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Poker is a card game in which players bet into a communal pot during the course of a hand, and in which the player holding the best hand at the end of the betting wins the pot. Poker games are generally played with a standard deck of 52 cards. A standard deck consists of of thirteen different ranks of cards, and they are: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Each of these cards comes in four different suits: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades.
During a given betting round, each remaining player in turn may take one of four actions:
- Check: a bet of zero that does not forfeit interest in the pot
- Bet or Raise: a nonzero bet greater than preceding bets that all successive players must match or exceed or else forfeit all interest in the pot
- Call: a nonzero bet equal to a preceding bet that maintains a player's interest in the pot
- Fold: a surrender of interest in the pot in response to another player's bet, accompanied by the loss of one's cards and previous bets
Betting usually proceeds in a circle until each player has either called all bets or folded. Different poker games have various numbers of betting rounds interspersed with the receipt or replacement of cards.
Poker Basics
Poker games involve rounds of betting into a common fund, or "pot", and rounds of replacing/receiving cards. The number of betting rounds and card draws depends on the particular variation of the game you are playing. Action proceeds in a clockwise direction.
At the end of the game, the highest hand wins. The hands are ranked as follows:
- Royal Flush - which is a series of cards, all of the same suit ranking Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten.
- Straight Flush - a five card sequence where all the cards are of the same suit. For instance, 5,6,7,8,9 of diamonds is a Straight Flush. If two straights should tie, the one containing the highest card wins. Should both hands contain the same high card, the pot is split.
- Four-of-a-Kind - Four cards of the same rank with one other card of varying rank. The highest ranking Four-of-a-Kind would win in case of a tie.
- Full House - is a hand comprised of both a three-of-a-kind (three cards with the same rank) and a pair (two cards with the same rank). An example would be K-K-K-6-6. If two full house hands should tie, the hand containing the higher three-of-a-kind wins. (5-5-5-2-2 beats 3-3-3-A-A)
- Flush - consists of 5 cards of the same suit. In the case of a tie, the hand with the highest card wins. Should the high cards be the same rank, the next highest cards are compared (and so on).
- Straight - five cards in sequence, of mixed suits. Should straights tie, the hand with the highest card wins. Should the hands be identical in rank, the pot is split. "Around the corner" (K-A-2-3-4) straights are NOT allowed.
- Three-of-a-Kind is three cards of the same rank with two other cards of varying rank (not a pair). The highest ranking three-of-a-kind would win in the event of a tie.
- Two Pair - A hand that contains two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and a dissimilar fifth card. Ties are awarded to the higher of the "high" pair, followed by the higher of the "low" pairs, and finally by the remaining card.
- One Pair - A hand that contains one set of cards with the same rank. Highest pair wins ties. If both pairs are the same, highest card wins. Followed by next highest card and so on.
- High Card - the weakest of poker hands. The highest ranking card wins the pot. In the event of a tie, the next highest card wins, and so on.
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