Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
English Draw Poker, or Blind and Straddle
English Draw Texas Hold'em Poker, or Blind and Straddle This is the basic English Draw Texas Hold'em Poker game, also known as Australian Texas Hold'em Poker, South African Poker, Tiger, and Blind Tiger, each of which possesses several minor variations—but none is materially different from any other. Blind and Straddle began to lose popularity throughout the globe with the introduction of Jackpots or Jacks or Better, but it still remains a very popular Draw Texas Hold'em Poker game in England, Australia, South Africa and neighboring countries.
The standard Draw Poker rules prevail
The standard Draw Online Hold'em Poker rules prevail except in the following respects, which concern principally the first betting interval and the showdown. Whether or not there was any ante before the deal, at the conclusion of the deal the player on the left of the dealer (leader), who is called the "blind," must put up an ante of one unit before looking at his cards. Next, the player on the left of the blind, known as the "straddle," must ante two units into the pot before looking at his cards. In effect, he raises the blind one unit. The third player to the dealer's left is the first to act. After looking at his hand, he has two options available—he may open for four units (he cannot bet more or less than four units) or he may fold (passing out) and throw in his hand. Should he fold, the player on his left has the same options available, opening for four units or folding. If everyone folds before the blind, the blind is required only to bet three units above his one-unit ante. If the blind folds, the straddler collects the three units in the pot.