I’ve been invited to a poker game in a week and a bit, so I decided to learn how to play Texas Holdem Poker. Mitchell’s playing on holdempoker.com at the moment, and the interface seems nice, so I decided to log on and have a go. It’s an interesting game, based on the fact that you get two “hole” cards which are your own, and then there’s five cards that gradually come out on the table, once they are all out, then you make your hand. I had a look at the holdempoker.com tutorial, and some other tutorials at about.com. They’ve got some basic info on how the game works, some tips on the strategy while playing holdem, and a page on what hands beat what in poker rules.
It’s an interesting game, I’ll keep playing with the free “play” money for a while and see how I go. There’s also the option to play with real money, which if I get good enough, and confident in how I’m going, I might start doing. I’m not a big fan of losing money when there’s no reason, so when I gamble, I stay with small amounts, and that’s what I’ll do if I ever actually start playing.
For now, I’ll just play with my friends whenever we’re online together, and when they’re not, I’ll just practise my skills and see how I go. It’s a java-based interface, so I can play it on my linux machine, and it has a really nice interface with great graphics and an easy-to-use feel to it. Web programmers take note - the porn industry brought us multi-angle DVD’s, maybe the online gambling industry will bring us nice java program interfaces. 😛