Poker is a fine old card game, best played with 5-10 players, although as few as 2 and as many as 12 are still able to play a hand of poker together. There is the gambling of money involved, the object of the game being to win as much of it as possible. In order to win a pot, you must be the player with the highest-ranked hand still in the game at the end of the final round of betting.
One of the first and most important concepts to grasp before playing poker is the ranking of poker hands. Poker hands are ranked according to the mathematical probability of holding a given hand. From lowest to highest (or, the hand with the highest probability of being dealt to the hand with the lowest probability of being dealt), they are:
1) High Card: If you do not have anything in your hand, then your best hand is the highest card in your hand. For example, a King-high means that the King is the highest card in your hand and you cannot make a higher-ranked hand.
2) One Pair: Two of your cards are of the same rank (e.g. two jacks). If two or more players at the showdown are both holding pairs and no higher-ranked hands are showing, the highest-ranked pair wins.
3) Two Pairs: Having two separate pairs in your hand (e.g. two jacks and two four's). As with one pair, if two or more players have two pairs in their respective hands, the rank of each pair will determine the winner (the player with the highest-ranked pair).
4) Three-Of-A-Kind (a.k.a. Trips): Having three cards in your hand of the same rank (e.g. three queens). As with pairs, in the case of two or more trips showing in a showdown, the highest-rank three-of-a-kind wins.
5) Straight: All five of your cards follow a consecutive numerical order. For example, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King; or Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5. The cards do not have to be of the same suit. If two or more straights are showing in the showdown, the straight with the highest-ranked card in it will in (for example, a 8-9-10-J-Q straight beats a 4-5-6-7-8 straight). If two or more players share the highest-ranked card in their hand, the winner will be the player with the highest-ranked card not shared by the other player(s).
6) Flush: All five of your cards are of the same suit (for example, all diamonds). The cards do not have to be in any numerical order (in other words, a hand consisting of the Ace of diamonds, five of diamonds, seven of diamonds, Queen of diamonds and nine of diamonds is still considered to be a flush). In the case of two or more flushes in a showdown, the flush with the highest-ranked card will win (e.g., an Ace-high flush will win over all other flushes). As with the straight, if two or more players share the highest-ranked card in their hand, the winner will be the player with the highest-ranked hand not shared by the other player(s).
7) Full House: The player has both a pair and a separate three-of-a-kind in their hand (for example, a pair of Jacks and 3 ten's). The highest-ranked three-of-a-kind would win in the case of two or more full houses in a showdown.
8) Four-Of-A-Kind: Your hand has four cards of the same rank.
9) Straight Flush: Your hand consisted of five cards of the same suit in consecutive order. For example, a 10, Jack, Queen, King, Aces of Spades (the particular hand in this example is known as the royal flush and is the highest-possible hand a player can hold in a game with no wild cards).
The Mile End Poker Society pays out a Straight Flush jackpot to any natural (no wild cards or bugs) straight flush played. The jackpot consists of whatever extra money was left over from previous games and has ranged as low as $0.00 and as high as $20.00 or something like that.
10) Five-Of-A-Kind: In some games, the inclusion of a joker or a wild card makes it possible to hold five cards of the same rank (e.g. five aces).
xx) The Hong Kong Triple:* This hand is three pairs - for example, two 3's, two Jacks and two 10's. The Hong Kong Triple counts most typically as only two pair and not three, because in order to hold three pair you would have to be permitted to hold a six-card hand in the showdown, which is one card too many for almost all variations of poker.
Knowing the ranking of poker hands by heart is one of the first and most important skills a poker player must acquire.
While there are endless variations of poker games, they tend to fall into three basic categories:
1) Draw Poker
In draw poker, each player receives a number of face-down cards from the dealer (usually five cards). A round of betting follows. Then players are permitted to discard one or more of the cards they were dealt and exchange them for new cards, in the hopes of improving their hand. Each discard round (if there is more than one) is followed by a round of betting. When all discard rounds and subsequent betting rounds are complete, the remaining players showdown for the pot.
2) Stud Poker:
In stud poker, each player is given a number of cards from the dealer - some will be face-down and some will be face-up (the number and order of each depends on the type of stud poker being played). Every time players are dealt new cards, a round of betting follows. When no more cards are forthcoming and all betting rounds are complete, the remaining players showdown for the pot.
One thing to bear in mind with Stud Poker is that the player with the highest-ranked hand showing from their face-up cards starts each round of betting. This is different from other forms of poker, where the first option to bet goes to the player to the dealer's immediate left (except in the first round of betting in a game with blinds - in that case the player to the immediate left of the player who put in the large blind has the first option to bet). As more face-up cards are dealt, the player with the first option to bet often changes as the highest face-up hand changes. After the player with the highest face-up hand excercizes their betting option, the action moves in a clockwise direction starting with the player to the immediate left.
