POKER RULES FOR BEGINNERS, OFFICIAL POKER RULES AND TEXAS HOLDEM RULES

Although poker is known for its many variations, the basic premise of the game involves players assembling hands of five cards (according to the differing rules of each variation) and playing these hands against each other. In the differing variations of poker the precise ways that players are dealt cards, but also how they are permitted to create hands, the relative strength of high or low hands, how many rounds are to be played and what they are allowed to wager are different. Of course generally speaking, the player who produces the hand of the highest rank wins that particular round, or deal. The strength of a hand is predicated on three variables: the value of the cards being played, whether they are in consecutive order or not, and whether they are of the same suit or not.

The worth or any particular hand is determined by how many possible ways there are to make that hand, in other words how slim the odds are of being dealt the cards necessary to create one in any given deal. In a fifty-two card poker deck there are in fact 311,875,200 possible ways of drawing five cards, with 2,598,960 possible hands. Cards are ranked in descending order of value as follows: A, K,Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 but aces may also appear in low position (i,e A,2, 3, 4, 5) when part of a straight or a straight flush (see our article 'Poker Hands Explained' for information on the different hands possible in poker and their comparative values). In poker value is not assigned to any specific suit, but having more than one card of the same suit in a hand strengthens that hand. Hands are first compared by their rank, (for example the lowest value full house will always beat the strongest possible flush) and then after that by the value of individual cards.

A game of poker usually begins with some kind of arbitrary bet, with play then moving to the left of the dealer. Each subsequent player must either match the bet of the previous player, or fold if he feels he has a weak hand, a player may raise the bet on his turn if he feels he has reasonably good odds of winning the hand, thus forcing the hands of the other players who proceed to play after him. Each player takes their turn either matching, folding or raising and the round ends when each player at the table has done this. In the case that all players except one have decided to fold, the remaining player wins the hand and everything that is in the pot without needing to show his hand. If, on the other hand, two or more players remain, then their hands must be revealed in order to determine who has won.

This is where the skill aspect of poker lies. Even though random chance is responsible for determining which player ends up with which cards, it is each individual player's choice whether to participate in any given round and wager money or not. As a result the outcome of any given game is primarily determined by individual player skill, how adept they are at bluffing when they have a less than ideal hand and how able they are at entering the psychology of their competitors and being able to read their reactions.