Poker movies you need to watch.

Gus Hansen “The Great Dane”

He is known as “The Great Dane”, but feared as “The Madman”. Gus is furious at the poker table. His way of playing is aggressive and sometimes bonkers. Nevertheless, Gus’ fearless personality has made him a force to be reckoned with. In the slipstream of televised poker tournaments and the poker boom, Gus became a great character and ambassador for the intensity of the game. Suddenly poker players became celebrities.

Whether Gus Hansen was cherished, loved, hated or feared, he was most of all respected. His influence was widespread. In Denmark he was a national hero and equal to Denmark’s celebrities. On the international scene of poker Gus was a superstar. Everybody knew him. A great ambassador for the mainstream perception of poker and further development of the popular game.

Just like Ikaros, Gus Hansen flew too high and got burned. His aggressive style of poker came with certain downsides. Gus has ended up losing more than he could afford. Millions of dollars in loosings have temporarily ended his once winning spree. At least he has a bracelet to show for it. In 2010 he won his first and only WSOP by winning the High-Roller No-Limit Hold’em Heads up Championship at WSOP Europe in london. He ended up bringing home $451,880.

Even if he is not as he once was, he is still remembered as dane who has had the most influence in promoting poker in Denmark. A true gambler and aficionado of our beloved game of poker.

If you want to know more about Gus Hansen, then check out our Poker Player Story about Gus Hansen here.

WANT TO KICKSTART YOUR POKER CAREER?

Test your skills against your friends in a free game of private digital poker? The EasyPoker app provides both chips, cards and an unlimited amount of games – for free. It’s a digital version of a physical poker set that takes care of everything. And so all you have to do is just play your cards. Get the poker app for Android and iPhone.

WANT MORE POKER CONTENT?

We’re constantly adding new blogs about all things poker. You can find them all on our blog.

If you have a suggestion for a story you would like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

Mike Sexton Poker Player Story

This year the poker community lost one of the big voices of poker. The professional poker player and commentator Mike Sexton died at the age of 72. His impressive career has earned him multiple wins, induction into the Poker Hall of Fame and is famously known as The ambassador of poker. This is the story of Mike Sexton.

Who is Mike Sexton?

Sexton was an american professional poker player and commentator. He was an entity in the poker community. Mike commentated The World Poker Tour with actor and former professional tennis player, Vince Van Patten. He got his first and only bracelet in 1998 in the $1.500 Seven card stud split event at the 1989 World Series of Poker.

His impact and achievements did not come unnoticed. Mike Sexton was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009.

Early life of Mike Sexton

He was born Michael Richard Sexton, in september 22, 1947 in Shelbyville, Indiana. His parents got divorced when he was only four years old. When he was young he was actually far from a poker player. He was a gymnast. He earned a degree as public recreation after changing majors from business from The Ohio State University. He began playing poker during college. He often joked that he actually majored in poker due to the time he spent playing. Besides poker, he also played a bit of contract bridge.

Eventually he went on to join the U.S. Army as a paratrooper. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in the year of 1970. He never went on to see combat as the division had just returned from war in Vietnam. His past as a gymnast went on to become useful, when he taught himself ballroom dancing in the army. He began teaching it to people. One of ‘clients’ saw a future salesman in Mike and encouraged him to pursue a career as a salesman. This became relevant later on in his life. During this time he got married. Mike spent a short period working as a salesman before returning to his ‘major in poker’.

He took on poker in 1977 as he thought that he would make more money playing poker, then he would as a salesman. This took a toll on his marriage and they eventually got divorced. It took almost 10 years before he really went for it. In 1985 he moved to Nevada and advanced to a full-time poker player.

The ambassador of poker

Mike Sexton has proved himself at the poker table. He has got an astounding 17 career cashes in the World Poker Tour (WPT). He even won as late as the 2016 World Poker Tour in Montreal. His first prize amounted to $317,896.

His bracelet from the World Series of Poker is still one of his biggest achievements. His highest rank in The Global Poker Index is #212. His all time money amounts to a humongous $6,516,421.

His cashes aside, Mike also cemented himself as a known innovator and entrepreneur within the poker community. Mike Sexton used his wits within his business majors to co-found the Partypoker platform. Partypoker became a major player in the realm of online poker and even topped the list of the biggest poker sites in the United States. Although it had a rough patch with a $500k deficit after its launch in 2020. The former salesman sold his shares two and a half years later for $15 million a year. The company went public later on, after four year, for 9 billion dollars. Auch. Mike Sexton is estimated to have lost around half a billion dollars due to his early departure. He never regretted his decision.

