Game rules Poker

Poker is a card game with many variations. This one, in particular, is called Five Card Draw Poker. Here at GameVelvet it is a betting game in which virtual credits with no monetary value are contested for sheer entertainment, that is, no credit can be converted into money.

Important: It is forbidden to make money bets as well as money transactions among GameVelvet Users!

In order to join the match, the User must have credits in his/her account that are equal to or higher than the table buy-in. A minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 players are allowed in the game. The card deck has cards from 7 to Aces when there are up to 4 players. As a new player comes in, 4 lower cards are added to the deck being each of a different suit. For instance, when 5 people join the match, all suits of 6 are then added to the deck. When 7 people join the match, all suits of 5 are added to the deck. When 8 people join the match, the deck then comprises cards from 4 to Aces (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J,Q, K, A)..

How to play:

A Poker game is made up of several matches. The players may join or leave the game at any time. However, they must wait for a new match to start for them to join it. A match is made up of a set number of rounds:

• Placing the Ante
• Dealing the Cards
• First Betting Round
• Changing Cards
• Second Betting Round
• Showdown

The Dealer

The first dealer is randomly chosen by the computer and thereafter the turn to deal the cards is that of the player to the left after each hand. Since the shuffling and dealing are automated, the dealer, in practical terms, is just there to show who is going to be the first to start playing, namely, whoever is on his/her left.

Placing the Ante

The ante is a mandatory amount of credits to be paid in order to join a match. Each table has an ante price which is proportional to the table buy-in. If a player quits the match before the betting round takes place, he/she then loses his/her ante. In the interest of speeding things up, the Automated Ante Feature starts active at the table, that is, if you're at a table in the beginning of a match, your ante will be automatically placed in the center of the table. If you disable that option, the system will then ask if you wish to post your ante. If you decide not to post it, you'll be out of the game.

Dealing the Cards

The cards are dealt clockwise one by one until all players have 5 cards in their hands. At this point, it's up to the player to assess his/her chances to make a good hand bearing in mind that there will be a chance to change up to 5 cards further ahead during the match.

Betting Rounds

The player on the left of the dealer begins the betting round and can choose one of the following options:

• BET means betting an amount which matches or is higher than the ante and matches or is lower than the table limit ? if any.
• FOLD means dropping out of the round to avoid losing any further.
• CHECK means passing the turn to bet without having to fold.
This option is only available to the player of the ongoing turn if there hasn't been any bets in the round, that is, if the player is the first to place a bet or if the previous players have also chosen to check.

From the second player on, the options are as follows:

• CALL means matching the current bet made by the previous player.
• RAISE means raising the bet. It consists not only of matching the bet but also placing some extra amount in the pot. This makes the other players either match your bet (call) or drop out (fold).

The round is over when all seated players have matched the bet, that is, when everyone has bet the same amount. If it is a Limit Poker, the amount bet in the round can't be higher than the table's.

Changing Cards

Starting from the player on the left of the dealer and going on clockwise, each player may change from 0 to 5 cards in his/her hand always aiming at the best card combination.

Showdown

By the end of the second round, those who haven't folded, show their hands and whoever has the best combination wins the match plus all the bet amount. Exception takes place if all players but one fold. In this case, the player who remains at the table wins the total of all bets but doesn't show his/her cards. In the case of a tie, the amount is evenly shared among the winners.

All-In

When a player uses all his/her chips to place or match a bet worth the same or higher than that of the other players', he/she then reaches a special condition: the All-In. The player remains in the game as he/she places all his/her chips on the table but once the player wins, he/she doesn't receive all the bet amount. Instead, he/she gets the amount that he/she has placed multiplied by the number of players who have finished the match. The remaining amount is contested by the other players' hands. For instance, players ?A?, ?B? and ?C? remain at the table. ?A? bets 100 credits, ?B? bets 100 credits as well and ?C? bets 50 credits since it is all he/she has. ?C? is therefore an All-In player. ?C? wins the match but he/she receives 150 (50 X 3) because he/she has bet 50 credits and 3 players have finished the match. If ?B? has the second best hand, he/she gets what is left: 100. If ?B? and ?A? come to a tie, each one gets 50 credits and shares what is left. Another possibility is a tie between ?C? and ?B? having ?A? as the loser. In this case, ?C? receives 75 credits (50 X 3/2) and ?B? receives what is left, that is, 175 credits.

