So you think poker is hot after seeing Kirsten Dunst pole dancing in Luckytown, huh? Or you are probably tired of being left out when your buddies start rambling poker because you don't know an iota about the game? Whatever your drive is for learning to play this trendy card game, the fact remains that poker has fast become everyone's favorite pastime today.
It is hard to ignore poker when you see it all the time over the television. Prestigious poker events, like the World Series of Poker, are televised, and there are even poker shows that feature celebrities playing this all-the-rage card game. Seeing actors and actresses donned in their green visors and bluffing each other perhaps contributed to the escalation of poker to worldwide popularity.
The good news is, anybody can learn the art or the sport (whichever you may want to call it) of poker. As opposed to what some people may think, this card game is far from being complicated. The basic game play rules are not hard to master, and any newbie can improve their skill level to expert through constant practice.
If you caught the poker bug and is itching to learn about Poker 101, then you came to the right place. The first thing you need to know about poker is that it isn't just a fad. Although the entire country is being swept by Pokermania, the truth is that it is an age-old card game that can trace its humble beginnings way, way back in ancient times. Poker might have picked the interest of many in the recent years, but this vying game have already been the favorite hobby of the forefathers even before the advent of online poker rooms and World Series of Poker.
There are plenty of variations of poker and you've probably already heard some of them. The most popular and the current favorite poker variation of many poker enthusiasts is Texas Hold'em, but we are not going to learn about this fast-paced and exciting poker game yet. Since you are a beginner, you have to start with the regular poker, the five-card draw. It is among the easiest poker games to pick up, so any beginners who want to get their hands on poker are advised to learn it first.
The five-card draw and most of the poker variations are played using the standard 52-card deck. Other poker games use a stripped deck with only a limited number of cards as in Royal Hold'em which uses only twenty cards of the original deck. But that's another matter altogether; for the meantime, you just have to contend with five-card draw.
Of course, the standard deck of playing cards comprised of four suits namely Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and Hearts. Each suit has thirteen cards ranked from lowest to highest: 2 to 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. The suits are equal in value, and this means that no suit is greater than the other. Every player in a five-card draw game is given five cards. But before the dealers distribute the cards, each player must give a token bet, or an ante.
The aim of every player in a five-card draw game is to get the hand with the highest value. The highest hand would be the Royal Flush which is composed of cards from 10 to Ace of the same suit.
    
Second highest hand would be the Straight Flush which is composed of cards of numerical order with similar suits. In cases wherein two players both have straight flushes, then the player who gets a Straight Flush having high-valued cards wins. For example, between hand A, and hand B, hand A wins.
Hand A:
    
Hand B:
    
After Straight Flush, the Four of a Kind is the next hand with the highest value. In this hand, four of the five dealt cards should have same numerical value, regardless of the suit. Of course, the player who gets a four-of-a-kind hand with the highest card value wins.
  
Next is the Full House, wherein a player's hand is composed of three cards with similar numerical value and two more cards with identical values. In cases of ties, the winning hand is determined by the three cards first and by the two cards afterwards. In the example below, hand B, beats hand A and hand C.
Hand A
   
Hand B
   
Hand C
 
After Full House, Flush is the next hand of high value. With Flush, a player must have five cards of identical suit, irrespective of numerical value. When two players both have flushes, it is the player who gets a high-valued card who wins.
  
Straight is the next hand after Flush. When a player receives a Straight hand, this means that he got five cards of in numerical order, suit notwithstanding. The player who gets a Straight hand that extends to the highest-valued card wins.
Next is the Three of a Kind wherein a player gets three cards of similar numerical rank, with the remaining cards of dissimilar pair.
A Two Pair hand comes next, which is composed of two pairs and a random card.
After Two Pair is the One Pair hand, wherein a player only gets a single set of pair and three remaining random cards. In cases of ties, the player who gets a pair with the highest numerical value wins.
High Card is the hand with the least value. A High Card Hand only happens when none of the players have any hand of higher value. The player who gets a hand with the highest card of value wins. If two players have the same high-valued card, the one who has a second high-valued card wins.
Now, you know the hand rankings, so it's time to move on to the next step. After the card dealing, the first betting round commences. The player sitting on the dealer's left goes first. This player decides if he wants to bet, to check, or to fold. If he decides to bet, he can either place the minimum bet or raise. When a player raises, he bets an amount greater than that of the previous bet. If the player checks, he does not open the betting but he is still on the game; when a player folds, he puts all his cards down and loses all the money he bet. Each player gets his chance to bet as the betting follows the clockwise direction from the dealer. When all the players have acted whether they want to check, fold, or bet, they move on the next phase which is the draw.
In this phase, all players who did not fold have the choice to replace their cards. A player who wants to replace his cards can discard them and the dealer deals him the number of cards he discarded. This process also follows the clockwise direction, with each player getting their shot to replace their cards.
When the players are done with the draw phase, another betting round occurs. This follows the same clockwise pattern as in the first betting round, starting from the dealer. After this last betting round, all players who did not fold expose their hands. The player who gets the highest-valued hand wins and gets the pot.
Now that you know the basic poker rules, you can now go out into the Poker world to show off your skills. Enjoy playing!
>>> Next: Betting Styles and Strategies
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