Charity

Even though he lost a lot of ‘dough’, Mike donated a lot of money to charity. He has donated way
beyond $1,000,000.

In 2006 he donated his entire winnings and pledged to do so with all following prizes. In 2009, the same year he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, he went a bit further. Together with Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and Lisa Tenner, he created PokerGives.org. The organization is non-profit and facilitates a way of making it easier for poker plates to donate to charity.

His wins, ability to commentate, entrepreneurship and heart for charity earned him the high honour of being recognized as the top poker ambassador at the Card Player of the Year Awards Gala in 2006.
Hence his nickname, The ambassador of poker.

Private life of Mike Sexton

Mike’s early divorce propelled him on to use all of his time on poker, but at the age of 60, he remarried. The lucky woman was a hostess at the Bellagio casino. Her name is Karen and they conceived a child. A boy.

His persona and work ethics has even made room for significant quotes from some of the biggest poker players around. Daniel Negreanu, the poker kid, said: “He’s always put a good face on poker. He’s always been someone who promotes the game in a very very positive way”.

The kind word seems to keep on as Phil Hellmuth once said that “Love Mike Sexton. He has been one of the biggest ambassadors for poker we’ve ever had”.

Sadly, Mike Sexton died on september 6th, 2020, at the age of 72 due to a long battle with prostate cancer. BUT Mike Sexton will continue to live on the Poker Hall of Fame and in history, as best described by Nolan Dalla. “Mike Sexton is simply one of the most important people in the history of the game.”

Are you the next Mike Sexton?

Want to test your skills against your friends in a free game of private digital poker? The EasyPoker app provides both chips, cards and an unlimited amount of games – for free. It’s a digital version of a physical poker set that takes care of everything. And so all you have to do is just play your cards. Get the poker app for Android and iPhone.

WANT MORE POKER PLAYER STORIES?

We’re constantly adding new stories of interesting poker players. You can find them all on our blog.
If you have a suggestion for a story you’d like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

Chris Moneymaker Poker Player Story

From racks to riches. This is the story of how an amature poker player got inspired by the movie Rounders and won the World Series Of Poker. This is the amazing story of Chris Bryan Moneymaker.

Who is Chris Moneymaker?

Chris Bryan Moneymaker is a professional american poker player. Chris is most famous for his road to poker fame. In 2003 Moneymaker was the first to qualify from a PokerStars online poker room and continue on to win The World Series of Pokers main event.

Since then, Chris has finished at several top 10 placements, and has even won some tournaments. In 2019 moneymaker was inducted in
the Poker Hall of Fame.

Early life of Chris Moneymaker

Chris was born november 21st, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia. His last name
‘moneymaker’ derives from his german ancestor’s last name “Nurmacher”. The ancestors made silver and gold coins and hence, they coined the last name ‘Moneymaker’.

Chris’ father taught him to play BlackJack and moneymaker soon picked up a habit of gambling. He managed to control his gambling and instead focused on his degree in accounting. While working as a traveling accountant, Chris started to play a bit of poker. At this time Chris was already married with a baby on the way. In 2001, Chris lost his job due to 9/11. During this time, Moneymaker began to devote more time to playing online poker.

Beating the pros

At the age of 27, Chris got the best of the pros. Chris competed in a PokerStar $86 poker satellite tournament. The win gave him a seat at a bigger satellite tournament.

He ended up winning the tournament and received the grand prize, a seat at the 2003 World Series of Poker, Las Vegas, Nevada. Chris entered the tournament with 839 entrants. Moneymaker managed to finish at the final table and went on to win the main event. Chris won an astounding $2,500,000.

The Poker boom

Moneymaker’s achievement was the cherry on the top of the early 2000s poker boom. An amature beating the pros, made a real impact on mainstream popularity with the introduction to televised poker in 2003.

The Chris Moneymaker Effect

Moneymaker’s achievement was the cherry on the top of the early 2000s poker boom. Together with the introduction to televised poker in 2003. Poker skyrocketed throughout the next three years.

The ‘Moneymaker Effect’ was coined as a term of amateurs making it. Although, it came to a halt in October of 2006, when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was voted in as a law in the U.S. It made a negative impact on the poker boom, as it also affected online poker.

Chris Moneymaker’s Poker winnings

With a total live earning of $3,908,482, Chris is currently listed as 361st all time money list. Besides his major win in 2003, Moneymaker has finished in the top 10 several times. In 2004 he finished second at the 2004 Shooting Stars event where he won $200,000. Chris took home $139,000 four years later at the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker. In 2009 he finished fifth at an event of a $215 Pot Limit Omaha. In 2011 he finished 11th at a Deep Stack Pot Limit Omaha event in the World Poker Open tournament. He has won prizes at other events, but still has not outdone his performance in 2003. Since then, his biggest achievement might be when he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Controversy

In 2005 authored a controversial book: Bet Big to Win Big. The National Council on Problem Gambling was not happy with the book as they thought it encouraged gambling and addiction. Chris made the book as a way to teach mathematics and the principles of life.

