Poker has many variations, all following a similar pattern of play and using the same hand ranking hierarchy. There are three main families of variants, largely grouped by the protocol of card-dealing and betting:

Straight – A complete hand is dealt to each player, and players bet in one round, with raising and re-raising allowed. This is the oldest poker family; the root of the game as currently played was a game known as Primero, which evolved into the game Three-card brag, a very popular gentleman’s game around the time of the American Revolutionary War and still enjoyed in the U.K. today. “Straight” hands of five cards are sometimes used as a final showdown, but poker is currently virtually always played in a more complex form to allow for additional strategy.

Stud – Cards are dealt in a prearranged combination of face-down and face-up rounds or “streets”, with a round of betting following each. This is the next-oldest family; as poker progressed from three to five-card hands, they were often dealt one card at a time, either face-down or face-up, with a betting round between each. The most popular stud variant today is 7 card stud, which deals two extra cards to each player (three facedown, four faceup) from which they must make the best possible 5-card hand.

Draw – A complete hand is dealt to each player, face-down, and after betting, players are allowed to attempt to change their hand by discarding unwanted cards and being dealt new ones. 5 card draw is the most famous variation in this family.

Community – A variation of Stud, players are dealt an incomplete hand of face-down cards, and then a number of face-up “community” cards are dealt to the center of the table, each of which can be used by one or more of the players to make a 5-card hand. Texas hold-em and Omaha are two well-known variants of the Community family.

Video poker – is a single-player computer game that functions much like a slot machine; most video poker machines play draw poker, where the player bets, a hand is dealt, and the player can discard and replace cards. Payout is dependent on the hand resulting after the draw and the player’s initial bet.

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Who says the house always has to win? Next time, you could win instead. Be the best – get Poker Shark hints right here.

Start off with an introduction to poker to help you understand how the game works and a little bit about its history.

Once you have got to grips with the background of poker you’ll probably want to learn the basic rules.  Find out about some of poker’s most important definitions and when to check, bet, raise, and fold. This introduction to poker’s larger concepts will give you an important foundation on which to build your game.

The next step is to check out the basic poker rules shared by all types of poker game.  Take the time to learn the basic rules of all the different poker games offered on the web.  If you want to be the best poker player around, you have to learn all the games

And if you want that little bit of extra help you can always use the poker calculator which will work out all the odds for you or the “Poker Shark” download to give you handy hints and tips while you play for that extra edge.

Here’s a complete list of our poker school classes.

An introduction to poker
The history of poker
Basic poker rules
Types of poker games
Poker calculator
“Poker Shark” download

So take time to have a look around and learn those extra skills to make you a true poker wizard.

Gameplay

In casino play the first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind, and subsequent rounds begin with the player to the dealer’s left. Home games typically use an ante; the first betting round begins with the player to the dealer’s left, and the second round begins with the player who opened the first round.

Play begins with each player being dealt five cards, one at a time, all face down. The remaining deck is placed aside, often protected by placing a chip or other marker on it. Players pick up the cards and hold them in their hands, being careful to keep them concealed from the other players, then a round of betting occurs.

If more than one player remains after the first round, the “draw” phase begins. Each player specifies how many of his cards he wishes to replace, and discards them. The deck is retrieved, and each player is dealt in turn from the deck the same number of cards he discarded so that each player again has five cards.

A second “after the draw” betting round occurs beginning with the player to the dealer’s left or else beginning with the player who opened the first round (the latter is common when antes are used instead of blinds). This is followed by a showdown if more than one player remains, in which the player with the best hand wins the pot.

Strategy

There are two basic “rules” to winning draw poker:

• The more players at the table, the greater the chance that one or more players has a good opening hand therefore the more players at the table, the lower the relative value of the lesser ranked hands.
• if you haven’t got a Pair or better, or four cards which you think may become a Flush or Straight then your chances of improving and beating the other players are too slim so fold immediately.

But of course poker wouldn’t be poker if that was all there was to it. Bluffing, intimidation, body language and all the rest of it come into the game.

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To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called “eight-or-better”, or simply “Omaha/8″). A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. Each player can play any two of his four hole cards to make his high hand, and any two of his four hole cards to make his low hand. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins (scoops) the whole pot.

