Playing poker online
Online poker is without a doubt the fastest growing form of gambling on the Internet and arguably the easiest at which to make a profit. People are signing up in there thousands to join in the friendly communities and take a share of the huge prizes available.
Rather than take on the bookies or the casinos which normally have the odds stacked in their favour, you are playing against the skills of the other players at your table.
No need to hunt out the local pubs to find a game in a smoky backroom, now you can log on and play in the comfort of your own home at any time of the day or night.
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You just need to pit your skill and judgement against the other players at your table. It’s about working out the likelihood of your hand being the best at the table, or the chances of drawing a certain card from the pack.
We will show you the way - from the basic rules through to the strategies required to make a consistent profit out of your game. Poker is played with a standard pack of 52 cards. Cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs). No suit is higher than another. All poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.
What Beats What?
The aim is to achieve the best possible hand. So here is which hand beats which.
Five of a Kind
A five of a kind (which is only possible when using wild cards, generally jokers) is 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
A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. A straight and a flush – the highest ranking straight flush possible. Beats all other hands in poker. Many poker sites offer a cash prize if you are lucky enough to be dealt this hand.
Straight Flush
Five cards in sequence of the same suit. Beats four of a kind and any lower hand. If two or more straights are competing the highest one wins – 10-9-8-7-6 beats 8-7-6-5-4. However, a straight may not 'wraparound' (such as K-A-2-3-4, which is not a straight).
Four of a Kind
Any four cards of the same rank. Highest value wins. Four kings beats four fives.
Beats a full house or any lower hand.
Full House
Three cards of the same rank with two cards of the same rank. Three of a kind and a pair. The full house with the highest ranking three of a kind wins against another full house.
Flush
Any five cards in the same suit. If two or more flushes compete the hand with the highest card in it wins. If the high cards are equal then the next highest and so on. Beats a straight or any lower hand.
Straight
A hand of five cards in sequence but not of the same suit. If two or more straights compete the highest value card at the top of the sequence wins. Again, a straight may not 'wrap around' (such as Q-K-A-2-3, which is not a straight). If two straights have the same value (e.g. AKQJT vs. AKQJT), they split the pot.
Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same rank, for example three tens, matched with two cards that are not a pair (otherwise it would be a Full House). Highest card value wins.
Two Pairs
This is two distinct pairs of card, i.e. two cards of the same rank and two other cards of the same rank, and a 5th card. If two players have two pairs the hand with the highest ranking pair wins. If they tie, the player with the next highest ranking pair wins.
One Pair
One pair i.e. two cards of the same rank with three distinct cards. The hand with the highest ranking pair wins against another pair. If two players have the same pair then the hand with the next highest ranked card wins (the kicker).
High Card
This is any hand which doesn't 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 etc. High card is the lowest scoring hand.
Betting
Poker is a game of chance. However, when you introduce the concept of betting, poker gains quite a bit of skill and psychology.
The game of poker is based around gambling with the aim of winning the pot. So that everyone has something to play for from the start, bets are placed before any cards are dealt.
So, how do you bet? In most games, you must 'ante' something (amount varies by game), just to get dealt cards. After that, players bet into the pot in the middle. At the end of the hand, the highest hand that hasn't folded wins the pot. Basically, when betting gets around to you (betting is typically done in clockwise order), you have one of three choices:
Call: when you call, you bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (for instance, if you bet 10 pence last time, and someone else bet 25 pence, you would owe 15 pence).
Raise: when you raise, you first bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (as in calling), then you 'raise' the bet another amount (up to you, but there is typically a limit). Continuing the above example, if you had bet 10 pence, the other person raised you fifteen pence (up to 25 pence), you might raise 25 pence (up to fifty pence). Since you owed the pot 15 pence for calling and 25 for your raise, you would put 40 pence into the pot.
Fold: when you fold, you drop out of the current hand (losing any possibility of winning the pot), but you don't have to put any money into the pot.
Betting continues until everyone calls or folds after a raise or initial bet.
What’s the difference between limit, pot limit and no limit?
