Basic Poker Rules
Poker is a game of chance. However, when you introduce the
concept of betting, poker gains quite a bit of
skill and
psychology. Poker is played from a standard pack of 52 cards
(some variant games use multiple packs or add a few cards
called jokers). The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace,
King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can
be high or low, but is usually high). There are four suits
(spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, no suit is higher than another.
Some poker games have wild cards, which can take on whatever suit
and rank their possessor desires. Sometimes jokers will be
used as wild cards, other times, the poker game will specify which
cards are wild (deuces, one-eyed jacks, and so on).
Poker Hands are ranked as follows (from high to low):
| Rank |
Hand Name |
Description of hand |
Example |
| 1 |
Royal Flush |
A, K, Q, J, 10
of same suit |
10S, JS, QS, KS,
AS |
| 2 |
Straight Flush |
Five cards of
same suit in sequence |
4D, 5D, 6D, 7D,
8D |
| 3 |
4 of a kind |
Four cards of
the same rank |
7S, 7C, 7D, 7H |
| 4 |
Full House |
Three of a kind
plus a pair |
3D, 3S, 3C, KS,
KH |
| 5 |
Flush |
Five cards of
the same suit |
3H, 7H, 10H, QH,
AH |
| 6 |
Straight |
Five cards in
sequence |
5C, 6D, 7C, 8H,
9S |
| 7 |
3 of a kind |
Three cards of
the same rank |
JH, JS, JD |
| 8 |
2 Pair |
Two pairs of
different rank |
5H, 5S, 9C, 9S |
| 9 |
1 Pair |
Two cards of the
same rank |
AS, AD |
Five of a Kind - Only possible when using wild cards; it is
the highest possible poker hand. If more than one hand has five of
a kind, the higher card wins (five aces beats five kings,
which beat five queens, and so on).
Straight Flush- The best possible natural poker hand. A straight
flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such as 5-6-7-8-9)
all of the same suit. As in a regular straight, you
can have an ace either high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-1). However, a straight may not 'wraparound" (such as K-A-2-3-4,
which is not a straight). An ace high straight-flush is
called a Royal Flush and is the highest natural poker hand.
Four of a Kind - This poker hand contains four cards of the same
rank. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand
with the higher ranking four of a kind wins. If, in some
bizarre poker game with many wild cards, there are two four of a
kinds with the same rank, then the hand with the high card
outside the four of the kind wins.
Full House - This poker hand contains three of a kind and a pair,
such as K-K-K-5-5. Ties are broken first by the three of a
kind, then pair. So K-K-K-2-2 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, which beats
Q-Q-Q-J-J. (Obviously, the three of a kind can only be
similar if wild cards are used.)
Flush - This poker hand is a poker hand where all of the cards are the same
suit, such as J-8-5-3-2, all of spades. When flushes ties,
follow the rules for high card.
Straight - This poker hand is 5 cards in order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. An
ace may either be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-1).
However, a straight may not 'wraparound" (such as Q-K-A-2-3,
which is not a straight). When straights tie, the highest
straight wins (e.g., A-K-Q-J-T beats K-Q-J-T-9 down to 5-4-3-2-A). If
two straights have the same value (A-K-Q-J-T vs. A-K-Q-J-T) they
split the pot.
Three of a Kind - This poker hand is three cards of the same rank, matched with
two cards that are not a pair (otherwise it would be a full
house. Again, highest three of a kind wins. If both are the
same rank, then the compare high cards.
Two Pair - This poker hand contains two distinct pairs of cards and a
5th card. The highest pair wins ties. If both hands have the
same high pair, the second pair wins. If both hands have the
same pairs, the high card wins.
Pair - This poker hand is one pair with three distinct cards. High card breaks
ties.
High Card - Any poker hand which does not qualify as any one of
the above hands. If no player has a pair or better, then the
highest card wins. If multiple players tie for the highest
card, they look at the second highest, then the third
highest etc. High card is also used to break ties when the
high poker hands both have the same type of hand (pair, flush,
straight, etc).
Betting in Poker
So, how do you bet in poker? In most poker games, you must ante something
(amount varies by game), just to get dealt cards. After that
the players will begin to bet into the pot in the middle. At
the end of the hand, the highest hand (that hasn't folded)
wins the pot. Basically, when betting gets around to you
(betting is typically done in clockwise order), you have one
of three choices:
Call - When you call, you bet enough to match what has been
bet since the last time you bet (for instance, if you bet a
dime last time, and someone else bet a quarter, you would
owe fifteen cents).
Raise - When you raise, you first bet enough to match what
has been bet since the last time you bet (as in calling),
then you 'raise' the bet another amount (up to you, but
there is typically a limit.) Continuing the above example,
if you had bet a dime, the other person raised you fifteen
cents (up to a quarter), you might raise a quarter (up to
fifty cents). Since you owed the pot 15 cents for calling
and 25 for your raise, you would put 40 cents into the pot.
Fold - When you fold, you drop out of the current hand
(losing any possibility of winning the pot), but you don't
have to put any money into the pot.
There are three methods of ranking low hands, called
ace-to-five low,
deuce-to-seven low, and
ace-to-six low. The
ace-to-five method is most common.
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