|
 |
The Poker Table
|
 |
The Basics
Statistics
Notes
Private Tables
Graphical Settings
Auto Play Settings
Keyboard Shortcuts
How To Play
The Texas Hold'em game has been designed to be as straightforward
and intuitive as possible. Below is a short description of how
the various buttons and functions in the game work.
Game Components
1. The hand counter shows the
number of the current hand and the previous hand played at this
table.
2. Two cards are
shown in front of each player still active in the game. Next
to them are poker chips, representing his current bet in this
round. The orange button marks the position of the "dealer".
3. Accumulated poker
chips end up here (the pot).
4.
Each occupied seat is represented by an avatar character. Left-clicking
on an avatar mutes that player's chat messages. Right-clicking
on the avatar brings up the "Player notes" editor.
5. Action buttons. With these
buttons you decide whether to check, call, bet, raise or fold.
6. The control buttons. These
are used when getting ready to play or leaving the table.
7. The chat textfield. Type
in what you want to say to the other players here and press
the RETURN key or click SPEAK.
8.
Other players' actions are communicated through speech balloons.
9. The community cards are
shown in the middle of the table.
10.
For your own player, instead of the small card symbols, you
can see which cards you have.
11.
Depending on your preference, a text box on the right displays
the actions of the players (TEXT), chat messages (CHAT)
or both at the same time (BOTH).
12.
Game statistics, consisting of the current bet, the pot and
the rake are shown in the control panel.
The
Basics
When you enter a table you will first be prompted for how much of the money
in your PokerEon account you want to use when playing. Although you can use
everything, it is recommended (at least for real money) that you give some thought
to how much you are prepared to lose, should it come to that.
While seated you can either be active or passive, commonly known
as sitting in or sitting out. Until you sit
in you will not take part in the game (although you can
follow what is going on and join the conversation). Once you
are active, it is assumed that you wish to participate in each
new hand, until you sit out again.
The action buttons will automatically appear when it is your turn to act. Click
on an action button (for example "Check") or use the keyboard shortcuts
to act.
Please note that there is a time limit on how long you can think
before deciding. Once a dialog box appears, you have roughly
30 seconds to make your choice. If you fail to act within that
time, your hand will be automatically check/folded. Legitimate
disconnections (caused by network problems, for example) will
however only make you all-in, and your hand will still be protected.
(See the FAQ page for details).
Also
note that there is a limit of 3 all-ins per 24 hour period.
After that your hand will no longer be protected. That limit
is used in order to stop people from abusing the all-in system,
by deliberately going all-in. You will see the number of all-ins
you have left for the day when you arrive at a table. It says,
for example, "Remaining all-ins: 2" in the text window.
The control panel of the table window has a different kind of buttons. These
concern your participation in the game. Sit in, Sit out and Leave
should be fairly obvious. Cashier can be used if you change your mind
about the amount you want to keep at the table. Clicking it brings up the initial
cash dialog box. Finally, Lobby sends the lobby window to the front,
like the Table button above does with the table window.
Not all of these buttons are active at the same time. The Cashier
option has been disabled in the example picture above. You can
only use the Cashier function while you are sitting out.
A popular feature in most online multiplayer card games is the option to decide
in advance what to do when it is your turn to act. Apart from not having to
wait for a dialog box to appear, you make the game transmit and process your
choice while other people are thinking, so that your actions later get carried
out in no time at all.
PokerEon does this by way of six "auto play" boxes, related
to folding, calling, betting and raising. Their appearance and
accessibility will change to reflect your current options. They
may also become de-selected if a choice has become obsolete,
for example if you select "Call $10" and someone has already
raised to $20 or higher before it is your turn. The "Check/Call
$20" option has been selected in the example picture above.
This means that you would check if possible, and call up to
$20 otherwise.
Statistics
You can log your real money hands as well as your play-money
hands on your computer if you'd like. Select the logging you
would like to do under the "Statistics" headline in the
game lobby. You can then open up a statistics window by selecting
"Show stats" under the "Statistics" headline. That window
will display various stats from your logged playing sessions,
for example what percentage you have folded before the Flop.
You can also see how much you have won/lost on average per hand,
as well as several other interesting stats.
Notes
Just click on a player and a small menu will appear. Select the
"Notes" option to bring up a notes window. You can then enter
notes about that particular player. You don't have to open up the
notes window again to read your notes, simply put the mouse pointer
over the notes icon and your notes will appear as a tooltip after a second or
so.
Private Tables
How to play at a private table:
There are two types of private tables, private and unrestricted. The unrestricted version works just like a regular table except that a player has created it. The private version is however limited to players that are accepted by the table owner. You can recognize a private table
in the lobby by the small, red padlock icon next to it. When you open such a table, you will be prompted to send a request to enter to the table owner. You can also choose to type in a short message in the input field if you want to.
The table owner will then receive your request. If you are accepted, you can then sit down at the table.
How to create a private table:
First click on the "Private Tables" option in the top menu in the lobby. Then click on the option "Create Private Table" that will drop down. A new small window will pop up, where you can then select from a long list of possible table types. In addition to this, you can also choose the
maximum number of players, the table restrictions (private or unrestricted) and the game speed.
There are 3 types of game speed:- Normal (This is the same as on the standard tables.)
- Adaptive (The time to think is dynamic, and adapts according to how
people have played previously.)
- Turbo (The turbo tables have a shorter time to think, and are well suited for players that like fast games and have stable Internet connections.)
Tables that have turbo- or adaptive speed have a small, green flash
icon next to them in the lobby.
It's optional to write a description of the table. The description will be shown in the lobby when someone selects that table.
Just click on the "Create" button when you have chosen all the table settings, and your table will then be created. Please note that it may take up to a minute before it's visible in the lobby.
When someone wants to sit down at the table you have created, the player must first ask for your permission. You can choose to accept or deny such requests.
Graphical
Settings
"Big card symbols" - When this
option is selected you will see a deck with larger symbols on
it. Each suit will also have a different color (Spades
= black, Hearts = red, Diamonds
= blue, Clubs = green).
This is to make it easier to see the cards and detect possible
Flushes.
Standard deck
Big card symbols
Auto
Play Settings
"Auto post blind" - Automatically
posts a Blind when it's your turn to post it.
"Wait
for Big Blind" - You will not be dealt in until it's your
turn to post the Big Blind, when you have just joined at table.
"Show best cards" - Automatically shows your
hand if it's better than other already shown hands at the showdown.
This helps speed up the game, and prevents accidental folding
of winning hands.
"Muck losing cards" - Automatically
mucks your hand if it's worse than other already shown hands
at the showdown. This helps speed up the game.
"Random
in-turn delay" - There will be a short, random delay when
you are acting using the in-turn choices. This will make you
slightly harder to read by the other players, as they won't
know if you have pre-selected your action or not.
Keyboard
Shortcuts
F1 - Check/Fold (It checks
if you can, and folds otherwise.)
F2 - Check/Call
(It checks if you can, and calls otherwise.)
F3 -
Bet/Raise (It bets if no money has been put into the pot so
far on that round, and raises otherwise.
Extra
If the table you want happens to be full, there is a waiting
list you can sign up for. You will get notified as soon as there
is a seat available. In the meantime you can play at any of
the vacant tables.
Besides "physically" joining a table, and being represented
by an avatar character, there is always the option to just watch.
If you would like to filter out the chat from a particular player, you can simply point at his/her character and click. A small menu will appear, where you can select the "Mute" option.
As usual, a page like this cannot provide a complete
description of the game, but we think you will get the hang
of it after playing a few hands. Good luck!
|
|
|
