Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown (in some games, the pot is split between the high and low hands), limits on bets and raises, and how many rounds of betting are allowed. In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with one or more of the players making some form of a forced bet (the blind or ante). In standard poker, each player bets according to the rank they believe their hand is worth as compared to the other players.
The action then proceeds clockwise as each player in turn must either match (or “call”) the maximum previous bet, fold, or raise (the betting limit for each round has been reached). When all players have called the last bet or folded, then all remaining players share equally in the pot.
There are many different versions of poker, and there are just as many different ways to play. But there are some basic rules that apply to all forms of poker. The first is that there is a pot, which is where all the money goes that is bet during a hand. The second rule is that there are ranks to poker hands, so that if two people have a flush (a hand where all five cards are of the same suit) then the person with the highest card in their flush wins.
The third rule is that you have to put money in the pot to play, so you can’t just see what everyone has and then decide whether or not you want to play. You have to be in it to win it.
The fourth rule of poker is that once all the betting is done and there is a winner, that person takes the pot. So if you’re playing with $10/$20 blinds and somebody goes all-in for $200 on the flop (the first three cards dealt face up), then whoever has the best hand at showdown will take their $200 plus whatever else was bet on that hand from other players who folded.
The fifth rule is one that confuses a lot of people who are new to poker: whoever has the best hand at showdown wins, even if they didn’t bet on it. A lot of people think that if somebody checks (doesn’t bet) on the river (the last card dealt face up), then they can’t win because they didn’t put any money in the pot.
But that’s not true – if you have the best hand then you can still win even if you didn’t bet on it.
The sixth and final rule of poker is probably the most important one: HAVE FUN! Poker is supposed to be a fun game so make sure that you’re playing with people who you enjoy being around and who make it fun for you to play.
