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The Rules of Poker
Poker is one of the famous card games. It’s a game of chance. But you will need also a bit of skill and some psychological knowledge.
Basics
To play poker you will need a standard pack of 52 cards (in some types of poker it is used multiple packs or additional cards called jokers). All cards are ranked from high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. Ace can be high or low, but is usually high. No one of four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) is higher than another.
All poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.
Some variants of poker have Wild Cards. Wild Card is a card which can take on whatever suit and rank their possessor desires. It may be jokers or other card which were specified to be wild (deuces, one-eyed jacks, or whatever).
Ranking of hands (from high to low):
- Five of a Kind
- Straight Flush
- Four of a Kind
- Full House
- Flush
- Straight
- Three of a Kind
- Two Pair
- Pair
- High Card
Descriptions of Hand Ranks
Five of a Kind (possible only in variants of poker with wild card)
A five of a kind is the highest possible hand. If more than one hand has five of a kind, the higher card wins (Five Aces beats five kings, which beat five queens, and etc).
Straight Flush
A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such as 6-7-8-9-10) that are all of the same suit. As in a regular straight, you can have an ace either high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A). But, a straight couldn’t be “wrap around”: such as K-A-2-3-4, which is not a straight. An Ace high straight-flush is called a Royal Flush and is the highest natural hand.
Four of a Kind
Four of a kind is four cards of the same rank. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the higher-rank four of a kind wins.
(In games with wild cards, two players can have four of a kind of the same rank. In this case the one with the high card outside the four of the kind wins)
General Rule: When hands tie on the rank of a pair, three of a kind, etc, the cards outside break ties following the High Card rules.
Full House
A full house is a three of a kind and a pair, such as A-A-A-2-2. Ties are broken first by the three of a kind, then pair. So Q-Q-Q-2-2 beats J-J-J-A-A, which beats J-J-J-10-10.
Flush
A flush is a hand where all of the cards are the same suit, such as Q-10-7-K-3, all of hearts. When flushes ties, follow the rules for High Card.
Straight
A straight is 5 cards in order, such as 2-3-4-5-6. An ace may either be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-1). But, a straight couldn’t be “wrap around”: such as J-Q-K-A-2, which is not a straight. When straights tie, the highest straight wins. (K-Q-J-10-9 beats Q-J-10-9-8 down to 5-4-3-2-A). If two straights have the same value (10-9-8-7-6 vs 10-9-8-7-6) they split the pot.
Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same rank, together with two cards of different ranks. Again, highest three of a kind wins. If both are the same rank (possible with wild or community cards), then compare the High Cards.
Two Pair
This is two distinct pairs of card and a 5th card. The highest pair wins ties: Q-Q-2-2-A beats 10-10-5-5-K. If both hands have the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both hands have the same pairs, the high card wins.
Pair
Two cards of the same rank (a pair) plus three cards of different ranks. The higher pair wins; if two players have pairs of the same rank the highest of the other three cards are compared.
High Card
If nobody has a pair or better, then the highest card wins. If multiple people tie for the highest card, they look at the second highest, then the third highest etc. High card is also used to break ties when the high hands both have the same type of hand (pair, flush, straight and so on).
Betting
Poker is a gambling game with bets. In most variants of poker, you must “ante” something, just to get dealt cards. After that players bet into the pot in the middle. At the end of the hand, the highest hand wins the pot. Betting is typically done in clockwise order. When betting gets around to you, you have one of three choices:
Call
When you call, you bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (for instance, if you bet a dime last time, and someone else bet a quarter, you would owe fifteen cents).
Raise
When you raise, you first bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (as in calling), then you “raise” the bet another amount. Continuing the above example, if you had bet 10 cents, the other person raised you 15 cents (up to a quarter), you might raise a quarter (up to 50 cents). Since you owed the pot 15 cents for calling and 25 for your raise, you would put 40 cents into the pot.
Fold
When you fold, you drop out of the current hand (losing any possibility of winning the pot), but you don’t have to put any money into the pot.
Betting continues until everyone calls or folds after a raise or initial bet.
Bugs: Jokers that can represent any card if it helps accomplish a straight or a flush, but represent only aces (of any suit) if it goes towards some other kind of hand.