Ulrik Hunskjær, Author at EasyPoker

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Poker Positions Explained

What are poker positions and how do you play poker in position?
You’ve come to the right place.

I’ll tell you exactly what the different poker positions are and how to play each position.
And by the end of this breakdown, you’ll find a complete visual chart for you to save and look at whenever you need a reminder.

If you prefer watching over reading, here’s a video explaining the basics of poker table positions.
Beneath the video, you’ll find further explanation and in depth charts.

What are poker positions?

Poker positions refers to the way players are seated around a poker table and in what order players get to act in a round. Being one of the last players to act is obviously a huge advantage, since you get to see all other players act before you need to make a decision.

All rounds of course have a dealer.
To the left of the dealer is the small blind, and left of the small bind is the big blind.
Since the small- and big blind are forced to place a bet, the first player to act pre-flop is the person sitting after the big blind.
After that, we continue clockwise around the table, ending with the small and big blind.

After the flop however, the small blind will be first to act for the rest of the rounds.

We usually divide the different positions into 3 groups; early, middle and late position.

EARLY POSITION

The first couple of players to act in a round are in what we call early position.
This includes both the small- and big blind – but also the players sitting after the big blind.
This person is usually referred to as ‘Under the Gun’ (UTG), since you have to act without any clue from the other players. If you are playing at a table with nine or more players, the person sitting after the player ‘under the gun’ is often considered early position as well, and referred to as ‘UTG+1’.

Early positions are the hardest positions to be in, with Under the Gun being the absolute worst position.

How to play under the gun

If you’re sitting under the gun, you need to be careful. The only thing you have to go on is the two cards in your hand – and that’s not a lot.
We recommend staying within the top 10 starting hands – that’s high pairs and aces with a suited face card kicker.

Middle Position

The players sitting between early and late positions are in what we call ‘middle position’.
Since early position is usually 3-4 players, and late position is 3 players, the size and number of players who fall into middle position of course varies depending on the total number of players at the table.

The later your positions, the more hands you should consider playing.
Sitting in middle position, you have seen the actions of some of the earlier players, which is a huge advantage. You still need to keep a level head though, and know your chances.

How to play middle position

If everyone before you have folded:
Raise with medium pairs or higher, aces with a face card kicker or any two suited cards higher than a 10 – like JQs or 10Js.

If someone has already called:
Call with medium high pairs, suited cards of ten or above and any suited connectors.

If someone before you has already raised:
Re-raise with pairs 10 10 and above, ace king or ace queen.

Or call, if you have suited connectors or a pair of up to 9 9.

Late Position

Sitting in late position opens up a lot of different hands to play.
You’ve had the advantage of seeing how other players chose to act, and can feel a lot more secure.

The best poker position to be in is the dealer, since you get to act third last before the flop, and lastly for the rest of the rounds. The dealer is often referred to as ‘The Button’ since this position is usually show by a physical or digital button with the letter ‘D’ on it.
The player sitting just before the button is often referred to as ‘Cutoff’.
And the player before that is called ‘Hijack’ – because players often “hijack” late position advantage from the cutoff and button with an opening raise.

How to play late position

If all players before you have folded:
Raise with any pair, any suited ace, any ace with a kicker of 7 or higher, any two cards of ten or higher and any suited connectors.

If someone has called before you:
Raise with a high pair, or an ace with a face card kicker.

Feel free to call with any pair, suited high cards, a suited ace and suited connectors.

If a player has raised before you:
Re-raise with high pairs or aces with a king or queen kicker.

You can call with medium pairs or suited connectors.

Mix up your play in poker positions

So there you go. Now you know what positions are, and how to play them.

All of this being said, you should of course mix up your play from time to time in order to stay unpredictable.
And keep in mind that your position in a round depends on the location of the button.
Since the dealer button changes clockwise after every round, your position changes as well.

Practice playing poker positions

The best way to learn poker positions is to play a lot of poker. I recommend downloading our free EasyPoker app. The app takes care of everything from dealing cards to sorting chips – so you can focus on assessing your hand and poker position.

The app is meant to be played with friends and works as a digital version of your physical poker set. It’s intuitive design and built in voice chat makes it perfect for poker with friends
– whether you guys are playing face to face or online from separate locations.

More on how to play poker

I’m not a professional poker player. I’m just a guy who fell in love with the game.
So, like all other beginners, I went online to do some research. But everything I found seemed overly complicated and not at all easy to understand.
That’s why I decided to boil it all down into a few YouTube videos called the ‘How to Player Poker’ playlist on YouTube. It will take you from complete beginner to skilled player – in less than an hour.

Now that you know how to play poker positions, you might want to read up on how to sniff out a bluff! We’ve made a great blog post about that as well – and you can find it here.

Doyle Brunson – Poker Player Story

Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson is known as the ‘Godfather of Poker’ and this living legend may very well be the biggest icon of the poker world. Through an entire lifetime of playing professional poker, Brunson has seen it all and his life is the stuff of Hollywood movies. This is the story of Doyle Brunson.

We’ve also made this blog post as a video, if you’d rather watch than read.

Early Life

Doyle F. Brunson was born on August 10, 1933 in Longworth, Fisher County of Texas – a dirt poor, rural town smack in the middle of The Lone Star State. The town had a population of less than 100, and almost all were farmers. His family lived on a cotton farm with no electricity or plumbing. Brunson was the youngest of 3 children and had a textbook Texas childhood, although often feeling like a bit of an outsider.

He was an active kid, and shaped into a natural athlete who received a spot on the All-State basketball team and also dominated in the statewide track community. This is especially impressive considering that Brunson never actually had a track coach or knew anything about running track. According to a 2018 podcast interview he did with ‘Poker Stories’, after baseball practice, Brunson would just go to the track, start running and never let anyone get past him. These performances led to him being offered college scholarships for both basketball and track.

Doyle Brunson was well on his way to realizing his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA. The then-Minneapolis Lakers wanted to sign him, but his basketball career would end before it really began. One faithful day, while working at a local gypsum factory, Brunson was in an accident that shattered his leg. His leg never fully healed, putting an abrupt end to his athletic dreams. To this day, he’s easily spotted around the poker table by the crutch standing nearby.

But, as Doyle Brunson would prove again and again, no matter what you’re dealt in life, anything can be turned into a winning hand.

Picking up poker

Doyle Brunson had always been an observer of people. Perhaps because he grew up feeling like an outsider looking in. Barely able to move around after shattering his leg, he would often just sit and watch people – which would only advance his skills of reading faces. Something that would become his ace in the hole later in life.

Doyle Brunson got his bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s degree split between administrative education and business administration the next year, with a new plan of perhaps becoming a school principal.
But he found the pay scale to be too low, so straight out of college he went and got a job as a business machine salesman. Not a dream job to Brunson, but a place to start and a way to make a living. He wouldn’t stick around long though.

The young Brunson had always enjoyed poker, but played a lot more after his injury. So when his co-workers invited him to play with them after his first day, he went along. They played a game of seven-card stud, and Brunson absolutely cleaned up, winning more than a month’s salary that night.
Always eager to chase a goal, Brunson soon quit the job and started playing poker professionally.

Calling Death’s bluff

In 1959 Brunson met his future wife, Louise. The two got married in August of 1962 and soon thereafter Louise became pregnant with a baby girl. Things were looking great, but then life took a turn for the worse when doctors found a tumor in Doyle’s neck.
When they tried to operate it, doctors found that the cancer had spread and Brunson was given just three months to live.

