Play Poker

Poker Rules
Poker is a type of card game whereby players gamble on the strength and value of their hands against a standard hand strength hierarchy. The winner of a round either produces the highest hand combination, or becomes the only player remaining in the pot after all other players have folded. There are many variants of poker, but they commonly involve several rounds of betting, a showdown and some also involve community cards.
It is easy to learn to play poker but it takes a lifetime to master it. You just need to know the hand rankings and the keep in mind that best combination of five cards wins.

Betting and Play
The following describes the betting and play for Texas Holden. Check out our comprehensive glossary for definitions on all the terms used in poker. Play always moves clockwise and starts with the players seated after the dealer button. The two players to the left of the 'dealer' must post a big blind and small blind respectively. The blind is a bet that is made without players having seen, or even been dealt their cards. This is done to commence betting and build the pot. Player's hole cards are then dealt, with the player to the left of the big blind opening betting proceedings.

Call, Raise or Fold
At this time, players can call, raise or fold. Play moves clockwise until all players have placed/matched an equal amount into the pot, or have folded. Once play is complete, the community cards are dealt.

Flop
In Texas Holdem three cards are then dealt, face up and players can make their strongest hand using any combination of the community cards and their hole cards. Another round of betting commences.

Check, Raise or Fold
In this round of betting, players can check, raise or fold. Naturally if a player has raised, the following player cannot check, so can either call, raise or fold. After a round of betting another community card is dealt.

Turn
After the forth community card is dealt, another round of betting commences. Players can once again, check, call, raise or fold. After a round of betting is complete a final community card is dealt.

River
After the fifth and final community card is dealt a final round of betting commences. Once again, players can check, call, raise or fold.

Showdown
If, after the final round of betting after the river, there are two or more people left in the pot, all players must declare their hand and show their cards. The player with the strongest hand using the five strongest cards available wins the pot. After the showdown, the cards are collected, the dealer button, big and small blinds move one seating position clockwise and the players now on the big and small blinds must make their forced bets. Then the cards are shuffled and dealt for another hand. If at any time throughout any of the rounds of betting, all players fold leaving only one remaining, then the remaining player wins the pot and does not have to show his/her winning hand.

Players
The number of players in any game of poker ranges from two through to ten. Tournaments can be structured over a multiple number of tables, meaning that the possible number of competitors in a given tournament is virtually unlimited. The world's biggest and best known live poker tournament is the World Series of Poker Main Event, which attracted a record number of 8,772 participants in 2006.

Game Structure
Poker can be played in tournaments or in cash games. Tournaments typically involve a set buy-in and each player begins with the same amount of chips. The buy-in is comprised of an amount that contributes to the overall prizepool and an administrative fee that goes to the casino, pub or online poker room. All players then compete until there is only one player remaining, with the prize money distributed amongst players. For example, in a ten person single table tournament, the prizepool distribution is usually set at 50% for first place, 30% for second and 20% for third. The distribution can vary greatly depending on the tournament being played.

Cash games operate on a single table and continue for as long as there are players seated. Blinds are kept constant. The key feature here is that players can join and leave whenever the desire, making this game structure ideal for players who do not wish to slug it out for hours in a multi-table tournament. Players can bring as little or as much money with them to cash games.

There are also sit-n-go tournaments. These single table tournaments begin as soon as all seats at a table have been filled and finishes when one player remains. This type of game appeals to players who do not wish to play cash games, but do not have the time to play in lengthy multi-table tournaments. In sit-n-go tournaments and multil-table tournaments, the blinds will go up at regular intervals. This is to speed play along, which is especially necessary in large multi-table tournaments.

Betting Limits
Betting limits generally fall into three categories; Fixed Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit. In the first case, a player may only bet a fixed amount every time they raise. Pot Limit betting is capped at the size of the pot, which can grow exponentially depending on the number of bets made. No Limit, as the name implies means that players are free to bet almost any amount. Betting minimums are usually set at the same amount as the big blind. In tournaments, the big blind steadily increase over time, to ensure a result. At a certain point within a given tournament structure, an ante may be introduced. An ante is a blind bet that all players make prior to the cards being dealt for each hand.

Basic rules of chess

Chess is more straightforward than people realize. Two sides, white and black, try to checkmate each other. Play starts with the white player and the players take turns moving one piece at a time until the game ends. The only exception is castling; when a player can move two pieces in one turn.

