About Poker

We offer a brief but accurate description of one of the more popular casino games, poker.

Among card games poker seems to have the strongest appeal with all gambling fans. Maybe this is because other card games haven’t been shown in all the various Wild West movies.

How to Play:

Poker is played using a regular and standard pack of 52 cards. These cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. Note that no suit is higher than another.

Usually poker hands are composed out of five cards and the highest hand wins. But some enjoy playing cards that involve variants of between two to nine cards. Some card games have Wild Cards, which can take on whatever suit and rank their possessor desires. Accordingly, either a joker or another card can be used a wild card. Games sometimes change the rules according to the wild cards used.

How Hands are Ranked:

Rankings of your hand are determined according to the following (from high to low):

Five of a Kind:

(only if you are using wild cards) the highest possible hand. If more than one hand has five of a kind, the higher card wins (Five Aces beats five kings, which beat five queens, and so on).

Royal Flush:

the highest natural hand. A straight flush with an Ace as the high card.

Straight Flush:

the best natural hand. This is a straight all of the same suit.

Four of a Kind:

four cards of the same rank. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the higher-rank four of a kind wins.

Full House:

three of a kind and a pair. The stronger three of a kind breaks a tie.

Flush:

all cards are of the same suit. When flushes ties, the winner is decided according to the highest card. Games situations such as these are rare but it is better to know the rule than to get hoodwinked if and when this happens.

Straight:

5 cards in order. You can use the ace as high or low (above the king or below the two). But you cannot wrap a straight around: two, ace, king, queen and jack.

Three of a Kind:

three cards of the same rank. Like in other instances, if there is a tie (because of a wild card) the winner is decided according to the highest card.

Two Pair:

two distinct pairs of cards. The highest pair wins ties. If both hands have the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both hands have the same pairs, the high card wins.

Pair:

two cards of the same rank. The highest card breaks ties.

High Card:

This is any hand which does not qualify as any one of the above hands. If nobody has a pair or better, then the highest card wins. If multiple people tie for the highest card, they look at the second highest, then the third highest card. Games as these force players to break ties when the high hands both have the same type of hand (pair, flush, straight, etc).

How to Bet:

At these card games, you must place a minimum amount in the pot to get a card. This is called an ante. After doing that, players bet into the pot in the middle. At the end of the hand, the highest hand with the strongest sequence among the playing cards wins the pot. When gambling at poker you can call, bet or fold.

Call:

you match the last person bet

Raise:

at first you match the last bet and then add to that amount.

Fold:

you decide that you want to drop out of this game and you leave. Any money you have already bet is lost.

Like many other games, the gambling at poker continues until everyone calls or folds their cards after a raise or an initial bet. Download free games and enjoy!