Last Update on February 24, 2014 // Written by Hank No Comments

Every guy wants to know how to play poker. I think that’s a relatively safe statement to make. Poker isn’t just a game, it’s a style, and it carries with it both kudos and class. Play it well, and you’re Brad Pitt in Ocean’s 11; cool, sophisticated, an enigma. Play it badly and you’re a social outcast, the guy at the table who is given pity invites to Poker Nights merely to fill up the numbers. How to Learn to Play? If you Google it, there are thousands - if not millions -  of guides, books and tutorial videos that promise to teach you how to play poker, so you won’t be short of resource material. However, the plethora of material available can actually be pretty daunting, so I have included my own, personal recommendation. I used the video below recently to learn in preparation for a Bachelor party to…Las Vegas! The party itself was more The Hangover than Ocean’s 11, but, needless-to-say, I didn’t want to arrive at the gambling mecca ill-prepared, so I invested a little time into learning and honing my game beforehand. Why This Video? Firstly, I like it because it really is for beginners. There was no assumption I knew poker terms, such as “fold” and “blinds”, and I didn’t feel like an idiot for not knowing these already. It also explains very simply how cards (“hands”) are ranked, explaining the expressions I’d heard (mainly from films and TV!) but was vague on their meaning, for example, “straight”, “full house”, “royal flush”, etcetera. Secondly, I like the graphics of the video. Explaining the ranking of the cards was simplified with pictures and labels in chart form. Furthermore, the graphics used in this video made it easy to follow the instructions for betting and understanding how to use your hand and the “community card” effectively. I can’t declare how much I won or lost during the Bachelor party, as what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (and my wife would kill me), but I was definitely glad I’d mastered the basics beforehand. This post is sponsored by Spreaditfast        

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