FAQ The World Series of Poker GameCube The Return of Raken Version 1.00 linkarrow1@mail.com PROOFREAD Table of Contents .I: Copyright Information. .II: Introduction. .III: Version History. .IV: Controls. .V: Menus. .VI: Tips and Tricks. VI-1: General Tips VI-2: Texas Hold 'Em VI-3: Omaha Hold 'Em VI-4: Omaha Hi-Low Split VI-5: Seven Card Stud VI-6: Seven Card Hi-Low Split VI-7: Razz (Seven Card Lowball) .VII: Career Mode. .VIII: Collector Chips. .IX: Questions You Might Ask. .X: List of People. .XI: Challenges. .XII: Credits. .XIII: Conclusion. --- .I: Copyright Information. This guide is (c) 2005-2006. No part of this guide may be reproduced or reformatted without prior written permission from the author, myself. It may not be used for profitable purposes, such as magazines, books, etc.. It may only be used on www.gamefaqs.com. All rights reserved. --- .II: Introduction. Hey, there, and welcome to my guide for the World Series of Poker video game. Not only will this game guide you through the menus and paths of this game, including Career Mode, but I will also give you some tips on the game of poker in general, specifically on Texas Hold 'Em, the most popular kind. This guide will be for the GameCube version of this game; the only place that matters is the controls, but, still. This is a great game for people who want to get into poker, and also learn different kinds of poker. It's very exciting, and you feel very nervous playing, especially when there's a lot on the line. I hope you enjoy the guide! --- .III: Version History. 1.00: The initial release of this guide. I'm pretty sure it has everything I'll be needing to put in it, but I may be wrong. --- .IV: Controls. MENU CONTROLS A Button: Confirm a selection/go forward a screen. B Button: Cancel a selection/go backward a screen. C-Stick: Scroll the cursor. Control Pad: Scroll the cursor. Control Stick: Scroll the cursor. L Button: Rotate your Career Player. R Button: Rotate your Career Player. Start/Pause: Unpause from the menu. X Button: Switch to uppercase or lowercase letters when entering your name. Y Button: Delete a letter when entering your name. Z Button: Not used. GAME CONTROLS A Button: Confirm a selection. Fast Forward so you don't have to watch every little detail of the hand. You can only fast forward when it's not your turn. B Button: Not used. C-Stick: Choose what to do. Down: Fold Left: Call/Check Up: All In Right: Raise Control Pad: Choose what to do (directional controls are the same as the C-Stick). Control Stick: Choose what to do (again, same as the Control Pad and the C-Stick). L Button: Hold down and you can see the Game Status. What that displays will be covered in the Menus Section. R Button: Hold down and you can see the value of poker hands. Start/Pause: Pause the game. X Button: Not used. Y Button: Not used. Z Button: Not used. --- .V: Menus. When you first load up the game, you'll be taken through a few cut- scene type things showing Activision, Left Field Productions, The World Series of Poker, and then an exciting cut-scene. After that, it loads, and you're at the Main Menu. Here, you have five choices. Quickplay: Get going in a poker game quickly. Career: Start a career and see how many WSOP bracelets you can win in 10 years. Load: Load a specific player's data. Save: Save the currently loaded data. Options: Adjust some stuff. QUICKPLAY Here, you'll have three to five options. Quickplay Texas Hold 'Em: This immediately launches you into a game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. Custom Game: Set up your own game with whatever kind of poker you want, and a lot of other options too. Custom Tournament: Set up your own tournament with whatever kind of poker you want, and a lot of other options too. Continue Custom Game: Continue a custom game that you couldn't quite finish. Continue Custom Tournament: Continue a custom tournament that you couldn't quite finish. CUSTOM GAME Here's the menu for that. TYPE OF POKER: Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Hi-Low, Razz LIMIT: Limit, Pot Limit, No Limit CHIPS: The chips everybody starts with; lots of amounts that go as high as $25,000 and as low as $100 ANTE: The amount everybody must put in before the hand starts; should be low, can be $0 BLINDS: Only for Hold 'Em games, this incurs a certain amount of money from two specific players (explained more in the Tips and Tricks section) that must be put in before the hand starts; should be somewhat higher then Ante, but not very high LIMITS: For a limit game, what is the maximum raise that a player can make; should be fairly low if you want a tight game, medium if you want a medium game, high if you want a loose game NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-9 PLAYERS: All Pros, No Pros, Random Then you just select where you're playing. That might not be in the correct order, but I'm pretty sure it's got all the information. CUSTOM TOURNAMENT Here's the menu for that. TYPE OF POKER: Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Hi-Low, Razz LIMIT: Limit, Pot Limit, No Limit CHIPS: The chips everybody starts with; lots of amounts that go as high as $25,000 and as low as $100 ANTE: The amount everybody must put in before the hand starts; should be low, can be $0 BLINDS: Only for Hold 'Em games, this incurs a certain amount of money from two specific players (explained more in the Tips and Tricks section) that must be put in before the hand starts; should be somewhat higher then Ante, but not very high LIMITS: For a limit game, what is the maximum raise that a player can make; should be fairly low if you want a tight game, medium if you want a medium game, high if you want a loose game NUMBER OF TABLES: This goes pretty high PLAYERS: All Pros, No Pros, Random Then you just select where you're playing. When continuing a game or tournament, it just puts you right where you left off. When you're done doing things, you can save your data, and then a friend, sibling, or whatever, can create a new file and start games and tournaments without disrupting yours at all! How about Career Mode? When you start your Career...remember, this is the Menus section. There are six options. WSOP Events: The World Series of Poker events; win one of these, and not only will you gain some money, but you'll win a bracelet. Invitational Events: All pros, although knocking one out in this doesn't give you their Collector Chip; you have to do that in WSOP events. These unlock new areas for you to play, and Collector Chips of their own. Awards & Stats: Check all your bracelets, your collector chips, and your specific statistics (say that five times FAST; don't stumble over statistics, cheaters) for your career and for the current year. Custom Player: Edit your player's appearance, clothing, even voice! This is the thing you should first go into when starting a new Career. You can change your name to something besides The Rookie, choose from a variety of appearances, outfits, and if you've unlocked any pro players, you can play as them! Also, if you've won a WSOP bracelet, you can choose to wear it. Career Options: In here, you can advance to the next year (yes, you can do this at any time), restart your career without losing any of your Collector Chips, or start a new career if you want to completely start over. If you start a new career, you lose all your Collector Chips. But, again, restarting restarts everything but those Collector Chips. Save: Save your data. And...the Pause Menu. The Gameplay Menu is pretty easy to figure out. You know, down for fold, left for call/check, up for all in, right for raise, raise higher by pushing up. Go back to the "menu" where you can choose what to do again by pushing the opposite direction of what you just pushed. Let me clarify that. If you just went down to Fold, that means you would push up to get back to the "menu" where you can choose any of the options. If you went to Raise, you would push left...you get the idea. Anyway, here's the Pause Menu. Continue: Unpause and get back to the game. Table Stats: Everybody on the table's name, amount of money, flops/hands/%, Hands Won, Showdowns/Won, All-Ins. Tournament Leaders/Chip Count: Tournament Leaders for WSOP Events, Chip Count for Invitational Events. This just shows you who's got how much and who's leading and who's behind. Game Status: You can just hold down L during gameplay to view this, which shows you: Game Name: What the name of this game is. Game Type: What kind of poker you're playing. Limit Type: No Limit, Limit, Pot Limit. Starting Chips: The amount everybody started with. Minimum Place to Win Prize Money: You must finish this or better to win some money. Hands Dealt: The number of hands that have been played. Next Blind Increase: The next time the blinds will be raised is on this hand. Original | Current Number of Players Ante Blinds Limits Game Options: Some settings for the game, like: 4 Color Deck: Every suit has a different color, to help you see flushes. It doesn't change the game at all, it's just a little option thrown in for those that would like it. Game Speed: Normal, Medium, or Fast. I prefer Normal, and then I just Fast Forward when I'm disinterested (except on Omaha; more on that later). Ticker Display: On/Off. The ticker thing at the bottom that shows chip standings, blind raises, etc.. It doesn't hurt anything, and it provides some nice information. Max Raises (Limit Games): How many raises can be made in one round of betting in a limit game? I like 3. Seat Position: This doesn't matter at all; it's where you sit. I just leave it at Random. Sound Options: Some settings for the sound, like: Sound Volume: Adjust how loud the sound effects are. Music Volume: Adjust how loud the music is. Ambient Volume: Adjust how loud the background noise is. Speech Volume: Adjust how loud people talk. Exit Game: Quit the game. You'll then be given the option to quit without saving, not quit, and quit and save. --- .VI: Tips and Tricks. This section will show you how to play poker. If you don't understand some (or all) of the varieties, I'll introduce them, and then provide some strategy. VI-1: General Tips The objective of Poker (what all these variations are called in general) is to compose the best five-card hand. In the kinds of poker included in The World Series of Poker, you'll always have more then five cards to choose from (if you stay in till the end). You play with the 52-card deck. Four each of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. There are four suits: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades. This means that every card is different: 2 of Clubs, 2 of Diamonds, 2 of Hearts are all different cards, even though they're all 2's. 4 of Spades, 5 of Spades, 6 of Spades are all different cards, even though they're all spades. When referring to cards, I'll abbreviate them. The 3 of Hearts is 3H; the Queen of Diamonds is QD. For an example of Poker in general, we'll go with Straight Poker, because it's easier to understand then any of the varieties in this game. You with me so far? I've only covered the bare basics so far, so stay with me. We've got five players, labeled as Adam, Bill, Chris, Dave, and Eddie. They each get five cards. Now, how do you compose the best hand? What hand is better then the other? Here are the rankings; Royal Flush is the best, High Card is the worst. So, the lower it is, the worse it is. ROYAL FLUSH: 10-J-Q-K-A, all of the same suit. This hand is the best you can possibly have. STRAIGHT FLUSH: Any five cards in a row, all of the same suit. 5D-6D- 7D-8D-9D is a straight flush, but 3C-4C-5H-6C-7C isn't, because the 5 isn't a club. FOUR OF A KIND: Four cards of the same rank. 7H-7C-7D-7S-3C is four of a kind. 4S-7S-9S-JS-AH is not four of a kind because they're the same suit; it has to be the same RANK. FULL HOUSE: Three cards of the same rank and two other cards of a different rank. AH-AD-AC-4S-4H is a full house, but AH-AD-AC-4S-9S is not, because there isn't any pair besides the three aces. FLUSH: Five cards all of the same suit that aren't in a row. AC-10C-6C- 4C-2C is a flush, but AC-KC-QC-3C-7H is not, because the 7 is not a club. STRAIGHT: Five cards in a row that aren't all the same suit. 5H-6C-7S- 8H-9S is a straight, but 2C-3C-4C-5C-6C is not, because they're all the same suit (therefore, it's a straight flush). Aces can be used low in a straight, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight, as well as 10-J-Q-K-A. However, you can't go around the corner, meaning jumping from low to high. 3-2- A-K-Q is not a straight. THREE OF A KIND: Three cards of the same rank with two other cards. In the FULL HOUSE wrong example, that's three of a kind, because there's three aces, and two other cards that don't help each other or the aces. TWO PAIR: Two cards of the same rank, two cards of a different rank, another card of a different rank. AC-AH-KC-KH-QC is two pair, but AC- AH-KC-QC-JC is not, because there's no second pair. PAIR: Two cards of the same rank, and three other cards. In the TWO PAIR wrong example, that's a pair, because there's two aces, and three other cards that don't help each other or the aces. HIGH CARD: Five unrelated cards. AC-7H-2S-9S-10C, 5C-6C-7S-2H-JS, AD- KD-QD-JD-9H; some hand like that. Now, aces rank high, so a pair of aces beats a pair of kings. Let's go back to our poker game. Let's take a look at the players' hands. Adam KC-KH-5S-3S-2D Bill 10C-6C-5C-4S-3H Chris 4D-4C-4H-AD-10D Dave 5D-6S-7H-8H-9S Eddie 7C-7D-JS-QH-10S I'll ask you some questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the worst hand? 3. Whose hand ranks 2nd? 4. Whose hand ranks 4th? 5. Whose hand ranks 3rd? 6. If Eddie got another 7, where would his hand rank? 7. If Chris's fifth card was an Ace, what hand would he have? 8. If Eddie had two kings instead of two sevens, would he or Adam have the better hand? 9. If Dave had all hearts, what hand would he have? 10. If Chris could take ONE card from any player, which card should he choose? Here are the answers. 1. With a straight, Dave has the best hand. 2. With 10-high, Bill has the worst hand. 3. With three fours, Chris has the 2nd best hand. 4. With a pair of sevens, Eddie has the 4th best hand. 5. With a pair of kings, Adam has the 3rd best hand. 6. If Eddie got another 7, his hand would rank 2nd. Three sevens is better then three fours, but not a straight. 7. If Chris's fifth card was an Ace, he would have a Full House. 8. This is a tricky one. They would both have a pair of kings. However, Eddie would have the better KICKER; the best companion to the best part of the hand. Eddie's next best card would be a queen, while Adam's would only be a 5, so Eddie's would be better. 9. Dave would have a straight flush, since his cards are all in a row. 10. Chris should choose Bill's 4, since that would give him four of a kind. The most important questions are 8 and 10. Kickers are important, because, yes, aces are better then kings, so a pair of aces beats a pair of kings. But, as you saw, what if they both have a pair of kings? The one with the next best card wins. So a hand's value rarely, but sometimes does, go beyond the value of, say, the pair of kings. Just make sure you understand that. Question 10 is important because--especially in these varieties of poker--you need to know what cards you need to make your hand better, and what the approximate chances are of you getting those cards. It's not hard to understand, but it is VERY IMPORTANT. Okay. Now the players are going to bet. The point of poker is to have one champion, and in order to find that champion, you all bet, and some player wins the hand. You continue until one player has all the money, which is represented by chips. So, as I said, the players are going to bet. Adam is first. Now, Adam has three options. Check: In order to attempt to take the pot (where you bet your chips and what the winner wins), you have to match any other amount put in by any other player. At this point, no amount has been put in by any player, so he has the option to check; he stays in contention for the pot, but doesn't put anything in. Bet: Put money into the pot. The amount can probably be of his choice, although in some games, there are rules that say he can only put a certain amount in. Fold: Discard his hand, believing it isn't good enough to win the pot. Adam decides to check. Bill has the same options, and bets $20. Now there is money in the pot, so Chris has these options: Call: Since there is money in the pot, Chris has to match it to stay in. This is called calling or seeing. Raise: Call Bill's bet and then put even more money in. Fold: Discard his hand. You always have the option to fold, except for when you can check, because it doesn't cost anything to check, so you might as well. So. If there's no money you have to put in to match, you can check. Initiating a bet at this point is called a bet, and from then on, more money is called a raise until the betting interval is ended. Chris calls. Dave raises to $40. Eddie folds. Adam calls, and Bill folds. So Adam, Chris, and Dave are still in the pot, and Bill and Eddie have both folded. The remaining players then show each other their hands, and Dave wins the pot with his straight. The pot is $140, since three different players put in $40, and Bill put in $20. Let's go to another hand. Adam AS-JH-9D-7C-2D Bill KS-KH-QC-QD-8H Chris KC-JC-10C-4C-3C Dave AH-QH-JS-4S-3S Eddie 7S-7D-7H-KD-5D I'll ask you some more questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Whose hand ranks 2nd? 3. Whose hand ranks 3rd? 4. Whose hand ranks 4th? 5. Whose hand ranks 5th? 6. Eddie can choose one card that any player has to add to his hand. Which one should he choose? 7. How about Dave? What card should he choose? 8. How about Chris? What card should he choose? 9. What card should Bill add to his hand? 10. For the people that don't already have a flush, who is closest to getting one, and what does he need? 1. With a king-high flush, Chris's hand ranks first. 2. Three sevens means Eddie gets second. 3. Two pair, kings over queens, gives Bill third. 4. With A-Q high, Dave gets fourth. 5. With A-J high, Bill gets last. 6. Eddie should choose Adam's 7, giving him four of a kind; a king would only give him a full house. 7. The Ace of Spades, from Adam, giving him a pair of aces. Dave's hand STINKS. 8. Chris already has a flush, but to make it even better, he could swap the 3 of clubs with Bill's queen of clubs, changing a K-J-10-4-3 flush to a K-Q-J-10-4 flush. 9. Bill should take either Chris's or Eddie's king. Kings full of queens in a full house is better then queens full of kings. 10. Actually, Dave and Eddie are both two cards away from a flush. Dave needs two spades, Eddie needs two diamonds. Bill starts this 2nd hand, and decides to bet $30 with his strong two pair. Chris, however, is very confident in his flush and raises to $55. Dave has a terrible hand and folds. With three sevens, Eddie calls Chris's raise. Adam folds his miserable hand. Bill puts the remaining $25 that he owes into the pot, and Chris wins a $165 pot with a king- high flush. You think you understand the basics of poker? Well, good, because now we're going to get into specific kinds of poker. Starting with my favorite... VI-2: Texas Hold 'Em Believe it or not, in Texas Hold 'Em, you only get dealt two cards at the start of the hand. These are called your pocket or hole cards. There are a total of 169 possible starting hands. Now, since there's only two cards, they're either going to be the same suit, or two different suits. If they're the same suit, those cards are suited, and you have a better chance for a flush as the hand progresses. If they're two different suits, those cards are offsuit, and you'll have to hope that nobody else gets a flush, for the most part. After a betting interval, three cards are laid face up in the middle of the table. These are called the flop, and are the beginning of the community cards. Everyone still in the hand is entitled to use of the community cards. Another betting interval brings us to the fourth community card, called the turn. Again, everybody can use this card. One more betting interval and we see the river, the fifth community card. A final betting interval, and players use their five best cards out of the seven available to make a hand. Rarely, the community will make itself into something really good (straight, flush, full house, etc.), and the players still in the pot will simply use what's in the community, since it's the best hand they can make, and those players then split the pot, since their hands are the same. In order to have a winning hand, you'll definitely have to use at least one of your pocket cards in your hand, and preferably two. Now, in Texas and Omaha Hold 'Em, there are blinds. Blinds are specific amounts that two players put in before the flop. There's also antes, which are very small amounts that everybody puts in (not all games have antes), but Hold 'Em games always have blinds. There's a small blind and a big blind. The small blind, before the deal, puts in half the money equal to the minimum bet, and the big blind puts in the money equal to the minimum bet. With our example players, the blinds are $10(SB)/$20(BB). The larger amount is always the Big Blind. Good starting hands in Texas Hold 'Em are high cards. 