There is really no denying the fact that Texas Hold ‘Em really is one of the most popular variations of poker out there being played right now. As you will see throughout the course of this particular series of posts, a lot of the most popular sub variations are some kind of Hold ‘Em type poker. Last week, we talked about Longhand Limit Hold ‘Em. This week, conversely, we will be focusing on the game known as Shorthand Limit Hold ‘Em.

Not only do you need a mix of players to get a good game of Shorthand Limit Hold ‘Em going strong, but technical skills are also a strong requirement. You need people skills as well, because it definitely pays — often literally — to be able to analyze both a game of shorthand and the people playing it.

One of the reasons you need these skills is because, typically, there will be a lot of bluffing going on in a shorthand game. So, it is imperative that you know when to be aggressive and when to be cool. You can also play a whole lot fancier in Shorthand than you can in Longhand. Still, since this is a limit game, technical skills are a must.

No one can tell you which game of poker will be best at you.  No one can tell you which variation you will play better.  That is entirely up to you.  Some people prefer Five Card Stud to the point that they will not even consider Seven Card Stud — and the reverse is also true.  Some people excel at Texas Hold ‘Em.  Some people are convinced that they cannot possibly win unless they are playing Full Tilt Poker.  It is all matter of personal preference.  What I can do, though, is help you learn the fundamentals associated with some of the most popular variations of poker.

No matter what game you choose to play, there are some necessary pieces of knowledge that every game has in common. For instance, you need to be good at “poker math.” That is, you need to either know or learn how to master the odds of the pot and tight playing. You need to learn how to change up the way you play and how to bluff.

In Longhand Limit Hold ‘Em, technical skills are almost always rewarded. Having an understanding of the value of the hand and patience are particularly rewarding. A lot of hands are going to go to the showdown, so it pays to be able to read your opponent. However, that is not all that will help you.

Poker chips have been there for almost as long as the game of poker itself. During 1800s, poker was played using real money but with the widespread popularity of the game around the world this real money was eventually replaced by poker chips due to currency differences.

The plastic and metallic chips we have today were not available in the ancient times and therefore poker players used to deploy pieces of woods, stones, and even bones as poker chips. Gradually the world saw setting up of small gaming houses where one could exchange their money with poker chips and thus be on equal grounds with co players.

By late 1800s, clay chips were introduces and as demand and technology grew these clay chips gave way to plastic, acrylic and very costly Ivory chips. In 20th century there was an outburst in the number of casinos and a strong need of standardization of poker chips were followed. It was very common to see people duping casinos by carrying their personalized poker chips inside and playing with them. However this was tracked down soon and casinos went a step further to furnish each poker chip with a microprocessor to track their movement and facilitate the process of payouts.

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