How to play Poker
Just like blackjack, poker is one of the most popular card games in the world. This card game is so popular that it ranges from people playing it online with real bets to poker Saturdays (or a day of your choice) where a group of friends enjoys evenings. And we don’t have the data on whether people who play for fun include real bets. However, poker is truly a beloved one when it comes to cards and the question “How to play poker” arises to everyone who wants to join in on the fun. At one point, Facebook gained sign-ups only because people tried to compete at the famous online poker game Texas Hold’em Poker with millions of users.
Let’s go through a brief history of the game of poker before we delve into how to play poker.
Some historians argue that the game has roots spreading over 1000 years ranging from China to Persia. According to History.com, Poker’s closest European predecessor was Poque, which caught on in France in the 17th century. Poque and its German equivalent, pochen, were both based on the 16th-century Spanish game primero, which featured three cards dealt with each player and bluffing (or betting high on poor cards) as a key part of the game. French colonists brought Poque to their settlements in North America, including New Orleans and the surrounding area, which became part of the United States thanks to the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. English-speaking settlers in the region Anglicized Poque to poker and adopted features of the modern game, including five cards for each poker player and (by 1834) a 52-card deck.
From there, poker spread up the Mississippi River and throughout the country, thanks in part to its popularity among crews of riverboats transporting goods via that great waterway. Throughout history, the rules in poker have changed and now the rules on how to play poker are quite unified universally.
Today, you can learn how to play poker from all these free lessons with tips for beginners, strategy articles, videos, online games and casinos on the web. This blog will teach you how to play poker and will lead you through some of the winning poker strategies.
Rules how to Play Poker – Poker Strategy
Winning poker starts by learning the fundamentals of how to play poker. A poker game consists of a dealer, a poker table and opponents which can vary from two to fourteen. However, most poker games include six to eight players on a table. In Poker, the standard 52 card deck with aces and such is used.
The dealer will draw cards every time and then he deals each player with two cards at the beginning of the game. The players do not uncover their cards at any time during the gameplay.
In case you have already thought about “what is a poker face” and why do people keep using the phrase poker face, well let’s say that one of the most important parts of how to play poker is the poker face. It’s simple, you must keep a straight face that would make the other players which are naturally your opponents think you have a really good poker hand and brush your way to the win easily, or plan your moves and do facial expressions that would make another player think that you have a very weak hand and that they need to bet or raise.
Now let’s move on to the dealer and the table. We will go with an example of a dealer and three players. Before the dealer deals the cards for the hands to play, the players will initiate starting bets (commonly using chips) which are called blinds, and serve as an incentive to win the game. The player who bets on the left of the dealer is called a small blind. And the player on his left is called a big blind which basically means a doubled bet.
Once the starting bets are made in the game, the dealer will deal each player two cards. At this point, the third player must decide what of the four most popular moves (or to say terms) he is going to use in the game.
Most likely, you are familiar with the terms: fold, call and raise even if you are not really sure how to play poker.
Fold – You say fold if you don’t want to match the other players’ bets and after this, you turn your cards to the dealer’s face down. It is interesting that in poker you can have many poker hands where you don’t lose any money.
Call – To call in poker means to match the bet in chips made from the player before you. If you say call, the action keeps moving clockwise until it comes to the next player.
Raise – To raise in poker means that you double the bet made before you while playing. So, basically, if there was a 10$ bet before you, you would bet 20$ in chips if you raised. To raise in poker is pretty much an aggressive and bold move.
If you make the other players fold, you have the winning hand. Otherwise, if everyone has committed the same amount of bets, that is where the round of betting ends, and all of the money goes into the pot and it is going to be played out in the ending. Just to clear things out in case you are wondering what is the pot, the pot is the sum of money the players waged in the hand.
The Flop
After the first round, the dealer will draw three cards on the table. This is called the flop. However many players who are actually playing can use the three dealt cards from the flop to construct a five cards hand. Whilst observing the cards, the players start building their own optimal win poker strategy for the second betting round.
At this stage, you can check, a move that we haven’t discussed so far. Checking is when there is no action while playing poker, but at the same time you don’t want to contribute any money to the pot, but you want to stay in the pot with your hand as well. So, if you check, the action goes to the next player in position. Let’s say the second player checks also. So, now, the third player may want to include some dynamics and decide to bet which would be an amount equal to the last bet made.
The betting then moves to the next player who is offered the three options: to fold, to call, or to raise. Let’s say the player decides to call the bet which means he evened the bet.
At this point, the second player has calculated that he doesn’t have such a strong hand in the long run so he opts out, or in poker glossary, he folds. So with two equal bets, the round ends and the pot just keeps on growing.
