How To Play - Poker

In order to explain how to play online poker - I am going to start out explaining the cards and the Card Rankings then move on to the various types of Games and what the differences are between them.

The aim of the game in Poker - is to beat your opponents hands by holding a better ranked hand than they do.  The cards rank from Two to Ace (although bear in mind that the Ace is allowed as both a Low and a High Card)

Single Card - This is the worst hand available and is where there is no common ground between any of the cards in your possession - They are not all the same colour, not all the same suit and do not have any pairs of the same Marked Number.

A Pair - This is when two of the cards are the same Face Value - with a Pair of 2's being considerably worse than a pair of Ace's.

Two Pair - when you have two sets of pairs available to you - although beating a Pair - this is still not a strong hand and unless you have High Cards (Jack through Ace) you should be wary about betting highly.

Three of a Kind - This is when three of the cards available to you are all linked by the same Marked Number. E.g. Three 6's or Three 10's.

A Straight - This is when the cards get better and the Term stands for five sequential cards e.g. 4,5,6,7,8 but not all belonging to one suit. The best available Straight is the 10,J,Q,K,A.

A Flush - This is when all the cards are different Marked Numbers but all belong to the same suit - e.g. They are all Diamonds or are all Spades e.t.c. This is generally considered a strong hand and betting heavily on this would be expected. Be aware that the Highest Card of the Flush is the most important card as a 2,3,7,9,Ace would beat a 7,9,10,Q,K!

A Full House - This is a very good hand and is defined as a Pair and a Three of a Kind combined. That means in the five cards used - there are 2 matching numbers and 3 other matching numbers. Again the Three Card medley out-values the Pair should two players have the same hands.

Four of a Kind - A rare delight - when you have drawn this you are expected to bet heavily. This means that four of your cards all belong to the same Marked Number e.g. Four 8's or Four Queen's. The fifth card is only important should two players have the same identical cards - an unlikely event with this hand.

A Straight Flush - This is very rare and should be used to full effect when betting. This term applies to a hand of 5 cards - all consecutive numbers and all with the same suit. For example - 3,4,5,6,7 of Hearts would be termed as this and any player lucky enough to get this should bet heavily with it.

The Royal Flush - I have titled this appropriately as it is the hardest hand to get in the Game and should anyone be lucky to draw this at odds of 1 in 649,740 - you should be looking to bring every player into the game and bet all the chips available to you. This means that you have got the 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit.

Now that you understand the Hands - let us move on to the Tactical side of Poker.

The art of Poker is knowing how to best use your hands. This does not mean that the player with the Best Hand will always win! It is the player who uses his hand and his opponents weaknesses the best that will usually come out on top. For example ... say one player has in their hands a Straight and I have in my hands a Three of a Kind. Although I have a reasonable hands - based on statistics and hand rankings - I am guaranteed to lose. However, what is to stop my opponent from thinking that I do not have a Three of a Kind - but in fact have something much better - something that will beat his hand and make him lose his money. Were I to bet heavily - I might be able to trick my opponent into thinking that I have a better hand available to me than him - and he might Fold his cards. Were he to do this - I would win the Pot. This art of deception is known as 'Bluffing' in Poker - and is an extremely valuable part of playing the game. Those who are unable to Bluff their way through a game of Poker - are likely to lose - as no one is going to bet against them when they have a winning hand - and when they do not - they will lose money to Rake and eventually (unless very lucky) find themselves with no money left at all.

Now there are many different varieties of Poker - but we are going to focus on the most common ones found at Online Casinos - Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo.

Also be aware that some games may refer to a 'Limit' Game and others to a 'No Limit' Game. These terms refer to the ability of a player to raise the stakes by as much as he wants in a 'No Limit' Game - e.g. allowing the player to theoretically raise $1,000,000 or to only raise a set amount as written in the rules of a 'Limit' Game e.g. Maximum raise of $2.

In Texas Hold'Em - every player will take it in turns to place the Small Blind and the Big Blind - referring to the fact that they have not seen their cards - therefore the money is placed 'blindly.' This also ensures that there will be some money in the pot to play with. Once the Blinds are placed on the table, every player is dealt two cards - face down - and will have the chance to look at these cards before they decide if they want to choose one of three options. Fold - where the player declares himself out before betting; Call - where the player acknowledges his cards and places money equivalent to the value of the Big Blind so he may play on AND finally Raise - where the player, having seen his cards, decided to increase the value of the Big Blind to a value he chooses, and this means that every player must equal the new bet in order to carry on into the next 'round.' There is a fourth option of re-raising should a player want to take the best even higher - but all this means is that the value of the bet needed to play is increased for all remaining players.

Should more than two player have matched each others' bets, the 'Flop' is now dealt. This is where three 'community' cards are placed in the middle of the table, face up, and are available to all players. For example should I have had a King and a 6 in my Pre-Flop hand - if the Flop deals a 3,6,Jack - I now have a Pair of 6's available to me. At this point - a Second Round of betting commences - similar to the first - and the remaining players have the options of Folding, Calling or Raising.