A Basic Look At The Rules Of Poker

When you say "poker" it is most often assumed that you mean texas hold'em these days, since that's the most popular form of the game. There are others though, such as seven card stud, five card draw, Omaha, and razz. Whether you're playing hold'em or a variation, they all follow a similar set of fundamental rules though… particularly with their hand rankings.

When playing poker, the object is to achieve the best possible hand out of the cards you have available to you. If you don't have a hand, your high card is used. Poker hand rankings start with pairs (two cards with the same number), then go to two pairs, then three of a kind. After that, a straight is the next best hand - where you have five cards that follow each other in order (example: 8, 9, 10, J, Q).

A flush is the next step up from a straight. A flush is five cards of the same suit, regardless of their order (example: 3, 5, 9, Q, A of Hearts). Beyond the flush is the full house, where you have three of a kind and a pair (example: 5 5 5 Q Q). Four of a kind will beat a full house, however.

Next up is the straight flush - exactly as it sounds, it's a straight where all the cards are of the same suit (example: 9 10 J Q K of Spades). There's only one thing that can beat a straight flush, and it's a rare hand called the royal flush. The royal flush is a straight flush starting at 10 (example: 10 J Q K A of Clubs). Some poker players can play their whole life and never see a royal flush.

Beyond the hands, you need to be aware of the betting structure of a game. Betting can be broken down into four distinct categories: Structured limit betting, spread limit betting, pot limit betting, and no limit betting, with the later two being the most common. In pot limit betting, you can only bet up to a maximum amount in a hand (preventing the pot from reaching astronomical proportions). This is good for friendly games where you don't want to stretch your pocket book, or your friend's pocketbook, too far.

No limit is typically preferred by avid poker players, since it allows you to bet up to the limit of your chip stack. With no limit betting, the betting itself becomes an integral part of the game, and there have been books written on the subject.

They say it takes five minutes to learn how to play poker, but a lifetime to master it. You may want to look into a poker school or poker coaching for help or inspiration, or just grab a good poker book. Ultimately, the best way to learn is to play - to take your knocks and learn by example. You'll be stealing those pots before you know it.