Private life of Chris Moneymaker

Chris Moneymaker has been married twice. He was divorced in 2004, but already remarried in 2005. He has a daughter from his first marriage and is still married to Christina Wren. They got married in Las Vegas. His daughter was born 3 month prior to his big win, making 2003
a year to remember

Besides making a daughter, Chris also likes to make big donation to different causes.

Chris likes to donate to differen charities. He is known for donating to The Human Society, which provides protection for animals in need. He also donated to Autism Speaks. This is due to that his daughter is reportedly close to the Autism spectrum. He keeps close ends on how much does indeed donate.

Donation and charities have become a major part of poker. Newly passed Mike Sexton, an american professional poker player and commenter, even proclaimed that all his cash prizes (since 2006) would be donated to charities.

Mike was called ‘The ambassador of Poker’ as he was a innovative part of the game, but Chris Moneymaker will always be ‘The American Dream’. The man who had a daytime job. Who dared to dream and who eventually made the dream come true.

Chris Moneymaker has published autobiography titled ‘Moneymaker: How an Amature Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 million at the World Series of Poker. In it, he talks about his childhood and upbringing. Life before and after his major win. It has currently sold more than 40,000 copies world wide. Dreamers keep on dreaming.

Want more?

Chris Moneymaker got hooked on poker and eventually fooled them all. Are you the next ‘Moneymaker’ in the making? Then try out EasyPoker. It’s free, fun and for friends. It you liked this story you might also like the story about danish pro Gus Hansen and his aggressiv style of playing.

Get EasyPoker for free

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk – How the Poker Feud Started

It’s no secret that there has been a public feud between the two professional poker players Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. Lately the Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk poker feud has reached a high point, as the two players finally agreed to play heads up – something the entire poker community is going crazy over.

25.000 hands, both live and online, will determine the ultimate winner of one of the biggest feuds in poker history. But how did it all start? Settle in and let me explain it.

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk – The Beginning

The year is 2014 and Daniel Negreanu a.k.a. KidPoker has cemented his place as one of the biggest stars in the history of poker. With his charismatic person and dominance at the live poker tables, Daniel Negreanu can pretty much walk on water at this point.
In August of that year, Negreanu took part in the “One Drop” event and finished second. Not a bad result, but Negreanu is criticized for a key play. No stranger to online criticism, Kid Poker pretty much ignored the comments.

But one guy, cash game pro Daniel Merrilees, went on twitter and wrote “OK fair enough – I applaud your confidence. Do you think you could jump right in now and play a starts 25/50 6max game and win?”

In his usual style of likeable cockiness, Negreanu answered ‘@danielmerrilees haven’t played in ages so would say NO. However I believe it would take two weeks of work and I would be a winner.” And so it began.

A lot of people jumped on this – including Doug Polk, perhaps the biggest star of online cash games at the time, who wrote “I respect what you have done in your career, but it’s naive to think that you can log onto PokerStarts and beat $25/$50.”

This led to a long twitter fight between the two poker giants, and the seed for feud was planted.

More Rake is Better

Negreanu’s over the top confidence and character has often landed him in discussions, but Doug Polk’s massive following on social media made this feud a perfect storm. The two went back and forth at numerous occasions after the twitter incident, but the next big episode happened in early 2016.

For a long time, Negreanu has been sponsored by PokerStarts as the poster child of their brand – always promising to represent player interests. But when the massive poker site got in trouble for rolling back benefits from some of its most loyal players, Negreanu surprised everyone by siding with PokerStars. He went on twitter and argued that the new setup of higher rake would be an overall benefit to the game since it kept pros away.

And he had a point. The world of online poker had certainly become very top-heavy and something needed to be done about it. But even though PokerStars had acted within their legal rights, the entire thing let to a massive shitstorm and Negreanu was caught in the middle, siding against the poker community. And even though he never actually said it, Negreanu’s views were condensed by the poker community to the catchy slogan of ‘More Rake is Better’.

Who is Doug Polk?

Doug Polk was born December 16, 1988 (31 years old). Polk mostly play under the alias WCGRider and specializes in Heads-up No Limit Hold’em.

Doug Polk officially retired from professional poker in September 2018 but kept running his popular YouTube channel with a poker focus.

