Crash Course to Poker:

The Basics:

• Poker is played from a pack of 52 cards. The cards are ranked from high to low. (Ace, King, Queen, Jack 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2, Ace) Ace can be ranked as high and low.
• All four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades have equal ranking.
• Poker hands contain 5 cards.
• The highest hand is the winner.

 

Ranks: The hands are ranked from high to low as shown:

• Five of a Kind
• Straight Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Pair
• High Card

 

Betting: To begin with you put down your stake in the middle of the table (this becomes the ‘pot’). The cards are now dealt. When it’s your turn to bet you have one of three choices:

1. Call: You bet enough to match what was bet the last time you bet. (for example if you bet 50p and somebody else bet £1.00, you would owe £ 50p)

2. Raise: To raise you would first need to bet enough to match what has been bet since last time (i.e. ‘call.’) for instance, if you had bet 50p and your opponent raised you 20p (making a total of 70p). You may choose to raise 30p (making a total of £1.00) as you already owed the pot 50p for calling and 30p for you raise. You would need to put 80p in the pot.

3.       Fall: If you choose to fold, then it means you choose to drop out of the current hand. This means you have no chance of winning the pot and you also don’t have to put any money into the pot. The bets continue until everyone calls or folds. At the end, the highest hand that hasn’t folded, wins the pot.

Play Poker Online: Now that you know the basics why not try your hand at playing. Once you sign up and make a deposit, most poker rooms will double your deposit for you. Look out for deposit codes to take full advantage of this exciting offer.