Some specific things to notice about Omaha eight-or-better hands are:

In order for anyone to qualify low, there must be at least three cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board.

Low hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well, as do, even more rarely, full houses. It is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot (though this is extraordinarily rare). Winning a quarter of the pot is quite common, and is called “getting quartered.” One dangerous aspect of playing for the low pot is the concept of ‘counterfeiting’. To illustrate, if a player has, for example, 2-3 and two other cards in his hand and the flop is A-6-7, that player has flopped the ‘nut low’. However, if either a 2 or a 3 hit the board on the turn or the river, the hand is ‘counterfeited’ and the nut low hand is lost (the player still has a much weaker low hand however). This is why there is significant extra value in possessing the ‘protected’ nut low.

When four or five low cards appear on the board, it can become very difficult to read the low hands properly.

Starting hands with three or four cards of one rank are very bad. In fact, the worst possible hand in the game is 2? 2? 2? 2?! Since the only possible combination of two cards from this hand is 2-2, it is impossible to make low. As no deuce remains to appear on the board, it will be impossible to make three deuces or deuces full, and anyone with any matching card to the board will make a higher pair. Likewise, starting with four cards of one suit makes it less likely that you will be able to make a flush. Starting with four different suits yields no chance for a flush, and starting with four disconnected cards reduces straight possibilities. Computer analysis of the best starting hands has proven that the best starting hand for Omaha is A-A-K-K with both Ks suited to the As. For the Hi-Lo variation, the most valuable starting holding is A-2 (suited), A-3 (suited).

Hands to avoid tend to contain mainly middle ranked cards, which are of little use for any low splits and which tend to generate lower pairs and sets, weaker flushes and lower straights and can be very expensive.
Low hand ranks from best to worst: 5-4-3-2-A (’the wheel’), 6-4-3-2-A, 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, … , 8-7-6-5-4. Low hands can thus be read as numbers between 54,321 and 87,654(with the exception of any number that has two of the same number i.e. 54,322). The lowest number that any player can make is the best possible low hand in play.

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How to play

The game begins with each player being dealt two cards face down and one card face up. If played with a bring-in, the player with the lowest-ranking upcard pays the bring-in, and betting proceeds after that in normal clockwise order. The bring-in is considered an open, so the next player in turn may not check. If two players have equally ranked low cards, suit may be used to break the tie and assign the bring-in (see high card by suit). If there is no bring-in, then the first betting round begins with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check. In this case, suit should not be used to break ties. If two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

After the first betting round, another upcard is dealt to each player (after a burn card, and starting at the dealer’s left as will all subsequent rounds), followed by a second betting round beginning with the player whose upcards make the best poker hand. Since fewer than five cards are face up, this means no straights, flushes, or full houses will count for this purpose. On this and all subsequent betting rounds, the player whose face-up cards make the best poker hand will act first, and may check or bet up to the game’s limit.

The second round is followed by a third upcard and betting round, a fourth upcard and betting round, and finally a downcard, a fifth betting round, and showdown if necessary. Seven-card stud can be summarized therefore as “two down, four up, one down”. Upon showdown, each player makes the best five-card poker hand he can out of the seven cards he was dealt.

Note that seven cards to eight players plus four burn cards makes 60 cards, and there are only 52 in the deck. In most games this is not a problem because several players will have folded in early betting rounds. But there are certainly low-stakes home games where few if any players fold. If this is the case in your game, you may want to limit the game to seven players. If the deck does become exhausted during play, previously-dealt burn cards can be used when only a few cards are needed to complete the deal. If even those are not sufficient, then on the final round instead of dealing a downcard to each player, a single community card is dealt to the center of the table, and is shared by everyone (that is, each player treats it as his seventh card). Under no circumstances can any discarded card from a folded hand be “recycled” for later use. Unlike draw poker, where no cards are ever seen before showdown, stud poker players use the information they get from face-up cards to make strategic decisions, and so a player who sees a certain card folded is entitled to make decisions knowing that the card will never appear in another opponent’s hand.

Strategy

This variation of poker rewards careful observation and memorization of cards and player tendencies.  As te game progresses through its different stages the strategies change slightly.

