YMMV / Poker

• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: In the early days of Texas Hold'Em, serious players would only play statistically powerful starting hands such as big pocket pairs (Aces, Kings, Queens, etc.) and fold all others. It wasn't until certain players like Doyle Brunson figured out that small-to-medium suited connectors (e.g. 7-8 spades) could win huge pots against "stronger" hands when they managed to make a straight or a flush, while losing only small pots when they missed, that Texas Hold'Em became the deeply strategic game it is today.
• Fan Nickname: Some pro Poker players are widely known by the nicknames they were given.
  • Phil Hellmuth. As described in Memetic Mutation, he's easily the most infamous as the "Poker Brat."
  • Mike Matusow. Known as "The Mouth" due to being one of the more talkative players at the table, and is widely known for his constant Trash Talk.
  • Sam Farha, who lost the title in 2003, is often referred to as "Houston Sammy" due to that being his place of residence. Another Texas based player was Doyle Bronson, affectionately known as Texas Dolly.
  • Daniel Negreanu is heavily known as "Kid Poker."
  • Gus Hanson has been called "The Great Dane" largely due to being from Denmark.
  • Greg Raymer. Known as the "Fossilman" due to being a fossil collector.
• Memetic Mutation
  • Juanda had trips.
  • "He called a raise with Queen-Ten, honey."
  • The dealer was hired by PokerStars
  • "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth is a Fountain of Memes among poker players for being an Insufferable Genius and a Sore Loser when he's been bluffed or beaten by relatively weak cards.
  • "Moneymaker Effect" - Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 World Series of Poker and defeating established pro Sammy Farha heads-up sparked a new massive wave of interest amongst people deciding to take up Poker due to the fact that he was just an everyday man who was able to go up against the Poker Pros and win it all. Thus, leading to a lot of other everyday people thinking that they could do what Moneymaker did. For a number of years, the main event of the WSOP was indeed won by amateur players, due to the massive sizes of the fields in each main event.
• Popular Game Variant: Being a game with countless "official" variations and even more unofficial ones, poker is replete with house rules. Some popular ones:
  • Chase The Hammer: Only used in Texas Hold 'Em games, you win a small number of chips from every player if you win a hand having been dealt a seven and a deuce of different suits, the worst possible hand you can be dealt and nicknamed The Hammer.
  • "No check-raising" was a popular one for a while, but it's currently out of favor for making the game (especially limit games) more mechanical.
  • Bad beat jackpots: Players who suffer particularly bad beats are given a large consolation prize, often larger than the value of the hand itself. Common in casinos.
  • In home games, it's becoming popular to give each player one "Show Me" chip at the beginning of the night, which can be used once after a hand is completed to force a player to show whether they were bluffing or not.
  • The straddle bet: If you're sitting under the gun (i.e. to the left of the big blind, where you normally have to act first), you may place a bet equal to double the big blind before looking at your cards. This essentially turns you into the new big blind position (i.e. you get to act last in the first betting round) while simultaneously doubling the stakes for the first betting round. Some variations of the straddle bet rule allow the player to the left of a straddle bet to re-straddle for double the straddle bet, and some allow this doubling to continue until the player to left of the last (re-)straddle bet doesn't have enough money to re-double.
  • "The Rock": a player (either the first to deal or the winner of the first hand of the night) is given a specially-marked chip called "the rock." When the holder of the rock is in the under the gun position (left of the big blind, first to act), they must straddle as described above, and the rock is placed in the pot as well, to go to the winner of the hand, who is forced to straddle when they are next under the gun.