Poker is a card game where players compete to make the best hand out of their cards. It’s a great way to mix skills like predicting odds, reading opponents and making bluffs.
The basic rules of most poker variants are relatively similar. The initial deal involves one player placing a forced bet before being dealt their cards (typically an ante or a blind bet).
After the first betting round is complete, each player takes turns revealing their cards and deciding whether to call, raise, fold, or all-in. The hand with the best five-card hand wins all the money in the pot.
High card ranking is a mathematically derived ranking system that determines the value of the hand in relation to its frequency of occurring. In poker, each of these ranks is calculated based on drawing 5 cards from a shuffled deck of cards.
Straight, flush, and full house are the highest possible hands in most poker games. When three of these hands tie, the player with the lowest card outside the ties is awarded the hand.
Four of a kind is the second-highest possible hand in most poker games. A pair of kings beats a pair of queens, a three of a kind beats a pair of jacks, and so on.
A Royal Flush is a hand that contains an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 of the same suit. In some poker games, a Royal Flush is also called a Ace High Straight Flush and it is the most valuable hand in the game.