The Ante, Deal, and Bring In

Most 7 card stud tables require an ante of every player before being dealt any cards.  After everyone has “ante’d up”, each player is dealt 3 cards, 2 face down and one face up.  This is called third street.  The face up card is called your doorcard.  Unlike Hold ‘em, there is no button, rather, the player with the lowest doorcard posts what is referred to as the bring in.  If two or more players have the same value card, the bring in is determined by suit value.  Suit values from lowest to highest are: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.  Players to the left of the bring in then have the option of folding, calling or raising the bring in bet.

4th Street – 6th Street

These betting rounds are almost identical.  Each round, each player gets another card face up.  Unlike 3rd street however, it is the high hand showing that determines where the betting action starts.  As you can probably guess, position does not play as important a role in 7 stud, simply because your position in order of action can change every round!  The only other difference of note is that the limits go up on 5th street.  If you are playing a $5-$10 table, 3rd and 4th street’s max raise is $5 per bet.  5th, 6th and 7th street, the limit goes to $10 per bet.  The later streets of 7 stud can be expensive indeed.

7th Street

Everyone is dealt their 7th and final card face down.  For the astute reader, this brings us to a total of 7 cards per person, 3 face down, 4 showing.  The cards showing are often referred to as a player’s porch.  As in the streets before, there is a betting round after the 7th card is dealt, with the beginning action determined by who has the highest ranked porch.

Showdown

If more than one player remains after betting on 7th street, a showdown occurs and the winner is determined by who has the best 5 card hand, formed from their 7 cards dealt.  Unfortunately, theres no such thing as “3 pair“.  Standard best 5 card hand rules apply.

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After slow but steady gains in popularity throughout the 20th century, hold ‘em’s popularity surged in the 2000s due to exposure on television, on the Internet and in popular literature. During this time hold ‘em replaced 7 card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos, almost totally eclipsing the once popular game. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour.

History

Although little is known about the invention of Texas hold ‘em, the Texas State Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas as the game’s birthplace, dating the game to the early 1900s.

After its invention and spread throughout Texas, hold ‘em was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim.  Addington said the first time he saw the game was in 1959. “They didn’t call it Texas hold ‘em at the time, they just called it hold ‘em… I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you only bet twice; hold ‘em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man’s game.”

For several years the Golden Nugget Casino in Downtown Las Vegas was the only casino in Las Vegas to offer the game. At that time, the Golden Nugget’s poker room was “truly a ’sawdust joint,’ with… oiled sawdust covering the floors.” Because of its location and decor, this poker room did not receive many rich drop-in clients, and as a result, professional players sought a more prominent location. In 1969, the Las Vegas professionals were invited to play Texas hold ‘em at the entrance of the now-demolished Dunes Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. This prominent location, and the relative inexperience of poker players with Texas hold ‘em, resulted in a very remunerative game for professional players.

Tom Moore added the first ever poker tournament to the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention held in 1969. This tournament featured several games including Texas hold ‘em. In 1970 Benny and Jack Binion acquired the rights to this convention, renamed it the World Series of Poker, and moved it to their casino Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. After its first year, a journalist, Tom Thackrey, suggested that the main event of this tournament should be no-limit Texas hold ‘em. The Binions agreed and ever since no-limit Texas hold ‘em has been played as the main event.   Interest in the Main Event continued to grow steadily over the next two decades. After receiving only 8 entrants in 1972, the numbers grew to over 100 entrants in 1982, and over 200 in 1991.

During this time, Doyle Brunson’s revolutionary poker strategy guide, Super/System was first published.  Despite being self-published and priced at $100 in 1978, the book revolutionized the way poker was played. It was one of the first books to discuss Texas hold ‘em, and is today cited as one of the most important books on this game.  A few years later, Al Alvarez published a book detailing an early World Series of Poker event.  The first book of its kind, it described the world of professional poker players and the World Series of Poker. It is credited with beginning the genre of poker literature and with bringing Texas hold ‘em (and poker generally), for the first time, to a wider audience.

