document_title: Texas hold 'em

question_text: how many decks of cards do you need for texas holdem

question_tokens: how many decks of cards do you need for texas holdem

text: Texas hold 'em

text: Objective[edit]

text:
In Texas hold 'em, as in all variants of poker, individuals compete for an amount of money or chips contributed by the players themselves (called the pot). Because the cards are dealt randomly and outside the control of the players, each player attempts to control the amount of money in the pot based either on the hand they are holding,[1]
or on their prediction as to what their opponents may be holding and how they might behave.

text: The game is divided into a series of hands (deals); at the conclusion of each hand, the pot is typically awarded to one player (an exception in which the pot is divided between two or more is discussed below). A hand may end at the showdown, in which case the remaining players compare their hands and the highest hand is awarded the pot; that highest hand is usually held by only one player, but can be held by more in the case of a tie. The other possibility for the conclusion of a hand occurs when all but one player have folded and have thereby abandoned any claim to the pot, in which case the pot is awarded to the player who has not folded.[1]

text: The objective of winning players is not to win every individual hand, but rather to make mathematically and psychologically better decisions regarding when and how much to bet, raise, call—or fold. By making such decisions to place influential bets, one can non-verbally represent or suggest holding or not-holding a certain or possible hand by either betting or not-betting pre-flop, and by venturing smaller or larger bets or raises at possibly more advantageous times, throughout the stages of the hand being dealt. One's pattern of betting may encourage opponents to bet or to fold (in this complex process, called bluffing), without verbalizing a discouraging or dishonest word. The winning poker players know how to enhance their opponents' betting and maximize their own expected gain on each round of betting, to thereby increase their long-term winnings.[1]

text: History[edit]

text: Although little is known about the invention of Texas hold 'em, the Texas Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas, as the game's birthplace, dating it to the early 1900s.[2]

text: After the game spread throughout Texas, hold 'em was introduced to Las Vegas in 1963 at the California Club by Corky McCorquodale. The game became popular and quickly spread to the Golden Nugget, Stardust and Dunes.[3] In 1967, a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim were playing in Las Vegas. This is when "ace high" was changed from the original form in which aces were low.[4] Addington said the first time he saw the game was in 1959. "They didn't call it Texas hold 'em at the time, they just called it hold 'em.… I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you bet only twice; hold 'em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man's game."[5]

text: For several years the Golden Nugget Casino in Downtown Las Vegas was the only casino in Las Vegas to offer the game. At that time, the Golden Nugget's poker room was "truly a 'sawdust joint,' with…oiled sawdust covering the floors."[6] Because of its location and decor, this poker room did not receive many rich drop-in clients, and as a result, professional players sought a more prominent location. In 1969, the Las Vegas professionals were invited to play Texas hold 'em at the entrance of the now-demolished Dunes Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. This prominent location, and the relative inexperience of poker players with Texas hold 'em, resulted in a very remunerative game for professional players.[6]

text: After a failed attempt to establish a "Gambling Fraternity Convention", Tom Moore added the first ever poker tournament to the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention held in 1969. This tournament featured several games including Texas hold 'em. In 1970, Benny and Jack Binion acquired the rights to this convention, renamed it the World Series of Poker, and moved it to their casino, Binion's Horseshoe, in Las Vegas. After its first year, a journalist, Tom Thackrey, suggested that the main event of this tournament should be no-limit Texas hold 'em. The Binions agreed and ever since no-limit Texas hold 'em has been played as the main event.[6] Interest in the main event continued to grow steadily over the next two decades. After receiving only eight entrants in 1972, the numbers grew to over one hundred entrants in 1982, and over two hundred in 1991.[7][8][9]

text:
During this time, B & G Publishing Co., Inc. published Doyle Brunson's revolutionary poker strategy guide, Super/System.[10] Despite being self-published and priced at $100 in 1978, the book revolutionized the way poker was played. It was one of the first books to discuss Texas hold 'em, and is today cited as one of the most important books on this game.[11] In 1983, Al Alvarez published The Biggest Game in Town, a book detailing a 1981 World Series of Poker event.[12] The first book of its kind, it described the world of professional poker players and the World Series of Poker. Alvarez's book is credited with beginning the genre of poker literature and with bringing Texas hold 'em (and poker generally) to a wider audience.[13]
Alvarez's book was not the first book about poker. The Education of a Poker Player by Herbert O. Yardley, a former U.S. government code breaker, was published in 1957.

text: Interest in hold 'em outside of Nevada began to grow in the 1980s as well. Although California had legal card rooms offering draw poker, Texas hold 'em was deemed to be prohibited under a statute that made illegal the (now unheard of) game "stud-horse". But in 1988 Texas hold 'em was declared legally distinct from stud-horse in Tibbetts v. Van De Kamp.[14] Almost immediately card rooms across the state offered Texas hold 'em.[15] (It is often presumed that this decision ruled that hold 'em was a game of skill,[16] but the distinction between skill and chance has never entered into California jurisprudence regarding poker.[17]) After a trip to Las Vegas, bookmakers Terry Rogers and Liam Flood introduced the game to European card players in the early 1980s.[citation needed]

text: Popularity[edit]

text: Texas hold 'em is now one of the most popular forms of poker.[18][19]  Texas hold 'em's popularity surged in the 2000s due to exposure on television, the Internet and popular literature. During this time hold 'em replaced seven-card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos.[20] The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

text:
Hold 'em's simplicity and popularity have inspired a wide variety of strategy books which provide recommendations for proper play. Most of these books recommend a strategy that involves playing relatively few hands but betting and raising often with the hands one plays.[21]
In the first decade of the twenty-first century, Texas hold 'em experienced a surge in popularity worldwide.[20]  Many observers attribute this growth to the synergy of five factors: the invention of online poker, the game's appearance in film and on television, invention and usage of the "hole card cam" (which allowed viewers to see hole cards played in the hand as a means of determining strategy and decision-making during gameplay), the appearance of television commercials advertising online cardrooms, and the 2003 World Series of Poker championship victory by online qualifier Chris Moneymaker.[22]

text: Television and film[edit]

text: Prior to poker becoming widely televised, the movie Rounders (1998), starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, gave moviegoers a romantic view of the game as a way of life. Texas hold 'em was the main game played during the movie and the no-limit variety was described, following Doyle Brunson, as the "Cadillac of Poker". A clip of the classic showdown between Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel from the 1988 World Series of Poker was also incorporated into the film.[23] More recently, a high-stakes Texas hold 'em game was central to the plot of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, in place of baccarat, the casino game central to the novel on which the film was based. In 2008, an acclaimed short film called Shark Out of Water was released on DVD. This film is unique in that it deals with the darker, more addictive elements of the game, and features Phil Hellmuth and Brad Booth.

text: Hold 'em tournaments had been televised since the late 1970s, but they did not become popular until 1999, when hidden lipstick cameras were first used to show players' private hole cards on the Late Night Poker TV show in the United Kingdom.[24] Hold 'em exploded in popularity as a spectator sport in the United States and Canada in early 2003, when the World Poker Tour adopted the lipstick cameras idea. A few months later, ESPN's coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker featured the unexpected victory of Internet player Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who gained admission to the tournament by winning a series of online tournaments. Moneymaker's victory initiated a sudden surge of interest in the series, based on the egalitarian idea that anyone—even a rank novice—could become a world champion.[25]

text: In 2003, there were 839 entrants in the WSOP main event,[26] and triple that number in 2004.[27] The crowning of the 2004 WSOP champion, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut, further fueled the popularity of the event among amateur (and particularly Internet) players.[28] In the 2005 main event, an unprecedented 5,619 entrants vied for a first prize of $7,500,000. The winner, Joe Hachem of Australia, was a semi-professional player.[29] This growth continued in 2006, with 8,773 entrants and a first place prize of $12,000,000 (won by Jamie Gold).[30]

text: Beyond the series, other television shows—including the long running World Poker Tour—are credited with increasing the popularity of Texas hold 'em.[31] In addition to its presence on network and general audience cable television,[32]  poker has now become a regular part of sports networks' programming in the United States.[33]

text: Literature[edit]

text: The English journalist and biographer Anthony Holden spent a year on the professional poker circuit from 1988-1989 and wrote about his experiences in Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player. The follow-up book, Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom covers the period 2005-2006 and describes a poker world "changed beyond recognition".[34]

text:
Twenty years after the publication of Alvarez's groundbreaking book, James McManus
published a semi-autobiographical book, Positively Fifth Street (2003), which simultaneously describes the trial surrounding the murder of Ted Binion and McManus's own entry into the 2000 World Series of Poker.[35]  McManus, a poker amateur, finished fifth in the no-limit Texas hold 'em main event, winning over $200,000.[36]  In the book McManus discusses events surrounding the series, the trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, poker strategy, and some history of poker and the world series.