There are differences in how the betting takes place. Limit games are exactly that – you are limited to how much you may raise at each betting opportunity.
To start with it may be best sticking to these games – you are less likely to lose your entire bank in one game! For example in a £2/£4game the bets are in multiples of 2 or 4 – you can’t raise £3. In low stakes limit games you will often see players joining in with the game and betting when they don’t hold a great hand – this is because they don’t have to put that much more into the pot at each stage of betting and they haven’t got the risk of the next player coming in with a massive raise.
This is where you can take advantage and build a strategy to make money from these loose players. With this style of betting you are unlikely to be able to bluff your way to a win.
In pot limit games the maximum bet you may place is equivalent to whatever is in the pot. No limit games can be dangerous for the beginner. You will see more players folding before the flop takes place and waiting for the best possible hand. If you have the nuts you can make much more from one hand than you can in limit games. But beware a good player could take you for a ride.
Five Card Draw
Five card draw is one of the most common types of poker hands. Each player is dealt five cards, then a round of betting follows. Then each player may discard up to 3 cards (4 if your last card is an ace or wild card, in some circles) and get back from the deck as many cards as he/she discarded. Then there is another round of betting, and then hands are revealed - the showdown - and the highest hand wins the pot. So you are the dealer at a five card draw game (against four other players, Alex, Brad, Charley and Dennis (seated in that order to your left). Everyone puts 5 pence into the pot (Ante) and you deal out 5 cards to each player.
You deal yourself a fairly good hand Ks-Kd-Jd-5c-3d. A pair of kings isn't bad off the deal (not great, but not bad). Then the betting starts...
- Alex 'checks' (checking is basically calling when you don't owe anything to the pot).
- Brad bets 10 pence.
- Charley calls (and puts 10 pence into the pot).
- Dennis raises 10 pence (and puts twenty pence into the pot).
- Well, it's your turn. Twenty pence to you. You can fold, call or raise. A pair of kings isn't bad. Not good but not bad. You call and put twenty pence into the pot.
- Back to Alex, who grumbles and tosses his cards into the centre of the table, folding (note, when folding, never show your cards to anyone).
- Brad calls. The total bet is twenty pence, but he had already bet 10 pence, so he owes 10 pence, which he tosses into the pot.
- Charley is in the same position as Brad, and tosses 10 pence into the pot.
What do you suppose the others were trying for? Well, Brad kept two cards, so he probably had a pair (just like you) but it probably wasn't aces, so even if Brad got a three of a kind, you probably beat him. Charley kept four cards, so he was probably trying for a straight or flush (if Charley had four of a kind, he might have bet much harder). The big problem is Dennis. He raised earlier, and only drew two cards. He might be bluffing, but he could have had three of a kind off the deal... In any case, the second round of betting starts (with dealers left).
- Brad bets 5 pence.
- Charley folds (it seems he didn't get his straight or flush).
- Dennis raises twenty pence (to 25 pence total).
- You call.
- Brad looks at his cards then calls (betting twenty pence).
- Again, everyone called Dennis's raise, so the round of betting is over.
- You had Ks-Kd-Kc-4c-8h.
- Brad had Jh-Jd-3c-3s-Ah.
- Dennis had Qh-Qs-Qd-As-7s.
After this and an hour of play, you'll be right at home playing poker (maybe not very good, but right at home). If you ever get bored with basic 5 card draw, look at the Poker variants. There are many variations of the game with the most popular being Texas Hold’em – this is the game you will see on the TV channels.
Texas Hold’em
In other forms of the game the more familiar “Ante” is used whereby everyone enters a sum of money into the pot. In Texas Hold’em this is replaced with blinds. Only two players place money into the pot before the cards are dealt.
Before any cards are dealt the player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind and the player to his left the big blind. In a £1/£2 game the small blind would be 0.50£ and the big blind £1.
The deal rotates clockwise around the table, starting with the player to the dealers left and ending on the dealer.
