Poker Rules

If you’re new to playing poker, you should start by learning the basic poker rules. There are many different poker games, but there are some basic rules that apply to nearly all of them. Here are some rules designed to teach poker for beginners.

Poker is generally played with a standard pack of 52 cards, though there are a few games that use more than one pack or include jokers. The 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). There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, no suit is ranked higher or more powerful than another. All poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.

Some games have wild cards. When something is a wild card, you can make it any suit or rank you like. You may have heard the term 5 card stud – jacks are wild. This means that the game being played is 5 card stud, and any jack you are dealt can be used to be any card you wish. Jokers are often used as wild cards.

It’s critical that you understand the poker rules for betting. In most games, you must 'ante' something – this is the amount to get in the round. It’s typically a flat amount that you put in for every round. This money goes to the pot in the middle of the table. You’ll go around continuing to bet, adding money to the pot, or fold until you’re down to two players. Then you’ll have the final showdown. At the end of the hand, the highest hand, that hasn't folded, wins the pot. Betting is usually done in clockwise order. When it’s your turn to bet, here are your 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 dollar last time and someone else bet a $1.25, you would owe twenty five cents).

Raise
When you raise, you match the last bet (you call) plus you raise the bet by a certain amount. Some games will have a limit to how much you can raise at once. Following the example above, if you had bet a dollar, the other person raised you a quarter, then you raise by another quarter. Thus you owe the pot 50 cents.

Fold
When you fold, you drop out of the current hand. You do this because you believe you don’t have a good possibility of winning. You don’t have to add any more money, but you also don’t have any chance of winning. The betting will continue until every one has folded, called or raised the bet. When you’re down to two players who have all called, you have your showdown.