text: Michael Craig's 2005 book The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King details a series of high-stakes Texas hold 'em one-on-one games between Texas banker Andy Beal and a rotating group of poker professionals. As of 2006, these games were the highest stakes ever played, reaching $100,000–$200,000 fixed limit.[37]

text: Online poker[edit]

text: The ability to play cheaply and anonymously online has been credited as a cause of the increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em.[25]  Online poker sites both allow people to try out games (in some cases the games are entirely free to play and are just for fun social experiences) and also provide an avenue for entry into large tournaments (like the World Series of Poker) via smaller tournaments known as satellites. The 2003 and 2004 winners (Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, respectively) of the World Series no-limit hold 'em main event qualified by playing in these tournaments.[38][39]

text: Although online poker grew from its inception in 1998 until 2003, Moneymaker's win and the appearance of television advertisements in 2003 contributed to a tripling of industry revenues in 2004.[40][41]

text: Rules[edit]

text: Betting structures[edit]

text: Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets— forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. After one round of betting is done, the next betting round will start by the person in the small blind.

text: When only two players remain, special 'head-to-head' or 'heads up' rules are enforced and the blinds are posted differently. In this case, the person with the dealer button posts the small blind, while his/her opponent places the big blind. The dealer acts first before the flop. After the flop, the dealer acts last and continues to do so for the remainder of the hand.

text: The three most common variations of hold 'em are limit hold 'em, no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit hold 'em. Limit hold 'em has historically been the most popular form of hold 'em found in casino live action games in the United States.[20] In limit hold 'em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet.

text: No-limit hold 'em has grown in popularity and is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and is the game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker. In no-limit hold 'em, players may bet or raise any amount over the minimum raise up to all of the chips the player has at the table (called an all-in bet). The minimum raise is equal to the size of the previous bet or raise. If someone wishes to re-raise, they must raise at least the amount of the previous raise. For example, if the big blind is $2 and there is a raise of $6 to a total of $8, a re-raise must be at least $6 more for a total of $14. If a raise or re-raise is all-in and does not equal the size of the previous raise (or half the size in some casinos), the initial raiser cannot re-raise again (in case there are other players also still in the game). In pot-limit hold 'em, the maximum raise is the current size of the pot (including the amount needed to call).

text: Some casinos that offer hold 'em also allow the player to the left of the big blind to post an optional live straddle, usually double the amount of the big blind.  This causes that player to act as the big blind and the player has an option to raise when it comes to their turn again. (Some variations allow for straddle on the button).  No-limit games may also allow multiple re-straddles, in any amount that would be a legal raise.[10]

text: Play of the hand[edit]

text: Following a shuffle of the cards, play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down, with the player in the small blind receiving the first card and the player in the button seat receiving the last card dealt.  (As in most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck containing no jokers.)  These cards are the players' hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown, making Texas hold 'em a closed poker game.

text: The hand begins with a "pre-flop" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. See betting for a detailed account. Note that the blinds are considered "live" in the pre-flop betting round, meaning that they are counted toward the amount that the blind player must contribute. If all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

text: After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continue clockwise.

text: After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary. In the third and fourth betting rounds, the stakes double.

text: In all casinos, the dealer will burn a card before the flop, turn, and river. Because of this burn, players who are betting cannot see the back of the next community card to come. This is done for traditional reasons, to avoid any possibility of a player knowing in advance the next card to be dealt due to its being marked.[10]

text: The showdown[edit]

text: If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show their hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker hand they can make from the seven cards comprising their two-hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of their own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form their final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player's best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, because each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.[10]

text: If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers are used to settle ties (see the second example below). The card's numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in hold 'em.

text: Hand values[edit]

text: Following table shows the possible hand values in increasing order.

text:
Name
Description
Example

Highcard
Simple value of the card. Lowest: 2 - Highest: Ace

Pair
Two cards with the same value

Two pairs
Two times two cards with the same value

Three of a kind
Three cards with the same value

Straight
Sequence of 5 cards in increasing value (Ace can precede 2 and follow up King)

Flush
5 cards of the same suit

Full house
Combination of three of a kind and a pair

Four of a kind
Four cards of the same value

Straight flush
Straight of the same suit

Royal flush
Straight flush from Ten to Ace

text: Misdeal[edit]

text:
If the first or second card dealt is exposed, then this is considered a misdeal. The dealer then retrieves the card, reshuffles the deck, and again cuts the cards. However, if any other hole card is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues as usual.  After completing the deal, the dealer replaces the exposed card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used as the burn card. If more than one hole card is exposed, a misdeal is declared by the dealer and the hand is dealt again from the beginning.[42]
A misdeal is also declared if a player receives more than two hole cards by mistake (e.g. two cards stuck together).

text: Examples[edit]

text: Sample showdown[edit]

text: Here is a sample showdown:

text:
Board

Bob

Carol

Ted

Alice

text: Each player plays the best five-card hand they can make with the seven cards available. They have

text:
Bob

Three fours, with king, ace kickers

Carol

Ace-high flush

Ted

Full house, kings full of fours

Alice

8-high straight

text: In this case, Ted's full house is the best hand, with Carol in second, Alice in third and Bob last.

text: Sample hand[edit]

text: Here is a sample game involving four players. The players' individual hands will not be revealed until the showdown, to give a better sense of what happens during play:

text: Compulsory bets: Alice is the dealer. Bob, to Alice's left, posts a small blind of $1, and Carol posts a big blind of $2.

text: Pre-flop: Alice deals two hole cards face down to each player, beginning with Bob and ending with herself. Ted must act first, being the first player after the big blind. Ted cannot check, because the $2 big blind plays as a bet, and so  folds. Alice calls the $2. Bob adds an additional $1 to the $1 small blind to call the $2 total. Carol's blind is "live" (see blind), so there is the option to raise here, but Carol checks instead, ending the first betting round. The pot now contains $6, $2 from each of three players.

text: Flop: Alice now burns a card and deals the flop of three face-up community cards, 9♣ K♣ 3♥. On this round, as on all subsequent rounds, the player on the dealer's left begins the betting. Bob checks, Carol opens for $2, and Alice raises another $2 (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol and $2 to raise), making the total bet now facing Bob $4. Bob calls (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol's initial bet and $2 to match Alice's raise). Carol calls as well, putting in $2. The pot now contains $18, $6 from the last round and $12 from three players this round.

text: Turn: Alice now burns another card and deals the turn card face up. It is the 5♠. Bob checks, Carol checks, and Alice checks; the turn has been checked around. The pot still contains $18.

text: River: Alice burns another card and deals the final river card, the 9♦, making the final board 9♣ K♣ 3♥ 5♠ 9♦. Bob bets $4, Carol calls, and Alice folds (Alice's holding was A♣ 7♣ and was hoping the river card would be a club to make  a flush).

text: Showdown: Bob shows their hand of Q♠ 9♥, so the best five-card hand possible is 9♣ 9♦ 9♥ K♣ Q♠, for three nines, with a king-queen kicker. Carol shows their cards of K♠ J♥, making a final hand K♣ K♠ 9♣ 9♦ J♥ for two pair, kings and nines, with a jack kicker. Bob wins the showdown and the $26 pot.

