The Basics of Poker

Poker is a card game in which players place bets into the pot (all of the money that has been placed as buy-in). Each player gets two cards. Then five community cards are dealt. The best five-card hand wins the pot. Players may fold, call, raise or check (agree to pass on their turn to act). Depending on the rules of the game, one or more players are required to put down an initial amount of money, called a forced bet.

A dealer is responsible for shuffling the deck and dealing out the cards. They are sometimes a non-player, and other times they are a player who takes turns being the dealer. A dealer chip is passed around to designate who is the dealer in each round. This is important, because betting rules depend on who is the dealer.

General rule: If a pair or higher is tied, the highest rank wins. Four of a kind is just four cards of the same rank (like 4 aces). Flush is five consecutive cards from the same suit, such as 5 hearts or 5 diamonds. Straight is five cards that skip around in rank but are from the same suit (like J-8-5-3). A full house has 3 matching cards of one rank and 2 matching cards of another, and a pair has 2 matching cards of one rank and three unmatched cards.

Observe your opponents to learn their tells and body language. They may be giving away information without even realizing it!