Doctors felt that a second operation might prolong his life enough for him to witness the birth of his daughter and so they went ahead. After the operation, doctors were stunned to see that the tumor had completely vanished. They found absolutely no trace of the cancer and so Doyle was healthy for the birth of his daughter and back on the road soon after. Like the true gambler he is.
This wouldn’t be the last time death came looking for Doyle, but he would always call the bluff and see death fold his cards.

Adventures with the Texas Rounders

After the birth of his daughter, Doyle Brunson went to Fort Worth, Texas, where he and his friend Dwayne Hamilton would play in illegal games. But even Fort Worth soon proved too small for their appetite, and so they took to the road. They met fellow poker players Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts and formed what became known as the legendary ‘Texas Rounders’. A team of truely elite poker players who completely cleaned Texas dry playing high-stakes poker in the 1950’s and 60’s. Probably poker’s closest thing to a team like ‘The Avengers’.

These illegal games were often run by criminals and so things could get heated. Brunson remembers literally staring down the barrel of a gun more than a few times – and he has seen 2 players get shot in the head at the table.

Dwayne Hamilton headed back to Fort Worth while the rest of the gang expanded to Oklahoma and Louisiana, playing bigger and bigger games. They would pool their funds for gambling, participating in the biggest games around.

After six years of dominating the southern poker rooms like this, and outrunning the law and the hijackers who preyed on winners of illegal big-money card games, the Texas Rounders had amassed a massive pool of funds.
And now they arrived in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas

The Texas Rounders arrived in Sin City as legends, but were about to get a harsh reality check.
In fact, they quickly lost everything they had – a six-figure amount. Which was a hell of a lot back in those days.
Vegas had chewed them up and spat them back out. They decided to stop playing as partners, but remained friends, always watching each other’s back.

Doyle however, did just fine on his own and was quickly becoming one of the major attractions in Vegas, as audiences would literally gather to see him play.

Brunson would settle down in Las Vegas, and has been a solid component at the World Series of Poker since it first started back in 1970. He would mostly play at the Bellagio, which to this day remains his favorite spot.

Why is Doyle Brunson called “the Texas Dolly”?

The poker scene is full of nicknames – and players love to name fellow players – probably because it is easier to remember than real names and because it adds an element of fun.
And, honestly, why call a guy Tomas Austin Preston, when “Amarillo Slim” sounds so much cooler?
There are some legendary nicknames out there, but the most famous nickname in poker of course belongs to the game’s biggest icon. But exactly why is Doyle Brunson called “the Texas Dolly”? It’s actually a funny story.

Back in 1973, Doyle Brunson had a well-established relationship with a guy called Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. Jimmy would later become famous for his part in CBSs “The NFL Today” throughout the 1980s, but in 1973 he was still just a gambling columnist for the Las Vegas Sun. Jimmy was covering the WSOP and therefore frequently mentioned Doyle Brunson’s accomplishments. But at the time, gambling was still frowned upon in Texas, and for that reason Brunson asked Snyder to use an alias – and so he would call him “Texas Doyle”.

A member of the Associated Press picked up on an exchange between Brunson and Snyder, but misunderstood the nickname to be “Texas Dolly”, which then made the report and has since then gone down in history as a legendary poker nickname.

Doyle Brunson’s Poker Winnings

Doyle “Texas Dolly” Bruson is often referred to as the ‘Godfather of Poker’. And this title makes sense, as he’s been around since the very beginning and very much made the game what it is today. After an entire lifetime of playing professional poker, it’s really not possible to summarize his winnings in one blogpost. But let’s have a look at some of his major wins.

Brunson is believed to have won more than $6,100,000 playing at live tournaments. More than $3,000,000 of those comes from his impressive 37 cashes at the WSOP. He even won the WSOP main event 2 years in a row, and has won a total of 10 bracelets, which puts him in the top 3 of all players ever playing in the tournament.
His 10 WSOP bracelets are:

1976: $5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw

1976: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship

1977: $5,000 Seven-Card Stud

1977: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship

1978: $5,000 Seven-Card Stud

1979: $600 Mixed Doubles No Limit Hold’em

1991: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em

1998: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz

2003: $2,000 H.O.R.S.E

2005: $5,000 No Limit Shorthanded Texas Hold’em

Super System – The Poker Bible

Doyle Brunson has given poker so much, but perhaps his biggest contribution came back in 1978 when he changed the game forever by writing and publishing the book ‘Super System – How I made over $1,000,000 playing poker”.

This was right after his back to back WSOP win and the book was the first comprehensive book on strategies for various poker games. The book became a huge success and is largely considered the “Bible of Poker”.
Even today it sells about 14,000 copies a month.
In October of 2004, a second version was published called “Super System 2 – A Course in Power Poker”. This version featured updated lingo, new games & strategies as well as insights from, not only Doyle Brunson, but also other players like Daniel Negreanu.

Doyle Brunson also has an autobiography called “The Godfather of Poker”. Surely a life like the one Brunson has lived needed to be told in a book and one could easily imagine this becoming a movie at some point as well.

Doyle Brunson’s Recent years

Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson really is a living legend and perhaps the biggest icon of poker. At the age of 87 he’s still going strong, although he has scaled back on the amount of games he plays. Doyle and his wife Louise still live in Las Vegas and if you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of this living legend in “Bobby’s Room” at the Bellagio. Although we wouldn’t recommend playing him.

Doyle Brunson has no less than two hands in poker named after him.
One is the hand of a ten and a two, which was named after him because that’s the exact hand he had when winning both of his WSOP No Limit Hold’em Main Events in ‘76 and ‘77. In both cases giving him a full house.
The other one is when holding an ace and queen of any suit. This is because on page 519 of his book, Brunson famously wrote that he never plays this hand.

Brunson’s son, Todd Brunson, is also a professional poker player.
Doyle didn’t teach Todd to play, in fact Todd never knew how to play before going to Texas Tech University and learning on his own – perhaps from reading the Super System?
Todd left Texas Tech before his senior year and turned professional poker player.
In 2005, Todd won a WSOP bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo, making Doyle and Todd the first father-son combination to win WSOP bracelets.

The next Doyle Brunson?

Back in the day, Doyle Texas Dolly Brunson and the Texas Rounders had to pretty much risk their lives when playing poker in smoky back rooms against criminals and big time drug dealers.

Luckily though, things have changed today and if you and your friends want to play poker all you have to do is just download the free EasyPoker app. It’s by far the easiest way to play poker with friends, whether live or online. No chips or playing cards needed.

It’s a digital version of a physical poker set. Create a private poker table with a single tap, and invite your friends to play by sharing the 4 digit game code. Poker with friends have never been easier.

Want more poker player stories?

Here at Easypoker we really like talking to our users – and we really value your opinion.
If you have anything to add to this post, feel free to comment below.

We also have a ton of other amazing poker stories, like the crazy story of Daniel Negeranu.
A highschool dropout that became what many believe to be the most successful and beloved poker players of all time.

Or perhaps the story of Mike Saxton,
“The Ambassador of Poker”. A professional poker player who became a commentator and was even inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

If you have any specific story or topic you would like us to profile, please let us know in the comments or by reaching out to us.

Maria Ho – Poker Player Story

Maria Ho’s poker story is one of how the black sheep of a traditional chinese family went against her parents and took a gamble on her passion. It’s the story of how a young role model won the heart of the poker industry and became a female ambassador of the game. This is the amazing poker story of Maria Ho.

