Poker Tutorial For Beginners

Do you love playing poker but want to try a new game? If so, I have a gamefor you: Mexican stud poker.

Mexican stud poker is a variant of regular stud poker in which you can chooseto reveal cards to your opponents as you bet.

• Poker’s most famous hand, a royal flush cannot be beaten. It consists of the ace, king.
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That aspect (only choosing to reveal some cards) gives Mexican stud poker afar different dynamic than a lot of poker games. In fact, the feel of the gameis closer to strategy games than poker, but that’s part of what makes it sogreat.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with games likeTexas hold’em,draw or stud, but sometimes, change can be good. In that case, I recommendMexican stud poker.

Poker is a game of strategy. You'll need to constantly read the other players to decide when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to bluff, and when to call s. Poker Beginners Guide: Welcome! This is the most complete and user friendly beginners guide available on the internet. It requires no previous poker knowledge and will take you to a level where you can sit down at a poker table.

If that sounds like something you might want to try, then read on in thisMexican stud poker tutorial for beginners.

If you have played regular stud poker, a lot of Mexican stud poker will feelpretty familiar (if not a little odd with a few extra little bits added forcomplexity). If you are coming to Mexican stud poker with no previous stud pokerexperience, then this game may seem more than a little strange.

First, like regular stud poker, there are no community cards. Each playerwill make the best hand possible from the five unique cards that are dealt tothem. With a few exceptions mentioned below, hand strengths follow the standardstrengths from basic poker.

However, and again, we’ll get into this more in a moment, while there are nocommunity cards, you will know four of your opponents’ five cards, and they, inturn, will know four of yours. That makes the betting interesting and will taxyour ability to hide your single down card.

With that said, let’s cover the basics of Mexican stud poker.

Mexican Stud Poker Deck

In some poker rooms, Mexican stud poker uses a normal deck of 53 cards and asingle joker. If so, hand strengths are the same for all poker games.

However, the more common Mexican stud deck removes the 8s, 9s, and 10s fromthe deck while still adding a single joker, making the deck 41 cards. The goodnews is that straights can jump from a 6 to jack, but it also means that flushesare hard to get. Because of this, a flush and a full house are consideredequally strong.

Once you get into the math, having a smaller initial deck size candrastically change the probabilities of getting certain hands. However, untilyou get to be a Mexican stud poker genius, you need not worry about the drawpossibilities. Instead, keep in mind the deck size so you know how to rate thestrength of your hand.

Before a hand, each player makes a small ante into the pot. Then each playeris dealt two cards — one face up and one face down. (Note: in some variants,both cards are dealt face down, and the player chooses to flip one up.)

Betting begins with the player who has the highest hand going clockwise fromthe dealer. However, the player with the lowest card is not permitted to checkor fold. This ensures that someone will bet during the round.

This is important to keep in mind because it means that pots will have atendency to grow in Mexican stud poker. Make sure you plan your chip stacksaccordingly and expect big swings as pots are taken down and picked up.

After the first round of betting, players are given the option of flipping uptheir down card. If they do, the next card is dealt face down. If not, the cardis dealt face up so that each player has one (and only one) face down card.After each card is dealt, betting begins again as above (highest card first)until each player has five total cards and has bet.

The Joker

There’s one other thing that you need to know when you play Mexican studpoker: the joker is wild. Sort of.

If you are dealt the joker in a facedown position, as long as it stays facedown, that joker is wild. It can be any card for the purposes of completing ahand. That’s a very good thing.

However, if a joker is ever turned or dealt face up, the joker loses itswildness. Instead, it is considered an ace (and only an ace) for the purposes ofdetermining hand strength. Therefore, whenever possible, jokers should be keptface down unless you need an ace for determining if and when to bet.

The origins of Mexican stud poker are a little shrouded. Even Wikipedia,which tends to trace card games back thousands of years, has little to say abouthow the game began.

With that said, as a variant, Mexican stud poker has been played for severalyears in Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, this is different than severalgames that carry the name “Mexican” in that the game actually has its roots inLatin soil.

These roots may also be the reason why the game is called stud loco (crazystud), which, in my opinion, is a much, much better name.

Is Mexican Stud Poker Played in Casinos or Card Houses?

According to one source, even though the game got its start in Mexico andCentral America, if you are interested in Mexican stud poker, you may need tohead to California. You can always check and see if Mexican stud poker is playedlocally (or put together your own poker night), but if that doesn’t pan out,head to Petaluma, CA.

There, you will find the 101 Casino, which features a lot of Mexican studpoker action. There are also other casinos in the area which feature Mexicanstud poker, too.

Finally, Wikipedia mentions that Casino San Pablo (a Native American gamblinghall) also plays Mexican stud poker (with the stripped down 41 card deck).However, this information could not be verified on the casino’s website.

