POKER


Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, after which the pot is awarded to the remaining player or players with the best combination of cards.
In order to play, one must learn the basic rules and procedures of the game, the values of the various combinations of cards (see hand), and the rules about betting limits (see betting). Some knowledge of the equipment used to play (see Poker equipment) is useful. There are also many variants of poker, loosely categorized as draw poker, stud poker, community card poker (a.k.a. "widow game"), and miscellaneous poker games. The most commonly played games of the first three categories are five-card draw, seven-card stud, and Texas hold 'em, respectively; each being a common starting point for learning games of the type. Dealer's choice is a way to play poker where the dealer chooses what type of poker to play.

Gameplay

The game of poker is played in hundreds of variations, but the following overview of game play applies to most of them. Depending on the game rules, one or more players may be required to place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. These are called forced bets and come in three forms: antes, blinds, and bring-ins.
Like most card games, the dealer shuffles the deck of cards. The deck is then cut, and the appropriate number of cards are dealt face-down to the players. In a home game, the right to deal the cards typically rotates among the players clockwise, whose position is often marked by a button (any small item used as a marker, also called a buck). In a casino a "house" dealer handles the cards for each hand, but a button is still rotated among the players to determine the order of dealing and betting in some games.
After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. During a round of betting, there will always be a current bet amount, which is the total amount of money bet in this round by the player who bet last in this round. To keep better track of this, it is conventional for players to not place their bets directly into the pot (called splashing the pot), but rather place them in front of themselves toward the pot, until the betting round is over. When the round is over, the bets are then gathered into the pot.
After the first betting round is complete because every player called an equal amount, there may be more rounds in which more cards are dealt in various ways, followed by further rounds of betting (into the same central pot). At any time during the first or subsequent betting rounds, if one player makes a bet and all other players fold, the deal ends immediately, the single remaining player is awarded the pot, no cards are shown, no more rounds are dealt, and the next deal begins. This is what makes it possible to bluff.
At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the poker variant being played wins the pot. Some deals may not reach the showdown phase if all players drop out except one.

THE HANDS

Only 5-card hands are compared in poker, "three pair" or "6-straight" hands are not included in the ranking system. Most commonly, the ranking of hands is according to the following hierarchy. Hands are classified in the highest category for which they qualify.

Royal flush: A straight flush that is ace-high. Example: A? K? Q? J? 10?
Straight flush: Five cards in sequence and of the same suit. Example: Q? J? 10? 9? 8?
Four of a kind: A hand with four cards of the same rank. Example: 4? 4? 4? 4? 9?
Full house: A hand with three cards of one rank and two of another. Example: 8? 8? 8? K? K?
Flush: Five cards of the same suit. Example: K? J? 8? 4? 3?
Straight: Five cards in sequence. (The ace can be considered higher than the king, or lower than the two.) Example: 5? 4? 3? 2? A?
Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank. Example: 7? 7? 7? K? 2?
Two pair: Two cards of one rank, two of another. Example: A? A? 8? 8? Q?
One pair: Two cards of the same rank. Example: 9? 9? A? J? 4?
No pair: Also known as a high card hand. The following example is considered "Ace high." Example: A? 10? 9? 5? 4?
An additional hand type, five of a kind, exists when wild cards are used.

Without wild cards, the probability distribution for 5-card hands is as follows:

Hand Probability


Royal flush 4 in 2,598,960 = 0 .000154%
Straight flush (not Royal) 36 in 2,598,960 = 0 .00139%
Four of a kind 624 in 2,598,960 = 0 .0240%
Full house 3,744 in 2,598,960 = 0 .144%
Flush 5,108 in 2,598,960 = 0 .197%
Straight 10,200 in 2,598,960 = 0 .392%
Three of a kind 54,912 in 2,598,960 = 2 .11%
Two pair 123,552 in 2,598,960 = 4 .75%
One pair 1,098,240 in 2,598,960 = 42 .26%
No pair 1,302,540 in 2,598,960 = 50 .12%
TOTAL 2,598,960 in 2,598,960 = 100 .00%
When ace-low straights and straight flushes are not counted, the probabilities of each are reduced: straights and straight flushes become 9/10 as common as they otherwise would be.

Some games called lowball or low poker are played where players strive not for the highest ranking of the above combinations but for the lowest ranking hand. There are three methods of ranking low hands, called Ace-to-five low, Deuce-to-seven low, and Ace-to-six low. The ace-to-five method is most common.

Certain variants use hands of only three cards, either high or low. Three-card low hands can be ranked by any of the three methods above, although with three cards they become ace-to-three (rather than ace-to-five), deuce-to-five, and ace-to-four. The ace-to-three method is the most common, just as the ace-to-five method is most common method for five cards. Three-card high hands are ranked in one of two ways: either with or without straights and flushes. Without (which is the most common, and used such games as Chinese poker), the hands are simply no pair, one pair, and three of a kind. If you add straights and flushes, the order of hands should be changed to reflect the correct probabilities: no pair, one pair, flush, straight, three of a kind, straight flush. This order is used, for example, in Mambo stud.

Some poker games are played with a deck that has been stripped of certain cards, usually low-ranking ones. For example, the Australian game of Manila uses a 32-card deck in which all cards below the rank of 7 are removed, and Mexican stud removes the 8s, 9s, and 10s. In both of these games, a flush ranks above a full house, because having fewer cards of each suit available makes flushes rarer.

Some games add one or more unconventional hands, or have special exceptions to the rules above. For example, in the game of Pai gow poker as played in Nevada, a Wheel (poker) (5-4-3-2-A) ranks above a king-high straight, but below an ace-high straight. This is not the case in California, where the nearly identical game is played under the name Double-hand poker using traditional hand values.

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