Early life

Maria Ho was born on the 6th of March, 1983. She lived with her mom, dad and older sister in the city of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. These were hard times in Taiwan, and her parents were struggling, just as their parents had struggled.
Wanting a better life for their two daughters, Ho’s mom and dad moved to America when she was just four years old. They bounced around for a while before settling down just outside of Los Angeles in Arcadia, California.

Ho’s parents wanted their two daughters to remember where they came from and so the family only spoke Mandarin at home and the girls had to learn traditional chinese instruments, dances and more. In general, Maria’s childhood home was very traditional chinese with structure and order – something that was starting to irritate the young, rebellious ‘black sheep’ of the family.

In middle school, Maria Ho began hanging with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble for no real reason. Her parents often had to come get her at the principal’s office – and even at the police station one time. When Ho topped it all by running away from home for a month, her parents decided to send her to an all girls catholic high school.
Surrounded by nothing but nuns, Ho was finally able to focus on her school and homework – and in a later interview she said that without this she probably wouldn’t have graduated highschool.

Poker beginnings

With her life back on the right track, Maria Ho went to college. She attended the University of California San Diego where she studied psychology, wanting to go on to medical school.
One day she heard some of her male friends talking about hosting a poker night and sort of invited herself. She showed up that night, bringing beer, and was of course allowed in.
This being her first ever game of poker, she had little clue what she was doing. But she still managed to win the game and walked away with all the money – and a feeling of having found a new love. She was hooked.

Maria kept playing with friends on campus, and on days when classes ended early, she would go down to the nearby indian casino and sharpen her skills. She played for just the fun of it but as the prize money started piling up, she had the feeling that this could be more than just a lucrative pastime.

She didn’t dare tell her parents though, since traditional chinese culture expects you to take the secure path and utilize the opportunities your family has put out for you – not take a gamble. After finally getting her life back on track in the eyes of her family, she was afraid they wouldn’t approve her new plans.
She wanted to finish college and planned to maybe take a gap year between undergrad and grad school where she could travel the world playing poker and having fun.
First stop after graduating would be the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Grinding

Maria Ho’s first appearance at the WSOP was not a huge success. Beating her college friends was one thing, but it seemed WSOP was still too big a mouthful for her.
So she went back to Los Angeles to sharpen her skills.

Her parents still wanted her to finish her degree and when they asked her what she was going to do for money she finally came clean and told them how she’d been making good money playing poker. This allowed Ho to focus on playing poker and as her skills improved she became more and more convinced that this was the path for her.

After a year and a half of playing poker professionally, Maria went back to WSOP in 2007.

The WSOP breakthrough

This time Maria did very well, outlasting more than 6000 players. Though she didn’t quite reach the final table, she was the last woman standing and ended up caching over a quarter million dollars! And the respect and attention of the poker world. Suddenly everyone was talking about the new female phenomenon of poker – and Ho thought it was time to tell her parents that she wanted to pursue a career in poker.

Her parents, however, thought it would be better for her to put the prize money into a savings account and continue her degree, quitting poker while being ahead. Luckily though, more people than her parents weighed in on her decision, with multiple poker sponsorships coming at her.

Maria Ho & Tiffany Michelle

Maria Ho kept playing and learning, and in the summer of 2011 she won her second ‘Last Woman Standing’ at the WSOP main event. She was quickly solidifying her place among the top female poker players of the world. On this prominent list we also find another rising star, Tiffany Michelle, who won ‘Last Woman Standing’ the year after.
The two really hit it off and became best friends – and the absolute female power couple on the poker scene.

Although participating in many of the same tournaments, and both competing for the role of ‘Last Female Standing’, the two formed a strong friendship and would lean on each other through everything.
Quite a dynamic duo.

In an industry heavily occupied by men, this was exactly what Ho had been wishing for.

The duo also teamed up to participate in CBS’ show called “The Amazing Race” where teams of two reace around the world in 30 days with a first prize of one million dollars.
Ho and Michelle didn’t win the race, but the appearance alone helped further their brand in a big way, and Maria later said that this was the best experience she’d ever had.
She would later appear in other popular TV shows such as American Idol and Deal or No Deal.

The Amazing Race proved to Maria Ho that she could do anything she wanted and was able to feel comfortable well outside her comfort zone. At this time, Ho had been the last woman standing at 3 WSOPs and was now the top female ambassador to the game she once had to hide from her parents. Because of this, she was asked to be a female strategic analyst on the Heartland Poker Tour – an American TV show that first aired back in 2005.
She stayed on HPT for two seasons and really enjoyed the possibility of branching out.
Something she also had a change to do when asked to be the manager of ‘LA Sunset’ – a Los Angeles based team competing in the ‘Global Poker League’. According to interviews, Ho liked the idea of poker being more of a team sport and wanted to create a team that was as much of a melting pot as the city of LA.

Female Poker Ambassador

Maria Ho is obviously a terrific poker player and a very intelligent person, but people who know her also say she’s truly a great person. Her friendly and very charismatic person has gotten a huge following and is probably what led to her branching out into media.
We’re all glad she chose to pursue a career in poker, but it seems Maria Ho would have been extremely successful in any job and industry. With her hard work and kind soul she’s truly a great ambassador for poker, and a role model for young players – both male and female.

According to online sources, Maria Ho has won over $4,000,0000 playing poker in live tournaments.

Are you the next Maria Ho?

Maria Ho went against the wishes of her parents and took a gamble on herself – a gamble that took her from black sheep to multi millionaire poker icon and role model. And it all began when she invited herself to a friendly poker night in a college dorm room.

Maybe you and your friends should test your skills as well, and for this we recommend using the free EasyPoker app. By far the easiest way to play poker with friends – no chips or playing cards needed.

Create a private poker table with a single tap on your screen and share its 4 digit game code with your friends to have them join the table for hours of fun.
Whether live or online, EasyPoker is perfect for poker with friends.

Want more poker player stories?

At EasyPoker we love interacting with our users and we really appreciate you.
If you have anything to add to this story, please let us know in the comments below.

We are constantly adding more poker player stories, like the one of poker legend Daniel Negreanu.
A crazy story of how ‘Kid Poker’ went from highschool dropout to being one of the most beloved and successful poker players of all time.
And that’s just one of our many poker player stories.

If you have a specific poker player you would like us to profile, please let us know in the comments.

Doug Polk Poker Player Story

Doug Polk’s poker player story is the story of how a nerdy college dropout from California took what he learned from playing chess and Warcraft, and became the best online heads up no limit poker player – perhaps of all time.
Making millions of dollars in the process.

The Beginning

Douglas K. Polk was born on December 16 of 1988 in sunny Pasadena, California.
Growing up, Doug was a pretty average. Around the age of five, Doug was introduced to the world of chess by his father. The young boy quickly fell in love with the game, especially the strategic element of it. The two would play for hours and hours, and Doug became very skilled.

A few years later, the Polk family packed their bags and moved from the West Coast to North Carolina on the East Coast. Doug Polk was enrolled at Wakefield High School and graduated in 2007. During his time in High School, he became a competitive player of the video game Warcraft 3 – a so-called real-time strategy game. Warcraft allowed Doug to dive deep into strategy like the time he played chess with his dad, and he took part in multiple World Cyber Games (WCG) tournaments.
This is actually where Doug Polk’s online poker alias, WCGRider, comes from.