In general, you will either love or hate Mexican stud poker based on how youfeel about playing with cards face up and deciding which cards to flip. If youlike that kind of decision making, this is your game.

If you find that too fiddly to be fun, regular stud poker might be more yourspeed. (And no judgements either way. Not every game is for every person.)

With that said, if you want to beat your opponents at this game, you havethree skills you really need to master: information management, deciding how tobet, and guessing your opponents’ hands.

First, “information management” could almost just be called bluffing becausewhat you are really trying to do is limit the amount of data your opponents haveon your face down card, and misdirection is a good way to do that.

To prevent your opponents from knowing what you have, you can always bet likeyou have a much stronger or weaker card than you do. You can also flip yourfacedown card later in the hand (thereby giving your opponents less of a chanceto guess what you have). Most importantly, if you have that joker in your hole,bet like you don’t.

When you don’t have the joker, bet like you do.

Next, you need to determine how to bet. This goes beyond just bluffing asMexican stud poker pretty much guarantees you will be throwing chips in the potat least twice (once when you ante and at least once per round).

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This means unlike other games where everyone checking can be a realpossibility, you are going to have to decide to call, fold, or raise a lot moreoften. You will have to manage your stack and be mindful about your bets.

In fact, the general philosophy in betting Mexican stud is to playdefensively and rarely go for the big bets. Therefore, be ready to slow play andbet a little bit at a time as you will have plenty of time to grow a pot overthe course of the game.

Finally, as you play more (or if you have a head for figures), be ready tolearn new probability math. Because Mexican stud poker is played with a smallerdeck size, the probability of pairs, flushes, full houses, wins, and losses areall dramatically different.

Going from 53 cards to 41 alone cuts out about 400 starting hands and makessome easier hands (like a flush) much harder. Learn those combos to win.

Conclusion

Mexican stud poker is a unique stud variant. Its rules around card flippingmake it vastly different from just about every other game out there. With thatsaid, it’s also a lot of fun and very lucrative form of poker if you are willingto master it.

Poker can be a challenging game to play. It requires focus, confidence, and the ability to read people, but it can be overwhelming for new players—you’ll have a lot more fun playing if you know the ins and outs of how to play poker and nail down the basics.

Because there are so many different forms of poker, I’m only going to cover the absolute basics, but I’m also going to give you tips that will just help you become a better player generally and not quit before you get a chance to experience this awesome game in depth.

Now whether you win money playing poker or not is up to you—you get out what you put in—so if you really want to win a lot of money in poker and compete with the big boys, you have to put in a lot of time and effort (beyond just learning the basics).

If you’re still reading, I’m willing to bet that you’re serious about learning this incredible game, so keep in mind that while some of these tips will only be usable in in-person poker games, some of these tips will be usable against machines or in-person—either one.

1- Learn The Hand Rankings

Poker hand rankings indicate which possible poker hands have the most value, and to do that, you’ll need to understand how the cards themselves are ranked.

Here’s that ranking from lowest to highest:

1. Two
2. Three
3. Four
4. Five
5. Six
6. Seven
7. Eight
8. Nine
9. Ten
10. Jack
11. Queen
12. King
13. Ace

Cards also come in different suits:

• Hearts
• Clubs
• Diamonds
• Spades

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Hands are created out of combinations of cards and suits. Here they are in order from least valuable to most valuable:

1. High card (the highest card in your hand)
2. Pair (two 2s, two aces, two kings etc)
3. Two pair (a pair of 2s and a pair of 4s for example)
4. Three of a kind (three 7s, three kings)
5. Straight (five cards in a sequence regardless of suit, so 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 10, jack, king, queen, ace)
6. Flush (five cards in the same suit regardless of sequence, so 2, 7, 10, ace, 3 of hearts for example)
7. Full house (a pair and a three of a kind, so 2 kings and 3 aces)
8. Four of a kind (four aces, four 3s etc)
9. Straight flush (five cards in the same sequence and suit, so 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 all hearts)
10. Five of a kind (five aces, five jacks—this usually requires your deck to have a joker in it—the joker is a wild card and can be any card you choose)

Whoever has the best hand wins.

You need to have these hands memorized if you’re playing poker so that you’ll know how you’re actually faring as you play, but don’t worry—it’s easier to memorize than you think.

Pairs are the least valuable thing. Another thing to remember is that a pair of 2’s is less valuable than a pair of 3’s. The pairs move up in value as the numbers get bigger. The most valuable pair you can hold is a pair of aces. So a pair of aces will beat any other pair. But a pair of aces will lose to three of a kind, even if the three of a kind is all 2’s.

Generally, the more cards that match in a hand, the more valuable that hand will be. So if only 2 cards match in a hand, it’s not very valuable. But if all 5 cards in a hand match, for example in a royal flush (10, jack, king, queen, ace, all the same suit), it’s very valuable. So remember that the fuller your hand is, the more value it will probably has.

