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The Rules of Poker

(The original version of this page was written by Jerry Cooley.)

Poker is a game of chance. However, when you introduce the concept of betting, poker gains quite a bit of skill and psychology. (This isn't to say that there isn't skill at poker when nothing is at risk, there just isn't nearly as much). This is meant as a very basic primer into the rules of poker, for more information, get a book on the game (or start playing with a group of people who know how. It's more expensive than reading a book, but the group won't mind!).

A very detailed set of rules covering playing procedure, how to deal with irregularities, and so on, can be found on Bob Ciaffone's web site. He provides comprehensive rules for card rooms and for home games. Joe Smith has published a web-friendly version of these rules.

This list is currently broken into several parts:

• The Very Basics
• How the Hands are Ranked
• Descriptions of Hand Ranks
• Betting
• An Example 5-Card Draw Hand
• Poker Terms

Some games have Wild Cards, which can take on whatever suit and rank their possessor desires. Sometimes jokers will be used as wild cards, other times, the game will specify which cards are wild (deuces, one-eyed jacks, or whatever).

How the hands are ranked

Hands are ranked as follows (from high to low):

• Five of a Kind
• Straight Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Pair
• High Card

Five of a Kind

Straight Flush

Four of a Kind

Full House

Flush

Straight

Three of a Kind

Two Pair

Pair

High Card

Betting

Call

When you call, you bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (for instance, if you bet a dime last time, and someone else bet a quarter, you would owe fifteen cents).

Raise

When you raise, you first bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (as in calling), then you 'raise' the bet another amount (up to you, but there is typically a limit.) Continuing the above example, if you had bet a dime, the other person raised you fifteen cents (up to a quarter), you might raise a quarter (up to fifty cents). Since you owed the pot 15 cents for calling and 25 for your raise, you would put 40 cents into the pot.

Fold

When you fold, you drop out of the current hand (losing any possibility of winning the pot), but you don't have to put any money into the pot.

Some Standard Betting Rules

You deal yourself a fairly good hand Ks-Kd-Jd-5c-3d. A pair of kings isn't bad off the deal (not great, but not bad). Then the betting starts...

• Alex 'Checks' (checking is basically calling when you don't owe anything to the pot).
• Brad bets a dime.
• Charley calls (and puts a dime into the pot).
• Dennis raises a dime (and puts twenty cents into the pot).
• Well, it's your turn. Twenty cents to you. You can fold, call or raise. Like I said before, pair of kings isn't bad, not good but not bad. You call and put twenty cents into the pot.
• Back to Alex, who grumbles and tosses his cards into the center of the table, folding. (Note, when folding, never show your cards to anyone).
• Brad calls. The total bet is twenty cents, but he had already bet a dime, so he owes a dime, which he tosses into the pot.
• Charley is in the same position as brad, and tosses a dime into the pot.

What do you suppose the others were trying for? Well, Brad kept two cards, so he probably had a pair (just like you) but it probably wasn't aces, so even if brad got a three of a kind, you probably beat him. Charley kept four cards, so he was probably trying for a straight or flush. (If Charley had four of a kind, he might have bet much harder). The big problem is Dennis. He raised earlier, and only drew two cards. He might be bluffing, but he could have had three of a kind off the deal... In any case, the second round of betting starts (with dealers left).

• Brad bets a nickel.
• Charley folds (I guess he didn't get his straight or flush).
• Dennis raises twenty cents (to a quarter total).
• You call.
• Brad looks at his cards, then calls (betting twenty cents).
• Again, everyone called Dennis's raise, so the round of betting is over.

• You had Ks-Kd-Kc-4c-8h.
• Brad had Jh-Jd-3c-3s-Ah.
• Dennis had Qh-Qs-Qd-As-7s.

Conclusion

All In: See 'Tapped Out'.

Betting Round: If any cards of players' hands are up, betting usually begins with whoever is showing the highest hand. Some people play that in high/low games, the first round of betting starts with the lowest showing hand and all later rounds start with the highest. If no cards are showing, the betting should start with a different player each round, beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and rotating to the next player clockwise each round. A round consists of a series of bets until everyone has called or folded.

Declare: Announcing whether you're trying for the high hand, low hand, or both. Typically, this is done by secretly putting no chips in your hand if you're going low, one chip if you're going high, or two chips if you're going both. Everyone then opens their fists simultaneously.

Down: Face down, so that the value of the card isn't showing. Also known as 'In The Hole'.

Exchange: Discard cards from a hand and replace them with different cards, usually from the top of the deck.

High/Low: The highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot. In many high/low games, it is possible to win the entire pot by having the highest and the lowest hand (accomplished via wild cards, or by using different sets of 5 cards), but only if you declare that you're trying for both. If you try for both but don't win both (that is, someone else has the highest or the lowest hand), you win neither. When playing high/low, hands are compared against all other hands, not just the hands which are going the same way. Thus, if someone going high has a better low hand than all of the people going low, nobody going low wins (so the high hand gets the whole pot). If someone goes for both and fails, say by winning high but losing low, the high half of the pot goes to the low winner-- it doesn't go the second best high hand.

In The Hole: See 'Down'.

Natural: Without wild cards.

Perfect low: A perfect low is usually A-2-3-4-6. However, it can also be A-2-3-4-5 if you play that straights don't count when you go low, or it can be 2-3-4-5-7 if you play that Aces are always high, or 2-3-4-5-6 if you play both of the above.

Rank: Value of a card. There are 13 ranks in a deck of cards.

Roll: Flip a down card up.

Rolling Showdown: A showdown in which cards are stacked and revealed one at a time with a round of betting after each card is revealed.

Rotating Bet: Each round of betting starts with the next player clockwise. Typically, the player to the left of the dealer starts the first betting round. The 2nd round would thus be started by the player to his left, and so forth.

Showdown: The process of revealing hands and determining the winner.

Tap Out: This happens whenever a player bets all of his or her remaining money. If only that player and one other are still playing the hand, then the remaining cards for the hand are dealt out and no more bets are placed. If more than two players are still playing the hand, then a separate pot is created to hold the bets for the players who are not 'Tapped Out'. Betting continues as normal for those other players in the new pot. When the hand is over, if the player who tapped out wins, then that player gets the first pot and the player with the second highest hand gets the second pot. If the player who tapped out does not win the hand, then the winning player get both pots. Also known as 'All In'.

Trick: A set of cards, one card from each player, played one at a time in sequence around the table. Tricks are usually found in games like Hearts and Bridge, not in true Poker games.

Trump: One suit which is stronger than other suits. The lowest ranking card of a trump suit beats the highest ranking card of any other suit. Trump suits are used in trick-taking games and are not found in true Poker games.

Up: Face up, so that the value of the card is showing.

Bugs: Jokers that can represent any card if it helps accomplish a straight or a flush, but represent only aces (of any suit) if it goes towards some other kind of hand.