Poker table

Last updated
A card table made about 1800 by New Englander Elisha Tucker. American card table made by Elisha Tucker, c. 1800-1815, mahogany, HAA.JPG
A card table made about 1800 by New Englander Elisha Tucker.
Poker table at the 2004 World Poker Tour at the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Poker Table.jpg
Poker table at the 2004 World Poker Tour at the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

A poker table or card table is a table specifically designed for playing card games.

Contents

Traditional card tables

The card table arose around 1700 as card games became wildly popular in Europe. [1] [2] The manufacture of card tables as fine home furniture lasted to the middle of the 1800s. [1] [2] Card tables made in this era often had a folding top, which enabled them to serve as pier tables, console tables, or end tables when not in use. Styles ranged from simple to elaborate, with higher-end card tables featuring inlaid wood or stone, extensive delicate carvings, and expensive veneers. Some even had indentations carved into the playing surface to hold playing tokens, and slots around the rim which served as candle-holders. [1] Semicircular (or "D" or "half-round") tables 36 inches (91 cm) in diameter (when opened) were the most popular card table in both North America and Europe. [3]

Typical American card tables from the late colonial and early American periods feature simple, straight lines, an ovolo corner, and square-tapered legs. [4] Furniture makers in New York often created card tables with a fifth leg (to support the opened top) hinged to the rear of the table, long reeded legs with swelled feet that end in cylinders, and veneered sides and crossbanded edges around the leaves and table. [5]

Modern poker tables

The modern poker table is a form of card table which is often covered with baize (a type of felt) or speed cloth (a Teflon-coated fabric) to help the cards slide easily across the surface. It is either an actual table or a fold-out tabletop surface. Those used in professional televised poker feature "pocketcams" which can view a player's pocket, or hole cards. Such tables are usually fairly oval-shaped, with the players sitting around a curve of the table with a dealer facing them in an indented area of the table made specifically for the dealer. In amateur poker, tables are often oval, round or octagonal, using a rotating dealer position. The edge of the table is usually padded and raised slightly for the players to rest their arms, and this section is called the "rail". There is often a section of wood between the rail and the playing surface; this is called the "race track" and often features cup holders as well. The center of the table often features an image, usually the name or logo of the casino or house where the game is being played.

Related Research Articles

Card game Game using playing cards as the primary device

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.

Poker Family of card games

Poker is any of a number of card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules in ways similar to these rankings. Often using a standard deck, poker games vary in deck configuration, the number of cards in play, the number dealt face up or face down, and the number shared by all players, but all have rules that involve one or more rounds of betting.

Pai gow poker is a version of pai gow that is played with playing cards, instead of traditional pai gow's Chinese dominoes. The game of pai gow poker was created in 1985 in the United States by Sam Torosian, owner of the Bell Card Club.

Betting in poker

In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, and small variations in etiquette exist between cardrooms, but for the most part the following rules and protocol are observed by the majority of poker players.

Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Two to eight players is common, though eight may require special rules for the last cards dealt if no players fold. With experienced players who fold often, even playing with nine players is possible.

Texas hold em Variation of the card game of poker

Texas hold 'em is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. Each player seeks the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards; the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot. In certain situations, a "split-pot" or "tie" can occur when two players have hands of equivalent value. This is also called a "chop-pot".

Cheating in poker

Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules that is intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players.

Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.

Caribbean stud poker, also called casino stud poker, is a casino table game with rules derived from five-card stud poker. However, unlike standard poker games, Caribbean stud is played against the house rather than against other players. There is no bluffing or other deception.

Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low. It is one of the oldest forms of poker, and has been played since the start of the 20th Century. It emerged around the time people started using the 52-card deck instead of 20 for poker.

Table (furniture) Piece of furniture with a flat top

A table is an item of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, used as a surface for working at, eating from or on which to place things. Some common types of table are the dining room table, which is used for seated persons to eat meals; the coffee table, which is a low table used in living rooms to display items or serve refreshments; and the bedside table, which is used to place an alarm clock and a lamp. There are also a range of specialized types of tables, such as drafting tables, used for doing architectural drawings, and sewing tables.

Badugi

Badugi is a draw poker variant similar to triple draw, with hand-values similar to lowball. The betting structure and overall play of the game is identical to a standard poker game using blinds, but, unlike traditional poker which involves a minimum of five cards, players' hands contain only four cards at any one time. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to four cards from their hands for new ones from the deck, in an attempt to form the best badugi hand and win the pot. Badugi is an often gambling game, with the object being to win money in the form of pots. The winner of the pot is the person with the best badugi hand at the conclusion of play. Badugi is played in cardrooms around the world, as well as online, in rooms such as PokerStars. Although it doesn't have its own tournament per se at the WSOP, it is featured in the Dealers Choice events as well as in the Triple Draw Mix.

Poker dealer

A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a poker table.

Mucking is the discarding of cards in card games. Depending on the game, it may be a regular part of play or it may be considered cheating.

Teen patti is a gambling card game that originated in the Indian subcontinent and is popular throughout South Asia. It originated in the English game of three-card brag, with influences from poker. It is also called flush or flash in some areas.

In card games, hole carding is the obtaining of knowledge of cards that are supposed to be hidden from view. The term is usually applied to blackjack but can apply to other games with hidden hole cards, like three card poker and Caribbean stud poker. So long as it does not involve the use of a device like a mirror or actions like touching the dealer's cards, in most jurisdictions hole carding is a legal form of advantage gambling in casino table games. In other games, like stud poker, casinos normally have rules against rubbernecking or having a confederate stand behind an opponent to signal hole cards.

A folding table is a type of folding furniture, a table with legs that fold up against the table top. This is intended to make storage more convenient and to make the table more portable. Many folding tables are made of lightweight materials to further increase portability.

The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.

Draw poker is any poker variant in which each player is dealt a complete hand before the first betting round, and then develops the hand for later rounds by replacing, or "drawing", cards.

Commerce is an 18th-century gambling French card game akin to Thirty-one and perhaps ancestral to Whisky Poker and Bastard Brag. It aggregates a variety of games with the same game mechanics. Trade and Barter, the English equivalent, has the same combinations, but a different way of acquiring them. Trentuno, Trent-et-Uno, applies basically to the same method of play, but also has slightly different combinations. Its rules are recorded as early as 1769.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Landon 1991, p. 30.
  2. 1 2 Taylor & Warren 2012, p. 184.
  3. Zimmerman, Butler & Hutchins 2004, p. 53.
  4. Zimmerman, Butler & Hutchins 2004, p. 54.
  5. Zimmerman, Butler & Hutchins 2004, p. 55.

Bibliography