After finishing high school, Polk attended the University of North Carolina (picture). Polk was a bright young man and often found himself bored during classes. He created an account on a digital poker platform, and made a small deposit of $20. For the first couple of months, Polk was stuck at 1 cent/2 cents tables but then realized he had an obvious talent, perhaps due to his long time love affair with real-time strategy games like chess and Warcraft.

Polk decided to test his skills at a bigger table, and after cashing out $10,000 there was no doubt in his mind that he was on to something.

He dropped out of college and began chasing his new dream of poker fame. Something that was waiting just around the corner.

Rise to Fame

It wouldn’t take more than a year or two for Doug Polk to make a name for himself among poker players. In 2013 most serious poker players knew who WCGRider was, and he was not playing at 1 cent/2 cents tables anymore. By now, Polk had already won hundreds of thousands of dollars at online poker tables and was now a high-roller. Primarily due to one niche of poker that he truly dominated; online heads up.

Doug was so great at heads up poker, that he actually had a hard time finding players who wanted to go up against him. But in late 2013 Doug and Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky went toe-to-toe in a highly publicised poker game of 15,000 hands.
Polk won the exhausting game and cashed in a prize of $740,000 plus a bonus of another $100,000. Not a bad pay day, and definitely something that solidified Doug Polk’s place among the best of the best.

Poker Winnings

When people hear the name ‘Doug Polk’ many think of only HUNL poker. And for good reason. The game against Ben Sulsky certainly got a lot of attention, and Polk has played (and won) a lot at online tables.

But Polk is so much more than ‘just’ and an online HUNL player. He has done really well at the live poker tournaments as well, with a total prize pool estimated at around $10M.
Money is one thing, but Polk has also won a lot of respect at the live poker tournaments, namely by winning three WSOP bracelets:

– $1000Turbo No Limit Hold’em in 2014.
With a prize of $251,969.

– $1000 Tag Team No Limit Hold’em.
When he teamed up with Ryan Fee and collected a prize of $153,358.

– $111,111 High Roller for One Drop No Limit Hold’em in 2017.
Taking home a whopping $3,686,865.

The 2017 bracelet win was of course the biggest of his career, and Polk outlasted no less than 130 other poker players to get it. Very impressive for a guy with a strategic background in video games.

Upswing Poker

Back in 2015 Doug started a poker training website with his good friend and fellow poker player Ryan Fee. The site is called Upswing Poker and contains a number of strategies and courses that claim to take your poker skills to the next level. The courses are brought to you by professional poker players and range in price and duration with both regular courses and something they call ‘advanced’ poker courses. And in case you’re wondering, yes, there is a course where Doug Polk himself teaches you heads up poker.

Poker retirement

Doug Polk’s rise to poker fame was like a rocket, and the young comet has often claimed to be growing weary of the game and the industry. And in a 2018 YouTube video, Doug formally announced his retirement from professional poker. See the video below.
He talked about how the spark just wasn’t there for him anymore and how all his poker friends had already left the poker scene to pursue personal growth in other fields like starting their own business.
At this point Doug Polk was coming up on his 30th birthday, and already had north of $10M in his bank account from dominating online heads up poker. Certainly not a bad situation to be in, and you could see why it made sense for him to take a step back and spend some time searching for a project thatto add meaning to his life. Polk said his focus would be centered around growing his company Upswing Poker, playing Warcraft and getting into the habit of creating more content for his social media.

Popular on social media

Whether he’s at the poker table or not, people love Doug Polk. The guy has an outgoing personality and seems to have opinions on pretty much anything.

At first, his social media of choice was Twitter, and he would tweet about anything from playing poker or Warcraft to US politics and economics.
In more recent years though, Polk seems to have focused more on his YouTube video content. His main channel is still called Doug Polk Poker, but videos are not just about poker but rather full of tips to make money or his thoughts on current political issues. The channel currently has 494 videos and more than 100M views.
He also has a channel called Doug Polk Crypto where he talks about – you guessed it – cryptocurrency.

However, it seems that Doug Polk still hasn’t quite forgotten how to tweet, and so in July of 2020 a series of tweets at poker legend Daniel Negreanu set the online poker community on fire and pulled Polk out of poker retirement.

Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu

A Doug Polk poker player story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning his long standing, and very public, feud with Canadian poker legend Daniel Negreanu. It stretches back years and seems to have started on Twitter sometime back in 2014. Since then, Polk has consistently been taking jabs at Negreanu both online and to his face – and some of them have been absolutely legendary. Like the time he bought an entire hotel billboard outside of a tournament just to taunt Negreanu.
It seemed inevitable that the two would one day settle the score in a HUNL poker game, and in July of 2020, Negreanu finally accepted the challenge.

The two poker legends 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.
It’s really a spectacular story, so we made a separate blog post devoted entirely to this feud – both the backstory and the current status.
You can find it here.

Are you the next Doug Polk?

Douglas K. Polk took his love of real-time strategy games and, in a matter of years, became the notorious WCGRider with a massive following and millions of dollars in the bank. What’s stopping you from copying the Doug Polk poker player story?

Whether you’re looking to play heads up poker or bigger tables of up to 12 players, the free EasyPoker app has got you covered.
By far the easiest way to play poker with friends – no chips or playing cards needed.

Create a social game og poker with a single tap on your phone and share the 4 digit game code with your friends to have them join in. Perfect for poker with friends – whether live or online.

Doug Polk – Poker Player Story

The Doug Polk poker player story is quite unique, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy is hard to ignore. What do you think, is he one of the greatest of his era? Let us know in the comments below.

We’d also like to hear from you if you have additions to this post, or if you have a specific poker player or topic you’d like us to address next.

Want more poker player stories?

The world of poker is full of interesting players with fascinating stories. We’ve got a massive archive of the greatest stories, and are constantly adding more.

Like how ‘the Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, built a massive name and fortune playing poker, only to have it all ripped away in a record breaking $20.000.000 string of losses.

Or the story of how Chris Moneymaker, a complete amature, got inspired by the movie Rounders and went on to win the World Series of Poker.

If you have a specific player you’d like us to profile, please let is know in the comments below.

History of Poker

The fascinating history of poker seems as interesting and full of legends as the game itself.
There are lots of different theories out there, so we decided to go through them all and create a ‘one stop’ blog post to tell you everything.

Poker is the world’s most popular card game, played all over the planet by all kinds of people. The game has seen a huge boom in popularity over the past 15 years, but the game actually goes way back and seems to be a melting pot of popular features known from a range of old card games.
It’s story stretches across centuries and played a major role in iconic moments of history such as the colonization of America, the Old West, and World War 1.

As-Nas

As-NasMost historians agree that the ancient, Persian card game ‘as-nas’ seems a likely origin to poker. The game can be traced back as far as the 17th century and stems from Arabic culture.

As-nas was both the name of the game and the type of cards used to play it. The name as-nas roughly translates into something like “Aces and Mankind”, and the cards featured an ace and 4 different kinds of man. Not unlike modern playing cards.
However, the ‘mankind cards’ would often show 4 ranked levels of society such as a king, a lady, a soldier and a dancing-girl. The ace was usually something cool – like a dragon or a lion. Or both, fighting each other.
A deck of as-nas would have 4 or 5 identical cards of each suit meaning the full deck was either 20 or 25 cards.