Tap to read Doug Polk’s full poker story

Two years later, at the time of a big poker tournament in Las Vegas, the long lasting feud between Negreanu and Polk took another turn, when Doug Pol bought a huge billboard outside the event that stated ‘MoreRakeIsBetter.com’. An obvious attack on Negreanu, which caught the attention of the poker community.
Polk also showed up to numerous tournaments wearing t-shirts that said ‘More Rake is Better’ – something that clearly provoked Negreanu and didn’t help their relationship.

Head to head – Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

No doubt 2020 is a crazy year – and this is also true for Daniek Negreanu. During a live stream, an online troll attacked Negreanu and made some very rude comments about his wife. Negreanu was quick and harsh in this answer, and his stream was swiftly suspended by Twitch. While one certainly understands Negreanu’s reaction, this was probably not a smart move by a guy representing numerous sponsors and the game as a whole.

Amidst all this controversy, Doug Polk saw his opportunity to once again poke the bear.
As he’d done many times before, he went on Twitter and challenged Negreanu to a heads-up. But this time, Kid Poker surprised everyone by accepting.
And so finally, the long lasting feud between two absolute giants of poker seem to be coming to a climax.

The Setup for the Heads-up Poker Game

Negreanu and Polk have agreed to play a total of 25.000 hands – with an option to quit after 12.500 hands. Stakes are $200 and $400. First 200 hands are played live, in-person. All remaining hands are played online on two tables at the same time.

All hands are streamed live either from the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas or on the GGPoker YouTube channel.

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk live game

The first heads up game was played live in Las Vegas in the PokerGo studio. Here Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk were face to face against each other. Doug Polk is registered for $9,4 million in total live earnings – placing him as the 101st highest earning player at official live games.

Doug Polk is known as the ultimate heads-up wizard in online poker games – so how will he perform against Daniel Negreanu who is notoriously known for his live games? See how it all went down in the video below.

SPOILER WARNING: The result of round 1 was a pretty significant win for Daniel Negreanu. He came out on top with +$116,500 after the forst 200 hands.

Who is Daniel Negreanu?

Negreanu is one of the most well known and successful poker players in modern time. The Canadian was born July 26, 1974 (46 years old) and is known as KidPoker. Daniel is most known for his live games performance where he has won six World Series of Poker Bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles.

Tap to read Daniel Negreanu’s poker story.

Best Friends?

After the first live heads-up event in Las Vegas most viewers and experts were shocked – and not about the tension. The big time feud just all seemed to disappear as the players were face to face. It actually seemed like they really enjoyed each other’s company like two best friends having a good time around the poker table.

via GIPHY

Some viewers have called this an embarrassment as they had expected an aggressive feud – just as we have seen online. But as Daniel Negreanu said about Doug Polk: “He (Polk) has been very tough online like, I’m gonna kill this guy and calling me names – but when you see him in person he is much softer. That’s very typical for most online trolls“. It really seems like it played out exactly as Negreanu had predicted.

Online heads-up – Who will bring home the gold?

The majority of the heads-up game will be played online. Here Doug Polk has the advantage over Daniel, as this is his speciality. First online game was played on 6th of November 2020. Here Negreanu started out great but ended with short stack as Doug Polk made a strong come-back and played well all through the game. See how it all went down following all rounds.

Round 2

SPOILER WARNING
Round 2 was pretty rough on Daniel Negreanu. Luckely for him he did have a big win from round 1. Watch the whole game below.

Hands played: 424
Overall hands: 624
Result: Polk +$218,292

Overall: Doug Polk +$101,792

Round 3

SPOILER WARNING
Round 3 played out well for the online heads-up expert Doug Polk. He continued to win and gain an even bigger lead.

Hands played: 382
Overall hands: 1006
Result: Doug +$166,239

Overall: Doug Polk +$268,031

Round 4

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu had his first online win after an intense game with some big hands.

Hands played: 366
Overall hands: 1372
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$87,166

Overall: Doug Polk +$180,865

Round 5

SPOILER WARNING
Another big win for Daniel Negreanu. Daniel now takes the overall lead.

Hands played: 365
Overall hands: 1737
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$206,994

Overall: Negreanu +$25,916

Round 6

SPOILER WARNING
Doug Polk fired back and got back his overall lead again.

Hands played: 637
Overall hands: 2374
Result: Polk +$93,542

Overall: Doug Polk +$67,625

Round 7

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu is back in the lead with biggest win of the feud yet.

Hands played: 591
Overall hands: 2965
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$222,832

Overall: Daniel Negreanu +$155,206

Round 8

SPOILER WARNING
Another session that ends up with Mr. Negreanu in the lead. A lot of big pots in this game.