Also remember that the higher number each of your cards is, the more value it will have. Ideally, you will have a hand of higher value cards that is full. Having 4 kings is a great hand. A straight flush from 10 to ace is also a great hand. But a pair of twos won’t win you many games.

You’ll find it easier to memorize the poker hand rankings once you’re playing. Try to remember the methods I’ve told you for remembering the rankings and you’ll catch on faster.

2- Start with Small Amounts of Money

I know we all see the superstars of Poker on TV playing high stakes with millions of dollars at stake—most players want to jump right in and be a superstar of Poker immediately. Unfortunately, we can’t all do that. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have a million dollars to lose.

Try to resist the temptation to start playing poker gambling for high stakes off the bat. You’ll win more money if you gambe for extremely high stakes, but you’ll also lose more money. There’s no reason to rush into playing the game.

Part of this reason I suggest starting off with low amounts of money has to do with tip #1. Tip #1 suggest learning all the possible combinations of hands before you begin playing. Playing with low stakes helps you accomplish tips #1 and #2 at the same time. I also feel it’s easier to learn the layout of all the poker hands in real games. It’s more fun to actually play poker than it is to memorize a bunch of spreadsheets.

If you spend time playing low stakes games, you’ll find you’ve learned all the poker hands and which ones are more valuable quickly and easily. Then, once you’ve learned them all, you’ll be able to move up to higher stakes games.

Another reason to start with low stakes games is that it’ll simply be less stressful. If you’re playing for small amounts of money, you won’t be as concerned about losing than if you are playing for $10 or $100 hands. Play with low stakes until you become more comfortable with the game.

3- Stay in Good Shape and Rest Well

Poker is a mental game, so if your mental state is bad when you’re playing it, your game will suffer. Take care of yourself when you play poker so you can put your best self on the table.

Humans can only take so much turmoil—if you’re drinking or tired, you’ll make mistakes that could cost you a lot of money.

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People also can get stuck in patterns. If you make it a habit to play poker on weekends after a long work week, you’ll get used to playing poker tired. If you’re always drinking before or while playing poker, you won’t be the best poker player you can be. If you want to make money playing poker, you need to take resting seriously.

Make a ritual out of how you play poker. Play it on the same day every week, and make sure you get lots of rest beforehand. Eat healthy every day, and your body will be in better condition, allowing you to play at a higher level. Even working out regularly can keep you mentally fit and make you a more competitive poker player.

You may think it’s silly to stress how important this is, but it has a real impact on your game. Why take all the time to study poker and become professional if you’re not going to put your body in the best position to play the game?

4- Learn Odds

Odds are that you already know what poker odds are (see what I did there). But you need to learn as much about poker odds as possible if you want to make a lot of money playing poker.

Let’s start with pot odds. Pot odds are a concept that helps you understand if it’s worth your time to continue with your hand.

In most poker games, there’s a pot (the chips that everyone has bet so far) and a series of cards that are drawn during each round of betting. Not all poker games have this, but many do. When you get your initial cards, you may not yet have a good hand, but you may be able to create a good hand with the cards that are coming.

When you don’t quite have the hand you want, you need to calculate the odds that you’ll get the hand you want.

This list shows common Texas Hold Em Hands and how many cards you need to improve your hand. Here are a few different types of incomplete hands:

• Gut-shot (you need one card to create a straight, but you’re missing a card in the middle. Your hand might be 2, 3, 5, 6)—4 outs (an “out” is the card you need to get to complete your hand)
• Open-ended straight draw (you need one card to create a straight, but you’re missing a card on the outside. Your hand might be 2, 3, 4, 5)—8 outs
• Flush draw (you need one card to create a flush, but you’re missing a card of the right suit. You might have 4 hearts in your hand)—9 outs
• Flush draw & gut-shot (you need one card to create a flush or a straight, but you’re missing a card in the middle and a card of the right suit. Your hand might be 2, 3, 5, 6 all spades)—12 outs
• Straight flush draw (you need one card to create a straight or a flush, but you’re missing a card in on the outside of the straight, and you’re missing a card of the right suit. Your hand might be 2, 3, 4, 5 all clubs)—15 outs

Multiply the outs by two to find your odds of hitting the hand by the next card and multiply them by 4 to find the odds of getting the cards in the next two hands.

This tip is also related to tip # 2. If you start with low money, you’ll have a lot of chances to learn exactly how odds work without losing a lot of money. Play at low stakes until you fully understand odds.

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Conclusion

Poker can be a challenging-yet-fun game to play. If you’re spending some time in Las Vegas, Oklahoma, Atlantic City, or any other place where gambling is legal, you’ll probably want to play poker. You can even play poker online—you just don’t want to be the one losing money at the table.

If you play with low stakes, learn hand rankings, stay in good shape, and learn the outs, you’ll be on your way to making lots of money playing poker.

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What tips do you have for a new poker player? Let us know in the comments!