When playing as-nas, each player was dealt five cards. With no community cards, the player would only use the cards in his hand to make combinations. The ranking of combinations was pretty similar to what we use today, but without straights and flushes.

The dealer would be the first to place a stake and you would then go around the table in a circle with players either calling, raising or folding. Sound familiar? When all players’ stake was even and no one wanted to raise further, the players would show their cards and a winner was found.
What’s also really interesting about as-nas, is that the game would encourage bluffing.

As-nas certainly seems to be a very likely ancestor to poker. It introduced elements like betting, bluffing and even the early stages of the same hand rank we use today.
There’s also no denying that the game had a huge involvement in shaping the deck of cards we use today, with its introduction of aces and face cards.
But later card games would come to further develop the game towards the poker we play today.

The European Ancestors

Like much of the American population, poker also seems to have clear roots in Europe.
Some time during the 17th century, a card game called ‘primero’ became wildly popular in Spain. The game had three cards dealt to all players and a big focus on bluffing.
Later, primero was copied by the Germans who named their version ‘pochen’ and the french who called it ‘poque’.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Irish also had a version called ‘poca’ and the brits developed a version called ‘brag’. Confused yet?

Anyway, the french version (poque) was by far the most played and in the 17th century the French colonists brought it to their settlements in North America.

Early History of Poker in America

After being brought to North America, poque was translated into English and quickly developed into different versions. Around this time is when stud poker was introduced – a version of poker that is of course still played today, although less popular than Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

This version of poker became popular among the crews of riverboats transporting goods up and down the Mississippi River and thus quickly spread around the country. In fact, this is believed to be where the poker term ‘river card’ (fifth community card) derives from. As poker became popular during Mississippi boat rides, sometimes cheaters would purposely deal a final community card that would improve their own hand. If such cheating was discovered, the guy would be thrown overboard and so the river card got its name.

Early versions of casinos called ‘gambling houses’ started popping up along the riverbanks and these attracted a lot of opportunistic people, trying to hit the jackpot. This same group of people was later attracted to the possibilities of prospecting and the gold rush – and so poker spread to the West. It became tremendously popular in Westers Saloons, and is perhaps one of the most recognized elements of the Old West today. Their game of choice mostly resembles stud poker and was the backdrop of many Western stories and legends. Although a great pastime, one can easily imagine how the alcohol, guns and laws of that time would often result in very dramatic poker games.

Soldiers spreading poker

When the civil war broke out in April of 1861, many men were called to arms. As both sides gathered in their respective camps a lot of them brought poker from the West and this quickly became a popular pastime between fights. Since it was played by both sides, pretty much every soldier was introduced to the game and it’s rules at this time and it seems the game stuck with them after the war. Upon returning to their families, the soldiers further spread the game and poker, that up until now was only played by men and outlaws, was now enjoyed by everyone.

Soldiers at war also seem to be what brought the game of poker back to Europe after maturing across the pond. Although the US tried to remain neutral for the start of WW1, certain events and threats forced them to enter the war in 1917. On a faithful morning in June of 1917, American soldiers sat foot in Europe, ready for war. As during the civil war, poker became a great way to socialize between battles, and quickly caught on among the US allies who kept playing it long after the last shot of WW1 was fired.

History of Texas Hold’em

Just as one would expect, the exact origin of Texas Hold’em is the object of much debate and myths. According to official documents by Texas Legislature, the official birthplace of Texas Hold’em is the small town of Robstown, located in the state of (you’ve guessed it) Texas. This was sometime in the 1920’s.
It was the first of it’s kind to use community cards, and therefore the first to distinguish between cards on the board and the cards you hold. This is probably why they doubted the game ‘Hold’em’.
Although never officially confirmed, poker legend has it that this fast paced and pretty different take on poker was invented by notorious road gambler Blondie Forbes. A man who was later inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame for the creation.

This new type of poker quickly became popular around Texas, but never really left the state. Not until several decades later, in the 1960’s, when the entrepreneurial texan Crandell Addington saw a business opportunity and took the game to Vegas.
Things didn’t go too smooth for Addington though, as the only casino who took the bid was ‘The Golden Nugget’. The Golden Nugget was located in downtown Las Vegas, and not on the prestigious and buzzing ‘Strip’. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s poker room was run down and very basic, with sawdust covering the floor. Not an ideal place for Addington to have his game played by any of the big players – and something had to be done.

Addington finally got his big break in 1969 when the now-demolished Dunes Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip, agreed to host a Texas Hold’em tournament which caught the attention of the big players. And the attention of Benny Binion, a huge influencer of the Las Vegas we’ve come to know. Binion had lost his gaming license, and was looking for a chance to bounce back to the top of the Las Vegas gaming community. He and his son Jack started “The World Series Of Poker” and made Hold’em (now known as Texas Hold’em due to its roots) the centerpiece of the entire thing.

WSOP took off like a rocket and this helped solidify Texas Hold’em as the most popular type of poker in front of Five-Card Draw and Seven-Card Stud. And when Texas Hold’em was legalized in California in 1980 the game saw a massive boom.

Years later, WSOP became a household name when Chris Moneymaker (a complete amateur) beat all the pros and went on to take home the grand prize of a whopping $2,500,000. A truly amazing story we’ve detailed in this post.

Today the word “poker” is largely synonymous with Texas Hold’em – so much so that pop culture often get’s it’s timeline wrong. Like in the popular video game “Red Dead Redemption” where players are free to roam around the small towns of the Old West. The game allows users to enter saloons and play poker – but the game you’ll be playing is Texas Hold’em – even though this style of poker was in no way popular (or even invented) at that time. You gotta give the people what they want, right?

Make your mark on the
History of Poker

Now that you’re educated on the fascinting history of poker you of course need to casually share it with your friends – perhaps over a game of poker?

If so consider downloading the free EasyPoker app – a digital version of a physical poker set that provide you and your friends with an endless amount of chips and cards – for free.
The app is available for both Android & iPhone and so easy to navigate that even good old Blondie Forbes would be able to pick it up and get a game going in no time.
The app takes care of everything, so all you guys have to do is just play your cards and have fun.
And who knows, maybe we’ll have to add a segment about you in the history of poker.

History of poker

Here at EasyPoker we’re always eager to hear from our community. If you have something to add to this story, or a specific element of the history of poker you’d like us to touch on, please let us know in the comments below.
Thank you, and have a great day.

Dan Bilzerian Poker Player Story

Dan Bilzerian is perhaps the richest and most famous person associated with poker – but not for his poker.
Often referred to as ‘The King of Instagram’, Bilzerian is most famous for flaunting his luxurious playboy lifestyle of girls, guns and money.

His life exists somewhere between ‘well documented’ and ‘infamous secrecy’ – and what you’re about to read is a summary of the different versions out there. This is the crazy story of poker’s biggest playboy.

We’ve also made this blog post as a video, if you’d rather watch than read.

Early life

Daniel Brandon Bilzerian was born on December 7 of 1980 in Tampa, Florida.
He is the son of Paul Bilzerian, an Armenian American businessman who amassed an immense fortune as a corporate takeover specialist. Dan and his brother Adam was born into wealth but didn’t see their father much, as he was often on business trips or stuck working late at the office.

Their life drastically changed however, when Paul was convicted of security and tax fraud. On top of serving 13 months in prison, Paul was ordered to disgorge his earnings and later declared bankruptcy. What exactly happened to Pauls Bilzerian’s enormous wealth is still unclear, but both Dan and Adam had trust funds, and many believe this to be the source of Dan Bilzerian’s fortune.

