Basic Poker Rules
Poker, at its very essence, is a simple game. Its countless versions can be
quite complex, however, which is why we're going to focus on 5-Card Draw (a.k.a.
"regular" poker), the easiest one for beginners to learn.
Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards (except for Ross Perot
Poker, which is played with less than a full deck). The cards are ranked from
high to low in the following order: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3, 2. Aces are ALWAYS high. Aces are worth more than Kings which are worth
more than Queens which are worth more than Jack, and so on. The cards are also
separated into four suits. The suits are:
| Clubs: |
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| Spades: |
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| Hearts: |
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| Diamonds: |
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The object of the game is to end up with the highest-valued hand. From best
to worst, hands are ranked in the following order:
Now that you know what it takes to win, we can focus on how the game itself
is played. Before the game begins, the players should collectively decide on
a betting limit or if you are playing on-line
you will want to choose a betting limit which you are comfrtable with. Here
are the basic rules, step by step:
First, each player places an ante or "token bet" into the pot before
the cards are even dealt. The ante can be anything from a nickel to thousands
of dollars. You need an ante because it guarantees that someone will always
win something on each hand.
Once everyone has paid his or her ante, the dealer deals the cards face down
around the table, starting at the player to his left and continuing clockwise.
The dealer (if he's playing) always deals to himself last. The dealer deals
everyone their first card, then goes back around the circle to deal the second,
and so on. As soon as everyone has five cards, the remainder of the deck is
placed in the middle of the table, and play begins.
Each player looks at his or her cards, and then the first player places a
bet. While there are several ways of deciding who bets first, poker novices
are best off letting the player directly to the left of the dealer make the
first bet. Then on the next hand, the person to his left will bet first, and
so on around the table for each new hand.
Players have several options as far as the first round of betting goes. If
no one has made a bet yet, you have two choices:
Open: If no betting has begun when your turn comes, you may
"open" the pot . This simply means that you make the first bet (any
amount up to the betting limit).
Check: The opportunity to "check" only occurs if
no one has yet opened the betting when it comes time for you to decide what
to do. When a player checks, it means that he or she doesn't want to open the
betting, but doesn't want to quit either. It basically means "I'm not going
to open the betting, but I'll stick around and see what happens."
Now let's say that someone opens the betting (at some point, it will occur).
You now have three choices:
See: When you "see" another player, it means that
you match their bet. So if someone bets $1 and you want to stay in the game,
you have to "see" their $1 by putting $1 of your own into the pot.
Raise: When you "raise," it requires you to first
"see" the previous bet, and then increase the bet. For example, if
the previous person bet a nickel and you want to bet more than that, you would
say "I see (match) your nickel, and raise you (increase the bet) another
nickel."
Fold: When someone else opens, you can always jump ship and
cut your losses. In other words, you "fold." The act of folding is
to "give up," place your cards face down on the table, lose whatever
you've bet so far, and grab a beer. In other words, you give up early and lose
your dough. This option is used when you think your hand is too weak to compete.
At this point, all the players who haven't folded are allowed to get rid of
the cards they don't want and take some new cards. A player is permitted to
get rid of up to 3 unwanted cards and receive up to 3 new ones from the deck
(as long as the player always has 5 cards total). No one sees what anyone elses
discarded (threw away) or drew (got as a new card). It's all done face down.
After every player draws 0 to 3 new cards, the betting begins again. You have
the option of opening or checking, and once
someone opens, you can see, raise, or fold.
The game ends when there are no more raises (everyone saw everyone else's bet),
or everybody folds (except for the winner, of course).
Now it's time for everyone to turn their cards over and see how they fared.
The player with the highest hand wins the pot. Some people in this position
have been known to laugh maniacally as they scoop up everyone else's dough.
If you do that, you're friends will hate you. Thus, we highly recommend it.
They'll get over it.
The only way to stay in the game is to not fold. If you have a bad hand and
want out quick, then you'd seriously consider folding. If you have what you
think could be a good hand (if you could take a few new cards and get good ones),
then you would seriously consider staying in. If you have an outstanding hand,
then you'll definitely want to stay in. BUT you don't want everyone to know
you have a great hand, or else they'll all fold, letting you win the tiny ante
pot. The trick is to make everyone else bet more, and win even more money.
Once you've mastered 5-Card Draw, consider trying your hand at one of the other
countless poker games that are out there. Here are a few of the more popular
poker offshoots to get you started:
Please check Roberts Rules Of Poker
for a more complete discussion of the rules and for any irregularities from
the above.
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