Poker is probably the most popular of all the card games out there, thanks in part to an exciting format, big money on offer on a regular basis, and the twists and turns that come with playing a game with an element of luck. Even with an element of luck, playing winning poker requires a fair amount of skill and some time to master. This guide will walk you through some of the basic rules of poker and also more generally how to play poker.

First, let’s consider what the poker goals are in a game of poker. The goal of most is to make money. To do that, players would need anycome into the showdown with the best 5-card hand GOLD force everyone else out of the hand, thus winning the pot. Most games are played against the same standard ranking of hands, however there are some variants that use slight variations of this standard. For this article we will mainly focus on Texas Hold’em as it is the most popular game and a good place to start as a new player.

texas hold’em

Texas Hold’em is the party favorite and has the most traffic, both live and online. It is the game featured in most major poker tournaments or televised cash games.

It is known as a community card game because there are shared cards that all players use when trying to make their best 5-card hand. In short, each player will get two private cards, dealt face down, better known as hole cards. These cards are only seen by the player they are dealt to. Throughout the game there will be a series of betting rounds and 5 community or shared cards will be dealt. These cards are dealt face up. Players will try to make the best 5 card hand using any combination of the 7 cards available to them (2 private cards and 5 shared cards). This same principle applies to all poker games.

Something that makes the game really unique is that a player doesn’t have to have the best hand to win. Imagine you have ten people and you give each one a card and tell them to run up the hill. The person who went up there would be the first, automatically winning. If there was a tie, the two players would pick up the card they were dealt and the higher card would win. Poker is similar in principle. The player who stays in the hand the entire time and has the best hand would win the pot. If there is only one person who goes up the hill or stays in the hand, they will be the winner, regardless of what card or hand they have. So if only one made it to the top of the hill, he would win, regardless of his hand.

Game Structure

Okay, let’s see how the game actually plays. When starting a game, it is normal for each player to be dealt one card. The highest card gets the dealer button or button. The button acts as an indicator of who gets dealt first and also who posts the blinds. Blinds are automatic bets that are made to ensure that each pot has some money to play with (or there would be no incentive to play anything but the best hands). The blinds consist of two automatic bets, the small blind, posted by the player immediately to the left of the button, and the big blind, posted by the player two seats to the left of the button. The small blind is usually half the value of the big blind. Once these bets are posted, all players are dealt 2 cards face down.

Players will now have to decide whether or not to play the hand, starting with the player to the left of the big blind (or 3 to the left of the dealer button). This is largely due to the two cards the player has been dealt (although there are other factors I’ll cover separately). A player has the option to call, fold, or raise. Here are definitions for each action:

Fold– Throw your cards into the mud and not participate in the hand anymore. By doing so, he loses his bet on the pot.

Call– to match the highest bet made so far. If the highest bet is the big blind, then it must call to stay in the hand. If one player raises, all other players will have to ‘call the raise’ or call to stay in the hand.

Increase– this would be a bet that would be more than the big blind and a sign of strength (a good hand). If one player raises and everyone else folds, he will win the pot by default, regardless of the strength of his hand.

So play moves clockwise around the table until all players have called, raised, or folded.

Once all players have completed this initial round of betting, the first three community or shared cards are dealt. These are dealt face up on the table. The first 3 cards dealt in Hold’em are known as ‘the flop’. All of the shared cards that are dealt are known as the board cards or referred to as “the board”. At this stage, players will try to build their best 5-card hand from the 2 in their hand and the 3 on the board. Some players may have already made their hand and others may need cards, yet to come, to make their hand. Either way, with 2 shared cards still to come, players will have a good indication of the strength of their hand and their chances of getting one of the cards they may need.

A second round of betting now takes place and again the players, moving clockwise, have the option to fold, call or raise. Once this round of betting is complete, a fourth community card, also known as ‘the turn’, ‘the turn card’ or ‘fourth street’, is dealt face up. There is then a third round of betting with all remaining players and then a fifth and final card (known as ‘fifth street’ or ‘river card’) is dealt to the table, again face up (all shared cards are dealt face up). above) . There is a betting final, conducted in the same way as the previous rounds, and then the showdown.

During each round of betting, it is common for some players to fold their hand, either because the bet is too much for the strength of the hand they have, or because they fail to get enough cards to make a strong hand. At showdown, any player left in the hand would turn over their hole cards to reveal his hand. The best 5 card poker hand wins the pot (which would be a collection of blinds and all bets).

Key Additional Points

– If all players fold, leaving one player in the hand, the hand ends there and the remaining player wins the hand.

– If a player is all-in (that is, they have bet all their available chips, they can only win the same amount that each player has bet in the hand). If players who had more than the all-in player continued to bet, a side pot would form.

– If two players have the same hand in the showdown, the winner is determined by the best kicker. For example, if Player 1 has the hand AA-2-3-4 and Player 2 has AA-2-3-8, both players would have a pair of Aces but Player 2 would have the next highest card, the 8. (compared to player 1 next highest is a 4). Ace is the highest possible kicker.