Poker: Basic Rules and Introduction
In the past few decades, poker has gone from being a game known to gambling enthusiasts and hobbyists to the most famous card game in the world. The popularity of online poker has catapulted the game into the public sphere, and more people than ever are curious about learning to play, whether to have some fun with friends or as a serious career option.
Here, we'll talk you through the rules of poker, which will allow you to sit down at a table and start playing. However, remember that great poker is also a matter of experience: it is easy to learn basic poker rules, but to develop considerable skill in it may take years – that is after all part of the fun of it!
A Brief History of Poker
Before we learn the rules of poker, let's have a look at the game's history. Unlike many other casino games, which originated in Europe, poker is an American game. Although its early origins have been attributed to older French, Persian, and English games, poker as we know it – with current poker rules – was developed during the 18th and 19th centuries in the Mississippi River region of the U.S. It is believed to have been carried from the casinos of New Orleans to the surrounding areas through casino riverboats.
The rules of poker continued to develop and change throughout the 19th century, but it wasn't until the 1970's, with the popularisation of poker tournaments, that the game started to gain mainstream appeal. It continued to grow in popularity during the next few decades, becoming a staple of casino gambling and popular culture, but experienced a huge boom in the 21st century with the advent of online casinos and video poker.
Different Types of Poker
Before you learn the rules of poker, it is important to understand that thinking of 'poker' as one game is misleading. There are a few iterations of the game, each with their own poker rules. Essentially, there are three main types of poker:
- Draw Poker – Players are dealt a full hand, all hidden, and can improve their hands by replacing them. The most popular example is called Five-Card Draw.
- Stud Poker – Players are dealt a mix of face-up and face-down cards. The most popular examples are Five Card Stud and Seven Card Stud.
- Community Card Poker – Individuals have part of their hand hidden, with some shared face-up cards amongst all players. The most popular examples are Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em.
Within these categories, other variations can be added onto each game in addition to the basic poker rules. A few examples include:
- Lowball – lowest hand wins the pot
- High-low split – the highest and lowest hands split the pot
- Wild cards – most commonly deuces are made wild
- Stripped deck – 20 cards used instead of 52
Basic Poker Rules
Because of the different variants listed above, it can be difficult to outline the rules of poker. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to learn the rules of poker as played in Texas Hold'Em, which is by far the most popular version, and the one you are most likely to encounter.
The dealer rotates every round and is indicated by a white token called the dealer button. In a casino, a dealer will distribute the cards but the token still rotates amongst players to determine who places first bets. In both dealing and playing, poker rules dictate the game always proceeds clockwise (to the left).
The person to the left of the dealer places the first bet, known as the small blind, and the person left to them places a larger bet, known as the big blind. These forced bets are in place to ensure betting occurs in every round, and in professional poker the minimums will increase as the game progresses.
Two hold cards are dealt to each player, to be kept hidden. Five community cards will eventually sit face up on the table: the aim is to create the best five-card hand using the seven cards available to you.
- First Betting Round – Players have only their two hold cards. Following the big blind, the next player has the choice to call (equal) or raise (increase) the bet, or to fold (throw the hand away). The extent to which you can raise is dictated by the poker rules you are playing, decided beforehand.
- Second Betting Round – The first round is known as the preflop, and now the 'flop' is dealt: these are the first three community cards. Again, the same betting procedures ensue, with the added option of 'check', meaning to do nothing and pass on the action to the next person, only possible if no bets have been made in the round.
- Third Betting Round – The 'turn' (the fourth community card) is dealt, and the same process is repeated.
- Fourth Betting Round – The 'river' (the fifth community card) is dealt, and the same process is repeated.
- Showdown – All remaining players show their hold cards, and a winner is determined based on who has the best hand
Poker Hands
Techniques, strategies, and tips aside, basic poker rules revolve around knowing your hands. When you learn the rules of poker, most of your time and effort is going to be based of memorising what the hands look like, what their value is, and – if you are mathematically inclined – what their odds are. The whole game is based around getting the best hand in relation to the other players: if you don't know the full hierarchy, you will not only not be able to play very well, but the game is also not likely to be very fun.
So, in order of most valuable to least valuable, below are the possible hands according to the rules of poker:
- Royal Flush – 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, all of the same suit
- Straight Flush – Any five sequential cards of the same suit
- Four of a Kind – Any four cards of the same number
- Full House – Combination of three of a kind and a pair
- Flush – Any five cards of the same suit
- Straight – Five sequential cards of any combination of suits
- Three of a Kind – Any three cards of the same number
- Two Pair – Two different pairs of numerically matching cards
- One Pair – Two cards of the same number
- High Card – If you have no of the above combinations, the value of your hand is your single highest ranked card, with Aces being high