text: Kickers and ties[edit]

text: Because of the presence of community cards in Texas hold 'em, different players' hands can often run very close in value. As a result, it is common for kickers to be used to determine the winning hand and also for two hands (or maybe more) to tie. A kicker is a card which is part of the five-card poker hand, but is not used in determining a hand's rank. For instance, in the hand A-A-A-K-Q, the king and queen are kickers.

text: The following situation illustrates the importance of breaking ties with kickers and card ranks, as well as the use of the five-card rule. After the turn, the board and players' hole cards are as follows.

text:
Board (after the turn)

Bob

Carol

text: At the moment, Bob is in the lead with a hand of Q♠ Q♣ 8♠ 8♥ K♥, making two pair, queens and eights, with a king kicker. This beats Carol's hand of Q♥ Q♣ 8♠ 8♥ 10♦ by virtue of the king kicker.

text: If the final card were the A♠, making the final board 8♠ Q♣ 8♥ 4♣ A♠.   Bob and Carol still each have two pair (queens and eights), but both of them are now entitled to play the final ace as their fifth card, making their hands both two pair, queens and eights, with an ace kicker. Bob's king no longer plays, because the ace on the board plays as the fifth card in both hands, and a hand is only composed of the best five cards. They therefore tie and split the pot. However, had the last card been a jack or lower (except an eight or a queen which would make a full house, or a ten which would give Carol a higher second pair), Bob's king would have stayed in the game and would have won.

text: Strategy[edit]

text: Most poker authors recommend a tight-aggressive approach to playing Texas hold 'em. This strategy involves playing relatively few hands (tight), but betting and raising often with those that one does play (aggressive).[21]  Although this strategy is often recommended, some professional players successfully employ other strategies as well.[21]

text: Almost all authors agree that where a player sits in the order of play (known as position) is an important element of Texas hold 'em strategy, particularly in no-limit hold'em.[1] Players who act later have more information than players who act earlier. As a result, players typically play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.

text: Because of the game's level of complexity, it has received some attention from academics. One attempt to develop a quantitative model of a Texas hold'em tournament as an isolated complex system has had some success,[43] although the full consequences for optimal strategies remain to be explored. In addition, groups at the University of Alberta and Carnegie Mellon University worked to develop poker playing programs utilizing techniques in game theory and artificial intelligence.[44][45]  In January, 2015, the AAAS journal Science reported that the group at the University of Alberta had succeeded in coding a computer program called Cepheus that can learn from its playing experience to optimize its CFR algorithm and approach playing perfection when opposing strong players in the variant known as heads-up limit Texas Hold ’em, which involves only two players.  Although it does not win every hand, it is unbeatable on average over a large number of hands. The program exhibits more variation in its tactics than professional players do, for instance bluffing with weak hands that professional players tend to fold.[46][47][48]  Public web access to observe and play against Cepheus is available.[49]

text: Starting hands[edit]

text: Because only two cards are dealt to each player, it is easy to characterize all of the starting hands. There are (52 × 51)/2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two cards from a standard 52-card deck. Because no suit is more powerful than another, many of these can be equated for the analysis of starting-hand strategy. For example, although J♥ J♣ and J♦ J♠ are distinct combinations of cards by rank and suit, they are of equal value as starting hands.

text: Because of this equivalence, there are only 169 effectively different hole-card combinations. Thirteen of these are pairs, from deuces (twos) to aces. There are 78 ways to have two cards of different rank (12 possible hands containing one ace, 11 possible hands containing one king but no ace, 10 possible hands containing one queen but no ace or king, etc.). Both hole cards can be used in a flush if they are suited, but pairs are never suited, so there would be 13 possible pairs, 78 possible suited non-pairs, and 78 possible unsuited ("off-suit") non-pairs, for a total of 169 possible hands.[50]  Suited starting hands are stronger than their unsuited counterparts, although the magnitude of this strength advantage in different games is debated.[51]

text: Because of the limited number of starting hands, most strategy guides include a detailed discussion of each of them. This distinguishes hold 'em from other poker games where the number of starting card combinations forces strategy guides to group hands into broad categories. Another result of this small number is the proliferation of colloquial names for individual hands.[52]

text: Strategic differences in betting structures[edit]

text: Texas Hold'em is commonly played both as a "cash" or "ring" game and as a tournament game.   Strategy for these different forms can vary.

text: Cash games[edit]

text: Before the advent of poker tournaments, all poker games were played with real money where players bet actual currency (or chips that represented currency). Games that feature wagering actual money on individual hands are still very common and are referred to as "cash games" or "ring games".

text: The no-limit and fixed-limit cash-game versions of hold 'em are strategically very different. Doyle Brunson claims that "the games are so different that there are not many players who rank with the best in both types of hold 'em. Many no-limit players have difficulty gearing down for limit, while limit players often lack the courage and 'feel' necessary to excel at no-limit."[10]  Because the size of bets is restricted in limit games, the ability to bluff is somewhat curtailed. Because one is not (usually) risking all of one's chips in limit poker, players are sometimes advised to take more chances.[10]

text: Lower-stakes games also exhibit different properties than higher-stakes games. Small-stakes games often involve more players in each hand and can vary from extremely passive (little raising and betting) to extremely aggressive (many raises). This difference of small-stakes games has prompted several books dedicated to only those games.[53]

text: Tournaments[edit]

text: Texas hold 'em is often associated with poker tournaments largely because it is played as the main event in many of the famous tournaments, including the World Series of Poker's Main Event, and is the most common tournament overall.[54] Traditionally, a poker tournament is played with chips that represent a player's stake in the tournament. Standard play allows all entrants to "buy-in" for a fixed amount and all players begin with an equal value of chips. Play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips in play or a deal is made among the remaining players to "chop" the remaining prize pool. The money pool is redistributed to the players in relation to the place they finished in the tournament. Only a small percentage of the players receive any money, with the majority receiving nothing. "The percentages are not standardized, but common rules of thumb call for one table" (usually nine players) "to get paid for each 100 entrants," according to poker author Andrew Glazer, in his book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker.[55] A good rule of thumb is that close to 10% of players will be paid in a tournament. As a result, the strategy in poker tournaments can be very different from a cash game.

text: Proper strategy in tournaments can vary widely depending on the amount of chips one has, the stage of the tournament, the amount of chips others have, and the playing styles of one's opponents.[21]  Although some authors still recommend a tight playing style, others recommend looser play (playing more hands) in tournaments than one would otherwise play in cash games. In tournaments the blinds and antes increase regularly, and can become much larger near the end of the tournament. This can force players to play hands that they would not normally play when the blinds were small, which can warrant both more loose and more aggressive play.[56]

text: Evaluating a hand[edit]

text:
One of the most important things in Texas hold'em is knowing how to evaluate a hand.
The strategy of playing each hand can be very different according to the strength of the hand. For example, on a strong hand, a player might want to try to appear weak in order to not scare off other players with weaker hands, while on a weak hand, a player might try to bluff other players into folding.

text: There are several ways to evaluate hand strength; two of the most common are counting outs and using calculators.

text: Counting outs – this method consists of counting the cards still in the deck, which in combination with the cards the player already has can give the player a potentially winning hand.

text: Such cards are called "outs", and hand strength can be measured by how many outs are still in the deck (if there are many outs then the probability to get one of them is high and therefore the hand is strong). The following chart determines the probability of hitting outs (bettering the player's hand) based on how many cards are left in the deck and the draw type.

text:
Outs
One Card %
Two Card %
One Card Odds
Two Card Odds
Draw Type

1
2%
4%
46
23
Backdoor Straight or Flush (Requires two cards)