2-7 offsuit is the worst starting hand possible, and should be folded virtually every time, unless the amount to call is miniscule or you can check to see the flop. A-K offsuit, on the other hand, is a fantastic hand and should be called with almost every time. Basically, the higher, the better. However, sometimes, you'll regret folding as soon as you see the flop, because it would've helped out your hand really well. So, you may develop a habit of calling before the flop a lot. Personally, I sway back and forth between the two. A lot of it depends on the situation. If there's a lot of players at the table, the chance that somebody has a good hand is increased, so I fold more hands. However, if there's just, say, three or four players at the table, the chance that somebody has a good hand is decreased, so I play more hands. In heads-up (two players), you should play almost every hand, just because folding automatically gives your opponent the pot. It also has to do with how many chips you have. When you have the most chips at the table (chip leader), you can play more hands, because you've got money to burn. However, when you're down, or even have the least chips at the table (shortstack), you have to wait for a really good hand before you can play, because you can't just start throwing money in the pot and then folding when the flop doesn't work out. Let's get an example hand going with our five trusty guys. Adam 2D-7H Bill AC-KH Chris(D) 8C-8H Dave(SB) 9H-4D Eddie(BB) 10C-JC The (D) by Chris's hand means he is the dealer. He plays last. So the betting, you assume, will start with Dave. Well, no. Dave already put in a forced bet, and his turn is over. Eddie put in a forced raise, and his turn is over. Adam is the first to act. So there is already $30 in the pot from the blinds, but Adam must put only $20 in to call, because $10 of that money is Dave's. Adam has 2-7 offsuit, though, and folds. Bill has A-K offsuit, a great hand, and will raise it up to $30. Chris calls with pocket 8's, Dave folds 9-4, and Eddie calls that $10 raise with 10-J suited. Here are some questions at this point in the game. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the 3rd best hand? 4. Who has the 2nd worst hand? 5. Who has the worst hand? 6. What would happen if the flop was QD-JH-10S; who would have the best hand? 7. What about 8S-KD-AH? 8. What would be the best possible flop for Eddie? 9. Why is it impossible for Chris to get a winning flush? 10. Think about it; why is A-K (even offsuit) such a good hand? And the answers. 1. With a pair of 8's, Chris has the best hand. 2. With A-K high, Bill has the 2nd best hand. 3. With J-10 high, Eddie has the 3rd best hand. 4. With 9-4 high, Dave has the 2nd worst hand. 5. With 7-2 high, Adam has the worst hand. 6. If the flop was QD-JH-10S, it would give Eddie two pair, but it would give Bill an ace-high straight, so Bill would have the best hand. 7. Bill would have two pair, but Chris would have three 8's, thereby giving him the best hand. 8. The best possible flop for Eddie would be QC-KC-AC, giving him a royal flush. 9. Chris can't get a winning flush because Eddie has two higher clubs, and Bill has a higher heart. If enough hearts or clubs come up for Chris to have a flush, Eddie and Bill's cards are too high for the pot to be split because the flush on the board is the best one. You see what I mean? If Eddie had 3C-4C or something and Bill didn't have any, and five clubs came out all higher then 8, everyone would split the pot with the best flush. 10. A-K is such a good hand because you have two of the five cards necessary for the best possible straight AND (inhale)...if one ace or one king comes up, you've got either the best pair with the best kicker or the second-best pair with the best kicker. The reason the king is the best kicker to a pair of aces is because if there was another ace, you'd have three aces. Also, if no pairs come up for anyone, you've still got ace-high. Here's the flop: QC-2C-AH Now that the blinds are behind us, we play from the dealer. Dave folded, so Eddie is first to act. Eddie has a flush draw (if another club comes, he has a flush), so he bets $20 to raise the total pot to $110. Bill got a pair of aces and calls that bet, and Chris still has two 8's, so he calls. The pot is now at $150, and here's the turn. QC-2C-AH-8S Oh, wow! Chris has three 8's! Eddie now has only one card left going for a flush, so he checks. Bill bets $40 with his pair of aces; he has top pair (the best pair on the board) and is confident in his hand. He's not thinking about somebody having a pocket pair, though, and Chris raises to $80. The pot is now at $270. With just a flush draw, Eddie folds, and Bill calls, putting the pot at $310. And the river: QC-2C-AH-8S-4C WOW! Eddie would've had a flush! He folded, so Bill is first to act. He still just has a pair of aces, and bets $30. Chris calls and wins the $370 pot with three 8's. Now, let me ask you some questions. 1. In Bill's place, would you have felt confident that you had the best hand after the turn? 2. Should Eddie have called and waited for the river? 3. With that 4 at the end, that would have given Dave a pair of 4's. Would you have regretted folding? 4. Adam had a pair of deuces (what twos are often called) after the flop. Would you have regretted folding? 5. With Chris's hand, why should you be nervous when you see the flop? Some of these are more opinion questions then right and wrong, and these kinds of questions will help you develop your style of play. Here are my answers. 1. I think I would have. I had the best pair with the best kicker. What I would not have taken into account was pocket pairs and two pairs (Q- 2, for example). The third club on the river would've made me a little nervous; that also makes a straight if Chris had had 3-5, but 3-5 is a hand that he probably won't stay in with until the river. But, with a hand like that in a situation like that, more often then not, you'll have the best hand. 2. I would not have. You're banking on a club. If a club doesn't come, you're completely busted. There's high cards on the table. However, what you may not have realized is that Eddie had a straight draw (one specific card makes a straight). In this case, an inside straight draw, meaning that if it comes, it'll be on the inside of the straight. Can you get it? It's a king. If a king comes, Eddie has a straight. So he actually needed a king or a club, but, still, the odds are not in your favor. He would've ended up winning, but calling with four clubs and stuff like that to see the river is called chasing the river, and it usually doesn't work. 3. I would definitely not have regretted folding. In Dave's case, that would've been chasing the river for nothing. If a 4 or a 9 comes, he still probably won't win the hand because of all the high cards. He's also got a lackluster kicker with the 9. No, you definitely cannot regret folding that hand. 4. NO WAY. He had the worst pair on the board (and the worst pair of all the pairs) with a terrible 7 kicker. Nothing else came on the turn and river, and in the end, he had the worst hand out of everybody with that pair. Very rarely will a pair of deuces win you the hand. 5. Q-A, two clubs, there's possibilities for better hands then yours. If anybody else has a queen or an ace, they have a better hand. If someone has two clubs, they've got a flush draw. If somebody's got K-J, K-10, or J-10, they've got a straight draw. You can still call, maybe hoping for another 8 or hoping against hope that nobody else has anything. And, lucky for him, an 8 came on the turn. Here's a quick review of terminology, with a few new terms also. Draw - Needing one card to make a hand. Inside Straight Draw - Needing one card to be either second or fourth in a straight. Ended Straight Draw - This is only possible when you have A-2-3-4 or A- K-Q-J. There is one card you need for the straight, and it'll go on the end. Open-Ended Straight Draw - Needing one card to be either first or fifth in a straight. 5-6-7-8, either a 4 or a 9 makes a straight. Gutshot Straight Draw - Needing one card to be third in a straight. 