Poker is played from a standard deck of 52 cards. Some variant games use multiple decks or add Jokers or Wild Cards.
The cards are ranked in descending order starting from the highest; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. Ace can be high or low. There are four suits; spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, but no suit is higher than another.
Each player is dealt five cards and is called a hand. The hand highest in ranks wins. In some games there are Wild Cards or Jokers, which can be labelled whatever suit and rank the possessor wishes to.
The Ranking of Poker Hands
High Card (Ace-high) |
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Pair (Pair of 10's, Ace kicker. This hand would beat another pair of 10's with any lower kicker)
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Two Pair ('Aces up' Rank is determined by the top pair. For example, "Aces over 8's" beats "kings over queens")
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Three Of A Kind ('Trips') |
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Straight |
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Flush |
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Full House ('Boat'; '8's full.' Rank is determined by the tripled card. "8's full of 4's" beats "7's full of Aces")
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Four Of A Kind ('Quads') |
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Straight Flush (An Ace-high Straight Flush is called a Royal Flush) |
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If you're new to poker, memorize this list. Print it out and keep it next to you while you play, if necessary.
In some forms of poker, players compete for the best Low Hand, ranked by the value of the highest card.
"The wheel"- the best possible low hand. The straight does not count against the low, nor would a flush if the cards were suited
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The second best possible low hand
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The third best possible low hand
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Ready for drama, strategy, and non-stop action? Try a High-Low Split game. The pot is split evenly between the best High-hand, and the best qualifying Low-hand. To qualify, no card from the low hand may be above an 8.
The worst possible qualifying low
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The second worst possible qualifying low
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If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins the entire pot.
The fine points of Hand Rankings
All five cards determine the ranking of a hand
Ace high beats Queen high
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AQ high beats AT high
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AQT86 beats AQT84. |
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Similarly, QQAT5 beats QQAT2 |
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An AJ-high flush beats an AT-high flush |
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Depending on the game you're playing, you may have five, seven, or even nine cards available to you at the showdown, but only the best five-card hand counts. You don't see three-pair on this list because it requires six cards. Your two-pair JJ99K beats JJ99Q because your king kicker beats a queen kicker. But your JJ99KQ5 only ties JJ99K32 because only five cards count-both hands are two-pair (jacks and 9's) with a king kicker.
Suits are never used to break ties.
Aces can create high or low straights, but cannot go "around the corner." A2345 is the lowest possible straight and is beaten by 23456. AKQJT is the highest possible straight. There is no such thing as a "wrap-around" straight, such as 32AKQ.
Note on Wild Cards
How the wild card can be used depends on the game you are playing and the rules. A wild card can be defined as a joker or standard card that, by player agreement and/or dealer's choice, can be used to represent any card desired.
When a joker is in play, it usually can only be used as an Ace or to complete a straight or flush . It cannot be used as a true wild card, for example, as a king to make KK75X play as three kings. When playing for low, the joker becomes the lowest rank not already held, so 864AX is played as 8642A, with the joker used as a deuce.
Wild cards add an additional hand, five of a kind , which normally ranks above a straight flush . They can also cause confusion when two players hold the same hand composed of different wild card combinations. The standard rules of poker do not distinguish between such hands, but some players prefer to rank hands using fewer wild cards above less 'natural' versions of the same hand.
Playing Poker
In most games players must 'ante' a nominal amount just to have the cards dealt. Once the cards are dealt , the betting starts . Players bet into the pot in the middle of the table and it is done in turn clockwise.
The player with the highest rank showing, is the first to speak and to bet. He can either bet or check . By saying 'Check', he passes the decision to bet to the next player who can also check. If all players check, then it is the end of the round. Everyone opens his cards and the highest hand wins.
Only after one player places a bet the real betting starts. Each player in turn can either ' Call ', ' Raise ' or ' Fold '. To fold is to pass or drop out of the round and not play. To call means willing to match the bet, and the same amount must be placed on the pot. To raise means to match the bet and add an extra bet.
Say you start with a $5 bet. If someone else raises $10, he puts $15 in the pot. When your turn comes again you need to add $10 difference to the pot to stay in the game, and if you want you can also raise or even say ' Pot '. Pot is a raise to the maximum, which means to bet the same amount as the total money available in the pot.
If there are no more raises and all the cards have been dealt, then it is the end of the round. Everyone opens his closed cards and the highest hand wins the pot.
Poker Basics: Betting Structures
Poker comes in three flavors: Fixed Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit (the kind you see most often on TV). We also cover High-Low Split in the next section.
Fixed Limit
In Fixed Limit Poker, all bet sizes are pre-determined. For example, all bets during the first two rounds of a $5/$10 Hold'em game are in increments of $5. Jim bets $5, and John can fold, call, or raise only to $10. The last two rounds are in increments of $10. Similarly, all bets in the first two rounds of a $2/$4 game of Seven Card Stud are in increments of (you guessed it) $2, while the final three rounds are at $4.
Seven-Card Stud has an interesting anomaly. If any player shows a pair on fourth street , for that round only, players have the option of betting either the lower or higher limit.