2
4%
8%
22
12
Pocket Pair to Set

3
7%
13%
14
7
One Overcard

4
9%
17%
10
5
Inside Straight / Two Pair to Full House

5
11%
20%
8
4
One Pair to Two Pair or Trips

6
13%
24%
6.7
3.2
No Pair to Pair / Two Overcards

7
15%
28%
5.6
2.6
Trips to Full House or Quads

8
17%
32%
4.7
2.2
Open Straight

9
19%
35%
4.1
1.9
Flush

10
22%
38%
3.6
1.6
Inside Straight & Two Overcards

11
24%
42%
3.2
1.4
Open Straight & One Overcard

12
26%
45%
2.8
1.2
Flush & Inside Straight / Flush & One Overcard

13
28%
48%
2.5
1.1

14
30%
51%
2.3
0.95

15
33%
54%
2.1
0.85
Flush & Open Straight / Flush & Two Overcards

16
34%
57%
1.9
0.75

17
37%
60%
1.7
0.66

text:
Two Times Rule and Four Times Rule: Multiplying the number of outs by two or four gives a reasonable approximation to the One Card % or Two Card %, respectively, in the above table.[58]
Calculators: calculators are poker tools that calculate the odds of a hand (combined with the cards on the table if there are any) to win the game. Calculators provide precise odds but they cannot be used in live games and are therefore mostly used on Internet poker games.

text: Similar games[edit]

text: There are several other poker variants which resemble Texas hold 'em. Hold 'em is a member of a class of poker games known as community card games, where some cards are available for use by all the players. There are several other games that use five community cards in addition to some private cards and are thus similar to Texas hold 'em.  Royal hold 'em has the same structure as Texas hold 'em, but the deck contains only Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Tens.[59] Pineapple and Omaha hold 'em both vary the number of cards an individual receives before the flop (along with the rules regarding how they may be used to form a hand), but are dealt identically afterward.[60][61]  In Double Texas Hold'em, each player receives 3 hole cards and establishes a middle common card that plays with each of the other cards, but the outer cards don’t play with each other (each player has two 2-card hands).[62][63][64]  Alternatively, in Double-board hold'em all players receive the same number of private cards, but there are two sets of community cards. The winner is either selected for each individual board with each receiving half of the pot, or the best overall hand takes the entire pot, depending on the rules agreed upon by the players.[65]

text: Another variant is known as Greek hold 'em which requires each player to use both cards and only 3 from the board instead of the best five of seven cards.[66]

text: Manila is a hold'em variant which was once popular in Australia. In Manila, players receive two private cards from a reduced deck (containing no cards lower than 7). A five card board is dealt, unlike Texas hold 'em, one card at a time; there is a betting round after each card. Manila has several variations of its own, similar to the variants listed above.[67]

text: Six-plus hold 'em (also known as Short-deck hold 'em) is a community card poker game variant of Texas hold 'em, where cards 2 through 5 are removed. Each player is dealt two cards face down and seeks make his or her best five card poker hand using from any combination of the seven cards (five community cards and their own two hole cards).[68]


document_title: Out of the Furnace

question_text: where does the movie out of the furnace take place

root

text: Out of the Furnace

text: Plot[edit]

text: After getting off work at a North Braddock, Pennsylvania, steel mill, Russell Baze catches his brother Rodney at a horse racing simulcast, where Rodney had just bet on a losing horse. Rodney reveals John Petty loaned the money to him. Petty owns a bar and runs several illegal games. Russell visits Petty, pays off some of Rodney's debt, and promises to pay Petty the rest with his next paycheck if Rodney has not yet paid it off. Driving home intoxicated, Russell hits another car, killing its occupants, including a little boy. He is incarcerated for vehicular manslaughter. While in prison he is informed that his ailing father has died and his girlfriend Lena has left him for the small town police chief, Wesley Barnes. Upon his release from prison, Russell returns home and resumes his job at the mill.

tag: p

text: The same day, Rodney participates in an illegal bare-knuckle prizefight. Rodney was supposed to take a "dive" for Petty as a way to repay some of the gambling debt he owes Petty, but during the fight, Rodney becomes enraged against his opponent and wins the fight. The next morning, Russell finds Rodney's bloodied knuckle tapes in the trash and confronts him about it. Russell wants him to work in the mill, but Rodney, a four-tour Iraq war veteran, is too mentally scarred to take a regular job.

text: Rodney tells Petty that these "nickel and dime" fights will never earn him enough money to pay Petty back. Rodney then insists that Petty call and organize a more lucrative fight. Petty reluctantly arranges a fight with Harlan DeGroat, a sociopathic drug dealer from rural New Jersey to whom Petty owes a lot of money. Russell wants Lena back, but she is pregnant with Wesley's baby. Russell unsuccessfully feigns happiness to Lena, saying she will be a great mom, but both know that her pregnancy makes their getting back together an impossibility.

text: Rodney is told he must purposely lose the fight in New Jersey. When DeGroat seeks assurances Rodney will lose, Petty promises he will. Rodney briefly knocks out his opponent, but when hearing Petty pleading with him, Rodney helps the fighter get up, takes a dive, and lets the man pummel his face into a bloody mess. After the fight, DeGroat asks for the rest of his money, but Petty reminds DeGroat they had agreed in advance that this fight made them even, and DeGroat drops the subject. While driving back home, DeGroat and his men ambush Petty and Rodney. DeGroat first shoots and kills Petty, has Rodney dragged into the woods, and kills him, too. Unknown to anyone, Petty had accidentally dialed his cell phone, which fell onto the car seat and connected to his bartender Dan's voicemail while recording DeGroat as clear evidence of his murdering Petty.

text: That night, Russell finds a letter from Rodney, stating this will be his last fight and he wants to work with Russell at the mill. Wesley informs Russell about Rodney's disappearance, and Russell and his uncle "Red" set off to find him. In DeGroat's town, Russell and Red are stopped by the sheriff, who informs them that DeGroat's men would kill them if they knew why the two were in town, and, as a favor to Sheriff Wesley, he will escort them to the state line rather than searching and arresting them for illegally carrying concealed weapons.

text: Upon returning to the mill, Wesley visits Russell and confirms Rodney's death. Russell goes to Petty's office, finds a phone number for DeGroat, and calls him without identifying himself, enticing him to come collect Petty's debt. At the bar, Russell sabotages DeGroat's van to prevent his escape and confronts him. DeGroat escapes to a nearby, shutdown mill, where Russell shoots him in the thigh. Russell then follows DeGroat to a field outside the mill as he hobbles off and shoots him in the back. Russell informs DeGroat that he is Rodney's brother, as Wesley approaches the field in a squad car. Wesley pleads for Russell to put down his gun, but Russell proceeds to carefully aim his hunting rifle and shoots DeGroat in the head. The film cuts to Russell sitting at home at the dining table and fades to black.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Christian Bale as Russell Baze
Woody Harrelson as Harlan DeGroat
Casey Affleck as Rodney Baze, Jr.
Forest Whitaker as Wesley Barnes
Willem Dafoe as John Petty
Tom Bower as Dan Dugan
Zoë Saldana as Lena Taylor
Sam Shepard as Gerald "Red" Baze

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: The film was produced by Relativity Media, Appian Way, Red Granite Pictures, and Scott Free Productions, with Jeff Waxman, Tucker Tooley, Brooklyn Weaver, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, Joe Gatta, Danny Dimbort, and Christian Mercuri serving as executive producers.[3] Director Scott Cooper read an article about Braddock, Pennsylvania, a declining steel industry town outside of Pittsburgh, and the efforts to revitalize it, led by mayor John Fetterman. After visiting, Cooper was inspired to use the borough as the backdrop for a film.[4] Cooper developed the story from The Low Dweller, a spec script written by Brad Ingelsby that had actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Ridley Scott attached.[5] The studio offered the script to Cooper, which he rewrote, drawing on his experience of growing up in Appalachia and losing a sibling at a young age.[6] DiCaprio and Scott stayed on as producers of the film.[5] The story has no relation to Out of This Furnace, a 1941 historical novel by Thomas Bell, set in Braddock.[7] The Hollywood Reporter reported the film's budget was $22 million.[1]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography began in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area on April 13, 2012, and wrapped on June 1, 2012. The majority of filming took place in Braddock, and additional filming was in nearby North Braddock, Imperial, Rankin, and Swissvale.[8] Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi shot the feature in anamorphic format on Kodak 35 mm film.[9] Prison scenes were filmed in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, at the former State Penitentiary in Moundsville.[3] Filming also took place in rural Beaver County, including a deer hunting scene in Raccoon Creek State Park and a mill scene in Koppel.[10] Independence Township doubled for Bergen County, New Jersey.[11] The Carrie Furnace, an abandoned blast furnace near Braddock, served as the location for the film's finale.[4] Christian Bale wore a tattoo of Braddock's ZIP code, 15104, on his neck as a homage to the town's mayor John Fetterman, who has the same design on his arm.[12]

text: Music[edit]

text: The musical score to Out of the Furnace was composed by Dickon Hinchliffe. Originally, it was announced that Alberto Iglesias had reached an agreement to compose the score for the film.[13] However, Hinchliffe later took over scoring duties.[14] Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder re-recorded the song Release from Pearl Jam's debut album Ten for the film, which can be heard during the opening scenes and end credits. A soundtrack album featuring Hinchliffe's score was released digitally on December 3, 2013 by Relativity Music Group.[15]

text: Release[edit]

text: The film premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre on November 9, 2013 in Hollywood, California as part of the American Film Institute's AFI Fest.[16] It received a limited release in Los Angeles and New York City on December 4, 2013, followed by a wide theatrical release in the U.S. on December 6.[17] Director Scott Cooper won the award for best first or second film for Out of the Furnace at the 2013 Rome Film Festival.[18]

text: The Pearl Jam song "Release" is featured during the opening title and features in a newly recorded edition during the end credits.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Out of the Furnace was the only new film to receive a wide release in the U.S. on December 6, 2013, and earned an estimated $1.8 million on its opening day.[19] The film took in an estimated $5.3 million over its opening weekend.[20] The Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter characterized it as a box office bomb.[1][21] The film came in third behind the animated Disney film Frozen, which brought in $31.6 million, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which had $27 million in ticket sales that weekend. Relativity Media had pre-sold the film to foreign distributors for $16 million, which offset its costs.[21]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average approval rating of 53% based on 182 reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10. The general consensus for the site says: "While it may not make the most of its incredible cast, Out of the Furnace is still so packed with talent that it's hard to turn away."[22] The film holds a score of 63 (indicating "generally favorable reviews") out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 40 critics.[23]

text: Top ten lists[edit]

text: Despite its mixed critical reception, Out of the Furnace appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2013.[24]

text:
2nd – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
2nd – Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain Dealer
4th – Marc Doye, Metacritic
6th – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
7th – Kristopher Tapley, Hitfix

text: Lawsuit[edit]

text: Town officials from Mahwah, New Jersey, urged a boycott of the film due to negative depictions of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, an indigenous people living around the Ramapo Mountains,[25] characterizing the film as a hate crime.[26] Relativity Media responded that the film "is not based on any one person or group" and is "entirely fictional".[27] Nine members of the group, eight of whom have the surname of the film's lead character, DeGroat, filed suit against the makers and other involved parties, claiming that Out of the Furnace portrays a gang of "inbreds" living in the Ramapo Mountains who are "lawless, drug-addicted, impoverished and violent."[28] The lawsuit asserts that "The Defendants, and each of them, knew or should have known that their actions would place Plaintiffs, and/or any person so situated in a false light." The suit continues, "The connection between the ethnic slur of 'Jackson Whites', with the location of the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey', with a Bergen County Police patrol car, with the surnames 'DeGroat' and 'Van Dunk', is too specific to the Ramapough plaintiffs to be chance, coincidence or happenstance, and implies an element of knowledge on the part of the Defendants, or some of them."[29]

text: On May 16, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls, sitting in Newark, New Jersey, dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the film did not refer directly to any of the plaintiffs.[30]


document_title: Sikkim

question_text: sikkim was made an integral part of india under which amendment

question_tokens: sikkim was made an integral part of india under which amendment

text: Sikkim

text: Toponymy[edit]

text: The origin theory of the name Sikkim is that it is a combination of two Limbu words: su, which means "new", and khyim, which means "palace" or "house".[17] The Tibetan name for Sikkim is Drenjong (Wylie-transliteration: ´bras ljongs), which means "valley of rice",[18] while the Bhutias call it Beyul Demazong, which means '"the hidden valley of rice".[19] According to the folklore, after establishing Rabdentse as his new capital bhutia king Tensung Namgyal built a palace and asked his Limbu Queen to name it. The Lepcha people, the original inhabitants of Sikkim, called it Nye-mae-el, meaning "paradise".[19] In historical Indian literature, Sikkim is known as Indrakil, the garden of the war god Indra.[20]

text: History[edit]

text: The Lepchas are considered to be the earliest inhabitants of Sikkim.[21] However the Limbus and the Magars also lived in the inaccessible parts of West and South districts as early as the Lepchas perhaps lived in the East and North districts. [22] The Buddhist saint Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, is said to have passed through the land in the 8th century.[23] The Guru is reported to have blessed the land, introduced Buddhism, and foretold the era of monarchy that would arrive in Sikkim centuries later.

text: Foundation of the monarchy[edit]

text: According to legend, Khye Bumsa, a 14th-century prince from the Minyak House in Kham in eastern Tibet, received a divine revelation instructing him to travel south to seek his fortunes. A fifth-generation descendant of Khye Bumsa, Phuntsog Namgyal, became the founder of Sikkim's monarchy in 1642, when he was consecrated as the first Chogyal, or priest-king, of Sikkim by the three venerated lamas at Yuksom.[24] Phuntsog Namgyal was succeeded in 1670 by his son, Tensung Namgyal, who moved the capital from Yuksom to Rabdentse (near modern Pelling). In 1700, Sikkim was invaded by the Bhutanese with the help of the half-sister of the Chogyal, who had been denied the throne. The Bhutanese were driven away by the Tibetans, who restored the throne to the Chogyal ten years later. Between 1717 and 1733, the kingdom faced many raids by the Nepalese in the west and Bhutanese in the east, culminating with the destruction of the capital Rabdentse by the Nepalese.[25] In 1791, China sent troops to support Sikkim and defend Tibet against the Gorkha Kingdom. Following the subsequent defeat of Gorkha, the Chinese Qing dynasty established control over Sikkim.[26]

text: During the British Raj[edit]

text: Following the beginning of British rule in neighbouring India, Sikkim allied with Britain against their common adversary, Nepal. The Nepalese attacked Sikkim, overrunning most of the region including the Terai. This prompted the British East India Company to attack Nepal, resulting in the Gurkha War of 1814.[28] Treaties signed between Sikkim and Nepal resulted in the return of the territory annexed by the Nepalese in 1817. However, ties between Sikkim and the British weakened when the latter began taxation of the Morang region. In 1849, two British physicians, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr. Archibald Campbell, the latter being in charge of relations between the British and Sikkimese governments, ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorised.[29] The doctors were detained by the Sikkimese government, leading to a punitive British expedition against the kingdom, after which the Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed to British India in 1853. The invasion led to the Chogyal of Sikkim becoming a titular ruler under the directive of the British governor.[30]

text: Sikkim became a British protectorate in the later decades of the 19th century, formalised by a convention signed with China in 1890.[31][32] [33] Sikkim was gradually granted more sovereignty over the next three decades,[34] and became a member of the Chamber of Princes, the assembly representing the rulers of the Indian princely states, in 1922.[33]

text: Indian protectorate and statehood[edit]

text: Prior to the Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, as the Vice President of the Executive Council, pushed through a resolution in the Indian Constituent Assembly to the effect that Sikkim and Bhutan, as Himilayan states, were not 'Indian states' and their future should be negotiated separately.[35] A standstill agreement was signed in February 1948.[36]

text: Meanwhile, the Indian independence and its move to democracy spurred a fledgling political movement in Sikkim, giving rise to the formation of Sikkim State Congress (SSC). The party sent a plate of demands to the palace, including a demand for accession to India. The palace attempted to defuse the movement by appointing three secretaries from the SSC to the government and sponsoring a counter-movement in the name of Sikkim National Party, which opposed accession to India.[37]

text: The demand for responsible government continued and the SSC launched a civil disobedience movement. The Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal asked India for help in quelling the movement, which was offered in the form of a small military police force and an Indian Dewan. In 1950, a treaty was agreed between India and Sikkim which gave Sikkim the status of an Indian protectorate. Sikkim came under the suzerainty of India, which controlled its external affairs, defence, diplomacy and communications.[38] In other respects, Sikkim retained administrative autonomy.[citation needed]

text: A state council was established in 1953 to allow for constitutional government under the Chogyal. Despite pressures from an India "bent on annexation", Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal was able to preserve autonomy and shape a "model Asian state" where the literacy rate and per capita income were twice as high as neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.[39][unreliable source?] Meanwhile, the India-backed Sikkim National Congress demanded fresh elections and greater representation for Nepalis in Sikkim. People marched on the palace against the monarchy.[39] In 1973, antiroyalist riots took place in front of the Chogyal's palace.

