WHAT ARE THE RULES OF POKER? LEARN POKER RULES

Poker is one of the most-played online casino games in the world and will likely continue to be so for many years to come. Nowadays, players will find many different poker variants available at online casinos, but the foundation of these games remains the same.

Thanks to this article, we will give you a full overview of the rules of poker to help you build up your poker knowledge and set off on a poker adventure of a lifetime.

LEARN HOW TO PLAY POKER: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Whether you want to try out some home poker games or cash games at your favourite casino, the basis of poker is the same. Granted, there are some complicated poker games out there, but for the purpose of this post, we’ll stick to the traditional Texas hold’em.

Texas hold’em is one of the most popular poker variants out there. Not only is it extremely enjoyable to play, but it is quite easy to get accustomed to once you’ve racked up some experience.

Here’s how the action in Texas hold’em unfolds:

• The dealer deals two hole cards to the remaining players.
• The forced bets (the big blind and the small blind) are placed. The first round of betting occurs, in which players bet, check or raise depending on the hand dealt. Players can also choose to fold — discarding their hands and abandoning the game round.
• After that, the dealer deals three community cards, face up.
• The second round of betting will occur.
• The dealer deals the fourth community card, known as the ‘turn’.
• The third betting round will occur.
• The dealer deals the fifth and final card. The fifth card is known as the ‘river’.
• The final round of betting will occur.
• The remaining players will check or place their bets. After that, they will reveal their hands.
• The strongest hand wins the pot.

MOST IMPORTANT POKER RULES

Having covered the basic poker rules, we will now touch on other poker rules that you should keep in mind while you play poker. These basic rules apply to many poker games out there, if not all of them.

DON’T WAGER MONEY THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE

When playing cash games, it’s really important to avoid betting money that you cannot afford to lose. Poker can be a very volatile game, which means that you might find your hand losing out to much better ones out of the blue.

You should establish a budget and stick to it, no matter what cash game you play. Keep in mind that you have no reason to bet equal to your peers if you cannot afford to.

DON’T TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY

As tends to happen in almost every player-versus-player game out there, playing poker can often lead to something of an ego war in which players constantly try to get the better of one another. This is often a result of players letting their emotions run loose, and as can be expected, this rarely ends well for them.

We don’t really blame you if an ego war is doing your head in. Indeed, it can be very frustrating to lose a few poker hands to the same player, even if you thought that the pot odds were in your favour. Having said that, the golden rule that every player should learn before starting to play poker is to separate their emotions from the table.

STUDY YOUR OPPONENTS

In order to predict the strength — or lack thereof — of your opponent’s hands, you’ll have to closely examine your opponents overall behaviour. A great time to do this is when you have folded your hand, but this must be done throughout the entirety of the poker session.

Instead of giving in to boredom, put that downtime to good use by taking a closer look at your opponents’ actions. Pay attention to when they tend to raise and if they prefer slow playing strong hands or not. These small crumbs of information might prove to be invaluable in future streets, when you could possibly face off with them for some big pots.

DON’T PLAY POKER WHEN NOT IN THE MOOD

Online poker is a very demanding game, and our mental game tends to not always be up for it on any given day. Forcing your way to a poker game after a bad day is rarely a good idea since you’ll be tempted to play aggressively regardless of whether the situation calls for it. This will inevitably lead to your bankroll paying a very avoidable price.

Before looking to play poker, we would advise making a status check to see where you’re at emotionally. Are you still tilted about yesterday’s poker game? Are you finding it hard to separate frustrating life events from poker games? In both cases, we would advise against playing. Do not disregard your mental game, since your poker chips will pay the consequence if you do!

VARIANTS OF POKER

Texas hold’em constitutes a large part of the poker world, but there are many other variants out there deserving of a mention.

First off, let’s have a look at the different kinds of betting limits that some variants might have. Betting limits refer to the minimum or maximum amount a player can bet and raise in a game round.