8- 9-J-Q needs a 10 to be right in the middle. Nuts - Having the best hand possible. Say you have AC-KC, and the flop is 8C-3C-2C. You have a nut flush, because it's ace high. If the community is 7C-7H-7D-3C-KH, and you have 7S-9C, you have the nuts with four sevens. Bluff - To act like you have a good hand when you actually have a bad hand. You can bluff by going all in because of a certain card, or just betting high amounts all throughout the hand. Bluffing is risky and should not be used often, or people will get suspicious to the point where they call instead of folding. All-In - Since nobody ever did it in any example hand, you may have forgotten what this simple term means; pushing all your chips into the pot, usually in a raise, although it's sometimes a call. After you're all in, if at least two other people with more money call you, they can then bet between themselves, and whatever they bet between themselves is won back by whoever has the best hand between those two, regardless of what you have. You can only win the money you can support. VI-3: Omaha Hold 'Em From here on, I'll be much less detailed. Texas Hold 'Em is the main type of poker in this game, and you've got the basics now. In Omaha, you get dealt four pocket cards. The community comes just like in Texas Hold 'Em, and at the end, you HAVE TO USE two of your pocket cards and three of the community cards. If you have A-K-Q-J in your hand and the community is 10-9-7-6-5, you do not have a straight. The best possible hand you could make would be A-K-10-9-7, because you HAVE TO USE two of your pocket cards and three of the community cards. Good starting cards in Omaha are somewhat like Texas. A pocket pair is good (something like 9C-9S-AH-4D), but what's interesting is that a pocket three of a kind (like 9C-9S-9H-4D) is actually worse, because, again, you can only use two of the pocket cards. So you've got a pair of 9's like before, but now you've taken one of the 9's and eliminated its chance to appear in the community. There's only one 9 left, and someone else might have it, and if not, it still probably won't come up. Also, there's one less possibility for making other pairs. If an ace had come up with that first hand, you would've had a pair of aces. There was also that four. Now, though, it's just the four. So, 9C-9S- AH-4D is better then 9C-9S-9H-4D. Here's an example hand. Adam (SB) 7D-5C-3D-2H Bill (BB) JD-10D-5H-2C Chris QH-9H-8H-3H Dave AD-AH-AC-AS Eddie (D) KH-KD-JS-6C Some questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the 3rd best hand? 4. Who has the 2nd worst hand? 5. Who has the worst hand? 6. What would be the best flop for Dave? 7. Who's doing better on their flush; Bill or Chris? 8. What would be the best flop for Adam? 9. If all the kings are gone, what would be the best flop for Eddie? 10. Mainly, which two players wish they could transfer two of their cards to the community? Some answers. 1. With a pair of aces, Dave has the best hand. 2. With a pair of kings, Eddie has the 2nd best hand. 3. With queen high, Chris has the 3rd best hand. 4. With jack high, Bill has the 2nd worst hand. 5. With 7 high, Adam has the worst hand. 6. Uhh...K-K-K. Kings full of aces. If you're thinking about the turn, K-Q-J all of the same suit (in any suit) gives him a royal flush draw, and so does K-Q-10, K-J-10, and Q-J-10. But, by itself, K-K-K is the best flop for Dave. 7. Bill. Though his high card isn't as high, he doesn't take up two of his own suit in his own hand; he has a better chance to see diamonds then Chris does to see hearts. 8. 4-5-6 of diamonds gives Adam a straight flush. 7-7-7, 7-7-5, 7-7-3, 5-5-3, 2-2-2, 3-3-3, 5-5-5, 7-7-2, 7-2-2, etc....those are all good too. 9. J-J-J, as a stand-alone, giving him four jacks. J-J-J is the best flop for Eddie. 10. Dave and Chris. Two hearts would give Chris a flush draw, and two aces would give Dave four aces, a nearly unbeatable hand. Let's go back to our hand. Adam puts in $40 as the small blind (this is higher stakes poker) and Bill puts in $80 for the big blind. Chris doesn't like having four hearts all stocked in his community and folds. Dave still has a pair of aces, and raises to $120, putting the pot at $240. Eddie calls with pocket kings, Adam folds, Bill calls with two relatively high cards and two diamonds. The pot is now at $480. Here's the flop. KD-5D-2S Wow! Three of a kind for Eddie, and a flush draw for Bill! Bill is first since Adam folded, and bets $120 to put the pot at an even $600. Dave calls ($720), Eddie raises to $300 ($1020). Bill makes the $180 call, and Dave folds. The pot is at exactly $1200 heading to the turn. KD-5D-2S-2D WHO HAS THE BEST HAND? . . . . . . . It's Eddie! With two deuces on the board, he has a full house; kings full of twos. A full house beats a flush, which is what Bill just got. But Bill sees his flush and thinks he has the hand, so he moves all in for his remaining...uh...$600. Eddie calls, and with a $2400 pot up for grabs, Bill and Eddie show their hands. Bill: Dangit! Eddie: Yahoo! Now...is there any chance for Bill to win the hand at this point? The answer is...no! If another 2 came up, it would give him four deuces, but Adam already folded the other 2. Of course, only Adam knows that, so Bill thinks he still has a chance. And the river... KD-5D-2S-2D-8H Eddie wins the pot and knocks out Bill. VI-4: Omaha Hi-Low Split An interesting twist on the normal Omaha Hold 'Em, this game allows the player with the best hand and the player with the lowest hand to split the pot. However, there are some things you need to understand. In order to qualify for having a low hand, you have to have five different cards at or lower then 8. 8-5-3-2-A (you can use ace as low) is a low hand, but 9-5-3-2-A or 8-6-6-4-2 are not, because the 9 is too high, and the sixes are the same, making a pair. In low hands, it doesn't matter if you get a flush or a straight. 5-4- 3-2-A is the best possible low hand, and also a great high hand. 8-7-4- 3-A all diamonds is a low hand. 6-5-4-3-2 all spades is a fantastic low hand, and also a virtually unbeatable high hand. It is possible to win all of the pot in Omaha. Sometimes, nobody will have five different cards at or lower then 8, and so nobody can win half of the pot as low hand. In other cases, like when a player has 5- 4-3-2-A, the best possible low hand wins them that part, but the five- high straight gives them the high hand portion of the pot as well. So, although the pot will sometimes be split, sometimes, it won't. I mean, with two people left, if the pot was always split, no one would ever win! The cards are dealt just like in regular Omaha Hold 'Em. Again, you MUST USE two of your pocket cards and three of the community cards in your hand. If you have 5-4-3-2 in your hand and the community is A-4-9- J-K, you have a pair of 4's with A-K-5 kicker, and no qualification for a low hand. In composing your low and high hands, you can use different pocket cards. If you have 6-5-K-K in your hand and the community is 4- 3-A-K-K, you have 6-5-4-3-A as your low hand, and four kings (with ace kicker) as your high hand. Example hand. Adam KD-10C-9S-3H Bill 6H-4S-3D-2D Chris 7C-8S-9H-10D Dave AC-AH-QC-6S Eddie KH-JD-9D-4D Forget about the betting part and the blinds and stuff; concentrate on the value of the hands. Here's the flop. KC-7H-3S 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the 3rd best hand? 4. Who has the 2nd worst hand? 5. Who has the lowest hand? 6. For a low hand, who needs one card? Tell me everybody that needs one card to make a qualifying low hand. 7. What should Adam concentrate on; low or high? 8. Why should Eddie feel excellent about his hand? 9. Why should Dave feel a lot better about his hand? 10. Why should Adam feel a little better about his hand? 11. Why should Chris feel miserable about his hand? - 1. With two pair, kings and threes, Adam has the best hand. 2. With a pair of aces, Dave has the 2nd best hand. 3. With a pair of kings, Eddie has the 3rd best hand. 4. With a pair of sevens, Chris has the 2nd worst hand. 5. With 7-4-3-2, Bill has the lowest hand. 6. Bill, Dave. 7. He actually can't concentrate on low. He has two different low cards with two cards left to come. He HAS to concentrate on high. 8. He's got top pair, and with two low cards, other people will probably be concentrating on low hands. However, on this particular hand... 9. Dave has a better hand, with pocket aces! And Dave actually has four low cards, so he's got a great hand. However, on this particular hand... 10. Adam has a better hand, with kings and threes. However, with it impossible for him to get a low hand, he can probably only win half of the pot, with five people playing and two low cards on the board. 11. He's got middle pair with three low cards. That is a very iffy hand that needs runner-runner cards (cards on the turn and river that both help out that hand specifically) to become winning material. The turn: KC-7H-3S-9C Who has the best hand? Who has the lowest hand? - - - - Adam and Eddie are tied, with two pair, kings and nines. There are no possible low hands, since there are only two low cards on the board. The river: KC-7H-3S-9C-AD Who has the best hand? Who has the lowest hand? - - - - With three aces, Dave has the best hand. Bill, with 7-4-3-2-A. He has the only low hand. A few terms: Low cards - Cards that can qualify for a low hand in Omaha Hi-Low and Seven Card Hi-Low. A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Runner-runner - Needing the turn and river to be specifically helpful towards your hand. With 7-8-9, you need runner-runner cards for a straight. High pair - Matching with the highest card on the flop to make a pair. Middle pair - Matching with the middle card on the flop to make a pair. Low pair - Matching with the lowest card on the flop to make a pair. If, in Texas Hold 'Em: Zach A-4 Fred J-7 John 8-3 And the flop is: A-J-3 Zach has top pair, Fred has middle pair, John has low pair. VI-5: Seven Card Stud Here's how the cards are dealt: Everybody gets dealt two face down cards (only the person who gets them can see them) and one face up card (everybody can see it). A betting interval brings us to 4th Street, where a second face up card is dealt to everyone. A betting interval brings us to 5th Street, where a third face up card is dealt to everyone. A betting interval brings us to 6th Street (this is getting a bit repetitive, huh?), where a fourth face up card is dealt to everyone. A betting interval brings us to 7th Street, where a third face down card is dealt to everyone. A betting interval and the people left in show their hands. You make the best five-card hand out of the seven cards you get. Since you need so many cards in Seven Card Stud, Dave and Eddie are staying at the Omaha Hi-Low table, while Adam, Bill and Chris are coming here. Adam 5C-5D-AH Bill KC-QH-4C Chris JD-9C-3D Remember, the first two cards are not visible to the other players, while the third one is. 4th Street. Adam 5C-5D-AH-AD Bill KC-QH-4C-JC Chris JD-9C-3D-9H 5th Street. Adam 5C-5D-AH-AD-KH Bill KC-QH-4C-JC-3C Chris JD-9C-3C-9H-2H Questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the worst hand? 4. What does Bill need? 5. Why should Chris be nervous? Answers. 1. With two pair, aces and fives, Adam has the best hand. 2. With a pair of nines, Chris has the 2nd best hand. 3. With king high, Bill has the worst hand. 4. Bill needs a club for a flush. 5. He's got a pair of 9's. Adam shows two aces and a king, Bill shows three clubs. 