Kicker

It's a card in the player's hand which isn't part of the combination but is good as a tie-breaker.

Poker Hand Rankings ? Weakest to Strongest:

High Card The hand with the highest card(s) wins. This hand is worth its highest ranking card when used as a tie-breaker followed by the second highest card and so on. Thus K, J, 9, 8, 7 outranks Q, J, 10, 9, 7.
One Pair It consists of 2 cards of the same number or face value. If 2 players have the same pair, the highest outside card(s) wins.
Two Pairs If 2 players have 2 pairs, the hand with the highest pair wins. If they have the same high pair, whoever has the second highest pair wins. If they have the same 2 pairs, whoever has the highest fifth card (kicker) wins.
Three of a Kind It consists of 3 cards of the same number or face value. Also known as Trips.
Straight It consists of 5 cards in sequence. Cards can be in any suit. An Ace can be used in the highest straight (10, J, Q, K, A) and the lowest straight (A, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Flush It consists of 5 cards of the same suit. If there's more than 1 flush, the hand with the highest card(s) wins.
Full House It consists of 3 cards of 1 number or face value and 2 cards of another number or face value. If more than 1 player has a Full House, the Full House with the highest Three of a Kind (Trips) wins.
Four of a Kind It consists of 4 cards of the same number or face value (Quads).
Straight Flush It consists of 5 cards in sequence all in the same suit. The highest card here is the King.
Royal Straight Flush It is the best and the hardest hand you can get. It consists of 5 cards of the same suit all in numerical sequence (10, J, Q, K, A).

Credits and Reloads

Enjoy the thrill of winning or losing through your bets in the Poker game. However, in the GameVelvet Poker games you can only play with virtual money (credits) which have no monetary value. By providing credits and a credit reload policy which value the points you earn, we're able to limit the access to those credits. When you first seat at a Poker table, you have an account activated by 1,000 credits if you're a Games & Hearts User, and by 500 credits if you're using your 20-Hour Pass. Should you lose those credits in a game, you can always reload them by clicking on the appropriate button on the Poker screen. To have your credits reloaded, you must have less than 50 credits in your Account. In this case, 150 credits will be added 2 hours after your request. You're only allowed to have your credits reloaded at a maximum of 2 times a day. So, we advise you to treasure your credits.


Auditing

In case a player feels hindered by any error caused by the system, he/she must use the Auditing Tool available on the Poker Room Menu in order to officially place his/her complaint. The complaint must be written right after the match and a copy of the last Match History will be then submitted to the Janitors Team. Once an error is indeed detected in the system, GameVelvet refunds the lost credits. Complaints placed through other means such as e-mails or posts in the community forum, will not be seen to. Dump crashes or connection problems are not considered system errors. Therefore, they are not liable to credit refunds since those kinds of errors may have various causes beyond Games & Hearts services.



Safety Policy and Fair Play

In the interest of avoiding losses of credits due to dump crashes, and in order to deter illegal transactions as well as transactions that don't comply to our Terms of Services, the player is not allowed to receive from other players any amount higher than that which he/she himself/herself has covered. All the players who have bet an amount which hasn't been covered, will have that difference refunded even if he/she leaves the game room.

For instance:

Player A and B each posts an ante worth 10 credits;
- Player A bets 500 credits;
- Player B raises the bet to 10,000 credits;
- Player B leaves the table or loses connection.

In this case, Player A receives 1,020 credits (500 credits from his/her bet + 500 from Player B + 20 credits from the antes) and Player B has 9,500 credits refunded (10,000 ? 500 covered by Player A).