HOW TO PLAY POKER

Poker is growing into the most popular type of online gambling at an astonishing rate. If you look at the television you will see loads of different adverts for one site or another and in quite a few countries now you can watch poker for a few hours a day or some even have an all day channel dedicated to it.

Poker has always been a popular game of cards and a good way of gambling to the amounts you can afford. Some play for thousands of pounds or dollars a hand, others, myself included started off playing for 1 pence ante.

There are a few variations of the games of poker. I’ll list some here to give you an idea, the most popular now seen on television is Texas Hold em all, then there’s Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo and 5 Card Draw.

Before I go into the different games I’d like to go over a few terms that will apply in these games but first a quick explanation. Betting is different on a lot of these but some things are constant. After someone has bet you get the option to call, raise or fold.

CALL: If anyone before you has bet an amount more than you have, ie a raise, then you have to put the difference into the pot to call. The players following either have to match the bet, raise or fold.

RAISE: This is when you want to force the other players into either putting more money into the pot because you have a good hand or force them to fold.

FOLD: This is when you throw your hand in and have lost the pot. Sometimes called passing.

CHECK: This one is used when you are first to bet and basically means you are calling nothing. No-one has raised yet so you are staying in the hand without betting. However, if someone behind you then raises then when the bet comes around to you then you have to match.

The vale of hands in ascending order is:

High card: highest card wins, ace is highest.

Pair: two of a kind, eg a pair of aces will beat a high card and is the highest pair.

Two Pairs:two pairs, eg a pair of fours and a pair of sevens, highest first pair wins.

Three of a kind:three of the same number, eg three eights, again aces are highest.

Straight:five cards in order, ten, jack, queen, king, ace being the highest.

Flush:five cards of the same suit, if two of you have flushes then highest card wins, then 2nd etc

Full house:three of a kind and a pair, highest three of a kind wins.

Four of a kind:Four cards the same, four aces are highest.

Straight flush:five cards in order of same suit, 4,5,6,7,8 of diamonds

Royal Flush:Can’t be beat, ten, jack, queen, king, ace of the same suit.

If two players have exactly the same hand the pot is shared.

This site tells you how to play all the different types of poker including 5 card draw and 7 card stud. It also shows you how to play Texas hold em all poker as well as Omaha High. I've also included a section for bluffing and working out the best odds in poker.

HOW TO PLAY POKER