Due to the number of poker variants available online, the betting limit is not a universal value. That said, poker games generally fall into one of the following categories of table stakes:

• No-Limit betting — In this betting structure, there is no set limit on bets and raises. Essentially, players can bet and raise as they wish.
• Pot-Limit — Pot-limit games restrict betting to the size of the pot. Players are free to raise and bet as they wish, but the maximum allowed bet cannot exceed the value of the pot. Pot-limit Omaha is a very popular pot-limit game.
• Fixed-Limit — All bets and raises cannot exceed a specific amount in any given round. As the name suggests, all bets are fixed in Fixed-limit games.

No matter which online poker game you choose to play, it is important that you familiarise yourself with the game’s rules, special mechanics and bonus bets (if there are any).

Poker is one of the few casino games that involves a certain level of skill to play, making it less hospitable for beginners than other online tables. That said, you can always try and test a few HotSlots online poker tables for free in the demo mode, to help get your poker skills up to snuff.

OMAHA POKER

Texas hold’em and Omaha hold’em are similar in quite a lot of ways, which is why we’ve decided to explain it before moving on to more different poker variations.

First off, the most glaring difference between Texas and Omaha hold’em is that each player is dealt four hole cards instead of two, whereas the four rounds of betting are identical. At showdown, players will compare their hands, but only specific combinations of hole cards and community cards are accepted. Players have to use at least two of the four hole cards to make their final hand.

BETTING ROUNDS

Overall, the action in Omaha poker isn’t tough for new players to grasp, especially if they’ve had experience with Texas hold’em in the past. The two forced bets are placed in what is called ‘preflop’. After that, the first three community cards are dealt.

The second round of betting occurs, after which the players still in the hand decide how to act. The third betting round then comes along, and the fourth community card is dealt. When the fifth and final community card is dealt, the final round of betting begins and players still active will reveal their hands.

SEVEN-CARD STUD POKER

One of the oldest poker games of all time is none other than Seven-card Stud poker. This poker game is said to have been around since the mid-1800s, and although its popularity has dipped in recent decades, Seven-card Stud will always be a classic that attracts die-hard fans of the game.

Let’s start off with the basics. Seven-card Stud poker is a community card game in which players are dealt their own individual board of seven cards each—which is the reason why a maximum of eight people can play the game and not more. Similarly to Texas hold’em, the best five-card hand wins the pot.

BETTING ROUNDS

Seven-card Stud kicks things off without the forced bets. Once players place an ante at the start of the hand, they will be dealt two hole cards and one face-up card. The player with the worst upcard of the table must place what is called the ‘bring-in bet’, which is simply a forced bet.

The bring-in (the player who places the forced bet) will act first by putting the minimum bet, or any wager within the predetermined betting limits. The option to fold is always available.

In the following street, the fourth face-up card is dealt to each active player, but this time, it is the player with the best upcard who acts first. By that point, every active player will have four upcards and two hole cards. Players with no hand draws usually fold at this point in the street, since it is unlikely that they will be able to compete at showdown.

The fifth and final betting round (known as the ‘river betting round’) is when the player with the best five-card hand wins the pot according to the standard poker hand rankings. Seeing as seven cards are dealt to each player, players can only use five cards to make their best hand.

Another important point to be wary of is that, in Seven-card Stud, suits are important when it comes to deciding the bring in. The suit ranking is as follows (starting from the strongest to the weakest): spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.

FIVE-CARD DRAW POKER

Five-card draw is one of the draw poker games that are really worth explaining. As happens in Texas hold’em, Five-card draw includes two obligatory bets through the big and small blind to get the action going. After that, players are dealt five cards.

BETTING ROUNDS

The first round of betting resembles that of Texas hold’em too, in that players have the option to fold, call or raise before the next round of the game begins. Players then have the option to dispose of any number of cards dealt to them. Said cards will be replaced by the dealer and another betting round begins.

Once the second round of betting is complete, the showdown begins. At this stage, players will compare their hands with one another. The best five-card hand will win the pot. Should a player place a bet and no other player call, said player will win the pot without having to compare their hand with others.

To sum it all up, Five-card draw poker resembles Texas hold’em in more ways than one — the most significant similarity being the same poker hand rankings. This poker variant is easy to learn and very fun to play, thus making it a very attractive option for poker players who want to branch out into new poker variations.

