Poker

ABOUT POKER

Poker is a game commonly played in casinos and the object of the game is to win the pot. The pot is the collection of money that’s bet by players during a hand. There are two basic ways to win at poker – the first is to have the best scoring hand, and the second is to pretend that you have the best scoring hand and bluff other players into believing that you do so that they fold.

Probably the most important thing to know in any poker tounament is which order of rank the different hands go in. After all, the stronger your hand, the better chance you have of winning the pot. The higher ranking the hand however, the lower the probability of it turning up. A Royal Flush is the highest ranking hand to have, this is the Ace, King Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit. The next in line is the Straight Flush, this is any 5 cards of the same suit in ascending order – this can be anything from King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9 down to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Four of a kind comes next which is simply 4 cards of the same value, so 4 kings, or 4 2’s. This is followed by a full house which is 3 of one value and 2 of another, then comes a Flush which is where all the cards in your hand are of the same suit but don’t go in any order, and then a Straight where you have 5 cards in ascending order, but made up of different suits. On we go down through the ranks with Three of a kind, Two pairs, one pair and then highest card. Obviously within this if two players both have say Three of a kind, then the player with the highest Three of a kind will beat.

There are various different forms of poker each of which has their own special rules, but no matter which variety you play the above order of hand ranking still applies. To begin playing poker, the dealer will deal the cards round to all the player and require them to put up their Blinds or Antes – this is an initial bet before any cards are dealt, this is so that there will always be money to win in the pot, and it’s sometimes called buying in. The amount that is required to Ante in will vary. Once the bet has gone round the table players can then opt to swap some of their cards if they choose – this rule varies depending on what variation of poker you are playing. No one in the game sees the cards that are discarded or drawn except the player who is choosing to change cards. Betting now begins again and continues until the bet goes round the table without being raised again. At this point cards are turned over to see who has won the hand. Of course if you have a hand that is low and have been bluffing you will be hoping that everyone else will choose to fold before the game reaches the point where people need to turn over their cards. In this way you can win without having a strong hand.

ABOUT POKER