Where to Play Poker in
North Metro Atlanta
Catch me playing free poker in
the Cherokee County area of Atlanta. I play games at locations in
Canton, Woodstock, Kennesaw, and Marietta. Sometimes I catch a game
in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Roswell, or Dunwoody.
I have played in several different
Atlanta poker
leagues.
Most of the
time these days I'm playing in
Top 3 Poker
games.
Atlanta Poker League
Review
Here is my experience in three
different Atlanta area poker leagues. Since I'm in Cherokee County,
I enjoy playing close to home most of the time.
Top 3 Poker
Top 3 plays in more venues in
the Cherokee County area than the other leagues I've played.
They also have games in Cobb County.
The blind structure includes
antes after the blinds have gone up several times.
This forces players to eventually bet more aggressively as the
game progresses.
The bonus chip up rules
prevents any one play from accumulating a huge chip stack by
ordering a ton of food and drinks. I like this feature, as other
leagues allow players to get a huge stack of bonus chips that
way out of proportion to the starting chip stack.
The Top 3 Poker league
rewards all players coming in the top three positions in any
game with a seat to their monthly tournament. They also have a
quarterly and yearly tournament.
The tournament structure and
chip up rules of Top 3 makes it fairly easy for players to have
a shot at making it to a tournament. Just be one of the top 3
players in a game and you have made it to a tournament!
Full House Holdem
Full House Holdem has many
venues throughout North Metro Atlanta but few venues in Cherokee
County. Because they are spread out geographically and have so
many venues, I can usually catch a game somewhere after a day of
home inspections or showing homes to clients that are not near
my home.
The bonus chip up rules
allows players to accumulate huge chip stacks before the game
starts and allows for a huge chip up during the game. This often
results in some players having a chip stack way out of
proportion to the starting blinds and way out of proportion to
the other players even before the game starts.
Full House Holdem conducts a
quarterly tournament. Winning a seat at the quarterly requires a
minimum number of points which are accumulated throughout the
season. Players must come in the top 8 in order to get points.
Making it to the tournament requires playing a lot of games.
Any Two Cards
I'm less familiar with Any
Two Cards and have played very few games. They don't have a
presence in Cherokee County.
Their chip up rules are
similar to Full House Holdem, but it seems like they reward
players who order any food or drinks with a generous chip up.
This makes the chip up slightly less out of proportion to other
players compared to the Full House Holdem chip up rules.
The generous chip up before
the game means all players have a big chip stack at the start of
the game. And the games last longer compared to games in the
other leagues.
The Any Two Cards game is one
long game while the other leagues usually host at least two
faster paced games.
Winning Poker Hands - Texas Hold'em
Here are the winning poker hands in Texas Hold'em.
For a PDF copy of these hands to print and use as a reference when
you are playing poker,
download Winning
Poker Hands here.
High Card: If no one has any of the below
winning hands, the winning hand is determined by the highest value
card in the hand. If the highest cards are a tie then the tie is
broken by the second highest card. Suits are not used to break ties.
Pair: One pair of two equal value cards.
Two Pair: Two separate pairs (eg. 4,4,Q,Q). The pair with the
higher value is used to determine the winner of a tie.
Three of a Kind:
Three cards of the same value. The highest
set of three cards wins.
Straight: Five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit. A
straight cannot wrap, meaning it is not a straight if you have a
Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three. The higher straight wins if two or
more people have a straight.
Flush: Any five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence.
The high card determines the winner if two or more people have a
flush.
Full House: Three of a kind combined with a pair (eg.
A,A,A,5,5). Ties on a full house are broken by the three of a kind,
as you cannot have two equal sets of three of a kind in any single
deck.
Four of a Kind: All four cards of the equal value (eg.
J,J,J,J).
Straight Flush: Any five card sequence in the same suit. (eg.
8,9,10,J,Q and A,2,3,4,5 of same suit) All the cards are of the
same suit, and all are consecutive. Ranking between straights is
determined by the value of the high end of the straight. When the
Ace is the high end of the straight in the same suit (10,J,Q,K,A)
it is called a Royal Flush and is an unbeatable hand.
For a PDF copy of these hands to
print and use as a reference when you are playing poker,
download Winning
Poker Hands here.
|