6th Street. Adam 5C-5D-AH-AD-KH-5H Bill KC-QH-4C-JC-3C-2D Chris JD-9C-3C-9H-2H-9D Questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the worst hand? 4. Why is Bill doomed? 5. What trap could Chris fall into? Answers. 1. With a full house, fives over aces, Adam has the best hand. 2. With three nines, Chris has the 2nd best hand. 3. With king high, Bill has the worst hand. 4. Even if Bill gets a flush, the full house beats it. 5. The trap of not considering what the opponent has underneath. Chris sees a pair of aces. Adam sees a full house. 7th Street. Adam 5C-5D-AH-AD-KH-5H-7D Bill KC-QH-4C-JC-3C-2D-AC Chris JD-9C-3C-9H-2H-9D-7C Questions. 1. Who has the best hand? 2. Who has the 2nd best hand? 3. Who has the worst hand? 4. Why could Bill get happy beyond that he got a flush? Just a little bit happier. 5. Is there any hand that Adam should be worried about that might beat him? Answers. 1. With a full house, fives full of aces, Adam has the best hand. 2. With an ace high flush, Bill has the 2nd best hand. 3. With three nines, Chris has the worst hand. 4. It's an ace high flush, or a nut flush. The three hearts Adam is showing might make him a bit nervous. 5. The only hands that can beat a full house are a better full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush. With two nines showing, Adam might be a little nervous that Chris has a better full house. Straight flushes (and four of a kinds) are rare, so Adam shouldn't be too worried. You can usually tell by how aggressively your opponents bet and raise. VI-6: Seven Card Hi-Low Split Just like Seven Card Stud, except, the pot is split between high and low hands. To have a low hand, you must have five different cards at or lower then 8. Here's five hands; tell me which ones qualify as low hands, as well as what they can make for high hand (pair, two pair, etc..). Don't worry about it if there's more then four kings total in the hands or whatever. Also, no suits. a. 8-5-A-A-A-3-K b. 3-4-5-6-8-10-K c. 6-K-K-2-A-5-7 d. 7-8-9-10-J-3-4 e. A-5-7-3-10-4-2 - - - - - a. No low hand, three aces b. Low hand (8-6-5-4-3), king high c. Low hand (7-6-5-2-A), pair of kings d. No low hand, jack high straight e. Low hand (5-3-4-2-A), five high straight VI-7: Razz (Seven Card Lowball) This is Seven Card Low, without the Hi Split. You don't need to have five cards at or lower then 8; all hands qualify. Aces are always low, since you're never trying to make anything but a low hand. Straights and flushes are completely irrelevant at all times in Razz. That's basically it...um, here's an example hand between Jeff and Mike. Jeff 7-6-8 Mike K-A-3 Jeff has three low cards, Mike has two low cards. Jeff 7-6-8-7 Mike K-A-3-A They both paired hidden cards. Jeff 7-6-8-7-3 Mike K-A-3-A-2 Jeff has four, Mike has three, but Mike's are the three lowest. Jeff 7-6-8-7-3-5 Mike K-A-3-A-2-4 Wow! The four lowest cards for Mike. Jeff's low hand is complete (8-7- 6-5-3), but one more low card for Mike and his is better. Jeff 7-6-8-7-3-5-10 Mike K-A-3-A-2-4-9 Jeff: 8-7-6-5-3 Mike: 9-4-3-2-A Aha, but wait! Did you forget that you don't have to have five low cards (8 and down) to have a hand in Razz? Any hand will do. However, I still refer to 8 and down as low cards out of habit, and that's probably what you'll want to have a competing low hand. However, I've seen hands that start with cards as high as a jack win in Razz. You need to observe what other people are showing, and think about the possibilities of their hidden cards. --- .VII: Career Mode. The main feature of the game, Career Mode lets you see how many World Series of Poker bracelets you can win in 10 years. There are a total of 26 events in which you can win a bracelet, and here they are. Event #1: Super Satellite Day This is a no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event with a free buy-in. About 950 people usually play in this, and you have to finish about 50th or better to finish in the money. Winning this tournament only gets you $10,000. This is not a WSOP event; you don't get a bracelet for winning, and it doesn't count as a WSOP Texas Hold 'Em win. Also, you won't see any pros in this event. All the other events are WSOP, though. Events #2, #3, #4, #5, #6: Limit Hold 'Em Each of these are Limit Hold 'Em events in which you can only bet certain amounts of money, instead of being able to go all in on a whim. The buy-ins are: $1,500; $2,000; $2,500; $3,000; and $5,000. There's about 1,300, 1,000, 700, 400, and 250 people in the tournaments. Realize that each year, the number of people slightly varies, but it will usually hover around what I tell you. Events #7, #8, #9, #10, #11: No Limit Hold 'Em No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. The buy-ins are the same as Limit: $1,500; $2,000; $2,500; $3,000; $5,000. There's about 1,300, 1,400, 1,000, 700, and 450 people in these tournaments. Usually, you have to finish in the final 10% or so to be in the money. The Super Satellite Day is an exception, because it's free. But I remember there was a tournament once with 900 players, and you had to finish 100th or better to win money. Events #12, #13, #14, #15: Pot Limit Hold 'Em Different then both No Limit and Limit, Pot Limit only allows the pot to be doubled on each bet. So if you've got $52,000 and you want to go all in, but the pot is only $13,000, all you can bet is $13,000. However, the next person can then bet $26,000. Buy-ins: $1,500; $2,000; $2,500; $5,000. Amount of people: 1,000; 800; 500; 300. Events #16, #17: Pot Limit Omaha Omaha Hold 'Em, with a pot limit, like in events 12-15 for Texas Hold 'Em. The buy-ins are $1,500 and a staggering $10,000. There'll be about 500 people in the first tournament, and about 200 people in the second one. Events #18, #19, #20: Limit Omaha Hi-Low Omaha Hold 'Em Hi-Low Split, with a limit, like in events 2-6 for Texas Hold 'Em. The buy-ins are $1,500, $2,000, and $2,500. I'm not sure of the number of people. Events #21, #22: Seven Card Stud Seven Card Stud, with a limit. The buy-ins are $1,500 and $5,000. The number of people won't be very high. Events #23, #24: Seven Card Hi-Low Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split, with a limit. The buy-ins are $1,000 and $2,000. There'll be about 400 people in the first tournament and about 200 in the second one. Event #25: Razz (Seven Card Lowball) Razz, with a limit. The buy-in is $1,500. I have seen anywhere from 56- 125 people in this tournament. Either way, it's incredibly unpopular; the average is around 90. Event #26: World Championship Event This is the World Series of Poker. There will be at least 6,100 people in this event, and I've seen more then 6,700. You have to finish 600th or better to finish in the money, and if you can get up there pretty high, like in the double digits, you're going to win a lot of money. Winning this tournament is an incredible accomplishment. The buy-in is $10,000. And in this event, you play No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. So there you have it. 26 events. In all but one of those, the prize, along with some money, is a WSOP bracelet. You have 10 years, so the most possible bracelets you could win would be 250. However, without a ridiculous amount of quitting without saving, you will never do this. In fact, getting 10 or more bracelets is incredibly good. Now, there is an extremely disappointing glitch in this game, at least in the GameCube version. In Omaha and Omaha Hi-Low, you cannot Fast Forward. Yes, you know. When other people are playing and making their decisions, in all other variations, you can fast forward, and you are given a quick summary of what happened, as opposed to a detailed report. Well, in Omaha, you can't fast forward, so you're going to have to wait for the detailed report. My point? Playing a game of Omaha takes incredibly long. So unless you're extremely patient, you probably won't want to play Omaha. At all. Yes, it's very disappointing, but what are you going to do? I got this game for Texas Hold 'Em, anyway. Okay; let's get into Career Mode. When you start, your name is The Rookie, you have $10,000, and you have six options. WSOP Events: View the 26 events I just talked about. Invitational Events: There are a total of eight Invitational Events that you can play. The buy-ins for Invitationals are always $15,000. There's always nine players including you, and your eight opponents are always pros. You always play No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. Win an Invitational, and you don't win any money. You win a Collector Chip, and you unlock that level for Quickplay. The Invitationals are: Hollywood Invitational - A standard tournament set in a standard penthouse-type area. UNLOCKS - Hollywood Hawaiian Open - An exotic tournament set in beautiful Hawaii. UNLOCKS - Hawaii Tokyo Showdown - Beautiful pink trees and an exciting game of poker make this one of the best places! UNLOCKS - Tokyo Fiesta Finals - A tournament set in exciting Mexico. UNLOCKS - Mexico Gamer's Gala - A fun game set in an arcade, complete with arcade machines, pool tables, and the coolest carpet ever. UNLOCKS - Arcade Western Roundup - A tournament set in a saloon of the Old West. UNLOCKS - Saloon Medieval Classic - You play on a stone platform surrounded by lava. UNLOCKS - Castle High Roller Challenge - This is the weirdest of the settings for any of the Invitational events; just play it and see. UNLOCKS - Oxygen Bar So, again, the only reward for winning an invitational is a Collector Chip, and a new level for Quickplay. No money, no bracelet; nothing like that. Now, what made me nervous is that I had won up to Western Roundup, and it came to the point where I had to restart my career (I was in 2014; I had squandered all my money in Invitational events). I was afraid that I would have to do all the invitational events that I already did over again in order to reach the ones that I didn't have Collector Chips for yet. Well, surprise! You don't have to do that. Restarting your career does not affect the invitational events in any way. Back to the six options you have in Career Mode. Awards and Stats - View your stats for the current year and for your career, look at your bracelets, check your Collector Chip collection (covered in detail in Section