The Turn
The next thing is called the turn. The turn is the name of the second betting round where the dealer will draw the fourth card to the table. When players see the fourth card dealt, they immediately analyze and plan their betting strategy for the round depending on the strength of their poker hand.
Just to keep things running, let’s say the third player raises his bet. Now, the remaining first player is left with the option to either match the bet, raise, or fold. And let’s say he calls the bet. Now we have a nice amount of chips collected in the pot.
The River
The River is the third and the last post-flop betting round where the last card of the five cards is dealt on the table. To some players, the river brings ultimate luck.
At this point, let’s say both players decide to check because they want to play safely and are not very keen on their cards. So, the dealer now reveals the players’ cards and we get to know the winner.
With this, we’ve covered the essential betting strategies and rounds in poker. Now, let’s go through some important poker tips that will help you build your betting strategy and we will explore the winning combinations. Hopefully, you will be confident after this article and you can start teaching folks how to play poker in case they need to learn, but what is even better, you will collect the pot.
Burning cards
In each of the betting rounds (The Flop, The Turn, The River), the dealer burns one card. That means he will draw a card out of the deck and he leaves it on the table face down. If you pay close attention to the cards, you may even calculate probabilities and start your win strategy from there. Definitely a wise tip!
Winning poker cards
Now that we have met the rules, to learn how to play poker, you must have a detailed insight on what are the winning poker cards while playing a hand.
High Card (cards) – High Card is the weakest hand in Omaha Hold’em, Texas Hold’em poker, or whatever poker, you name it. It is called nothing. You basically have one high card in position, and every other card is of lower value. No pairs, literally nothing. No guide on how to play poker will be able to help you out of this misfortune.
Pair () – Pair means you have 2 same cards in position plus 3 other unmatched cards.
2 pair – 2 pair hand consists of two cards from one rank, and two cards from another rank plus an unmatched card.
3 of a kind – 3 of a kind means that you have three kinds from the same rank but different suits, plus 2 other unmatched cards.
Straight – Straight is a set of 5 cards of consecutive rank but from more than one suit.
Flush – A flush consists of any 5 cards from the same suit.
Full house – A full house consists of 3 matching cards from one suit and 2 matching cards from another suit.
4 of a kind – 4 of a kind means that you have 4 cards with the same rank, different suit of course plus one unmatched card.
Straight flush – A straight flush consists of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit.
Royal flush – The Royal flush has a 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of the same suit. This is a more than solid combination, so we advise, go all in. We hope you win poker every time with this one.
This cheat sheet will help you a lot in your strategies on how to play poker.
What is the difference between Omaha and Texas Hold’em poker?
Don’t be confused. You will find a lot of poker versions out there which also influence subjects on how to play poker in general since they differ more or less from each other. In this article we covered Texas Hold’em Poker, but for your convenience, we will meet you with Omaha poker as well. So, think of poker as a language with different dialects. Omaha hold’em doesn’t drastically change the way how to play poker though.
According to Wikipedia Omaha hold ’em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold ’em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. Limit Omaha hold ’em 8-or-better is the “O” game featured in H.O.R.S.E. Both limit Omaha/8 and pot-limit Omaha high are featured in the 8-Game.
H.O.R.S.E is a multi-game form of poker commonly played at the high-stakes tables of casinos and in tournaments. It is most often played in a limit format, but can be played with other betting structures. The format consists of rounds of play cycling among:
- Texas Hold ’em,
- Omaha hi-low split-eight or better,
- Razz,
- Seven card Stud, and
- Seven card stud hi-low split-Eight or better.
Where to find the best poker players – Poker tips
Another way to learn how to play poker long-term is to follow the best poker players in the world. We suggest you start following the global Poker Index where you can find aces from all over the world, you can see their rankings, earned money, the casinos they play at and much more. Every skill is taught. One of the best ways to learn how to play poker is to simply follow the best.
Where to find poker games online?
There are numerous gaming websites where poker is played. You can test your poker skills at a lot of online poker games. Both free and paid competitions. One of the most famous poker games online is the Texas Hold’em poker on Facebook. Facebook’s Texas Hold’em Poker allows you to play against users from all around the world. Best of luck in winning poker online!
But, if you want to try your luck and try to fill up the bank account, you can always look for poker games and reviews on Guru Casino Bonus at real online casinos. Just type poker in the query box and check out the latest games, reviews and recommendations on where to play poker online. This way you will learn how to play poker fast!
Thank you for staying throughout this article and best of luck in becoming one of the best poker players after you learned how to play poker with us!
Here are some of our top casino recommendations where you can play online poker:
