How To Play Poker

In most poker games, the first round of betting starts with some form of forced bet. The betting round ends when all players have either matched the last opponents bet or folded thus giving up. In many variations a complete hand is dealt to each player face-down and, after betting, players are allowed to perhaps change their hand by discarding unwanted cards and getting new ones.

Payout dependents on the resulting of all hands after the draw and bets.

If their is more than one possible winner after the final betting round, the hands of these players are shown and the winning hand takes the pot.

Rules say that outcome of any particular hand is determined mostly by chance, on most real games are determined mostly by the player actions based on probability and psychology.

Poker Basics

Poker is normally played from a deck of 52 cards, some times multiple decks. The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.

There are 4 suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, all suits have same value. Poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.

Some games have Wild Cards, which can take on any combination. Sometimes jokers will be used as wild cards, other times, the game will specify which cards are wild (dueces, one-eyed jacks, and so on).

Hands Ranking

From high to low:

Five of a Kind
A five of a kind (only possible with wild cards) is the highest possible hand. If more than one hand has five of a kind, the higher card wins (Five Aces beats five kings, and so on).

Straight Flush
A straight flush is the best no wild card hand. A straight flush is a straight 5 cards in sequence with all of the same suit from Ace to Ace. An Ace high straight-flush is called a Royal Flush and is the highest natural hand.

Four of a Kind
Four of a kind is simply 4 cards of the same rank. If there are 2 or more four of a kind in the same round, the hand with the higher wins.

Full House
A full house is a 3 of a kind and a pair, such as K-K-K-7-7. Ties are broken first by the three of a kind, then by the pair.

Flush
A flush is a hand where all of the cards have the same suit, not mattering the rank.

Straight
A straight is 5 cards in order just like the Straight Flush. The only difference is that the ranks are lower than flush.

Three of a Kind
A Three of a Kind means that you have 3 same rank cards of any suits. If you also have a pair with it, then it becomes a Full House.

Two Pair
This means you have 2 distinct pairs of cards, each pair with the same rank.

Pair
This means you have a pair of cards with the same rank.

High Card
This is any hand which doesn't qualify as any one of the above hands. Your highest ranking card is your best bet.

Betting

In most games of poker, you must bet upfront something, just to get dealt cards. After that, players bet into the pot in the middle of the table. At the end of the hand, the highest playing hand wins the pot.

Here are your 3 choices while betting:

Call
When you call, you bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you did.

Raise
When you raise, you first bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet plus whatever bet amount you want to raise. Most tables have betting limits.

Fold
When you fold, you drop out of the current hand.