poker for beginners

Poker?is a family of?card games?involving?betting?and individual play, whereby the winner is determined by the ranks and combinations of players cards, some of which remain hidden until the end of the game. Poker games vary in the number of cards dealt, the number of shared or community cards, and the number of cards that remain hidden. The betting procedures vary among different poker games in such ways as betting limits and splitting the?pot?between a high hand and a low hand.

Poker is currently undergoing a surge in popularity, due in part to its prominence on television and popularity with celebrities. Want to join the fun? Its easy to get started. Heres an approachable overview of how to play 5 Card Draw, Texas Holdem, and some basic strategies you can use. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily adapt to playing other variations (described below) and improve your poker skills through practice. Play with swagger.

Poker is usually played with a standard 4suit 52card deck. The ace normally plays high, but can sometimes play low. A joker or other wild cards may be added. At the showdown, those players still remaining compare their hands according to the hand rankings. Suits are not used to break ties, nor are cards beyond the fifth; only the best five cards in each hand are used in the comparison. In the case of a tie, the pot is split equally among the winning hands.

Wild cards introduce an additional hand, five of a kind, which normally ranks above a straight flush. When a joker is in play, it usually can only be used as an ace or to complete a straight or flush. It cannot be used as a true wild card.

The person who wins is the person with the highestvalued hand. You cant win if you dont know which hands will take the pot. If two players have hands with the same value (e.g. two full houses) or no one has a winning hand, then the player with the highest value card in their hand wins (Ace is highest). Print out a ranking of the poker hands and memorize the hands.

Place an ante (pronounced antee) or token bet (pronounced token bet) into the pot (usually a spot at the center of the table, although you can use a pot if you wish). Every player places an equal amount of whatever your currency (poker chips, nickels, bills, car keys...). Whoever wins takes it all.

After shuffling (showing off) the dealer distributes the cards face down starting with the player to his or her immediate left and continuing clockwise, one card at a time, until everyone has five cards. The deck is placed in the middle of the table.

This is the time to evaluate how strong your hand is. Beginner players usually end up showing how strong their hand is with what is known as a tell. Some tells include; shallow breathing, lack of or too much eye contact, facial muscle flexes, etc. Trying to reduce these tells will give you a better chance. Keep your poker face.

The first person to make a call is usually the player on the dealers left (who was dealt the first card). That player canopen(place the first bet) orcheck(pass the decision onto the next player). Once the pot is opened, meaning that a player bets a certain amount (e.g. places a nickel in the pot), all of the people who already had their turns have two options:

See or call Stay in the game by putting the equivalent amount in the pot.

Fold Quit the game by putting your cards face down on the table; whatever you put in the pot stays in the pot.

After theyve made their choices, everyone who still has a turn will have those options, plus an additional one:

Raise Stay in the game by putting more than the last person put in the pot.

If someone raises, then everyone who already had a turn must see or fold again. Then the next person has their turn.

Once everyone has had a turn (even if everyone checked) get rid of up to three cards you dont want and have them replaced. This is done in turns, again beginning with the player on the dealers left and going clockwise. Choose the cards that you dont think will help you gain a winning hand. You might get rid of three cards, or you might keep them all. If you do get rid of cards, put them face down on the table so no one sees what you had.

As before, the first player can either open or check, and the checking can continue until someone opens, after which players can see, raise or fold. More people will start to fold once they realize their weak hand isnt worth the bet.