A player wins when either the opponent concedes or the enemy king is checkmated. Checkmate is when the enemy king is in check and the king cannot escape. The king can escape check by moving to a square not controlled by an enemy piece, by capturing the checking piece, or by blocking the check with a friendly piece. It is important to note that it is illegal for the king to move into check.

The game can end in a draw several different ways, but the two most common ways are for the players to either decide that neither side can win and agree to a draw or for the game to end in stalemate. Stalemate is when one side cannot make any legal moves.

Some of the weird rules:
Castling: This is the only time when two pieces can move in a single turn. Castling is done with the king and rook, and is used to evacuate the king from the center. The king can castle with either rook. To castle, the king moves two squares in the direction he wishes to castle, and the rook is placed on the other side. Now there are a few important restrictions. There can't be any pieces between the king and rook. Additionally, neither the king nor rook can have moved previously. And finally, the king cannot castle through check.

Pawn Promotion: When a pawn reaches the other side of the board, it can "promote" and become any other piece. Players generally promote to the best piece, the queen. Polygamy is allowed. I don't understand how all of this fits into the chess as war metaphor, but it's a good thing when you can promote your pawns.

En Passant: Meaning "in passing," en passant is used when you have a pawn on the fifth rank and an enemy pawn tries to move two squares past your pawn. Using en passant you are actually allowed to capture the cowardly pawn.

Football

Match set-up
Football is a timed sport. The team with the most points at the end of the time period wins the game. The game is divided up into 4 periods or quarters with a long "half time" between the second and third quarter. Time is counted while plays are running and sometimes between plays. To keep the game going at a good pace the offense has a limited time between plays.

Football Players
The rules in football allow each team to have 11 players on the field at a time. Teams may substitute players between plays with no restrictions. Each team must start a play on their side of the ball.
The defensive players may take any position they want and can move about their side of the football prior to the play without restriction. There are certain defensive positions that have become common over time, there are no specific rules defining defensive positions or roles.
The offensive players, however, have several rules that define their position and what role they may take in the offense. Seven offensive players must be lined up on the line of scrimmage. The other four players must be lined up at least one yard behind the line of scrimmage. All of the offensive football players must be set, or still, prior to the play beginning with the exception of one of the 4 backs which may be moving parallel or away from the line of scrimmage. Further rules say that only the 4 backs and the players at each end of the line of scrimmage may catch a pass or run the football.

Now Play Football
The team with the possession of the football is called the offense. The offense tries to advance the football on plays. The defense tries to prevent the offense from scoring or advancing the football. The down system: The offense must advance the ball at least 10 yards every four plays or downs. Each time the offense is successful in advancing the ball 10 yards, they get four more downs or what is called a "first down". In order to keep the other team from getting good field position the offense can punt the ball to the other team intentionally. Offensive plays on downs start with a snap. This is when the center passes the football between their legs to one of the offensive backs. The ball is advanced either by running with the football or passing the football. The football play is over when 1) the player with the football is tackled or goes out of bounds 2) an incomplete pass 3) there is a score.

Golf

Golf was supposed to have been invented in Scotland some 400 years ago, where each player has to hit his own small ball into a hole using various types of clubs. The club is swung at the motionless ball on the ground from a side-stance. Score is kept with the smallest score being the best.

Golf is thought to have come from the Dutch word ‘kolf' meaning a club. It is defined in the Rules of Golf as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules." A favorite theory is that golf was started by bored shepherds knocking stones around with bent sticks. Its popularity was hampered in the early years by requiring close-cropped grass. The lawnmower was not invented until 1831 and not really practical until the machine-tool industry was able to cut steel gears c. 1880's.

Golf is most commonly played on courses consisting of 18 holes, usually consisting of 4 par threes, 4 par fives and 10 par fours. The term par being the number of strokes required by a good golfer to get the ball from the ‘teeing ground' or ‘tee box' into the hole. To enable players of all levels to compete there is a handicap system whereby a lesser golfer is given ‘shots', the fewer shots one has the better golfer one is. The maximum handicap allowable for competitions is 28 for men and 36 for women. Some golfers will be rated with a plus handicap which means that they must add their plus handicaps to their final scores when playing against amateurs.

Golf club is a term for an organization of members usually owning a golf course and clubhouse. Golf club is also the term used to describe the ‘tools' used by golfers to get the ball from the tee, using a tee peg to sit the ball above the ground, along the fairway and onto the green.

Golf has a wonderful history spanning over 400 years of funny names and interesting definitions. From the archaic terms of the Scotts to modern colloquialism, the most common are Birdie, getting the ball into the hole in one stroke less than par. Eagle, getting the ball into the hole in two strokes less than par. Albatross, getting the ball into the hole in three strokes less than par.

