What a number of people don't seem to realise is that money can be obtained from two other types of games, Texas Low, and Texas High/Low. You can play these in tournaments or as cash-game/ring-game/sit-n-go/stand-up or whatever you want to call them. For this solution, I'm going to teach you how these games work, so if the standard Poker is pissing you off, you can always win money from these.
The standard betting rules and cards dealt are the same, but what the cards are worth are different in these games.
For Texas Low, the LOWEST hand wins the entire pot. There a couple of differences for this, Aces are always low (so King is high, and therefore a bad card), and there are no Straights or Flushes.
Here are some tips for Texas Low:
*Unless it is two Aces, all pockets pairs are terribly poor cards to play. Even a pair of Aces is a bad set.
The best starting hand is A2.
*Forget about suits, because Flushes don't count, suits make no difference, A2 suited has no advantage over A2 unsuited.
*If you know your worst hand is 2 Pair at any time, get out, there is extremely little chance of you winning.
Hand Rank (topmost is better):
Straight to 5
High Card
Pair
2 Pair
3 of a kind
Full House
Four Of A Kind
Texas High/Low is quite different. The money in the pot is split between whoever has the traditional high hand, and whoever has a low hand. One twist though, the highest possible hand that qualifies as the low hand is 8 high, again not including straights or flushes. If no one qualifies for the low hand, the winner of the High Hand takes the whole pot. Aces are low for the Low Hand and high for the High Hand. Straights and Flushes still count for the High Hand
For the explanation the following cards count as low: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
9, Ten, Queen, Jack, King are all High cards.
*If you are dealt one card which is High, and one card which is low, they are unsuited, and difficult to make a straight, it is garbage. Example: A9 unsuited
*K8 unsuited is the worst pocket hand
*A2 suited is the best pocket hand
*You'll notice a far different betting pattern in AI's for this game. Especially checking near the end.
Playing the low hand.
*If three High Cards are on the table, nobody can win the Low Hand.
*In this case, any card that pairs with any card on the table counts as a high card.
Example:
A, 2, 2, K, Q is on the table. That second 2 counts as a high card, nobody can win the low hand.
A, 2, 2, 3, Q is on the table. That second 2 counts as a high card, however there are only two high cards on the table so a low hand is still possible.
*Between the seven cards you have access to, if three of them are high cards, you do not have a low hand.
Example
Holding: A, 2.
Table: 9, 6, 4, 2, Q. The lowest hand you can make is a Nine-high which is too high to count as the two matches with your two, despite there being only two high cards on the table.
*If there are four low cards on the table, be careful, someone may hit a Low Hand with one 'rag'.
*Since the low hand is half the pot, it is worth trying to win it if you can. Be careful though, if you cannot make your low hand with the low cards you have, it is going to be very difficult to make a good high hand to make up for it.
*Still play the high hand like it was normal, if high cards come you could very well steal the entire pot. If low cards come, be waring of someone taking half your pot.
*Low Hand does not count straights or flushes
Example:
Holding: 3, 5
Table: Q, 2, 6, 4, K. This player has a Six-High for Low Hand AND a Straight to 6 for the High Hand, they can very easily win both halves of the pot!
These games are a nice change of pace from the Texas Hold'em High games, and you can still win (and lose) money in them!
Also, winning a one-table, ten-player tournament, with a 100,000 buy-in will net 500,000 in winnings. Which will win you the achievement!