what is poker... ABC's

Hello kiddies !

Poker is a game that's sometimes thought of as the national card game of the US, although it's in fact a game played all around the world pretty much anywhere that card games are played. Many people Play Poker at home with friends, in casinos, and online.

The object of Poker is to win money put into a central pot by the players as they lay bets. There are two basic ways to win at poker. The first and most obvious is to have the best hand, and the second is to bet with a worse hand and get your opponents to fold.

This is the skill part, play worse hands and win or get opponents to pay you off with worse hands.

There are various different forms of poker each of which has it’s own rules, however most poker variations share the same scoring system for which hand is best. In order, these are: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pairs, One Pair, and Highest Card Ace down to Deuce. Remembering the order in which these score is somewhat important as betting your hand if you don’t know where you stand is not good.

Depending on the poker variant that you're playing, the dealer will deal the cards each round and require players to put in their antes, blinds or bets. These are two different forms of placing an initial bet amount into the pot so that there is something to win. If an Ante is used it is sometimes called buying into the game. The amount required in a Blind or Ante will vary according to the stakes being played for.

Rounds of betting are alternated with the dealer dealing more cards to the players or the community board depending again on the variant being played. Betting will go on until the river (last card) is dealt and a final betting round will then begin. Once the bet runs round the table without any raises being made, the players remaining in the game will showdown their cards and the player with the best hand will win the pot. If all players fold before the game reaches this conclusion then the remaining player wins the pot regardless of the cards they hold.

This is the beauty of poker. The best hand doesn't always win.

When playing poker in a casino or card room, it is common for the house to take a rake from the pot. This is a small amount of money – usually 5-10% - which is effectively paid to the house to pay for things like the dealer and building maintenance, etc.

The most common variants of poker played online and off are Pot Limit Omaha, Texas Hold’em (also known just as hold’em or 5 card stud), draw poker and seven card stud poker.

There are of course many other variations out there and occasionally you may come across them, but if you know the main variants then you should be able to pick up the rules of any others you come across quite quickly.

Poker is a game which requires much discipline, some skill and a bit of luck.