text: In 1975, the Prime Minister of Sikkim appealed to the Indian Parliament for Sikkim to become a state of India. In April of that year, the Indian Army took over the city of Gangtok and disarmed the Chogyal's palace guards. Thereafter, a referendum was held in which 97.5 per cent of voters supported abolishing the monarchy, effectively approving union with India. India is said to have stationed 20,000–40,000 troops in a country of only 200,000 during the referendum.[40] On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished.[41] To enable the incorporation of the new state, the Indian Parliament amended the Indian Constitution. First, the 35th Amendment laid down a set of conditions that made Sikkim an "Associate State", a special designation not used by any other state. A month later, the 36th Amendment repealed the 35th Amendment, and made Sikkim a full state, adding its name to the First Schedule of the Constitution.[42]

text: Recent history[edit]

text: In 2000, the seventeenth Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje, who had been confirmed by the Dalai Lama and accepted as a tulku by the Chinese government, escaped from Tibet, seeking to return to the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. Chinese officials were in a quandary on this issue, as any protests to India would mean an explicit endorsement of India's governance of Sikkim, which China still recognised as an independent state occupied by India. The Chinese government eventually recognised Sikkim as an Indian state in 2003, on the condition that India officially recognise Tibet as a part of China;[43] New Delhi had originally accepted Tibet as a part of China in 1953 during the government of Jawaharlal Nehru.[44] The 2003 agreement led to a thaw in Sino-Indian relations,[45] and on 6 July 2006, the Sikkimese Himalayan pass of Nathu La was opened to cross-border trade, becoming the first open border between India and China.[46] The pass, which had previously been closed since the 1962 Sino-Indian War, was an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road.[46]

text: On 18 September 2011, a magnitude 6.9Mw earthquake struck Sikkim, killing at least 116 people in the state and in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Tibet.[47] More than 60 people died in Sikkim alone, and the city of Gangtok suffered significant damage.[48]

text: Geography[edit]

text: Nestling in the Himalayan mountains, the state of Sikkim is characterised by mountainous terrain. Almost the entire state is hilly, with an elevation ranging from 280 metres (920 ft) to 8,586 metres (28,169 ft). The summit of Kangchenjunga—the world's third-highest peak—is the state's highest point, situated on the border between Sikkim and Nepal.[49] For the most part, the land is unfit for agriculture because of the rocky, precipitous slopes. However, some hill slopes have been converted into terrace farms.

text: Numerous snow-fed streams have carved out river valleys in the west and south of the state. These streams combine into the major Teesta River and its tributary, the Rangeet, which flow through the state from north to south.[50] About a third of the state is heavily forested. The Himalayan mountains surround the northern, eastern and western borders of Sikkim. The Lower Himalayas, lying in the southern reaches of the state, are the most densely populated.

text: The state has 28 mountain peaks, more than 80 glaciers,[51] 227 high-altitude lakes (including the Tsongmo, Gurudongmar and Khecheopalri Lakes), five major hot springs, and more than 100 rivers and streams. Eight mountain passes connect the state to Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal.[52]

text: Sikkim's hot springs are renowned for their medicinal and therapeutic values. Among the state's most notable hot springs are those at Phurchachu, Yumthang, Borang, Ralang, Taram-chu and Yumey Samdong. The springs, which have a high sulphur content, are located near river banks; some are known to emit hydrogen.[53] The average temperature of the water in these hot springs is 50 °C (122 °F).[54]

text: Geology[edit]

text: The hills of Sikkim mainly consist of gneiss and schist[55] which weather to produce generally poor and shallow brown clay soils. The soil is coarse, with large concentrations of iron oxide; it ranges from neutral to acidic and is lacking in organic and mineral nutrients. This type of soil tends to support evergreen and deciduous forests.[56]

text: The rock consists of phyllites and schists, and is highly susceptible to weathering and erosion. This, combined with the state's heavy rainfall, causes extensive soil erosion and the loss of soil nutrients through leaching. As a result, landslides are frequent, often isolating rural towns and villages from the major urban centres.[57]

text: Climate[edit]

text: The state has five seasons: winter, summer, spring, autumn, and a monsoon season between June and September. Sikkim's climate ranges from sub-tropical in the south to tundra in the north. Most of the inhabited regions of Sikkim experience a temperate climate, with temperatures seldom exceeding 28 °C (82 °F) in summer. The average annual temperature for most of Sikkim is around 18 °C (64 °F).

text: Sikkim is one of the few states in India to receive regular snowfall. The snow line ranges from 6,100 metres (20,000 ft) in the south of the state to 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) in the north.[58] The tundra-type region in the north is snowbound for four months every year, and the temperature drops below 0 °C (32 °F) almost every night.[53] In north-western Sikkim, the peaks are frozen year-round;[59] because of the high altitude, temperatures in the mountains can drop to as low as −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter.

text: During the monsoon, heavy rains increase the risk of landslides. The record for the longest period of continuous rain in Sikkim is 11 days. Fog affects many parts of the state during winter and the monsoons, making transportation perilous.[60]

text: Government and politics[edit]

text:
State symbols

State day
16 May (day of accession to India)

State animal
Red panda

State bird
Blood pheasant[61]

State tree
Rhododendron

State flower
Noble dendrobium (Dendrobium nobile)

tag: table

text: According to the Constitution of India, Sikkim has a parliamentary system of representative democracy for its governance; universal suffrage is granted to state residents. The government structure is organised into three branches:

text:
Executive: As with all states of India, a governor stands at the head of the executive power of state, just as the president is the head of the executive power in the Union, and is appointed by the President of India. The governor's appointment is largely ceremonial, and his or her main role is to oversee the swearing-in of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, who holds the real executive powers, is the head of the party or coalition garnering the largest majority in the state elections. The governor also appoints cabinet ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister.
Legislature: Sikkim has a unicameral legislature, the Sikkim Legislative Assembly, like most other Indian states. Its state assembly has 32 seats, including one reserved for the Sangha. Sikkim is allocated one seat in each of the two chambers of India's national bicameral legislature, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Judiciary: The judiciary consists of the Sikkim High Court and a system of lower courts. The High Court, located at Gangtok, has a Chief Justice along with two permanent justices. The Sikkim High Court is the smallest state high court in the country.[62]

text: In 1975, after the abrogation of Sikkim's monarchy, the Indian National Congress gained a majority in the 1977 elections. In 1979, after a period of instability, a popular ministry headed by Nar Bahadur Bhandari, leader of the Sikkim Sangram Parishad Party, was sworn in. Bhandari held on to power in the 1984 and 1989 elections. In the 1994 elections, Pawan Kumar Chamling of the Sikkim Democratic Front became the Chief Minister of the state. Chamling and his party have since held on to power by winning the 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections.[30][63][64] Currently, the Governor of Sikkim is Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil.[65]

text: Subdivisions[edit]

text: Sikkim has four districts – East Sikkim, North Sikkim, South Sikkim and West Sikkim. The district capitals are Gangtok, Mangan, Namchi and Gyalshing respectively.[66] These four districts are further divided into subdivisions; Pakyong and Rongli are the subdivisions of the East district, Soreng is the subdivision of the West district, Chungthang is the subdivision of the North district and Ravongla is the subdivision of the South district.[67]