VIII), and, after 2005, go to the WSOP All-Stars Room to see who won the World Championship Event. If you don't win it, a male pro will, and it's a different pro every year. Edit Player - In here, you can customize your player. I won't go into detail about this, because you can figure it out on your own. But, you can change: Hair Color Head Style (Hats) Eye Color Eye Shape Shirt Style Shirt Color Pants Style Pants Color Shoe Style Shoe Color Sock Style Voice And more! Also, if you've taken down any pros, you can simply play as them! Imagine playing as Chris Ferguson! Those you can't play as will be obscured with a padlock and the word LOCKED. The game also has quite a few prepared archetypes, like Mr. Millionaire or Soccer Mom. You could choose one of these, and tweak it here and there till it fits you right. Also, you get to CHANGE YOUR NAME! HOORAY! Erase The Rookie and enter in whatever you would like. Be sure to give yourself a first and a last name. You can change your name at any time. Career Options - In here, you can advance to the next year in your career, restart your career without losing any of your Collector Chips, or start a new career, wiping out everything, including the Collector Chips. Save - Save your data. Only 5 blocks on a Memory Card for each Career Mode is definitely acceptable, I think. Now. In Career Mode, you're probably not going to win a lot of tournaments. In fact, you might not even finish in the money more then half the time. So, how do you overcome this? Beginning a new year automatically puts your bankroll at $10,000 IF it was lower then that before you advanced. Try to do well in the World Championship Event. Placing high in this tournament gets you a lot of money (I finished 17th one time and won almost $450,000). Play carefully in each tournament; don't make stupid decisions. Analyze the situation, considering all possibilities, before making an important move like all in, or a large raise. In Career Mode, you can also unlock the Featured Table and Final Table areas for Quickplay. Simply make the Featured and Final Tables in a tournament, and they're unlocked. For Texas and Omaha events, there'll be 18 people left when the Featured table comes, and 9 for the Final. In Seven Card Stud and Razz, 14 for the Featured, and only 7 for the Final. You can also unlock High Roller Rooms #1 and #2 by winning lots and lots of money. Winning the World Championship Event gives you both High Roller Rooms. If you win a bracelet, great! You probably made a lot of money as well. But if winning bracelets wears you out after awhile, try getting all the Collector Chips! For Tournament Size Wins, enter tournaments that fit the bill. For Winning Streaks (ridiculously hard), play extremely carefully at your best kind of poker (mine is NLTHE; figure out what that means). There'll be more strategy for each individual Collector Chip in their very own section. Let's see...I think that's all I have to say about Career Mode, so let's move on! --- .VIII: Collector Chips. There are exactly 100 Collector Chips you can try to get in Career Mode. In a smart move, Activision and Left Field Productions decided to let you restart your career without losing any of your collector chips. So, eventually, I guess you can say you'll have no excuse for not getting them all, unless you just haven't been getting lucky enough. So, here we go! There are a dozen different categories for Collector Chips. We'll start with the first one: Poker Hands. Category One: Poker Hands #1: Pair: Get a pair in a hand. This is incredibly easy. If you haven't gotten it yet, just keep playing; you will. #2: Two Pair: Get two pair in a hand. Again, extremely easy. #3: Three of a Kind: Get three of a kind in a hand. Not as easy, but not anywhere near hard either. Pocket pairs (in Hold 'Em) could pull this off, but so could just one card and seeing two of it in the community. #4: Straight: Get a straight in a hand. Straights come surprisingly often in Hold 'Em (although not commonly), so you should get one sooner or later. Play with connectors (two cards in a row) and hope for the best. In Stud, straights shouldn't be extremely rare. #5: Flush: Get a flush in a hand. Again, not that hard. Play with two of the same suit and hope for the best. In Stud, three of the same suit to start you out leaves you with four chances to get two necessary cards, so that's a good way to go also. #6: Full House: Get a full house in a hand. These don't come commonly, but they're not extremely rare either. Pocket pairs or a flop that gives you two pair using both your pocket cards are good, and in Stud, a pair and another card to start out is good, as is three of the same card. #7: Four of a Kind: Get four of a kind in a hand. This is where it gets hard, because four of a kind is not a common hand, at all. In order to get this hand, you have to have all of a certain card. Pocket pairs are good, but four of a kind comes very, very rarely for that. I'd say just play a lot of both Hold 'Em and Stud and hope for the best. #8: Straight Flush: Get a straight flush in a hand. This has happened to me twice. I've seen it happen five or six times, and it could've happened to me again (I would've had 9-10-J-Q-K of spades), but it's still incredibly rare. Play with suited connectors and hope for the best. Uh...in Stud, three cards that are all the same suit that could be connected are GREAT! Straight Flushes are really hard to get. #9: Royal Flush: Get a royal flush in a hand. I have never seen this happen to anybody. I did have a royal flush draw once or twice, but it didn't come. This is incredibly difficult to get, as it requires a combination of five specific cards to come out of 47 others that could mess it up. For Hold 'Em, suited connectors at least at 10-J. For Stud, two cards of the first three are good. Royal Flushes are ridiculously difficult to get; this may very well be one of the few Collector Chips that continually evades you. Category Two: All In and Win #10: Hold 'Em All In and Win Before the Flop: In Texas Hold 'Em, go all in before the flop and win the hand. This will happen when you're the shortstack (the player with the least amount of chips), or just some other time. What's nice about these is that people don't have to call you. So you could start your first tournament in 2005, go all in no matter what you get, and hope no one calls you. #11: Hold 'Em All In and Win After the Flop: In Texas Hold 'Em, go all in after the flop and win the hand. Three of a kind, flush, straight, two pair; again, shortstack or some other time. Remember, you don't have to get called. #12: Hold 'Em All In and Win After the Turn: In Texas Hold 'Em, go all in after the turn and win the hand. Flush, straight, full house. Just play some and this should happen. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET CALLED. #13: Hold 'Em All In and Win After the River: In Texas Hold 'Em, go all in after the river and win the hand. Flush, straight, full house. Just play some and this should happen. Bluff people out or just beat them with better cards. #14: Omaha All In and Win Before The Flop: In Omaha Hold 'Em, go all in before the flop and win the hand. The Omaha ones are harder to get, because Pot Limit doesn't let you go all in unless you don't have much money. For Before the Flop, I would say just enter the $1,500 one, lose a bunch, and go all in for like $150, and hope you win (or hope everyone else folds). #15: Omaha All In and Win After The Flop: In Omaha Hold 'Em, go all in after the flop and win the hand. This is easier to do because you can generally move all in more often after the flop, since there's more money in the pot. However, you still need a good hand, and not much money. Remember that you don't have to get called. #16: Omaha All In and Win After the Turn: In Omaha Hold 'Em, go all in after the turn and win the hand. This is still easier to do because there'll be even more money in the pot (unless you checked it off to the turn), allowing you to make bigger bets. Still, you need a good hand, like a straight. Or, you just need to bluff. #17: Omaha All In and Win After the River: In Omaha Hold 'Em, go all in after the river and win the hand. Hopefully, money won't be an issue anymore. It's just a matter of having a good hand. Or, EVERYONE COULD FOLD. Category Three: Single Hand Takedowns #18: Two Players: Take down two players in one hand. With pocket pairs, you can lure people into going all in with checks and small raises, and then call them and beat them. The problem is getting two people. If two people go all in pre-flop and you've got a good hand, call them and see what happens. #19: Three Players: Take down three players in one hand. This is hard to do. I've done this two or three times, I think, but I play this game a lot. You've gotta have a good hand, and there's gotta be a bunch of people with not many chips that have hands that are good, but in the end, lose to yours. Just play, and this moment should come to you. There was actually one time where I knocked out FIVE people in one hand. As chip leader, I went all in with pocket kings, and five other people went all in. I won. Category Four: Tournament Takedowns #20: 1 Player: Take down one player in a single tournament. If you win the tournament, you'll take down the final player, but I think you can knock someone out before that. #21: 5 Players: Take down five players in a single tournament. Somewhat harder, but if you do well in a fairly large tournament, you should be able to knock out five people. #22: 10 Players: Take down ten players in a single tournament. Just play aggressively. If you do well in the World Championship Event, this should simply eventually come to you. #23: 15 Players: Take down fifteen players in a single tournament. The World Championship Event is very helpful for this one. Multiple people in one hand helps, and scaring people away as chip leader until they move all in and you call with a better hand works as well. #24: 20 Players: Take down twenty players in a single tournament. If you accomplish this somewhere outside of the World Championship Event, mad props. This is kind of hard to do in the WCE. Play aggressively, but not recklessly. If you do really well in the WCE, you should get