Interest in hold ‘em outside of Nevada began to grow in the 1980s as well. Although California had legal card rooms offering draw poker, Texas hold ‘em was prohibited under a statute which made illegal the now unknown game “stud-horse”. However in 1988, Texas hold ‘em was declared legally distinct from “stud-horse”.  Almost immediately card rooms across the state offered Texas hold ‘em.   After a trip to Las Vegas, bookmakers Terry Rogers and Liam Flood introduced the game to European card players in the early 1980s

Betting

Hold ‘em is normally played using small and big blind bets – forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. (In some cases, the small blind is some other fraction of a small bet, e.g. $10 is a common small blind when the big blind is $15. The double-blind structure described above is a commonly used and more recent adoption.)

When only two players remain, special ‘head-to-head’ or ‘heads up’ rules are enforced and the blinds are posted differently. In this case, the person with the dealer button posts the small blind, while his/her opponent places the big blind. The dealer acts first before the flop. After the flop, the dealer acts last for the remainder of the hand.

The three most common variations of hold ‘em are limit hold ‘em, no-limit hold ‘em and pot-limit hold ‘em. Limit hold ‘em has historically been the most popular form of hold ‘em found in casino live action games in the United States. In limit hold ‘em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet. No-limit hold ‘em is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and is the game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker. In no-limit hold ‘em, players may bet or raise any amount over the minimum raise up to all of the chips the player has at the table (called an all-in bet). The minimum raise is equal to the big blind. If someone wishes to re-raise, they must raise at least the amount of the previous raise. For example, if the big blind is $2 and there is a bet of $6 to a total of $8, a raise must be at least $6 more for a total of $14. If a raise or re-raise is all-in and does not equal the size of the previous raise, the initial raiser can not re-raise again. This only matters of course if there was a call before the re-raise. In pot-limit hold ‘em, the maximum raise is the current size of the pot (including the amount needed to call).

Most casinos that offer hold ‘em also allow the player to the left of the big blind to post an optional live straddle, usually double the amount of the big blind, which then acts as the big blind. No-limit games may also allow multiple re-straddles, in any amount that would be a legal raise.

How to play

Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down, with the player in the small blind receiving the first card and the player in the button seat receiving the last card dealt. (Like most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck, no jokers.) These cards are the player’s hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown, making Texas hold ‘em a closed poker game.

The hand begins with a “pre-flop” betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has either folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. See betting for a detailed account. Note that the blinds are considered “live” in the pre-flop betting round, meaning that they contribute to the amount that the blind player must contribute, and that, if all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer’s left and continue clockwise.

After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

In all casinos, the dealer will burn a card before the flop, turn, and river. Because of this burn, players who are betting cannot see the back of the next community card to come, which might be marked.

The Showdown

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best five-card poker hand he can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player’s best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers are used to settle ties (see the second example below). Note that the card’s numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in Hold’em.

Strategy

Because each player starts with only two cards and the remaining cards are shared, it is an excellent game for strategic analysis (including mathematical analysis). Hold ‘em’s simplicity and popularity have inspired a wide variety of strategy books which provide recommendations for proper play. Most of these books recommend a strategy that involves playing relatively few hands but betting and raising often with the hands one plays.

Most poker authors recommend a tight-aggressive approach to playing Texas hold ‘em. This strategy involves playing relatively few hands (tight), but betting and raising often with those that one does play (aggressive). Although this strategy is often recommended, some professional players successfully employ other strategies as well.

Almost all authors agree that where a player sits in the order of play (known as position) is an important element of Texas hold ‘em strategy, particularly in no-limit hold’em.  Players who act later have more information than players who act earlier. As a result, players typically play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.

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The cards

Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. In home games, there may be Jokers added, as “wild” cards designated to take on any suit and rank you like during the game, but these are generally not used in online poker games. Also in home games, other regular cards may be designated wild for that game, and the player holding that card may call it any rank or suit he decides, to better his hand. Poker rules, you can see, can vary tremendously with every game and every group of people playing! The cards come in four different suits — Clubs, Spades, Diamonds, Hearts — and no suit is ranked higher than any other. The cards from highest rank to lowest, are: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The Ace may also be considered the lowest card in the deck, when used in a hand that way.