text: Each of Sikkim's districts is overseen by a Central Government appointee, the district collector, who is in charge of the administration of the civilian areas of the district. The Indian Army has control over a large part of the state, as Sikkim forms part of a sensitive border area with China. Many areas are restricted to foreigners, and official permits are needed to visit them.[68]

text: Flora and fauna[edit]

text: Sikkim is situated in an ecological hotspot of the lower Himalayas, one of only three among the ecoregions of India.[69] The forested regions of the state exhibit a diverse range of fauna and flora. Owing to its altitudinal gradation, the state has a wide variety of plants, from tropical species to temperate, alpine and tundra ones, and is perhaps one of the few regions to exhibit such a diversity within such a small area. Nearly 81 per cent of the area of Sikkim comes under the administration of its forest department.[70]

text: Sikkim is home to around 5,000 species of flowering plants, 515 rare orchids, 60 primula species, 36 rhododendron species, 11 oak varieties, 23 bamboo varieties, 16 conifer species, 362 types of ferns and ferns allies, 8 tree ferns, and over 900 medicinal plants.[69] A variant of the Poinsettia, locally known as "Christmas Flower", can be found in abundance in the mountainous state. The Noble Dendrobium is the official flower of Sikkim, while the rhododendron is the state tree.[72]

text: Orchids, figs, laurel, bananas, sal trees and bamboo grow in the Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests of the lower altitudes of Sikkim. In the temperate elevations above 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) there are Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests, where oaks, chestnuts, maples, birches, alders, and magnolias grow in large numbers, as well as Himalayan subtropical pine forests, dominated by Chir pine. Alpine-type vegetation is typically found between an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 metres (11,500 to 16,400 ft). In lower elevations are found juniper, pine, firs, cypresses and rhododendrons from the Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests. Higher up are Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows, home to a broad variety of rhododendrons and wildflowers.

text: The fauna of Sikkim include the snow leopard,[73] musk deer, Himalayan tahr, red panda, Himalayan marmot, Himalayan serow, Himalayan goral, muntjac, common langur, Asian black bear, clouded leopard,[74] marbled cat, leopard cat,[75] dhole, Tibetan wolf, hog badger, binturong, and Himalayan jungle cat. Among the animals more commonly found in the alpine zone are yaks, mainly reared for their milk, meat, and as a beast of burden.

text: The avifauna of Sikkim include the impeyan pheasant, crimson horned pheasant, snow partridge, Tibetan snowcock, bearded vulture and griffon vulture, as well as golden eagles, quails, plovers, woodcocks, sandpipers, pigeons, Old World flycatchers, babblers and robins. Sikkim has more than 550 species of birds, some of which have been declared endangered.[76]

text: Sikkim also has a rich diversity of arthropods, many of which remain unstudied; the most studied Sikkimese arthropods are butterflies. Of the approximately 1,438 butterfly species found in the Indian subcontinent, 695 have been recorded in Sikkim.[77] These include the endangered Kaiser-i-hind, the Yellow Gorgon and the Bhutan Glory.[78]

text: Economy[edit]

text: Sikkim's nominal state gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at US$1.57 billion in 2014, constituting the third-smallest GDP among India's 28 states.[9] The state's economy is largely agrarian, based on the terraced farming of rice and the cultivation of crops such as maize, millet, wheat, barley, oranges, tea and cardamom.[79][80] Sikkim produces more cardamom than any other Indian state, and is home to the largest cultivated area of cardamom.[81]

text: Because of its hilly terrain and poor transport infrastructure, Sikkim lacks a large-scale industrial base. Brewing, distilling, tanning and watchmaking are the main industries, and are mainly located in the southern regions of the state, primarily in the towns of Melli and Jorethang. In addition, a small mining industry exists in Sikkim, extracting minerals such as copper, dolomite, talc, graphite, quartzite, coal, zinc and lead.[82] Despite the state's minimal industrial infrastructure, Sikkim's economy has been among the fastest-growing in India since 2000; the state's GDP expanded by 89.93 per cent in 2010 alone.[83] In 2003, Sikkim decided to convert fully to organic farming statewide, and achieved this goal in 2015, becoming India's first "organic state".[12][13][14][84]

text: In recent years, the government of Sikkim has extensively promoted tourism. As a result, state revenue has increased 14 times since the mid-1990s.[85] Sikkim has furthermore invested in a fledgling gambling industry, promoting both casinos and online gambling. The state's first casino, the Casino Sikkim, opened in March 2009, and the government subsequently issued a number of additional casino licences and online sports betting licenses.[86][87] The Playwin lottery has been a notable success in the state.[88][89]

text: The opening of the Nathu La pass on 6 July 2006, connecting Lhasa, Tibet, to India, was billed as a boon for Sikkim's economy. Trade through the pass remains hampered by Sikkim's limited infrastructure and government restrictions in both India and China, though the volume of traded goods has been steadily increasing.[90][91]

text: Transport[edit]

text: Air[edit]

text: Sikkim currently does not have any operational airports or railheads because of its rough terrain. However, Pakyong Airport, the state's first airport, located at a distance of 30 km (19 mi) from Gangtok, is expected to become operational in March 2017, after its completion was delayed from the original target of 2014.[92][93] It is being constructed by the Airports Authority of India on 200 acres of land. At an altitude of 4,700 feet (1,400 m) above sea level, it will be one of the five highest airports in India.[94][95] The airport will be capable of operating ATR aircraft.[96]

text: As of 2015, the closest operational airport to Sikkim is Bagdogra Airport, near the town of Siliguri in West Bengal. The airport is located about 124 km (77 mi) from Gangtok, and frequent buses connect the two.[97] A daily helicopter service run by the Sikkim Helicopter Service connects Gangtok to Bagdogra; the flight is thirty minutes long, operates only once a day, and can carry four people.[63] The Gangtok helipad is the only civilian helipad in the state.

text: Roads[edit]

text: National Highway 31A and National Highway 31 link Siliguri to Gangtok.[98] Sikkim National Transport runs bus and truck services. Privately run bus, tourist taxi and jeep services operate throughout Sikkim, and also connect it to Siliguri. A branch of the highway from Melli connects western Sikkim. Towns in southern and western Sikkim are connected to the hill stations of Kalimpong and Darjeeling in northern West Bengal.[99] The state is furthermore connected to Tibet by the mountain pass of Nathu La.

text: Rail[edit]

text: Sikkim lacks significant railway infrastructure. The closest major railway stations are Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri in neighbouring West Bengal.[100] However, the New Sikkim Railway Project has been launched to connect the town of Rangpo in Sikkim with Sevoke on the West Bengal border.[101] The five-station line is intended to support both economic development and Indian Army operations, and was initially planned to be completed by 2015,[102][103] though as of 2013 its construction has met with delays.[104] In addition, the Ministry of Railways proposed plans in 2010 for railway lines linking Mirik to Ranipool.[105]

text: Infrastructure[edit]

text: Sikkim's roads are maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), an offshoot of the Indian Army. The roads in southern Sikkim are in relatively good condition, landslides being less frequent in this region. The state government maintains 1,857 kilometres (1,154 mi) of roadways that do not fall under the BRO's jurisdiction.[67]

text: Sikkim receives most of its electricity from 19 hydroelectric power stations.[85] Power is also obtained from the National Thermal Power Corporation and Power Grid Corporation of India.[106] By 2006, the state had achieved 100 per cent rural electrification.[107] However, the voltage remains unstable and voltage stabilisers are needed. Per capita consumption of electricity in Sikkim was approximately 182 kWh in 2006. The state government has promoted biogas and solar power for cooking, but these have received a poor response and are used mostly for lighting purposes.[108] In 2005, 73.2 per cent of Sikkim's households were reported to have access to safe drinking water,[67] and the state's large number of mountain streams assures a sufficient water supply.

text: On 8 December 2008, it was announced that Sikkim had become the first state in India to achieve 100 per cent sanitation coverage, becoming completely free of public defecation, thus attaining the status of "Nirmal State".[109][110]

text: Demographics[edit]

text:
[show]Population growth history

Census
Pop.