POKER BETTING OPTIONS

Most poker variants follow a very linear betting structure. Chances are that playing one particular poker game for a while will help you understand how most games work in terms of betting rounds and the possible actions a player can make.

The rules we’re about to describe are true to Texas hold’em, but many other poker games share the same betting layout.

A round of betting commences once all cards have been dealt; that is, two hole cards for each player who progresses to the card draw. Once the betting time expires, players will be able to take the following actions:

• Check — Pass the action to the next player without placing a wager. You can only check when a bet hasn’t been placed yet.
• Bet — If a bet hasn’t already been placed, you can choose to place your own wager. And, once you’ve placed your bet, other players must respond.
• Fold — By folding, you automatically forfeit your own hand and withdraw from the round.
• Call — Respond to another player’s bet by matching it.
• Raise — Respond to another player’s bet by raising the stake.

Not all actions are available during every betting round, which is why reading through the game rules before playing is imperative.

As you can see, online poker games offer pretty similar gameplay to the classic game. Tables like Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold ‘em poker also have an identical game structure, consisting of:

• The preflop — Begins when all punters receive their hole cards before community cards are dealt.
• The flop — Commences after the three community cards are dealt.
• The turn — Commences after the fourth community card is dealt.
• The river — Begins once the final community card is placed on the table.

In each game round, players will be given the option to carry out one of the above-mentioned actions until only one player is left standing.

POKER HAND RANKINGS

The standard poker hand rankings are a must-know for any serious poker player. Although you don’t really have to memorise them from the get-go, keeping a list of poker hands next to you while you play poker is a good way to learn them.

Another thing worth noting is that the traditional hand rankings make use of community cards. If you’re not playing a community card game, these rankings will not apply.

Here are the Texas hold’em poker hands rankings, starting from the strongest to the weakest:

• Royal Flush — consisting of the five consecutive cards A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit, a royal flush is the best poker hand. This hand beats all the others, and it can only tie with another royal flush.
• Straight Flush — consisting of five consecutive cards of the same suit — is the second-best hand. A straight flush beats all the other hands except for a royal flush and a higher straight flush.
• Four Of A Kind — also referred to as quads, features four cards of the same rank, such as four nines.
• Full house — is made up of three of a kind combined with a pair of a different rank. For example, three eights and two aces would make a full house.
• Flush — consists of five cards of the same suit, but they must not be consecutive cards.
• Straight — A straight poker hand consists of five consecutive cards of different suits. For example, a K-Q-J-10-9 of different suits would make a straight poker hand.
• Three Of A Kind — three cards of the same rank are required to make a three of a kind, which only beats three other hands: a two pair, a pair and a high card.
• Two Pairs — a two pair consists of one pair of the same rank and another pair of another rank. A two pair beats any one pair as well as high cards.
• One Pair — A pair simply consists of two cards of identical rank, such as two queens. A one pair beats a high card and, at most, a one pair of a lower rank.
• High Card — a high card is the worst hand possible. It is made up of five cards that don’t form any of the hands listed above.

DEALER BUTTON AND BLINDS

In an attempt to up the table stakes, poker features two forced bets: the big blind and the small blind. These are called ‘ante bets’.

Unfortunately, there is no way to weasel out of any forced bet, even if you don’t like the hand you’ve been dealt. Should you fold after having placed either the small or big blind, you will have lost the money.

The big blind is placed by the player two positions clockwise from the dealer, with the small blind coming right after that.

Both the big blind and the small blind are placed preflop, when no community cards have been dealt. The former usually costs twice as much as the latter.

RULES IN POKER TOURNAMENTS

The poker rules in tournaments practically mirror the basic rules in any poker cash game. The difference? There is a predetermined objective with which a tournament ends; that is, the player holding all the chips at the table will be the winner.

Moreover, players are knocked out if their chip stack is depleted, unlike what happens in traditional card games, where a re-buy suffices to keep players in the game.

Among the tournament poker rules that deserve a mention are the potential wagering restrictions. This is called ‘spread limit’, where players will only be allowed to bet between a specific range. This will affect not only the initial bet but also the size of the pot as a whole.