Let poker sites give you a hand

When A-, B- and C-listers ante up for charity on Bravo’s highly rated “Celebrity Poker Showdown” and faces of pros such as Phil Ivey and Barry “Robin Hood” Greenstein are almost as recognizable as Ben Affleck’s at tables from Commerce to Vegas, you know the game of poker is riding a hot streak.

The version du jour is Texas hold ‘em, favored not only by the Bravo series but also by the Travel Channel’s “World Poker Tour,” ESPN’s “World Series of Poker” and last year’s “Showdown at the Sands” on Fox Sports Net.

Most know that a straight bests three of a kind, and a full house beats a flush every time, but numerous websites, such as www.pokerpages.com, teach neophyte poker players the basics -- or at least how to bluff their way through -- while delivering the latest news and online tournament opportunities to those with serious game.

Pokerpages.com’s “Basic Info” section serves as a compact, 101-level course in gambling. The “Rules” page explains the differences between the game’s variations like seven-card stud, Omaha, three-card Manila and hold ‘em.

The “History of Poker” page examines the game’s origins on Mississippi riverboats and in Wild West saloons and provides an online glossary to help decipher poker-speak. A pair of cowboys (kings) or fishhooks (jacks) are good, and if you’re holding monster or world’s fair hands, the odds are in your favor. But maybe it’s time to cash in your chips if other players at the table refer to you as a mark (sucker) or a fish (amateurs who end up losing a lot of money).

After learning the lingo and studying the site’s basics, you may just start to play a little less like Joshua Jackson or Topher Grace in “Ocean’s Eleven” and a little more like Matt Damon in “Rounders.”