This all seemed to spill into Dan Bilzerian’s life, as he became somewhat of a problem child, often getting into fist fights and later being expelled from his school. He had a new start at a different school but was ordered to finish his senior year at home for bringing a machine gun to school.

After finishing High School, Dan joined the navy in pursuit of becoming a Navy SEAL.
He performed really well but was once again stopped right before the finish line as he was discharged for fighting with one of his officers and had to leave the program.

Dan Bilzerian then enrolled at the University of Florida where he spent 4 years studying Business and Criminology. Whether he graduated or not is still center of speculation, but it seems this is where Dan first picked up an interest in poker. He no longer had access to his trust fund, and after selling his collection of guns he turned to poker in order to finance his time at school.

Poker life and winnings

Although Dan Bilzerian is a famous poker player, he hasn’t appeared in a lot of public tournaments.
His first major appearance was back in 2009 where he took part in the World Series of Poker Main Event, playing against professional poker players like Phil Ivey. Bilzerian finished 180th and collected a prize of $36,000.

His performance at the 2009 WSOP led to him signing a sponsorship with Victory Poker. An online card room that is no longer in operation. Dan Bilzerian allegedly received $1,000,000 from the company for wearing their name on a t-shirt for all the tournaments he competed in that year. He was also featured in the company’s numerous online videos

But Dan Bilzerian reportedly dedicates most of his time and focus to private, high stakes, cash games with billionaires and is alleged to have turned a $750 investment into more than $187,000 in a single game. Not a bad turnaround. He has also once claimed to have put all of his net worth into one game – and won big.

Back in 2013 he once again got people’s attention when posting a tweet saying he had just won 10.8 million in a private cash game.
This win still has not been verified and continues to be debated by many online.

In the year 2015, Dan hosted a poker tournament to raise money for brain research. The tournament took place in his Las Vegas home and had a buy-in of $1000. The tournament drew in a lot of famous people like Vin Diesel and raised over $100,000 for brain research.

According to Dan himself, the most he has ever lost in a single game of poker is 3,6 million dollars. There’s also stories about Bilzerian betting 2,3 million dollars worth of chips on a single coin toss – and losing.

Dan Bilzerian’s total net worth is reported to be a staggering 200 million dollars and according to himself, 50 million of that is from playing poker.

Crazy lifestyle of Dan Bilzerian

Although Dan claims to be killing it at the private cash games, he is most known for everything outside the game of poker. Cars, guns, girls and parties – the crazy stories just keep coming. The man is still in his 30’s but has already had 3 heart attacks. This should be an indication of the crazy lifestyle of the multi millionaire poker playboy.

Bilzerian owns multiple real estate, but his price jewel is his 65 million dollar home in Bel Air, Los Angeles.
This 31,000 square feet party pad is no doubt the party pad of the 21st century (Sorry Playboy Mansion). The house was named ‘The Most Expensive House in the US’ back in 2017. For more details on Dan Bilzerian’s home, take a look at this video.

No doubt Bilzerian owns some impressive real estate, but he also needs a lot of space to store his massive collection of cars and guns.
And then there’s the girls. Dan Bilzerian’s life seems to be an endless sea of beautiful, half naked, women – dusins at the time. His instagram has more models than Playboy and Victoria’s Secret put together and this seems to be the biggest factor of his fame.

There’s no doubt this aspect of the modern day Hugh Hefner raises controversy, and Dan has addressed it openly numerous times – like in this interview from 2019.

The many controversies

With a guy as controversial and famous as Dan Bilzerian, you would expect some controversy as well. And Dan’s life definitely isn’t lacking in this department either.
It’s pretty much an endless string of controversy, but let’s focus on just three of them.

Most people with an internet connection have probably heard the story (and seen the video) of Dan Bilzerian throwing a young porn actress off the roof of his house.
Back in 2014 Dan was a part of a photoshoot for the Hustler Magazine which also included the then 18 year old porn actress Janice Griffith. As part of the photoshoot, Dan picked up Janice Griffth and threw her off the roof, aiming for the pool beneath. But Dan’s throw was just a bit too short, so the young porn actress hit the edge of the pool before falling in the water. Griffith broke her foot and the whole thing ended in a lawsuit.

Dan Bilzerian was also involved in quite a massive story back in 2011 alongside other celebrities like Toby Maguire, Ben Aflleck and Matt Damon. A series of private, high stakes poker games between the stars led to wins and loses of millions of dollars. The problem is that one of the losers of the games, Bradley Ruderman paid his loses with stolen money and was later convicted. This led to a pile of lawsuits as everyone attending these games tried to get their money.

In October of 2017, Dan was present at the horrific Las Vegas shooting. In true fashion, he posted numerous videos to his instagram account – like the video where he’s seen searching a police car and asking the officers for a gun. Dan Bilzerian was widely criticised for his actions and the way he handled himself during this terrifying night.

Ignite

Dan Bilzian moved away from poker and into business by creating ‘Ignite’ – a company which sells electronic cigarettes, CBD related products, water bottles and vodka, among other things. It began trading back in January of 2019 and has it’s official headquarters in Toronto, Canada. The company is probably best known for it’s over the top launch parties that obviously seek to give the attendees a glimpse into the lifestyle they see on Dan’s instagram. DJs, models, celebrities and enough alcohol to intoxicate a small country.

Perhaps for this reason, the company reportedly lost $50 million in 2019, mostly on marketing and office rental.

But by the beginning of 2020 Ignite had a 52M dollar valuation.
This was because CBD products were on the rise, and investors thought the current pandemic would lead to a substantial increase in sales. And it did – but not for Ignite.
And to make matters worse, mid 2020 saw the release of a company report showing numbers from Ignite, that some claim proves that the company paid 67M dollars to ‘fund Dan Bilzerian’s lifestyle. Expenses such as $200.000 a month for his house, $15.000 on a ping pong table, $26.000k worth of Instagram promotions and a whopping $130.000 for a Bahamas photoshoot. Ignite’s money seems to come from issuing/selling stocks and from raising debt which had a lot of people saying it’s internal finances made little sense. The company’s promotion budget alone was $22M, while revenue was less than half of that.

Dan Bilzerian himself has famously downplayed this by comparing Ignite to the ride sharing service, Uber, which has operated under financial losses since day one.
But in October of 2020 CannMart, one of Ignite’s main partners and leading distributor in Canada, ended their partnership. This led to Ignite’s stock falling from $1.44 to $0.36 in no time and many analysts believe it’s just a matter of months before the company will go bankrupt – unless they find a way to turn things around.

Disputed wealth claims

Although Dan Bilzerian claims to have won his massive fortune in private poker games against billionaires, many believe the money is from his fathers business.
Paul Bilzerian was ordered to pay over 30 million dollars of his illegal profits to the SEC back in the 90s, but some say he never did. He did, however, set up a trust fund for both his sons. Many speculate that this to be the source of Dan’s fortune and that constant investigation is being conducted by the SEC and FBI.

Dan Bilzerian for President

Back in 2015 Dan Bilzerian announced his intention to run for President in the 2016 election. In classic Bilzerian fashion his “presidential campaign” featured five appearances at nightclubs. In december of 2015 Dan officially canceled his candidacy and instead endorsed Donal Trump who, as we all know, went on to become president.