3) Community Cards Poker:
In community cards games (like Texas Hold 'Em, the most popular type), players are dealt a quantity of face-down cards ("pocket" cards). Then, the dealer will deal out a number of face-up cards in the middle of the table (in Texas Hold 'Em, the sequence is a"flop" of three face-up cards, followed by a "fourth" street of one face-up card, followed by a "fifth street" of one more face-up card). Players share the face-up cards in the middle of the table - that is, the face-up cards in the middle of the table are considered to be in the hands of each player (hence, the term "community cards"). The player who holds the most valuable hand based on a combination of his "pocket" cards and the "community" cards and who has not folded by the end of the betting wins.
In addition, most poker games can be altered to play as follows:
a) Low-Ball:
Practically any poker game can be played as a "lowball" game, in which the player with the lowest-ranked hand at the end of the game is determined to be the winner.
b) High-Low:
In a high-low game, the player with the highest-ranked hand at the end of the game splits the pot with the player with the lowest-ranked hand. It is possible in some high-low games for a single player to hold both the highest and lowest hands, entitling them to the entire pot.
c) Wild Cards:
A dealer may include one or more Jokers in the deck before the cards are dealt, or they may declare in advance of dealing the cards that certain cards will be "wild" or "bugs".
A wild card is a card whose rank can be chosen by the player holding it. For instance, if the dealer declares that queens are wild, then any player holding a queen can use that card as any card they need to complete their best possible hand.
A bug is similar to a wild card, but with more restrictions. The Mile End Poker Society considers a bug to be playable only as a King or an Ace, or to complete a straight, a flush, or a straight flush.
At Mile End Poker Society meetings, the dealer determines what variation of poker will be played, but must declare the version being played before the cards are dealt. After the dealer calls the game and cards are dealt, they are not permitted to change their minds about the game called nor the rules used to play the game called.
Most poker games set a minimum amount of chips that players must buy to participate in the game. Currently, The Mile End Poker Society has a $20.00 minimum buy-in.
However, a buy-in does not imply how much money a player must gamble, only the minimum amount they are allowed to bring to the table. A player could conceivably only put in forced bets (antes and blinds) and fold whenever betting is optional. In fact, this may be a good strategy for the rookie player in order to give them time to grow accustomed to the game.
If a player is running low on chips, most games will permit them to re-buy a new amount of chips. However, they must normally wait until a hand is complete before buying in again. Few games will permit a player to interupt play of a live hand to buy more chips.
An ante or a blind is a forced bet required of either all players or certain players before any cards are dealt. Before the first deal, the dealer will ensure that some or all players have put a small amount of money into the pot. This money guarantees that should all but one player immediately fold after they receive cards, the remaining player will be awarded something from the pot. There are two ways to do this:
1) Antes:
With antes, all players place the same amont of money in the pot before receiving any cards. Typically, this amount will be equal to the lowest possible bet or the lowest available chip. It is the dealer's responsibility to call for antes and to ensure that all players have placed their antes into the pot. In games with a larger number of players, it is advisable to make the players put their antes in sequentially (e.g. taking turns placing their antes in the pot by going around the table clock-wise from the dealer) to avoid confusion and disputes about who has and who has not placed their ante in the pot.
2) Blinds:
Most commonly found with community card games like Hold 'Em, with blinds only one or two players to the dealer's immediate left place any money into the pot before receiving cards. The Mile End Poker Society plays with blinds by having the player to the dealer's immediate right place a small blind of $.10 in the pot and the player to that player's left place a big blind of $.20 in the pot. Then the dealer deals the cards. From that point on, players who wish to remain in the hand must at least match the big blind of $.20. When the bet returns to the player that placed the small blind, they must put in $.10 plus meet any raises in order to stay in the game. If there have been no raises by the time the betting returns to the player who placed the big blind and that player does not choose to raise at that point, then the dealer can proceed to deal more cards.
A dealer must call for either antes or blinds before any cards are dealt.
Dealing is the most demanding and important role at the poker table. When the dealer first receives cards for the next hand, they should shuffle them at least three times on the table in full view of all players. Depending on what type of game they wish to play and what type of game preceded it, they may have to remove jokers from the deck.
After the deck is properly shuffled, the dealer should offer the deck to the player to the immediate right to cut.*** This ensures that the dealer has not "stacked" the deck to administer particular cards to particular players.
The dealer will now call the game. The Mile End Poker Society abides by the time-honoured tradition of permitting the dealer to call any type or style of poker game they like. The dealer will name the type of poker game that will be played for the hand they are dealing, indicating any changes in rules, betting structure, etc. The dealer must ensure that the players understand all the rules of the new game and be careful to explain them to all players.