Baseball Rules

Baseball teams consist of nine players and these players take turns fielding and at batting, with the home team batting second.

An inning consists of batters from each team taking their turn at batting until three batters are out. A game lasts for nine innings, but is extended into extra innings if the scores are level.

The fielding side consists of a pitcher, catcher, four infielders, and three outfielders.

The pitcher throws overhand, using a variety of deliveries from a raised mound to the home plate - a distance of 60.5ft.

An opposing batter attempts to hit the pitches and then get on base, while the fielders attempt to get the batter out through various plays.

A batter who misses three legitimate pitches, or fails to swing at three judged hittable by the umpire, is out on strikes. However, if the pitcher throws four pitches outside the strike zone, the batter obtains a base on balls, and gets a walk to first base.

A run is scored every time a batter becomes a runner and crosses home plate after touching each base in the prescribed order.

When the fielding team gets their opponents' three batters out, the teams swap roles.

If the score is level after nine innings, play continues into extra innings until one team has scored more than the other in an equal number of turns at bat.

Play Disk Golf

1. Disc golf is a sport that has grown very popular since its invention in the late 60's. George Sappenfield, a Californian, realized that golf would be a lot of fun if played with frisbees, so he set up a course of targets for kids to play on. A year later Sappenfield introduced the game to many other frisbee players. Many of them brought the game back to the U.C. Berkeley. Meanwhile on the East coast standardized targets were created and the game became more serious.

2. Find a disc golf course near you to play on. A good source for this is the course locater in the External Links section.

3. Get yourself a set of discs. An initial set usually consists of a Driver, a Mid-range and a Putter. Getting these can be done several ways. There are a few select courses that have pro shops, some that even rent discs. However, this is the exception and not the rule, so it is advised to find a local retailer or purchase online. A good way to do this is on the Innova Discs website or Discraft or any of the retailers linked in the External Links section.

4. It helps to go out to the course you are going to play a few minutes before your "tee-off" time so you can walk the course and get an idea of the targets locations, this will make your game easier as you won't have to scout for them as you play.

5. You'll find most courses have no greens fee so you can play as much as you desire all for the price of any lost discs, which WILL happen eventually.

Warnings
1. Your arm will get tired! To prevent this you can play the first few times on only the top or bottom 9 holes and take breaks to rest your arm.

2. You will lose discs! This is a fact that every disc golfer must deal with. To minimize this buy brightly colored discs and keep track of the flight path of your discs.

3. Avoid throwing your discs into trees as they will become stuck and dense plants as they are hard to find even if brightly colored.

4. Avoid throwing your disc onto pavement or any other hard surface as this will warp the plastic causing erratic flight.

5. Do not store your discs in a high temperature area as this will also warp the plastic causing erratic flight.

Tennis

Tennis Rules
A. The player who delivers the ball to start the point is called the server. The player who stands opposite and cross-court from the server is the receiver.

B. The right to serve, receive, choose your side, or give the opponent these choices is decided by a toss of a coin or racquet. If the choice of service or receiver is chosen, the opponent chooses which side to start.

C. The server shall stand behind the baseline on the deuce court within the boundaries of the singles court when playing singles and within the doubles sideline when playing doubles. All even points are played from the deuce court and odd number points played from the advantage court.
D. The receiver is deemed ready if an attempt is made to return the server's ball. The receiver can stand where he likes but must let the ball bounce in the service box. If the ball does not land in the service box, it is deemed a fault and a second serve is given.

E. The server always calls his score first. If the server wins the first point, he gets a score of 15. Scoring is done like a clock. The second point is called 30. The third point is called 45 and game is won when the score goes back to love. If the score is 40-40, one side must win by two points.

F. After the game, the opponents serve. The first to win 6 games, by two, wins the set. The first to win 2 sets wins the match. If the score is 6-6, a tie-breaker is played. The first team to score 7 points winning by two wins the set. The tiebreaker continues until one side wins by two.

G. If the ball goes into the net, or outside the boundaries of the court, the player who hit that ball loses the point. If the ball hits the net during the point and goes into the opponents’ court, the ball is in play.

H. A let is called during the point if a ball rolls on the court or there is a distraction from someone besides the players on the court.

I. A ball that lands on the line is good.

J. If players serve out of turn or serve to the wrong person or court, the point or game will stand and order will be resumed following the point or game.