However, the ‘King of Instagram’ has already said he’s considering running again for the 2024 election and hopes to utilize his massive following. From the looks of it though, the White House looks like a massive step down from his current housing situation.

What’s in store for Dan Bilzerian?

Well, according to Dan Bilzerian himself, he’s pretty much done playing professional poker.
He expects Ignite to gross billions of dollars and hope to donate a large portion of it to charity. It’s of course also going to be interesting to see if he actually runs for president in 2024, and whether his recent allegations of fraud and continuing controversy will put a stop to the ‘King of Instagram’.
Dan has an autobiography coming out soon and perhaps that will give us some answers.

On December 3rd 2020, Dan Bilzerian was announced as the newest brand ambassador for GGPoker, representing the brand both live and online. According to the brands own website, Blizerian will be working with GG to make cash games better for the average poker player out there.

Are you the next Bilzerian?

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.

Want more Poker Player Stories?

We’re constantly adding new stories of interesting poker players. Like the one of Daniel Negreanu who went from high school dropout to becoming Kid Poker, one of the best and most famous players of all times.

Or the one about ‘the Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, who went from the top of the poker world to loosing a record breaking $20.000.000 and having to get a regular job as an accountant.

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 or by reaching out to us.
Thank you.

Poker Terms and Slang

There’s a ton of poker terms and slang out there and sometimes it can be hard to keep track of it all.
At EasyPoker we’re passionate about facilitating digital poker with friends, and so it seemed only natural to compose a complete poker glossary to go with our app.

Basic Poker Terms

Ante – A small bet put down by all players after being dealt their cards. The ante makes sure there are always some chips to be won in each hand. Most poker styles, however, use ‘blinds’ instead of an ante.

All-in – Betting all the chips you have.

Bet – An amount betted by a player.

Betting Round – Refers to the windows of time where players can make bets. In Texas Hold’em, this would be before the flop, after the flop, after the turn and after the river.

Blind – A forced bet by one or more players before any cards are dealt in a hand.
This is to make sure there’s always chips in the pot for a round. It also means that players have a natural shrinkage in their stack so that a completely passive player will lose chips too. Blinds are typically structured as big- and small blind and put down by the players sitting to the left of the dealer.

Big Blind – A forced bet by the person sitting left of the dealer to get the pot going. Typically twice the value of the small blind.

Bluff – When you think you have weaker cards but still bet/raise in an attempt to fool your opponent into folding their stronger hand.

Call – To follow the most recent bet or raise and put down the minimum amount to do so, without raising further.

Check – If a betting round still hasn’t had a bet, you can choose to check, which is essentially betting 0 amount, with the option to call or raise if another player chooses to bet.

Community Cards – The card placed on the table for all players to see and compare their hand to. Also called ‘The Board’. In Texas Hold’em and Omaha this would be the five cards of the flop, turn and river.

Dealer – The person who’s in charge of dealing the cards. If you’re not at a casino, the role of the dealer typically travels clockwise around the table after every hand. Even if you’re playing digitally and no cards are shuffled or dealt physically, you still need the role of the dealer, since this dictates the role of small- and big blind.

Flop – The first three community cards. These are all placed on the table for all players to see after the initial betting round.

Fold – When a player chooses to give up his or her cards and take no further part in a hand.
This can be done in any betting round.

Heads up – When only two players are competing for the pot.

Kicker – The highest unpaired card in your combination. If two players have almost the same hand, the player with the highest kicker wins.

Muck – After a hand, if a player doesn’t have to show his or her they can choose not to.
This is called ‘to muck’.

No Limit – Different styles of poker have slightly different rules. Some styles have an upper limit to how much players can bet. No limit means players can choose to bet as much as they have whenever it’s their turn.

Pocket – Refers to the two cards you were dealt and have in your hand. Like ‘pocket fives’ or ‘pocket aces’.

Raise – To raise means you not only call a bet, but further increase the amount.

Rake – A certain amount of the price that is sometimes taken by the facilitator, be it a casino or an online platform. The EasyPoker app does not do this.

Small Blind – A forced bet by the person sitting left of the ‘big blind’ to get the pot going. Typically half the value of the big blind.

Showdown – When all final bets are placed and players show the cards in their hand to determine who’s got the better cards.

Side Pot – If a player doesn’t have enough chips to call a bet or raise, he or she can bet whatever they have left. A side pot is then created, meaning if that players wins they won’t get the full pot, since they didn’t put as many chips on the line.

Split Pot – When two or more players have the same hand after showdown they split the pot since there isn’t a winner.

Tell – An involuntary action that might show if someone is bluffing. For instance if you lean forward or touch your temple (We’ve all seen Casino Royale).

Turn – The fourth community card on the table, drawn and placed face-up after the second betting round.

Poker Slang

Backdoor – When you play a ‘bad’ hand and catch some good cards on the turn and river to make a winning combination.

Bad Beat – When a player wins with a weak hand that most players would say you shouldn’t play. Typically used to describe dumb luck.

Blank – A community card that doesn’t affect any of the hands left in the betting round.

Board – Meaning all the community cards, both the flop, turn and river.

Bullets – A pair of aces in the hand.

Burn – Before drawing the turn and river, the dealer will discard (burn) the top card of the deck. This is to ensure that players won’t have peeked the card to come.

Button – A white chip that usually says ‘dealer’. The button is placed on the table in front of whoever is considered the dealer of the round and of course travels with the role.

Calling Station – A passive player that checks and calls a lot but never really raises or folds.
Generally considered a weak and bad player.

Chip Leader – The player who has the most chips in their stack.

Crack – When a player is dealt a great hand, but is beaten.
“I cracked your pair of aces…”

Dog – Short for underdog.

Draw – A hand that has potential to be good but needs the right community cards.

Maniac – If a player plays very aggressively, constantly betting and raising, this player is calle a maniac.

Nuts – When you’ve been dealt the best possible hand given the community cards.
For instance, if you have a straight after the flop you might say you ‘flopped the nuts’.

Offsuit – When cards are not of the same suit.

Pocket – The two cards you hold in your hand.

Quads – Slang for ‘four of a kind’.

Rainbow – When the board has no more than two cards of the same suit, meaning a flush is not possible.

Rock – A player that plays without creativity and only bets when he/she has good cards.
Generally considered a bad strategy, as it is easy to read.

Set – A set is three of a kind made from the two cards in your hand and just one card from the board.

Slow Play – When you have a great hand but still don’t raise or bet too aggressively, in an effort to lure the other players to stay in the round and not fold their cards.

Stack – The personal amount/pile of chips all players have.

Suited – Cards of the same suit.

Trips – Slang for three of a kind.

Under the Gun – The player who is forced to make the first action of a betting round.

Now go play

Now that you know the basic poker terms and slang, why not put them to use by playing poker with friends? The free EasyPoker app is your digital version of a physical poker set and provides both chips and cards for you and your friends.

Poker is an old game but constantly evolving and growing. We want to keep this glossary fresh and up to date with the newest poker terms and slang, so if you have any additions or feedback please let us know in the comments below.

And if you need a brush up on the rules of poker, check out this post on How To Play Poker.

Virtual Poker Game with Friends

Hosting a virtual poker game with friends is easy.

Whether you’re sitting apart, or in the same room trying to limit physical interaction, the EasyPoker app is perfect – and it’s free to download and play.

Getting started is quick and easy, just follow these 3 steps:

1) Download EasyPoker

EasyPoker is a digital version of the physical poker set you know and love.
The app provides both chips & cards for free and facilitates the entire game – all you and your friends have to do is just play your cards.