Hands played: 457
Overall hands: 3422
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$24,156

Overall: Daniel Negreanu +$179,363

Round 9

SPOILER WARNING
Doug Polk gets back in the lead. But just barely by less than one 40k buy-in.

Hands played: 377
Overall hands: 3799
Result: Doug Polk +$205,521

Overall: Doug Polk +$26,158

Round 10

SPOILER WARNING
The longest Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk settion yet with over 4 hours of poker logged.

Hands played: 852
Overall hands: 4651
Result: Doug Polk +$117,624

Overall: Doug Polk +$143,996

Round 11

SPOILER WARNING
Pre-Thanksgiving session that again goes in the favor of Doug Polk.

Hands played: 386
Overall hands: 5067
Result: Doug Polk +$120,023

Overall: Doug Polk +$264,019

Round 12

SPOILER WARNING
This was a big round for Doug Polk that more than double his lead. The game had a lot of bad beats for Negreanu.

Hands played: 684
Overall hands: 5751
Result: Doug Polk +$332,178

Overall: Doug Polk +$596,197

Round 13

SPOILER WARNING
Daniel Negreanu is fighting back and ends up in plus for the day. Still a long way to go for the come back.

Hands played: 476
Overall hands: 6227
Result: Negreanu +$17,780

Overall: Doug Polk +$578,417

Round 14

SPOILER WARNING
Biggest pot yet. 180.000 dollars ending in a flush vs. Flush. Negreanu took it home.

Hands played: 600
Overall hands: 6800
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$10,000

Overall: Doug Polk +$568,417

Round 15

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu takes another step closer to Polk by winning with a single buy in.

Hands played: 450
Overall hands: 7250
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$40,000

Overall: Doug Polk +$518,417

Final Results

Check back here to see the final results and who will be the final winner of the Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk feud.

Have a Poker Feud of your own?

Looking to settle a poker feud of your own?
Check out EasyPoker – the easiest way to play poker with friends (and foes).

Settle your feud using the most beautiful and user-friendly poker app ever created.

Want more poker player stories?

The world of poker has many legends with interesting stories. We’ve gathered some of the best, and are constantly adding more. You should check them out.

Like the story of poker’s biggest playboy, the nutorious Dan Bilzerian.
This modern day Hugh Hefner claims to have won more than 50M dollars playing poker – although critics doubt this story. And now he and his company Ignite risk bankruptcy.

Or maybe the story of ‘the Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, who built a fortune playing poker but ended up losing more than 20M dollars. Read the crazy story here.

Poker Tells – Most Common Tells in Poker

Learn how to read the most common poker tells with this easy guide. By the end of this guide you will know what to look for when playing live poker with friends and family – and what you can do to minimize your own poker tells. Enjoy!

Poker Tells – Guide

Live poker is becoming increasingly popular and assessable with our app EasyPoker – which allows you to play live poker games with friends and family.

After years of sitting alone in the dimly lit rooms of traditional online poker you must now once again learn how to read your opponents by looking them in the eye – and what not to do when you flop the nuts!

We recommend checking out the EasyPoker app to practice your poker face in games with friends – anytime, anywhere.

This is a complete guide on common poker tells and how to read your opponents. We’ll look at common tactics of poker players – and what police and detectives look for when investigating cases and interviewing suspects.

Most Common Poker Tells

If you’ve seen the movie Casino Royale you know that James Bond figures out Le Chiffere’s tell. This tell is pretty obvious (finger to temple and eye twitch) and it might not be as easy in real life. But the way Bond finds out about the tell is something you need to learn in order to become the poker champion among your friends.

As you can see in the video “When He Bluff’s” Le Chiffre plays a week hand but end up winning after the river card. This event of luck is actually unlucky in the long run, as it uncovers his tell.

This is later uncovered in a conversation between bond and Vesper:

Bond: Le chiffre is bluffing.
Vesper: But he had the best hand.
Bond: Which he got off the last card.

The take away from this is to learn how your opponents play and analyze when they end up getting the winning hand – and know how they act after that. This is easier said than done, but it’s actually really fun to do – especially when you end up knowing exactly how to play your opponents.

Some common tells to get you started are listed below.

😩 Acting Weak

This is a very common tell among new players. Sighing, shrugging or a gloomy face might be an indication of a strong hand.

🙇 Straightened Posture

Player sits differently or suddenly have a straightened posture – This is an indication of a strong hand. Be aware.

🙃 Unusual Speak Patterns

If a player who normally talks a lot suddenly clamps up – or the other way around. This can mean that he or she has been dealt a strong hand or has hit the nuts.

