Community Cards
Community cards (also community cards or board cards ) are the cards in the poker variants Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em that all players can use.
Each player initially receives a certain number of so-called hole cards . After a round of betting, the first three cards flop into the middle. This is followed by the turn and river . These five cards together form the community cards. The special thing about it is that each player can count these cards among his own cards to form a hand. The best combination is then determined from the various hands of the individual players. The hands are rated according to the poker rules.
For beginners it takes getting used to how this works. In Texas Hold'em, for example, if two players have K 3 and 9 9 on a flop of A A 3 , the pair of nines with the higher two pairs (aces and nines) leads. But if there are two tens in the turn and river, the order changes. The pair of nines, like the pair of three, is worthless, the king wins with the better kicker compared to 9.
In rare cases, a community card can also be issued for Stud . This is also called the Common Card .
Special features of the individual levels
Flop
Revealing the three flop cards can change the game more than any other game situation. When a player “hits” a certain hand through the flop, it is referred to as “the player flops ...”. If the player holds after the flop e.g. B. a straight one says "The player flops a straight."
Turn
The turn is usually considered an intermediate stage in the game of poker. After the turn, however, a player has only a low probability ( odds ) of hitting a desired card. If a player holds a certain hand after the turn, it is referred to as " The turn comes ... " or " On the turn the player holds ... ". If the turn shows e.g. For example, a queen, you say, “ A queen comes on the turn. "
The turn is also called " Fourth Street ".
River
The term river is also used in Seven Card Stud . It is the fifth card dealt face down. Four cards were dealt with the flop and turn .
After the river, no player has a chance to improve their hand . It is therefore often a novice and careless mistake to reveal one's hole cards after revealing the river card , but there is still a final round of betting. Even if the hand is not lost by this mistake, because e.g. For example, if a bluff is blown, it leads to a reduction in the potential profit, as the losing hands now fold and the pot is no longer filled.