2) Create a virtual poker game with friends

EasyPoker lets you create a private poker table with a single tap on your screen.
Each table has a four digit game code, which your friends just type on their phone to join the game. We’ve made it extremely easy to share the game code directly from the app by simply tapping on it and choosing how to send it to friends.

Once everyone is ready and in the game lobby, the host just tap to launch the table.
And that’s it – your virtual poker game with friends is now live.

Here’s a quick video that shows how to get your game going.

3) Talk together while playing

For this to truly be a virtual poker game with friends you of course need to be able to talk together while playing. EasyPoker has a built-in voice chat feature, which works just like a group call. Voice chat is a premium feature and so while everyone at the table can listen in, only EasyPoker+ members can say something. You turn voice chat on and off in the in game settings that you access from the top right corner.

Using a tool like Zoom is of course also a great (and free) way to hang out virtually while playing. Zoom of course has video calls that allow you to see (and maybe read) each other while playing. EasyPoker and Zoom work great together, since EasyPoker is a mobile app meaning you can dedicate your computer to the video call and not have to switch back and forth. Having them separate also allows you to place and frame your computer how you want so we all avoid those awkward video calls starring the bottom of people’s faces and nostrils.

Virtual Poker Game with Friends

Poker is a great game and ideal when you and your friends want to hang out and relax.
With the EasyPoker app, you can have the classic experience of live, face to face poker even when you’re apart.
And in case you or your friends need a brush up on the rules we’ve made quick a guide on How to Play Poker.

If you have an idea for how we might make the experience even better, let us know in the comments below.

Online Poker Fundraiser with EasyPoker

Looking to host an online poker fundraiser?

The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) forces the nonprofit fundraising world to think in new and digital approaches. Social distance is the new norm, and so we all need to adjust and adapt. The EasyPoker app is here to help you. Like a physical poker set, EasyPoker facilitates the game, but with no gambling and exchange of real life money or virtual currencies. You’ll have to manage that outside of the app.
This means that EasyPoker won’t take a cut of any prize money, a so-called ‘rake’ – making it ideal for nonprofit fundraising.

Setting up everything is easy, just follow these simple steps:

1) Download the free EasyPoker app

EasyPoker is free to download and play for both iPhone and Android. Players each use their own phone to play, and so everyone participating in the game will need to have the app downloaded.
Get the app here

2) Sign In

In order to play, you’ll have to create an account and sign in.
Don’t worry though, it’s fast and simple – just sign in using your preferred method. We have this to be able to display player names and show their progress.

3) Create game

Now it’s time to create your game. This is done by tapping the big button that says ‘Create Game’.
You are then taken to a ‘game lobby’, the place all players meet before you launch the game.
If you want, you can edit things like stack, poker style and reaction timer by hitting ‘table settings’ in the bottom of the screen.
Each game of EasyPoker has a unique four digit game code, shown in the bottom of your screen. Share this with everyone you want to have a seat and the table of your game (you can just tab the number and you will get all your most used options for sharing). EasyPoker facilitates games of up to 12 players per table.
If you like, you can tap on each player’s avatar to set an order for your game. This is especially useful if you’re sitting around a table.

Here is a quick video guide of how to get a game going in EasyPoker.

4) Find Game

After signing in to the app, players join your table by hitting ‘Find Game’ and entering your game’s four digit game code. This takes them directly to the game lobby.

5) Play Poker

When you’re ready, launch the game with a single tap on your screen.
The EasyPoker app takes care of everything, and all you need to do is play the cards you’re dealt. Since everything is digital, the app also removes the risk that comes with having players exchange physical cards and chips between them. Ideal for social distancing.

6) Live Stream with Zoom

EasyPoker is a digital substitute for a physical poker set, and as such, it’s ideal for live poker, with players sitting face to face. If you want, you can live stream your online poker fundraiser using a service like Zoom.

In case players aren’t in the same physical room, you can of course have them jump in the Zoom room separately.

Online Poker Fundraiser with EasyPoker

Poker is a great tool for fundraising, and COVID-19 shouldn’t stop your important work. Let the EasyPoker app facilitate your game – allowing you to focus on what you do best; creating a fantastic event and raising money for change.

And in case you need a brush up, check out this simple guide on How to Play Poker.

#1 Product of the Day

At EasyPoker we’re focused on one thing; creating the digital substitute to the silver case poker set.
We want to give you the experience of physical poker, with the convenience of digital poker – allowing you to fire up a game of poker with friends anytime, anywhere. As part of this mission, we recently launched the on Product Hunt.

Take EasyPoker for a Spin

WHAT IS PRODUCT HUNT?

For those of you not familiar with ‘Product Hunt’ it’s a popular website where makers of digital products can upload their work to get feedback, awareness and followers.
Wired describes it as “Tech’s new tastemaker”, and so it’s kind of a big deal – and a great window to showcase your product to the entire tech industry.
Once you launch your project on Product Hunt, the site’s users can read about it, give you feedback and, if they like what they see, upvote it.
Product Hunt has hundreds of new products uploaded every day, and the site picks out a few of these to be ‘featured’.

EasyPoker on Product Hunt

EasyPoker launched on Product Hunt on July 1st and was quickly picked as one of the sites ‘featured’ products. This was of course amazing.
The hunters really seemed to like the app, and users were quick to comment, ask questions and upvote the product. Product Hunt’s featured list is ranked by number of upvotes, and since most attention goes to the top 5 products of the day, we were happy to find ourselves among those five.

It was a great day with a lot of feedback and interaction with users and tech interested people, and by the end of the day, EasyPoker was at the top of the list and awarded the prestigious ‘#1 Product of the Day” badge to flaunt on our website etc – which we proudly do.

What does this mean for EasyPoker?

Being #1 Product of the day on Product Hunt is a great achievement of which we are really proud and honored. Previous products of the day include now big companies like Pokémon GO, Tesla, Slack, Instagram and a bunch of other cool products that we love.

If you follow us, you know that user feedback is something we take very seriously – in fact users pretty much control the priority of our pipeline and direct our focus. This is because we truly want to build this app, not only for, but with our awesome users.

The #1 Product of the day badge from Product Hunt is a stamp of approval more than anything – an acknowledgement for the entire tech world to see. We’ve already been contacted by several tech blogs and media regarding interviews, so look out for that as well.

Thank you all

We cannot thank our users enough for their continued love and support.
We really pour our heart and soul into this app – all day, everyday – working hard to optimize existing features and constantly incorporating awesome new features.
But none of this would be possible if not for the love, help and feedback from our super engaged user base. In the app stores, on social media and on Product Hunt – we see you, and we really appreciate you.

You can check out our Product Hunt campaign here – we’re of course still crazy for upvotes.

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EARLY POSITION

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Middle Position

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Late Position

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As-Nas

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Basic Poker Terms

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Now go play

1) Download EasyPoker

2) Create a virtual poker game with friends

3) Talk together while playing

Virtual Poker Game with Friends

1) Download the free EasyPoker app

2) Sign In

3) Create game

4) Find Game

5) Play Poker

6) Live Stream with Zoom

Online Poker Fundraiser with EasyPoker

Take EasyPoker for a Spin

WHAT IS PRODUCT HUNT?

EasyPoker on Product Hunt

What does this mean for EasyPoker?

Thank you all

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History of Poker