Where to Play Poker in North Metro AtlantaCatch 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, Marietta, Smyrna, Roswell, or Dunwoody. I have played in several different Atlanta poker leagues. Most of the time these days I'm playing in Full House Holdem or Interstate games. Atlanta Poker League ReviewHere is my experience in several different Atlanta area poker leagues. Since I'm in Cherokee County, I enjoy playing close to home most of the time. Interstate Poker ClubInterstate Poker Club seems to be the biggest poker league in the Atlanta area. They conduct more games daily than any other league I have found. Their games are spread out geographically and the monthly tournament never seems to be particularly convenient for players in Cherokee County. Interstate, as their name states, is a club. Everyone who comes gets a free membership card. But players who either pay a fee or win in certain games get a special membership card which awards them double chip ups before and during the games. Interstate is probably the best organized league I have played poker with in the Atlanta area. The dealers are better than the random dealers I've encountered in other leagues. And the tournament directors seem to be better trained than other leagues too. I don't play enough Interstate games to gain enough points to qualify for their monthly tournaments. In addition to their monthly tournament, there are other opportunities to qualify for tournaments. Top 3 PokerTop 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 HoldemFull 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 CardsI'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'emHere 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. | 
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