%±

1951
138,000

—

1961
162,000

17.4%

1971
210,000

29.6%

1981
316,000

50.5%

1991
406,000

28.5%

2001
541,000

33.3%

2011
607,688

12.3%

Sources: Census of India[1][111]

text: Sikkim is India's least populous state, with 610,577 inhabitants according to the 2011 census.[1] Sikkim is also one of the least densely populated Indian states, with only 86 persons per square kilometre. However, it has a high population growth rate, averaging 12.36% per cent between 2001 and 2011. The sex ratio is 889 females per 1,000 males, with a total of 321,661 males and 286,027 females recorded in 2011. With around 98,000 inhabitants as of 2011, the capital Gangtok is the most significant urban area in the mostly rural state; in 2005, the urban population in Sikkim constituted around 11.06 per cent of the total.[67] In 2011, the average per capita income in Sikkim stood at ₹81,159 (US$1,305).[112]

text: Languages[edit]

text: Languages of Sikkim in 2001[113][114][115]

text: Nepali is the lingua franca of Sikkim, while Sikkimese (Bhutia) and Lepcha are spoken in certain areas. English is also spoken and understood in most of Sikkim. Other languages include Dzongkha, Groma, Gurung, Limbu, Magar, Majhi, Majhwar, Nepal Bhasa, Rai, Sherpa, Sunuwar, Tamang, Thulung, Tibetan, and Yakha.[116]

text: The major languages spoken as per census 2001 are Nepali (338,606), Sikkimese (41,825), Hindi (36,072), Lepcha (35,728), Limbu (34,292), Sherpa (13,922), Tamang (10,089), etc.

text: Ethnicity[edit]

text: The majority of Sikkim's residents are of Nepali ethnic origin.[117] The native Sikkimese consist of the Bhutias, who migrated from the Kham district of Tibet in the 14th century, and the Lepchas, who are believed to have migrated from the Far East. Tibetans reside mostly in the northern and eastern reaches of the state. Migrant resident communities include Biharis, Bengalis and Marwaris, who are prominent in commerce in South Sikkim and Gangtok.[118]

text: Religion[edit]

text: Religion in Sikkim (2011)[119]

text: Hinduism is the state's major religion and is practised mainly by ethnic Nepalis; an estimated 57.8 per cent of the total population are adherents of the religion. There exist many Hindu temples. Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple is very popular, since it consists of the chardham altogether.

text: Vajrayana Buddhism, which accounts for 27.3 per cent of the population, is Sikkim's second-largest, yet most prominent religion. Prior to Sikkim's becoming a part of the Indian Union, Vajrayana Buddhism was the state religion under the Chogyal. Sikkim has 75 Buddhist monasteries, the oldest dating back to the 1700s.[120] The public and visual aesthetics of Sikkim are executed in shades of Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhism plays a significant role in public life, even among Sikkim's majority Nepali Hindu population.

text: Christians in Sikkim are mostly descendants of Lepcha people who were converted by British missionaries in the late 19th century, and constitute around 10 per cent of the population. As of 2014, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sikkim is the largest Christian denomination in Sikkim.[121] Other religious minorities include Muslims of Bihari ethnicity and Jains, who each account for roughly one per cent of the population.[122] The traditional religions of the native Sikkimese account for much of the remainder of the population.

text: Although tensions between the Lepchas and the Nepalese escalated during the merger of Sikkim with India in the 1970s, there has never been any major degree of communal religious violence, unlike in other Indian states.[123][124] The traditional religion of the Lepcha people is Mun, an animist practice which coexists with Buddhism and Christianity.[125]

text: Culture[edit]

text: Festivals and holidays[edit]

text: Sikkim's Nepalese majority celebrate all major Hindu festivals, including Diwali and Dussera. Traditional local festivals, such as Maghe Sankranti and Bhimsen Puja, are popular.[126] Losar, Loosong, Saga Dawa, Lhabab Duechen, Drupka Teshi and Bhumchu are among the Buddhist festivals celebrated in Sikkim. During the Losar (Tibetan New Year), most offices and educational institutions are closed for a week.[127]

text: Sikkimese Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr and Muharram.[128] Christmas has been promoted in Gangtok to attract tourists during the off-season.[129]

text: Western rock music and Indian pop have gained a wide following in Sikkim. Indigenous Nepali rock and Lepcha music are also popular.[130] Sikkim's most popular sports are football and cricket, although hang gliding and river rafting have grown popular as part of the tourism industry.[131]

text: Cuisine[edit]

text: Noodle-based dishes such as thukpa, chow mein, thenthuk, fakthu, gyathuk and wonton are common in Sikkim. Momos – steamed dumplings filled with vegetables, buffalo meat or pork and served with soup – are a popular snack.[132]

text: Beer, whiskey, rum and brandy are widely consumed in Sikkim,[133] as is tongba, a millet-based alcoholic beverage that is popular in Nepal and Darjeeling. Sikkim has the third-highest per capita alcoholism rate amongst all Indian states, behind Punjab and Haryana.[134]

text: Media[edit]

text: The southern urban areas of Sikkim have English, Nepali and Hindi daily newspapers. Nepali-language newspapers, as well as some English newspapers, are locally printed, whereas Hindi and English newspapers are printed in Siliguri. Important local dailies and weeklies include Hamro Xa Xa Prajashakti (Nepali daily), Himalayan Mirror (English daily), the Samay Dainik, Sikkim Express (English), Sikkim Now (English), Kanchanjunga Times (Nepali weekly), Pragya Khabar (Nepali weekly) and Himalibela.[135] Furthermore, the state receives regional editions of national English newspapers such as The Statesman, The Telegraph, The Hindu and The Times of India. Himalaya Darpan, a Nepali daily published in Siliguri, is one of the leading Nepali daily newspapers in the region. The Sikkim Herald is an official weekly publication of the government. Online media covering Sikkim include the Nepali newspaper Himgiri, the English news portal Haalkhabar and the literary magazine Tistarangit. Avyakta, Bilokan, the Journal of Hill Research, Khaber Khagaj, Panda, and the Sikkim Science Society Newsletter are among other registered publications.[136]

text: Internet cafés are well established in the district capitals, but broadband connectivity is not widely available. Satellite television channels through dish antennae are available in most homes in the state. Channels served are largely the same as those available in the rest of India, although Nepali-language channels are also available. The main service providers include Dish TV, Doordarshan and Nayuma.

text: Education[edit]

text: In 2011, Sikkim's adult literacy rate was 82.2 per cent: 87.29 per cent for males and 76.43 per cent for females.[137] There are a total of 1,157 schools in the state, including 765 schools run by the state government, seven central government schools and 385 private schools.[138] Twelve colleges and other institutions in Sikkim offer higher education. Sikkim University is the only central university in Sikkim. The largest institution is the Sikkim Manipal University of Technological Sciences, which offers higher education in engineering, medicine and management. It also runs a host of distance education programs in diverse fields.[139]

text: There are two state-run polytechnical schools, the Advanced Technical Training Centre (ATTC) and the Centre for Computers and Communication Technology (CCCT), which offer diploma courses in various branches of engineering. ATTC is situated at Bardang, Singtam, and CCCT at Chisopani, Namchi. Sikkim University began operating in 2008 at Yangang, which is situated about 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Singtam.[140] Many students, however, migrate to Siliguri, Kolkata, Bangalore and other Indian cities for their higher education.

text: Notable personalities[edit]

text:
B. B. Gurung
Bhaichung Bhutia
Danny Denzongpa
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Geetanjali Thapa
Lal Bahadur Basnet
Nar Bahadur Bhandari
Omi Gurung
Pawan Kumar Chamling
Prajwal Parajuly
Raju Kafley
S. Mahinda
Sunetra Choudhury
Tarundeep Rai
Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe