Many people have played poker at one time or another. All types of people play poker: kids, professionals, senior citizens, men, women, college students, mothers, fathers, and anyone else you can think of. Poker is a game that was developed in the United States by the 1830s. Historians are unsure of how the game came into existence. In its relatively short history, poker has become the most popular card game in the world in terms of the number of people playing and the amount of money won and lost. There are many different types of poker games. This article will cover the two most popular poker games played in casinos-seven-card stud and Texas hold’em-leaving Caribbean stud, Let It Ride, and pai gow for the following articles.

Poker Basics

The object of poker is to win the pot-the collection of chips or other bets made by the players during a hand of poker. There are two ways you can win the pot:

1. Have the highest-ranking hand.
2. Bluff other players into thinking you have the highest hand and dropping out. (This is why a face without an expression is called a “poker face.”)

The strength of a poker hand is determined according to a hierarchy based on the odds of getting a particular hand in the first five cards from a fifty-two-card deck: 1 in 649,740 for a royal flush, 1 in 72,193 for a straight flush, 1 in 4,165 for four of a kind, 1 in 694 for a full house, 1 in 509 for a flush, 1 in 255 for a straight, 1 in 47 for three of a kind, 1 in 21 for two pairs, and 1 in 2 for a pair. The stronger your hand, the better your chances of winning the pot. To become a poker player you must know the hierarchy and how hands are ranked. (The cards are valued in the usual order from ace down to 2, except that an ace may also be counted as 1 to fill out the low end of a 5-4-3-2 straight. The suits are of equal rank.)

Poker Hand Rankings (From Lowest To Highest)

1. High Card A hand without a pair, straight, or flush, valued only by its highest card
2. One Pair
3. Two Pair Two cards of the same rank Two cards of one rank and another two cards of another rank
4. Three of a Kind Three cards of the same rank
5. Straight All five cards in a sequence but not in a single suit
6. Flush All five cards are in the same suit but not in a sequence
7. Full House Three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank
8. Four of a Kind Four cards of the same rank
9. Straight Flush All five cards in sequence and in the same suit
10. Royal Flush A, K, Q. J, and 10 all of the same suit

In all games of poker, the dealer distributes the cards to the players, clockwise from his or her left (with the number and manner depending on the particular variant of poker). The players then take turns in rounds. There are four choices. You may check the bet (bet nothing but still remain in the game), call the previous bet (bet the same amount as the previous bet), raise the previous bet (increase the amount of the previous bet), or fold (giving up a chance to win the pot by not matching a bet).

You can check only when no other player has bet any money before it gets to your turn in that round. In casino poker there are only three raises permitted per round of betting. Once one player has bet money, the next players can call, raise, or fold. To stay in the game, you must bet equal to or higher than the previous bet. If you want to fold, because you don’t think you can win, you forfeit whatever you’ve bet in that game.

In casino poker there is a betting structure. For example, if you’re playing at a $2-$4 table, you may only bet or raise in $2 increments until a player has a pair showing or until the betting has gone around the table once or twice (different casinos have different rules). At that point, the amount of increments increases to $4. Because players in poker play against one another, the casino makes its money by raking 10 percent of the pot for each hand of poker. The maximum rake is generally set at $3, although that maximum can vary by casino and by table, depending on the betting increments.

When the players have finished their betting, they show their cards and the dealer declares the winner based on the hierarchy of hands as listed above. If the best hands are of the same rank, such as when two players are each holding a pair or a straight, the tie is determined in the following manner:

1. High Card - The highest card wins, then the next highest, and so on.
2. One Pair - The highest pair wins. If the pairs are of equal rank, the hand with the highest single card wins. If those singletons are of the same rank, the second-highest single. tons are compared, and so on.
3. Two Pair - The highest pair wins. If the pairs are of equal rank, the hand with the highest second pair wins. If both pairs are identical in both hands, the game goes to the hand with the higher singleton.
4. Three of a Kind - The highest three wins. If the threes are of equal rank, the higher singletons are compared. If they’re the same rank, the hand with the highest fifth card wins.
5. Straight - The high end of the straight determines the winner. If the straights are equal, card for card, the pot is split evenly between the two hands.
6. **Flush - The highest card in the flush determines the winner. If the highest cards are the same, the next highest cards are compared, and so on.
7. Full House - The hand with the highest three of a kind wins.
8. Four of a Kind - The higher of the four-of-a-kind hands wins.
9. Straight Flush - The hand with the higher card wins. If the higher cards are the same, the hands are tied and the players split the pot.
10. Royal Flush - Players with a hand this great tie and split the pot.

That’s it for the basics of poker. It’s a relatively simple game, combining luck, strategy, and the ability to fool others about the value of your cards. If you understand these basics of the game, then you’re ready for some of the variations.

Poker variations can be divided into two basic lines: draw and stud. The primary difference is that in draw poker the players hide all their cards from the other players, while in stud some cards from each hand are revealed. In draw poker, the players are allowed to discard as many as three cards from the hand dealt to them, in the hopes of getting new cards to make a better hand. There are at least two dozen versions of draw poker and a similar number of variations of stud poker. Draw poker is generally more popular, but big-money gamblers prefer stud poker.