Play

Poker play consists of players betting in successive rounds into a common pot, and discarding & replacing some of their cards to improve their hands. Probably the best-known home game is 5-card draw, in which each player is dealt 5 cards face-down. (Only he may see his hand.) Most online poker games also use a hand of 5 cards, but in the most popular game variations, they might not all be dealt to the individual player; sometimes there are community or shared cards dealt face-up in the center of the table and all players may use them to make up their hands. The games Texas Hold’em and Omaha use community cards.

The poker game begins with a bet from the person immediately to the left of the dealer, and betting continues clockwise around the table. The first person’s bet is called the Blind Bet since he’s doing it before even seeing his cards. He may say “Check,” which is betting zero, and essentially passes the action to the next person. That person may also say Check if he wishes, and so may the next until there is actually a bet on the table.

On the second round of betting, each player may choose to discard up to 3 cards, and the dealer then gives him that many new cards.

Poker rules say once there’s been a bet made, the next person must Call, Raise, or Fold.

• To Call means you’re meeting that previous bet, so you place an equal amount of money in the pot. And you get to stay in the hand.
• To Raise means you are meeting that previous bet and bettering it. First you place an amount of money equal to the previous bet, then you add in the amount you’re raising it by. In friendly games, this may be equal to the original bet. So if the bet was a dollar, you’d put in $2.And you — of course — get to stay in the game.
• To Fold means you’re dropping out because you don’t think your hand can win. If you already placed an ante in the pot earlier, you lose that money. You’re out of the hand, and the others go on.

Sometimes, especially in home poker rules, there is a set number of betting rounds. Otherwise, play generally goes on until players stop challenging each other by Raising the bet. Once bets are equal and not going any higher, players reveal their hands. Highest hand wins.

Hands

The consistent thing in poker rules is the value of the different hands. Here are the ranks of the different possible hands, starting with the highest.

Five of a Kind: This, obviously, is only possible when it’s a game involving wild cards, and a wild card has been used to represent another of what the player had four of. Not a hand you’ll see talked about much in online poker rules.

Royal Flush: This hand is a Straight (five cards in succession, like 2-3-4-5-6) AND a Flush (all cards of the same suit) which has an Ace high, meaning its highest card is the Ace, and includes King, Queen, Jack, 10. It is the highest Straight Flush possible.

Straight Flush: Five cards in order, all of the same suit. There is one kind not permitted; and that is using the Ace in the middle of a straight. An Ace must either be the high or low card of a Straight; not, for instance, Q-K-A-2-3. This is called an “around-the-corner” or “wraparound” Straight and is not allowed.

Four of a Kind: A hand including Four cards of the same rank, like four Jacks. If two players in a game each had Four of a Kind, the higher four wins. That is, if one had four Jacks and one had four Sixes, the Jacks win.

Full House: A hand consisting of a pair and three of a kind. If two players had Full Houses, the player who had the higher three of a kind wins. That is, if one has J-J-J-3-3 and one has 2-2-K-K-K, the one with the 3 Kings wins.

Flush: A poker hand in which all cards are of the same suit, either all Diamonds, all Hearts, etc. If two players had Flushes, the one with the highest card in his hand wins.

Straight: A hand of five cards that may be of different suits but running in ranking order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. You may use the Ace as a low card and begin a Straight with it, but a gain, no “wraparound” Straights permitted, as explained in rule 3.

Three of a Kind: A hand including Three cards of the same rank, as in K-K-K-4-7. If a second player has Three of a Kind, the higher ranking set of three cards wins.

Two Pair: A hand including two cards of the same rank, and two cards of another rank, such as 6-6-2-10-10. If another player had Two Pair, the one with the highest ranking pair wins.

Pair: A hand including two cards of the same rank, as in 8-8-K-2-Q. If a pair is the best hand, and more than one player has a pair, the highest rank pair wins; if two players have the same pair, such as 3-3-K-7-4, and 3-3-8-A-6, the one with the highest other card besides the pair wins. In this example, the one with the Ace in his hand wins.

High Card: When no one has a pair or any other better hand, the one with the highest card wins. If more than one has that high card, then the second highest wins. Or third highest, if more than one player has the same two highest cards.

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