👄 How Players talk

When a player bluffs he might have a hard time talking or is trying not to answer questions – or takes a long time to do so. This is because he does not want to give out any tells. Ups.

⏱ Impatient player

Look out for players that suddenly appears impatient and really wants to get on with the game. This is an indication of a strong hand.

🤑 Overly Confident

If a player makes a loose or fast bet this might be a sign of overcompensation. He does this to look strong and confident – but it’s actually a strong indication of a weak hand.

😶 The “Freeze” Poker Tell

Players that “freeze up” right after doing a bet is often bluffing. If the player is afraid of triggering any tells, he or she will try to sit as still as possible.

🤩 Suddenly awake – Classic Tell

When a player suddenly seems more energized this often means that he or she has a strong hand – and is ready to battle.

🙄 Eye Contact

Having a strong hand usually make players more calm and more likely to look you in the eye. If they have a hard time looking you in the eye or have flickering eyes they are likely to be bluffing.

⏳ Acting time

If a player takes longer than usual to check – he is often thinking about betting or checking. This is a sign that he has a hand that might be strong.

Meanwhile players with weak hands often check pretty fast.

👀 Looking at their hand

If a player keeps looking at his or her cards, this might be an indicator of a strong hand.
Watch out for this.

Be Aware of Bad Players

You can be the best player at the table and know all the tells of your opponent. You have them right where you want them – but then they end up calling your awesome bluff. All because they have no idea what they are doing…

You can’t read a poker player that basically has no idea what’s going on in the game. This is the kind of player you typically meet at home games with friends and family. Make sure your opponents has at least a basic understanding of the game and hand strength before trying to read their tells. Consider showing this video guide on how to play poker before the start of your home game.

Don’t be an actor

Now that you know these common poker tells – don’t try to act them out. You will look foolish and even bad players will be able to spot your lies and acting.

Instead you should use this information to think about how you can bring continuity into your way of playing. The more continuity you have – the harder it is for other poker players to read your tells.

Read Poker Tells like a Detective

FBI, CIA, Detectives and similar officials need to be able to tell whether someone is lying or telling the truth. They can figure this out just by looking at their “Poker Face”, body language and their eyes. Here are some psychological techniques used by officials all over the world – it might help you read your opponents tells.

Facial muscles

When a person is calm their facial muscles are relaxed as well. And what makes people calm? Yes, having everything under control – and not lying.

But as soon as we see something or someone we do not respond positively to, our muscles around our face tens up. This can be lips that tighten up or even disappear, licking of the lips and cheek muscles tightening up. The nose can also move a bit upwards when we experience distress.

If the lips quickly purse up it’s a sign of a person disagreeing or thinking about something alternatively to what is said or happening. This could be the reaction to a bad flop or some simple talk around the table.

The forehead is also a great way to tell how a person is doing psychologically. If it’s tense or sweaty – then he might be lying and uncomftable.

Touching the face

Another sign of distress is touching the face. This can be mild facial massaging or stroking. This is a clear indication that something is bothering a person.

The Eyes

If a person reacts positively to something (great cards etc.) their eyes tend to open up just a bit extra while the eyebrows will slightly raise.

If we experience something negative or unpleasant people often squeeze their eyes a bit.

Daniel Negreanu – Poker Player Story

Daniel Negreanu AKA Kid Poker, is one of the most well known and liked poker players in the world.
He is famous for his incredible ability to read players and his may wins and major titles.
His place in the official Poker Hall of Fame is a true testament to his poker-skills and achievements.

But how did a colorful, loudmouthed Canadian become perhaps the greatest poker player of all time?
This is the story of Daniel Negreanu.

We’ve also made this blog post into a video, if you prefer watching instead of reading.

Who is Daniel Negreanu?

Daniel Negreanu is a talkative professional Canadian Texas Hold‘em poker player.

His aggressive style of playing, and flair for reading opponents, has earned him 2 World Poker Tour titles and 6 World Series of Poker bracelets (among numerous other wins). Negreanu has also been named The World Series of Poker – Player of the year, twice.

Daniel is currently placed third in all time poker earnings. His total live earnings are currently at a whopping $ 42.053,305.

Early life of Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu’s parents immigrated to Toronto, Canada from Romania, seven years prior to Daniels birth on july 26, 1974. They wished for a better future for their children.

By the age of four, Negreanu was hooked on The American Dream. He wanted to be rich. He is described as ‘bad-mannered’ in school and as the years went on and Daniel went to college, he was several credits short of graduating. He was failing.
But at the age of 15, he learned to play poker.