this. Category Five: Total Takedowns #25: 25 Players: Take down 25 players in your career. Not hard to do if you participate in a lot of tournaments. In fact, it's incredibly easy to do, especially if you have all the Tournament Takedown chips. #26: 50 Players: Take down 50 players in your career. Realize that when you restart your career, the number of people you've taken down goes back to 0. So get a good career going and take down a lot of people, because it gets a lot harder. #27: 100 Players: Take down 100 players in your career. Play in the World Championship Event every year, as well as most of the others. #28: 250 Players: Take down 250 players in your career. Be careful, and don't go all in just because you want to knock people out; consider your decisions. #29: 500 Players: Take down 500 players in your career. The WCE really helps to do this, but don't forget about the other events. Super Satellite Day, the least expensive Texas Hold 'Em events, can also yield lots of victims. And, don't relax, because if you want all the Total Takedown Chips, you're only halfway there. #30: 1000 Players: Take down 1,000 players in your career. Play in everything. Say you played in 10 tournaments every year. If you knocked out 10 people in every tournament, you would get it. So, try to keep it at an average of about 100 people per year. Don't let this task overwhelm you. Category Six: Pro Player Takedowns #31: Darrell Dicken: Take down Darrell Dicken. The following Collector Chips are simply defeating Pros in WSOP events; invitational events don't count. For this one, you've gotta take down Darrell Dicken. Also, I'm not listing them in the correct order, simply because it doesn't matter. #32: Max Pescatori: Take down Max Pescatori. #33: Scotty Nguyen: Take down Scotty Nguyen. #34: Chris Ferguson: Take down Chris Ferguson. #35: Men Nguyen: Take down Men Nguyen. #36: Chip Jett: Take down Chip Jett. #37: Jim Meehan: Take down Jim Meehan. #38: John Phan: Take down John Phan. #39: Dennis Waterman: Take down Dennis Waterman. #40: Beth Fischman: Take down Beth Fischman. #41: Carrie Lew: Take down Carrie Lew. #42: Edward Moncada: Take down Edward Moncada. Category Seven: Final Tables #43: World Championship Event: Make the final table of the World Championship Event. This is by far the hardest Collector Chip to get for Final Tables, simply because WCE always has about four times as many people as the next biggest tournament. Play your game, hope you get lucky, and maybe you'll make it there. #44: Hold 'Em Event 1: Make the final table of the Super Satellite Day event, which is No Limit. It's free, it's free! Play it every year! #45: Hold 'Em Event 2: Make the final table of the first Limit Hold 'Em event. Not as hard as the WCE, but it's not even close to easy, either. #46: Hold 'Em Event 3: Make the final table of the second Limit Texas Hold 'Em event. From now on, I'll just say that, because you know what you have to do. Completing the Final Tables category is unbelievably good; I doubt that I will ever do it. #47: Hold 'Em Event 4: Make the final table of the third Limit event. #48: Hold 'Em Event 5: Make the final table of the fourth Limit event. #49: Hold 'Em Event 6: Make the final table of the fifth Limit event. #50: Hold 'Em Event 7: Make the final table of the first No Limit event. #51: Hold 'Em Event 8: Make the final table of the second No Limit event. #52: Hold 'Em Event 9: Make the final table of the third No Limit event. #53: Hold 'Em Event 10: Make the final table of the fourth No Limit event. #54: Hold 'Em Event 11: Make the final table of the fifth No Limit event. #55: Hold 'Em Event 12: Make the final table of the first Pot Limit event. #56: Hold 'Em Event 13: Make the final table of the second Pot Limit event. #57: Hold 'Em Event 14: Make the final table of the third Pot Limit event. #58: Hold 'Em Event 15: Make the final table of the fourth Pot Limit event. #59: Omaha Event 1: Make the final table of the first Omaha Pot Limit event. #60: Omaha Event 2: Make the final table of the second Omaha Pot Limit event. #61: Omaha Hi-Low Event 1: Make the final table of the first Omaha Hi- Low Limit event. #62: Omaha Hi-Low Event 2: Make the final table of the second Omaha Hi- Low Limit event. #63: Omaha Hi-Low Event 3: Make the final table of the third Omaha Hi- Low Limit event. #64: Seven Card Stud Event 1: Make the final table of the first Seven Card Stud Limit event. #65: Seven Card Stud Event 2: Make the final table of the second Seven Card Stud Limit event. #66: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Event 1: Make the final table of the first Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Limit event. #67: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Event 2: Make the final table of the second Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Limit event. #68: Razz Event 1: Make the final table of the Razz Limit event. Category Eight: WSOP Game Type Wins #69: Hold 'Em WSOP Win: Win a Texas Hold 'Em event. Let's see...events 6, 11, or 15 (they have less people), or any other one. Just keep playing. Super Satellite Day doesn't work for this, because it's not a WSOP event. #70: Omaha Hold 'Em WSOP Win: Win an Omaha Hold 'Em event. There's only two to choose from, and one of them costs $10,000. #71: Omaha Hold 'Em Hi-Low WSOP Win: Win an Omaha Hold 'Em Hi-Low event. Again, only three to choose from. #72: Seven Card Stud WSOP Win: Win a Seven Card Stud event. SCS is not very popular, so this shouldn't be as hard as Texas or Omaha, though it's still incredibly hard. #73: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low WSOP Win: Win a Seven Card Stud Hi-Low event. This is not popular at all, so just keep playing until you get it. #74: Razz (Seven Card Lowball) WSOP Win: Win the Razz event. There's only one, so win it! Category Nine: Tournament Size Wins #75: Win a Tournament With 200-299 Players: <. SCS and SCSHL are usually around that, especially the more expensive buy-ins. #76: Win a Tournament With 300-399 Players: <. The lower buy-ins for SCS and SCSHL are good, but the most expensive THE events are good too, usually. You can check out Omaha for yourself; I never look at it anymore. #77: Win a Tournament With 400-499 Players: <. Hold 'Em is definitely good for this. #78: Win a Tournament With 500-999 Players: A lot of tournaments, including Super Satellite Day. #79: Win a Tournament With 1000-1999 Players: The least expensive Hold 'Em events, especially No Limit, will have up to 1,500 people. #80: Win a Tournament With at Least 2000 Players: They could just say WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT, since it's the only tournament that qualifies. Just another reward for winning the World Series of Poker. Category Ten: Overall Winnings #81: $25,000: Win $25,000 in your career. Just win one tournament that isn't the Super Satellite Day (or place high in some tournament with a bunch of people) and you should get this. #82: $50,000: Win $50,000 in your career. Again, not very hard if you can win a tournament. #83: $100,000: Win $100,000 in your career. Twice as much as before, but still not that hard. #84: $500,000: Win $500,000 in your career. You'll probably have to win one or two tournaments to get this, or do really, really well in the WCE, but it's not extremely hard. #85: $1,000,000: Win $1,000,000 in your career. This is where they start getting hard. Just keep winning tournaments. #86: $10,000,000: Win $10,000,000 in your career. Stay consistent over your 10 years, and keep winning. Remember, restarting your career sets your winnings back to $0. Winning the WCE gets you this. #87: $50,000,000: Win $50,000,000 in your career. Stay consistent over your 10 years, and keep winning. A lot. #88: $100,000,000: Win $100,000,000 in your career. WOW. Win the WCE multiple times, and win a lot of other tournaments also. This is unbelievably hard; it's $10,000,000 a year! Category Eleven: Winning Streak #89: 2 Wins in a Row: Win two tournaments in a row. Really, really hard. It gets much, much worse, however. #90: 3 Wins in a Row: Win three tournaments in a row. Honestly, I'm not sure what they were thinking when they put this in. #91: 4 Wins in a Row: Win four tournaments in a row. Think about that. Four consecutive wins. I still haven't gotten two. #92: 5 Wins in a Row: Win five tournaments in a row. I'm pretty sure I consider this the hardest of all Collector Chips. Right here. This is THE HARDEST ONE. If you get it, hats off, mad props, and everything else, because there are a lot that are way easier that are still incredibly hard. Category Twelve: Invitational Wins #93: Hollywood Invitational: Win the Hollywood Invitational. #94: Hawaiian Open: Win the Hawaiian Open. #95: Tokyo Showdown: Win the Tokyo Showdown. #96: Fiesta Finals: Win the Fiesta Finals. #97: Gamer's Gala: Win the Gamer's Gala. #98: Western Roundup: Win the Western Roundup. #99: Medieval Classic: Win the Medieval Classic. #100: High Roller Challenge: Win the High Roller Challenge. So that's it. The ultimate challenge in this video game, The World Series of Poker; collecting all 100 Collector Chips. --- .IX: Questions You Might Ask. Q: I can't win any tournaments! What am I doing wrong? A: Winning a tournament is a great feat. I've actually only won once or twice in Texas Hold 'Em, and two wins in Seven Card Stud Hi-Low. Placing high, making final tables; that's what you should aim for. Q: I keep getting unlucky! What do I do? A: You play through it. The pros do. Q: I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. A: Great. Q: I can't get some of the highest Poker Hands! What should I do? A: *sigh* Get lucky. Okay, just keep playing. It'll come. Except for Royal Flush; if you get that, save your game immediately in case of a blackout or something. Q: I can't take down three people in one hand; it's impossible! A: No, it's not. Remember, you don't have to make them all go all in at the same time. Slowplay it (dumb down your hand with checks and small bets and raises) and half-bluff them all in. Q: How do you take down 20 people in one tournament? A: Enter the WCE and play aggressively. Q: Come on, 1,000 people? That's ridiculous! A: Not if you stay consistent throughout your entire career. Remember, that's