Card games have been around for a long time now, and whereas some games have come and gone, card games have remained as popular as ever. The reasons for their popularity are many: they’re a good way to socialize, portable, there are different variations, and they bring healthy competition to the table. They’re also speedier than board games.
In today’s digital age, you no longer have to carry around a deck of cards to play a card game. If you have internet access, you can play poker online and other card games on your mobile phone.
The transition to online
Playing card games online is common these days, but for a long time, they were played with a physical deck in all sorts of places. Friends and families would play them at home. Workers might play them on their lunch break. Students would play them in the canteens between lectures. Casino games players would play blackjack, baccarat or poker in traditional establishments.
As technology evolved, however, it became possible to play card games on computers. Then when the internet arrived, entrepreneurs made poker more accessible by offering online poker. Card gaming has evolved from there, especially with technology advancements and mobile gaming. Now it’s possible to play card games online and on mobile devices.
Five-card draw poker
The most straightforward variation of poke is five-card draw. Once everyone pays the ante or blinds, each player receives five cards. A round of betting follows, then a round of drawing, which allows players to discard cards and replace them with new ones from the deck if they wish.
If you’re happy with your cards, you “stand pat.” There’s one more round and then, if there’s more than one player remaining, you have a showdown. The player with the best hand wins. The best hand is a royal flush (ace, jack, queen and king all of the same suit), followed by a straight flush (five cards, all of the same suit, in a sequence) and then four of a kind (four cards all the same rank).
Texas Hold’em poker
Texas Hold’em poker is incredibly strategic and offers a chance to win big money. The internet especially has helped Texas Hold’em to take off. The accessibility it has created has allowed people to learn the game online and practice before playing cash games.
Texas hold’em is different to five-card draw. Players create the best hand by combining their cards with community cards. Each player receives two cards (the hole cards) and then, over several betting rounds, five more cards are dealt (three in the first stage, called the “flop”; one in the second stage, the “turn”; and one in the final stage, the “river”). You then combine these, with or without your hole cards, any way you like to get the best hand.
Solitaire
Solitaire is a highly challenging solo game. The first object of the game is to release cards from the deck and play them into position to build them up in sequence and suit. The greater objective is to build the whole pack onto the foundations. Do this and you win.
There are several different piles in solitaire: the main tableau, which consists of seven piles; the four foundation piles that you must build the suits up on; the stock pile (cards that haven’t brought into play yet); and the waste pile. As you transfer cards from the tableau, you bring the face down cards from it into play.
Gin rummy
Gin rummy is a classic game. The object is to accumulate more than 100 points first by building combinations of three or more from your hand. The players must group their cards, by either rank or runs of suit. The best hand is Gin, which consists of 10 cards placed down all combined. The player who makes it wins the partial game and receives 20 points.
Each player receives ten cards. The rest sit in a deck, with the first card upturned. The first player to go can pick it up if they wish but must then discard another card from their hand. If they don’t pick it up, the card becomes available to the next player, who must discard a card from their hand if they pick it up.
The game continues, with each player being able to pick the top card from the deck and discarding one from their existing hand. If a player folds, which they can do if they only have unmatched cards of less than 10 points, they expose their cards. The opponent does the same and can discard their own unmatched cards and take the opponent’s unmatched cards. They win if they fold but have lower value of unmatched cards than their opponent.
Card games are popular on mobile because of their straightforward nature and their portability. Other games you can play on mobile devices include cribbage, whist and rummy.