Poker is a card game where players bet chips to try to win the pot. The game can be played with any number of players from two to fourteen, although most variants play best with six or seven players.
The game is usually played with a standard pack of cards (or with multiple packs), each containing 52 cards, ranked from high to low. The standard ranking includes Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. Some games use jokers or other wild cards to make hands.
Hand ranks
A hand’s rank is determined by its odds, and the higher it is, the more likely it is to win. In standard poker, the highest possible hand is five of a kind, which beats any straight or flush.
When a hand is made up of three matching cards and one other card, it is called a full house. A flush is any five cards from the same suit, and a straight is any five cards of consecutive rank from more than one suit.
Ties are broken by the highest unmatched card or by a secondary pair. Ties are also broken when the highest hand is made up of two pairs.
If a pair of aces is tied for the highest, it is not considered a pair, but a single high card. The highest unmatched card breaks ties in the same manner as a pair; if the ace is not included, then a second pair wins.
The rules of poker vary from one variant to another, but the overall idea is to have the highest-ranking hand. Some variants use different cards, and others have special rules about how the best hands are determined.
Each player is dealt a hole card, and then one or more rounds of betting may be played. At the end of each round, all the bets are gathered into a central pot.
In most forms of poker, a player may place an ante before each deal. Alternatively, each player can place an amount of money into the pot before being dealt a hand; this is called a blind bet. In some forms, a player may only place a small amount of money into the pot before being dealt the hand; this is called a small blind bet.
A player’s first bet must be at least as large as the minimum established in each betting interval; he may raise after the ante, and may check if the pot is too big to be worth his risk.
After a round of betting, the dealer deals the cards to each player clockwise from the left. In some games, the dealer may also be required to shuffle the deck after each hand. The dealer’s button is typically rotated among the players to indicate who holds the nominal dealer’s position.
In many poker variants, the right to deal a hand rotates among the players; in casinos this is usually marked by a dealer button or buck, which is turned clockwise after each hand. This allows players to decide who is the nominal dealer, and it also helps the player who held the button be aware of the order in which he must act.