Playing Poker is Easy
Learning how to play poker is much like learning how to ride a bike in that once you've learned how to do it, you'll never forget it. Here are the basics of the game.
Poker uses the standard 52-card deck of playing cards. Four players make up a game, but it can be played by as many as ten players, too. Any of these players may be designated as the dealer. Cards are then dealt out to the dealer's left. The pot is also prepared to hold all bets.
All poker players need to know the poker hands and their rankings. If these are not yet memorized, have a list ready and post it beside the poker table. The rankings, from highest to lowest, are as follows:
1. straight flush, made up of five consecutively ranked single suit cards (the Ace is either high or low);
2. four of a kind, made up of four single rank cards and one more card;
3. full house, made up of three single rank cards and another two single rank cards;
4. flush, made up of any five single suit cards;
5. straight, made up of five consecutively ranked cards of unmatched suits;
6. three of a kind, made up of three single rank cards and two add-on cards;
7. two pair, made up of two sets of two single rank cards and one more card;
8. one pair, made up of two single rank cards and three more cards; and
9. high card or the card with the most value in an unranked hand.
For the same hand categories, rank is measured by the highest card in the dominant combination.
Bets are placed by poker players depending on their hand. Players attempt to bluff each other to make it seem like they hold the highest hand in the game, in the hope that their opponents are intimidated into folding.
In the course of a round, each of the players have a turn in which to call, raise or fold. To call a bet means to make an equivalent bet. To raise the stakes means to make a higher bet. To fold means to quit the game, leaving all previous bets in the pot.
By the end of the round, remaining players have a show of hands to determine the winner. If a sole player remains and all others had folded, that player wins the pot.
These are the basics to learn in poker. It's as easy as learning how to ride a bike. Like learning how to ride a bike, learning poker also requires you to keep on practicing. With the bike, you need to keep your muscles trained. In poker, you need to keep your mind trained and ready for greater challenges.