Poker is a game of chance, although when you introduce betting etc poker introduces more skill, this does not mean there is no skill needed when playing poker without anything to lose just nearly not as much. If you would like to know more on the rules of poker either buy a book or play with more experienced players (probably not a good idea however) you can play online poker games or with friends either way it is a great game to play.
Poker is played with your standard pack of cards (52 cards for people that may not know this.)However some variant games of this add multiple decks of cards or a few more cards called jokers. From high to low the cards are ranked like this: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace is entered twice as it can be high or low, however most the time it is high.) There are four suits in cards, hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. No suit is higher than any other. All pokers hands contain five cards and the highest hand wins the game.
Hands can be classed in many different ranks and they are all listed below from highest rank to lowest:
Five of a kind is the best hand you can get in poker, however it is only possible when using wild cards. If more than one hand on your online poker table has five of a kind then the higher cards will win. Etc. if you have five Queens and the other person has five 5’s you will win.
A Straight flush is the best natural hand that you can get in a game. An example of a straight flush would be 5 cards in order such as 6,7,8,9,10 and all in the same suit exactly the same as a normal straight. As an example of an ace being high and low you can have, A-K-Q-J-10 (ace high) or 5,4,3,2,A ( ace low). Straights cannot be wrapped around however, such as K,A,2,3,4, as this is not a straight. An Ace high straight flush is called a royal flush and is the highest natural hand in the game.
Four of a kind is simply four cards of the same rank, such as four 4’s or four 5’s etc. If two or more hands qualify then the hand with the higher rank would win, for example four 10’s would win four 7’s. If there are two hands with a four of a kind on the same rank then the player with the highest card outside the hand wins.
A full house is any three of a kind and a pair, for example three kings and two threes, this hand would win three kings and 2 two’s.
A Flush is a hand in which all of the cards are the same suit for example a, 5, 9, J, 2, 4 all hearts.
A straight is 5 cards in order, such as 5-6-7-8-9. This would be beaten by 8-9-10-J.
Three of a kind is three cards of the same rank such as three kings or three queens along with two other cards that are not a pair, as this would be a full house.
This is two pairs along with another card. The highest of these pairs would win. If the highest draws then your next one would either wins it or lost it for you.
This is pair of any cards along with three other distinct cards.
This is a hand which does not qualify as one of the above hands. If nobody wins or you draw then your highest card would win or lose it for you.
So how do you bet in poker? Well during a game there are three choices that you can choose from when it comes to your turn. All will be explained below:
When you call you bet enough to match what has been bet since your last time, for example if you bet £2.00 and since then someone has bet £4.00 you would call another £2.00.
When you raise you firstly bet enough to match what has been bet since your last turn, as explained above, then you raise your bet up another amount. This is up to you, but usually there is a limit.
When you fold you are dropping out of the current hand, therefore losing any possibility of winning the hand. However you do not have to put any more money in the pot. Betting will continue until the game has been won by someone.
After finding a way of practicing this such as online poker you will soon
be in the poker zone and ready to get out there and play your game.