Each player is dealt two cards face down and they belong to that player only. Then there is a round of betting starting with the player to the left of the big blind and finishing back with the big blind. A player can fold – throw their cards away at any stage without making a bet.
Then three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table, these are community cards and everyone shares these cards.
Another round of betting follows and then the dealer turns the fourth community card face up in the middle.
A fifth round of betting takes place followed by another and final community card in the middle. Each player now has seven cards to chose the best possible hand from – two of their own cards – known as hole or pocket cards and five community cards in the middle of the table. Then, after a final round of betting, everyone reveals his hand.
Poker Terms
All In : See 'Tapped Out'.
Betting Round : If any cards of players' hands are up, betting usually begins with whoever is showing the highest hand. Some people play that in high/low games, the first round of betting starts with the lowest showing hand and all later rounds start with the highest. If no cards are showing, the betting should start with a different player each round, beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and rotating to the next player clockwise each round. A round consists of a series of bets until everyone has called or folded.
Declare : Announcing whether you're trying for the high hand, low hand, or both. Typically, this is done by secretly putting no chips in your hand if you're going low, one chip if you're going high, or two chips if you're going both. Everyone then opens their fists simultaneously.
Down : Face down, so that the value of the card isn't showing. Also known as 'In The Hole'.
Exchange : Discard cards from a hand and replace them with different cards, usually from the top of the deck.
High/Low : The highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot. In many high/low games, it is possible to win the entire pot by having the highest and the lowest hand (accomplished via wild cards, or by using different sets of 5 cards), but only if you declare that you're trying for both. If you try for both but don't win both (that is, someone else has the highest or the lowest hand), you win neither. When playing high/low, hands are compared against all other hands, not just the hands which are going the same way. Thus, if someone going high has a better low hand than all of the people going low, nobody going low wins (so the high hand gets the whole pot). If someone goes for both and fails, say by winning high but losing low, the high half of the pot goes to the low winner-- it doesn't go the second best high hand.
In The Hole : See 'Down'.
Natural : Without wild cards.
Perfect low : A perfect low is usually A-2-3-4-6. However, it can also be A-2-3-4-5 if you play that straights don't count when you go low, or it can be 2-3-4-5-7 if you play that Aces are always high, or 2-3-4-5-6 if you play both of the above.
Rank : Value of a card. There are 13 ranks in a deck of cards.
Roll : Flip a down card up.
Rolling Showdown : A showdown in which cards are stacked and revealed one at a time with a round of betting after each card is revealed.
Rotating Bet : Each round of betting starts with the next player clockwise. Typically, the player to the left of the dealer starts the first betting round. The 2nd round would thus be started by the player to his left, and so forth.
Showdown : The process of revealing hands and determining the winner.
Tap Out : This happens whenever a player bets all of his or her remaining money. If only that player and one other are still playing the hand, then the remaining cards for the hand are dealt out and no more bets are placed. If more than two players are still playing the hand, then a separate pot is created to hold the bets for the players who are not 'Tapped Out'. Betting continues as normal for those other players in the new pot. When the hand is over, if the player who tapped out wins, then that player gets the first pot and the player with the second highest hand gets the second pot. If the player who tapped out does not win the hand, then the winning player get both pots. Also known as 'All In'.
Trick : A set of cards, one card from each player, played one at a time in sequence around the table. Tricks are usually found in games like Hearts and Bridge, not in true Poker games.
Trump : One suit which is stronger than other suits. The lowest ranking card of a trump suit beats the highest ranking card of any other suit. Trump suits are used in trick-taking games and are not found in true Poker games.
Up : Face up, so that the value of the card is showing.
Bugs : Jokers that can represent any card if it helps accomplish a straight or a flush, but represent only aces (of any suit) if it goes towards some other kind of hand.
Now you know the basic rules you need to practice and get used to how the game is played. Take a look at our recommended poker websites and register with a site. Don’t go spending your money yet – watch some games and play at the free play tables. Once you get used to how the game plays, well… Prepare for fun, tension and amazingly exhilarating moments!
©Before-Buying.co.uk 2006