Daniel Negreanu is synonymous with ‘poker’. His funny wit, charismatic persona and unrivaled skill of reading players, has influenced the poker-scene like few other. Negreanu has appeared on numerous live transmitted poker-events and speaks freely about all things within the range of poker. He has even appeared in movies and made series and books about how to play and win poker.

By age 16, he was already ‘a regular’ at the local pool tables, and at one point he actually thought about becoming a professional snooker player. In the end though, his love of poker won, and Negreanu eventually dropped out of high school and began pursuing a career in poker.
He started off as a rounder – An expert player who travels to seek out high-stakes games – appearing at Casino Country and Fundtime. He’s even been rumored to sniff out illegal games.

Daniel began working on his reputation and his bankroll throughout his early twenties and headed to Las Vegas when he was 21. Things didn’t go as planned and he ended up losing more than he could afford.

He moved back to Toronto, and began rebuilding his bankroll.

In 1998, 24 year old Daniel won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker. The win added an astounding prize of $169,460 to his growing bankroll and his first bracelet – which is kind of a big deal within the poker community. He became the youngest to ever win a bracelet. Hence, Kid Poker.

From this point on, there was np turning back for young Negreanue.

Daniel Negreanu biggest win

Negreanu’s biggest win was in 2014, when he placed second in the Big One For One Drop $1 million buy-in event. Kid Poker battled 41 other poker players for the prize pool of $37,333,338.

Daniel Negreanu came in second only beated by Dan Colman. But Negreanu’s pity prize of $8,288,001 still remains his biggest earning. Negreanu later said that all he could think about after that was how much money he could have won, had he beat Colman.

Bracelets and titles

Daniel Negreanu began his impressive collection of bracelets in 1998, when he won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em($169,460). In 2003 he went on to win the $2,000 S.H.O.E ($100,440) and followed that up in 2004 by winning the $2,000 Limit Hold’em ($169,100) again.
Four years later, in 2008, he took another bracelet from a $2,000 Limit Hold’em($204,874). In 2013 he won both a $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event ($1,038,825) and a €25,600 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (€725,000).

Negreanu won both his World Poker Tour Titles in 2004. One for his win in the $10,000 Borgata Poker Open ($1,117,400) and the second in $15,000 Five Diamond World Poker Classic ($1,795,218).

He has several more merits to his name, amongst these, Foxwoods’ World Poker finals in 1997 and British Columbia Poker Championships’ main event, which made him $299,951 richer.

Private life

On the home front, Daniel Negreanu has been married two times. In 2005 he got married to Lori Lin Weber. Lori is a known and accomplished professional poker player. They later separated in 2007 and got divorced later on.

Daniel remarried in 2019 to long-time girlfriend Amanda Leatherman. He had acually bought the rings 10 years prior to that, when they decided to get engaged. But he thought she was not ready to settle down at that point of time. They separated, but eventually got together again, when she returned to Las Vegas.

Newer controversy

Kid Poker was banned from Twitch in July of this year, when he got caught in a bad mannered outburst at a viewer in the chat. The reason? The viewer had made rude remarks about Negreanu’s wife, Amanda Leatherman.

His wife defended the actions of her husband, stating that she was happy that her husband stood up for her. A month later Daniel / @realkidpoker was back on Twitch.

In 2019 Daniel Negreanu came into new controversy for writing a blog about the worst kind of poker players. He later had to apologize, as many thought he had lost touch with the poker-scene, as he does not grind as much anymore.

Daniel Negreanu vs. Doug Polk

For years, Daniel Negreanu has had an ongoing feud with Californian poker player Doug Polk.
Like Negreanu, Doug Polk is a colorful and loudmouthed character of the poker scene – and we’ve actually also written a complete post about his story which you can find here.

The relationship between the two poker legends have been bad blooded for years, and reached it’s unavoidable peak in 2020 when Negreau surprised everyone by actually accepting a challenge from Doug Polk.

Negreanu and Polk agreed to play a total of 25000 hands – with the option to stop after just 12500 hands.
The game is Texas Hold’em HUNL and stakes are $200 and $400. The first 200 hands were played live, face to face. Later hands are played online on two simultanious tables.

This poker feud is really something, with a ton of small jabs going back and forth between the two.
If you’d like to dig deeper we’ve gathered everything in this one post. Truely a clash of poker titants.

Are you the Next Negreanu?

Want to test your skills in a game of free online poker with friends? The EasyPoker app provides both chips and cards for a digital private table poker game (both live and online). And it’s free.

The app takes care of everything, and so all you and your friends have to do is just play your cards.
Poker has with friends have never been easier!

Get started now – download and play for free.