In limit games, the number of bets per round is capped at four. Pride bets $5, Envy raises to $10, Greed re-raises to $15, and Sloth caps the betting at $20. No further raising is possible within this round. GamesGrid offers Fixed Limit versions of all the games we carry. Games are listed by their betting limits: $1/$2, $2/4, etc. The minimum buy-in for most limit games is 10 times the lower limit.
Pot Limit
In Pot Limit Poker, players may bet any amount up to that which is currently in the pot. Say there is $20 in the pot after one round of betting. The player opening the second round may bet any amount up to $20. If he does bet $20, producing a pot of $40, the next player may call the present bet ($20), and then raise the amount of the current pot including the call ($60), for a total bet of $80.
Example: Suppose David does bet $80. What is the maximum possible bet that that Tom can take as the next player in line?
Tom is faced with a bet of $80, which he can call. Once he does, the total amount on the table will be $20 (in the center pot), plus $20 (in front of Pride), plus $80 (in front of Sloth), plus $80 (in front of Tom). That's a total of $200, which is also his maximum allowable raise. So he is allowed to call $80 and raise up to $200, for a total bet of $280. Pot Limit can get expensive quickly.
There is no cap on betting action in Pot Limit games. Raise and re-raise until someone is all-in.
No Limit
No Limit Poker is the easiest structure to describe (and probably the hardest to master). No limit is what you've seen on TV, it may be the reason you're here. Any player may bet all his chips at any time.
There is no cap on betting action in No Limit games. Raise and re-raise until someone is all-in.
Poker Strategy
Begin with Play Money (free chips)
Most people's strategy is to start out playing with the play money, while considering making the change over to the real money poker games. If you are one of those players, making the change to real money is not a hard task, but you must alter your style of play a bit if you expect to win or at least to not lose too quickly.
First of all, recognize the fact that being a winning poker player at the play money tables means practically nothing. Play money poker players don't usually play well because they are not playing for anything. People who play at the play money tables generally just want to see if their hand will win. There is little to no incentive for them to fold because they do not lose anything by calling. So. be careful.
If you are an online poker rookie, we recommend playing at the play money tables so you can get accustomed to the software and the rules, it also will make online poker more user-friendly for you, that way you will feel less anxious if you go and play at real money tables.
Online Money Management, Limit Selection, and Poker Fundamentals
Once you are used to the software and are ready to play for real money, you really just need to understand three concepts to have an enjoyable and even profitable online experience playing poker: online money management, limit selection, and poker fundamentals.
Learning to control your "online money" or e-cash is pretty simple online poker strategy. While in the past most people deposited with their credit cards and withdrew money via check, poker room school has much more expedient methods of depositing and withdrawing money from your account.
Once you comprehend how deposits/withdrawals work, you must then understand which games/limits to play. It's best to start with low limit Texas Hold'em Poker, as there are plenty of games and the games are generally easy.
Now you really just need to understand poker basics. These include starting poker hand selection, game selection, and pot odds.
Starting hands (Initial cards dealt)
This is a very good online poker strategy. Poor starting poker hands have very little chance of winning. More than likely, you will just end up being strung out for a lot of small bets if you hit a pair.
Over the course of time, you will lose a large amount of money with these poor poker hands. Based on this, it is very clear that the first thing you must understand when you play is which hands are good and which are bad.
These are some tips that will make your decision easier: you can raise if you get this hands: AA, KK, QQ , AK , JJ, AQ, 10-10. And you might see the flop and then decide with AJ, KQ, QJ, J10, 109 only if they are of same suit, 99, 88, 77, Ax (same suit), but do not call three bets with these, call only one or two.
Game selection
The second poker primary rule you should understand is game selection. You want to find a poker game where other people are making a lot of mistakes. Poker is a game of virtual skill, so look for a game where there is a lot of calling all the way to the river because chances are you are superior to these poker opponents.
Don't confuse game selection and limit selection. Game selection is the actual table at which you would play, while limit selection is the poker limit in which you would play (e.g. $1-2 limit Texas Hold'em Poker).
Pot Odds
Finally, pot odds are a very important model you should understand if you want to apply this strategy. Simply put, if you think you do not have the best poker hand but your hand may perk up to be the best poker hand, these are the odds you need to have in order to call. If the percentage chance of bringing up your poker hand is higher than the percentage bet you are placing in the pot, you should call. A tougher way to figure out the percentage chance your hand will improve is to multiply your number of "outs" (the cards that will develop your hand) by two.
Playing for money is what poker is all about. While playing for play money (free chips) can be enjoyable, it is generally not as satisfying as playing for real money because poker players are not playing as rigid when there is nothing at stake. If you understand e-cash, limit selection, and poker fundamentals, you should be in good form to start out at the real money poker tables. Apply this strategy and go for it.
Poker Dictionary
Poker players have a dictionary of their own. If you really want to play poker against other players, we suggest you download and review the poker dictionary provides courtesy of PartyPoker.com. Download the dictionary HERE |
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