Basic Poker Rules for Beginners

Do you want to learn how to play poker? Well, before you can understand Poker Strategies, you must know the basic poker rules and how it operates first. While there are additions of different rules in different variants of poker games, this guide takes you through the basic poker rules that you need to know if you are looking to learn how to Play Poker Online in India.

How to Win?

The winner of each hand in poker is the player who has the highest-ranked hand at the time of showdown (when all cards are shown). However, a showdown is not needed if a player makes the last uncalled bet. If you are unfamiliar with the correct poker sequence or need a quick brush up on the poker hands sequence then here’s the descending order of hands in poker.

Hands in Poker

ROYAL FLUSH

STRAIGHT FLUSH

FOUR OF A KIND

FULL HOUSE

FLUSH

K

10

STRAIGHT

THREE OF A KIND

4

TWO PAIRS

J

PAIR

Q

6

5

HIGH CARD

A

9

2

7

3

The Basics: How to make hands

In every poker game variant, you are dealt with your own private cards (two in Texas Holdem, 4 in Omaha, 5 in 5-card Omaha and 6 in 6-card Omaha respectively) and 5 community cards that are open for all players to use, also known as ‘board’ (3 on the flop, 1 on the turn, and 1 on the river) which can be used in combination to the cards in hands or hole cards to make the best 5-card hand as per the poker hands sequence.

– Two of the most popular poker game variants are Texas Holdem and Omaha which have identical betting structures, i.e. four rounds of betting (pre-flop, flop, turn, river)

Getting started

A poker game generally begins with a forced bet, such as small blind, big blind, straddle. These bets are a part of the pot in any given hand of poker and action arising (betting) in the subsequent rounds further adds to the size of the pot.

Actions

In poker, you have to take action on your turn. In a poker game, you can choose one of the following actions on your turn.

– CHECK: If you “check,” you refuse to open the betting. If all players check, the round is considered to be complete.

– BET: You call “bet” if no bets have been placed in the round. Once you bet, other players have to match the bet amount to remain in hand.

– FOLD: If you call “fold,” you cannot act in the hand again.

– CALL: You can call if there is already a bet made in the round to match the current highest bet made.

– RAISE: If you raise, you match the highest bet of the round, and make a bid greater than the existing highest bid.

Showdown

After calling the last raise, playpokerplayonline.com the showdown will occur. In the showdown, all the remaining active players declare their hands, and the player with the highest-ranked hands wins the pot.