an average of 100 people per year. If you play in 10 tournaments every year, that's 10 people every tournament, and you can probably play in more then 10 if you can win some money. Q: Pro Player Takedowns are hard to get. How do I get them? A: When a pro comes to your table (you NEVER start a tournament with a pro at your table), set your sights on them. When they go all in, call them, no matter what you have, and hope for luck. Raise pre-flop when they have good hands to isolate the pro and you (this guide has a focus on THE). Q: All those final tables are making me dizzy! How do I make them more consistently? A: Like so many other facets of life, practice. Learn how to play the game better. Develop strategies and APPLY THEM WHILE PLAYING. Deceive people to go all in when you have high pocket pairs and hands like that. For Stud and Razz, hope for the best; these are so much more luck, especially because they're limit. For Omaha, I don't really ever play, so I don't really know. Look somewhere else for more in-depth advice on Stud, and any advice at all on Omaha. Q: I can't win this kind of poker! Help! A: See answer above. Q: I can't win some size tournament! Help! A: See answer above, and make sure the number of players follows the criteria before entering. Q: ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS?! How in the world do I get that?! A: Okay. Remember, that's an average of 10 million dollars every year. If you play in 20 tournaments, that's an average of $500,000 per tournament. This might be the hardest Collector Chip to get, but I still hold with 5 Wins in a Row. Winning the World Series of Poker gets you about $13,000,000, so if you win it eight times out of ten, you get it. You will not do that without cheating, however. This chip is incredibly hard. Try and try again. Also, it is not your current bankroll that needs to show $100,000,000; just your winnings. Entry fees will drop it down below $100,000,000 when you get there with your winnings. Probably. Q: Those winning streaks are really hard! Any tips? A: First off, I agree that they are really hard. As for tips, you need to play well. You need to be able to overcome unlucky breaks and rise up again. And here's an honest comment: If you win two tournaments in a row, I applaud. If you win three in a row, I applaud and whistle loudly. If you win four, I give you a standing ovation. If you win five, I do all but bow before you. Q: The Invitationals are hard because the pros are really good! They go all in a lot; how can I tell when they're bluffing? A: Nice observation; the pros do go all in a lot. So what do you do? Become a pro; go all in a lot. I recommend trying to win all the invitational events, then completely ignoring them as you go for the other Collector Chips. After winning the High Roller Challenge, there is absolutely no reason to enter an Invitational, besides to lose $15,000. You can just set up the exact same situation in Quickplay. Q: How many Collector Chips do you have, and what are they? A: Let's see...62. I have all the Poker Hands except Royal Flush, I have all the All In and Wins, all the Single Hand and Tournament Takedowns. I have 25, 50, 100 and 250 for Total Takedowns. I've taken down all of the pros. For Final Tables, I have Hold 'Em Events 1, 9, 10 and 15, both of the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low, and Razz. I've won Seven Card Stud Hi-Low and Texas Hold 'Em. Those wins got me 200-299 and 500- 999 players tournament size. I have $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 and $500,000 for Overall Winnings. I have none of the Winning Streaks, and all of the Invitationals. Q: What are some of your personal strategies? A: These are strategies for Texas Hold 'Em; I don't really have strategies for any other variety. -Don't play too many pocket hands. Two low cards, especially offsuit, should be folded virtually every time. A high card, like a king or an ace, with a low card, are decent hands. Two high cards, especially suited, are the best hands besides pocket pairs; you should call virtually every time and raise a lot. Low pocket pairs are risky to play with, because the flop will usually contain higher cards, and if any player still in has any one of those cards, they've got you beat. High pocket pairs are the best hands; you should raise almost every time with high pocket pairs, settling for calling huge raises and all- ins. -Steal pots. If everybody around you is checking, make a medium bet, scare everybody off with your crummy hand, and steal it. Be careful doing this, because rarely, people will check-raise (they check, you bet, they raise). -Another deceiving tactic is slow playing, which I mentioned once before. When you have a great hand, you check and make small bets to make other people think they have better hands. They bet, you call, the turn comes (or whatever), you check, their false confidence grows and they make a larger bet, and you move all in. They fold and hit the table in frustration that they were tricked by a slowplay, or they call, thinking that you're bluffing. -Bully people. When you're the chip leader, you're not risking as much by making a $5,000 bet with $55,000. However, the guy over there with $8,500 has to spend more then half his money to call. With a medium hand, he folds, and you give the dealer your terrible hand without showing it to that guy. You steal the pot. So make more bets when you're the chip leader. Make sure they're large to the people that are lower then you, so that it puts pressure on them to call. When you're behind, the computer does this, and it's really frustrating to see so many pots going to that one player, while everyone else folds. It's a good tactic. -As the shortstack, go all in pre-flop with pocket pairs. Go all in pre-flop with two high cards. DO NOT FOLD, as the shortstack, when you've already put most of the chips you had starting out into the pot, because if you fold, and then you double up on an all in next hand, it's not near as helpful as if you double up after winning the pot of the previous hand. More questions? taupefish@yahoo.com. --- .X: List of People. Here's a list of random people I've played in tournaments. If I repeat names, sorry. Larry Higgins Garth Foster Jack Gray Ty Rhone Homer Madison Arnie Hayes Chip Jett Edward Moncada Mike Stewart Luke Hughes Louis Lopez Dennis Waterman Arnie Scott Clarissa Reed Jenny Harrison Chrisy Anderson Dave Flores Garth Cole Kim Jefferson Kim Roberts Loose Lucy Ted Perez Tony Wellbrock Burt Kennedy Texas Jack Wild Bill Chip Thomas Skip Roska Chris Richards Carol Butler Bill Hawk Men Nguyen John Monk Greg Johnson Rick Madison Chris Ferguson Chad Iwata Gloria Harrison James Olson Briana Berry Collin Wellbrock Glen Torres Lucas Lee Collin Watson Jenna Halsell Patrick Hill Milton Thompson Kurt Adams Joanne Mitchell Bobby McDonald Carrie Lew Rex Boone Lane Sanders Brandon Garcia Jim Smith Logan Roberts Tight Terry Charlie Morgan Beth Fischman Robert Jackson Robert Bryant Holly Thomas Jessica Schwartz Christian Roska Julie Harrison Dirk Green Nelson Hudlow Clint Wilson Debbie O'Reilly Mike Teague Junior Bennett Oscar Lewis Andrew Cales Dolly Tucker Parker Nixon Aaron Scott Jessica Owens Luke Robinson Patrick Hayes Eldon Brandwood Sergio Fisher Ace Williams Ace Woods Clarissa Cooper Tony Hayburn Emma Donna Ron Morris Matt Coleman Mick Odin Annette Jefferson Stan McCormick Garret Adams Johnny Flores Chad Ortiz Kenny Cruz Ty Sullivan Joel Blanchard Mary Myers Herb Cook Johnny Wallace Wally Ortiz Rick Boone Richard Rogers Carol Garcia Lloyd Lincoln Gordon Wallace Johnny Doe Junior Lee Traci Schwartz Collin Bennett Rick Edwards Bob Morris Ethan Bryant Tad Stewart Keith Anderson Dirk Taylor Nevada Torres Travis Coleman Gordon Teague Jamie Berry Kurt Howard Carol Edwards Marco Lombardi Andy Weaver Brian Hill Mick Alexander Lucas Hayes Judy Alexander Frank Lopez Dutch Wood Clarissa Little Chad Jordan Reggie Marley Becky Hall Nicole Hughes Clint Murphy Rodney Foster Arnie O'Reilly Trent Ross Lucas Koehler Jim Meehan Thomas King Phil Powell Laurie Howard Dan Bailey Ted Kaye Mimi Brady Thomas Watson Logan Gibson Hugh Weaver Fred McDonald Lloyd Bell Sally Young Brian Jefferson Clint Turner Chrisy Madison Art Green Garth Ross Ollie Boone Pat White Junior Hogan Gene Bush Stan Ramirez Arnie Roberts Oscar Lee Keith Hill Nicki Jones Jesse Hogan Louis Carter Darrell Dicken Nevada Olson Holly Jenkins Ron Parker John Phan Ace Polk Scotty Nguyen Brian Duncan Stu Long Milton Madison Wayne Polk Skip Edwards Collin Washington Spencer Boone Chad Hudlow Alex Greve David Halsell Dan Wood Lucas Oxford Trent Jordan Lenny Brown Daniel Perez Milton Gibson More coming soon! --- .XI: Challenges. Just a quick list of challenges for you to try to achieve. 1. Get half of the Collector Chips. < I've done this one. 2. Get 75 of the Collector Chips. 3. Get all of the Collector Chips. 4. In one 10-year career, win a WSOP bracelet. < I did it! 5. In one 10-year career, win 5 WSOP bracelets. (Anything below here 6. In one 10-year career, win 10 WSOP bracelets. is absurdly hard) 7. In one 10-year career, win 25 WSOP bracelets. 8. In one 10-year career, win 50 WSOP bracelets. 9. In one 10-year career, win 100 WSOP bracelets. 10. In one 10-year career, win 150 WSOP bracelets. 11. In one 10-year career, win 200 WSOP bracelets. 12. In one 10-year career, win 250 WSOP bracelets. --- .XII: Credits. -Me, Thiradell, for making this guide. -Nintendo, for supporting this game on the GameCube. Please do this with more games! -Activision, a great video game company. Thank you! -Left Field Productions being involved in it. -Chris Ferguson, John Phan, Jim Meehan, Max Pescatori, Scotty Nguyen, Men Nguyen, Edward Moncada, Dennis Waterman, Chip Jett, Beth Fischman and Carrie Lew, for letting Nintendo put them in this game! I wish they could've gotten some other pros, like Layne Flack or Phil Ivey, but it's still great! --- .XIII: Conclusion. Well, we've come to the end. I hope the above information helps you become a better poker player, and that one day, you win the World Series of Poker, whether in 2005 or 2014. And get all of those Collector Chips! Thiradell, taupefish@yahoo.com. This guide has 15,179 words. Bye for now.