Daniel Negreanu – Poker Player Story

What do you think – is Negreanu the best poker player of his era? Let us know in the comments below 👇

If you liked this post, maybe check out one of our other poker player stories – like the rise and fall of the ‘Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, who went from being one of the best poker players of all time to loosing more that $20,000,000, quitting poker and getting a job as an accoountant.

Or how about the story of Dan Bilzerian, the poker playboy who claims to have won more than $50M playing high stakes poker against international billionaires. But is he really a legit poker player?

How to Play Poker

Welcome to the full beginners guide on how to play poker. The guide is separated into sections and will take you through everything from introduction to poker and types of games to poker hands rankings and general rules of poker. You can also watch the full guide on how to play poker in the video below.

How to Play Poker Video Guide

Watch the full tutorial on how to play poker in this video.

An easy way to get started with poker is to use EasyPoker. This is a free app that facilitates your poker games with friends. I keeps track on all rules, so you just have to enjoy the game.

The most common types of poker games are Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker. These two go way back to the beginning of poker and have been played by eveyone from cowboys to presidents. This guide will focus on Texas Hold’em – but once you get the hang on the general rules of poker you will easily be able to move to other types of games like Omaha.

Poker Hands Ranking

Before we start the guide on how to play poker you will need to know the 10 basic hand combinations and how they rank. For an in debt guide on this you should visit our full poker hands ranking guide. But here is a quick guide: The lowest ranked is called high card and is basically just used when no players have any other combinations.

The second lowest poker combo is called One Pair. This is two cards of the same number or letter.

One pair - how to play poker

Next in line is the Two Pair combination which is two different pairs of cards. Like 3, 3, 9, 9 etc.

two pair - how to play poker

Next comes Three of a Kind which are three cards of the same number or letter. Here the suits have no role in the combination.

Three of a kind - how to play poker

Next up is the Straight which are 5 cards in sequential order. An Ace can be used both as A-2-3-4-5 (lowest straight) and 10-J-Q-K-A.

straight - how to play poker

After the straight comes Flush. The flush consist of 5 cards of the same suit. In any order.

Guide on how to play pokerFlush

Then we have the Full House – a combination of Three of a Kind and one Pair – all in one hand.

How to play poker - Full House

Four of a Kind is 4 cards of the same number or letter.

Four of a Kind - How to play poker

Next up is the Straight Flush which is a Flush in sequential order.

Straight Flush, How to play poker

Finally we have the Royal Flush which is the best hand in all of poker. It’s basically the same as a Straight Flush, but it goes from 10-A. Here’s a fact: The probability of getting a Royal Flush is 649,739 to 1.

Royal Flush (straight flush) - how to play poker

How to Play Poker – Getting Started

With Texas Hold’em each player is dealt two cards facing down. These two cards are for your eyes only and must be kept a secret for the other players. These are called hole cards and are just for you. Once all cards are dealt, the two players sitting clockwise from the dealer button (the player who is dealing) will have to put out the small- and big blind. This is also called ante. These blinds make sure that we always have chips on the table each round. The big blind is usually the double amount of the small blind. Let’s set the blinds to $1 and $2 for this example. All players will have to at least match the big blind in order to continue to the next round. This is called to Call. Players also have the option to Fold and Raise. Folding means to quit the current round and you will have to give up your two cards. If you Raise you not only match the current bet, but raise the price for further participation.

The Flop

After the initial betting round three new cards will be put out on the table for all players to see. This is called the flop. See image from EasyPoker. The cards on the table are called Community Cards. These are for all players to combine with the cards in your hand. After the flop comes another round of betting – starting with the player sitting left of the dealer. All players who wish to stay in the round have to match the highest bet (just like in the initial betting round). Unlike the initial round, players now also have the option to check, which means not to bet nor fold. This will simply let me go to the next round – but only if nobody makes a bet. If one of the other players bet, yoou will have to either fold, call or raise.

The Turn

The dealer “burns” the top card of the deck (meaning it’s removed and put aside) and then proceeds to add another card face up on the table. This means we now have four community cards on the table. Players then have another round of betting – following the same format as last time.

The Final Card (River)

The dealer burns another card from the top of the deck and draws a fifth and final community card for the table. After this we have one last round of betting before players have to show their cards. The player with the highest 5 card combination wins and gets all the chips betted during the round (the pot). The role of the dealer then changes clock wise as well as the role of small- and big blind before all cards are shuffled and you starting all over for a new round.

Let an app handle your game

An easy way to get started with poker is to use an app like EasyPoker to facilitate your game. The app takes care of everything from shuffling to dealing and makes sure that all rules are followed and that chips are correctly distributed. It’s free to download on the App Store and Google Play. Consider giving it a go.