Basic Poker Rules

Poker has so many variations in what regards the way of playing that it might be difficult to cover all of them. Because of that, we encourage all beginners to start with this page, and then move up by understanding the details of each poker variation. This page is based if the popular Five Card Draw poker variation.

The game of poker was created in Europe, but now it is a world phenomenon with millions of players both online and offline.

When playing the basic game, you will receive five cards and will try to create a winning combination with it. Sometimes your combination has to be stronger than the dealer, sometimes stronger than the players and sometimes both.

The essential playing skills include some math and a lot of psychology. If you are not with math but is exceptionally potent with psychology, you might do remarkably well. The math part consist of knowing what cards were dealt, compare with yours and anticipate what are your chances of winning. The mental aspect consists on not showing your emotions or sometimes showing wrong ones to fool your opponents.

Below you can see examples of the winning poker combinations. They are ordered (top to bottom) by ascending power of winning.

Example	Name / Description
	Royal Straight Flush The most powerful combination of basic poker.
	Straight Flush Similar to Royal Straight Flush but does not have the Ace high (after the K).
	Four of a Kind A.K.A. quads or poker. If the odd card is a queen, it is called kicker.
	Full House A.K.A. a boat, it is made of three cards of the same rank plus a pair.
	Flush Five cards of the same suit but not consecutive ranks.
	Straight Five cards, not all of the same suit but consecutive ranks.
	Three of a Kind A.K.A. Triplet or trips, it is made by the combination of three cards of the same rank and two with different ones.
	Two Pairs Two pairs of different ranks and a third rank card known as the quicker.
	Pair One pair of equal rank and three cards with different ones.
	Nothing A.K.A. High Card or No Pair, made of five cards with five different ranks, not the same suit and not consecutive.

Game Flow

Each player will take a card from the shuffled deck, the player that receives that first Jack will be the dealer. Another option is to draw one card each and the player with the lowest rank will be the dealer. Keep on drawing until there are no ties.

Then, all players will place the ante bet. All must be the same amount and before game starts.

The dealer then shuffles the deck and the player to the right (or any other if this player declines) cuts it. Each side of the cut must have no less than 5 cards.

Now, every player has the chance to exchange any card that he or she wants to.

After that, 5 cards are dealt to each player. Now everybody has the chance to continue playing or fold. Whoever continues will participate in the betting round.

While playing the betting round, the player of the turn can:
- Check: Will not bet more but will remain active in the game. Many players say "pass" instead.
- Bet: Player will increase the amount of betting.
- Fold: Player give up playing the current hand.
- Call: Player will remain active and will match current bets.
- Raise: Player will match current bets and will increase it.

The betting round will continue until the last player.

If, at this point, only one player survives to the end of the betting round, that player is the winner.

If more than one player survives, there will be then The Showdown between then for the pot. Whoever has the strongest hand is the winner.