Next, the dealer will call for antes or blinds. The dealer is responsible for making sure that all players who should pay antes or blinds for the hand pay them. Once the antes or blinds are in the pot, the dealer will dispense the first set of cards to the players, dealing them to the first player to the immediate right; dealing to themselves last. In every subsequent deal during the hand, the dealer will continue to deal to all remaining players beginning with the first remaining player to the right.
In games with larger numbers of players, it may become difficult for the dealer to determine and remembe which players remain in the hand. To help them identify active players, The Mile End Poker Society normally requires players who fold to place a chip on their folded hand, indicating to the dealer that it is a "dead" hand and therefore no more cards should be dealt to that player for the duration of the hand.**
Should the dealer misdeal by accidentally flipping up a card that should have been face down; or by dealing an improper number of cards to players, all cards will be returned to the dealer, who will then re-shuffle and ask the player to the right to re-cut before dealing the cards again.
During the course of the game, the dealer may, if they wish, "call" the game by verbally announcing which player's turn to bet it is and what action that player decides to take. This is advisable for games with rookie players in that it helps everyone keep track of the action. In draw games, the dealer may also announce how many cards each player is discarding.
During the showdown, the dealer may be called to determine the winning hand. After this is determined, the dealer ensures that the rightful winner collects the pot. Then the dealer hands the cards over to the player to the immediate left, who will be the dealer for the next hand.
A round of betting ensues whenever players receive new cards. Players take turns betting, going in a clockwise order, usually beginning with the player to the immediate left of the dealer.***
The first player to act in any round of betting has three options:
1) Check:
If a player calls "check", or simply raps the table once or twice to indicate that they are checking, this means that they will continue to play their hand but decline at this time to make the first bet and are passing that option onto the next player in the betting sequence.
A common mistake with poker rookies is to attempt to check after a player before them in the betting sequence has placed a bet. The check option only applies if no bets have already been placed in that round of betting. Otherwise, a player must either match the amount bet (calling the bet), bet a higher amount (raising the bet), or discontinue playing their hand (folding).
It's possible and fairly common for all remaining players to check. In those cases, all players get to see a "free card" - the dealer simply deals the next sequence of cards to the remaining players and then a new betting round ensues.
2) Bet:
A bet occurs when a player puts an amount of money into the pot. They usually must verbal declare the amount they are betting. Once a bet is placed in the pot, all subsequent players in the betting round must at least put an equal amount into the pot if they wish to continue playing their hand.
3) Fold:
The first player has the option of immediately folding their cards and sitting out that hand. This is an option commonly excersized by poker rookies - however it is an error! Instead, the player should check - if all other players also check, then everyone gets to see their next cards without having to bet anything; therefore, the first player has the chance of improving their hand, no matter how terrible, without having to bet anything - but only if all other players remaining also check!
After the first player has excersized their betting options, the next player to bet will be to the first player's immediately left. Their betting options include:
1) Check:
As described above, but only if the players before them have all either checked or folded. If any player before them in the betting sequence has placed a bet, the check option is no longer available.
2) Bet:
As described above, but only if the players before them have not already placed a bet.
3) Fold:
As described above, this option should only be considered is a player preceding them has placed a bet. Folding when checking is still an available option is a classic rookie mistake and should be avoided.
4) Call (a.k.a. See):
To call or see a bet, a player matches the amount a player preceding them in the betting sequence has placed in the pot. If there is a live bet in the pot, all subsequent players must at least call that bet to continue playing their hand. Once all players have called all bets in the pot, new cards are dealt. If there are no more rounds of card-dealing in the hand, the players proceed to the showdown.
5) Raise:
A player raises by matching and exceeding an amount bet by a player earlier in the betting sequences. Should a player raise, all players must meet this new amount to remain playing in the hand, including the player who bet previously.
A player may re-raise by betting an amount exceeding an amount raised by another player earlier in the betting sequence.
If all other players call a bet or a raise, the player who placed that bet or raise no longer has the option to raise. Instead, the betting round is considered complete and new cards are dealt, or the players go to the showdown.
It is important for players to only place their bets when it is their turn to do so. Betting out-of-turn is not only impolite, it can seriously affect the actions of other players. At many poker tables, a player who consistently bets out of turn may be suspected of cheating and may be asked to leave.
Before the cards are dealt, the dealer must also declare what the betting limits are. Many Las Vegas casino poker rooms use structured betting, where players are restricted to only placing bets in denominations of $2 for the first two betting rounds and $4 for the last two; or some other denomination of betting. In the World Series of Poker, the game is No Limit, wherein any player can bet any amount they are able to cover.
The Mile End Poker Society has a minimum bet of $.10, since that is the lowest denomination chip played with at Society meetings. The Society also plays its games as pot limit games, where the maximum amount a player can bet is determined by the amount in the pot prior to the player placing their bet. For example, if there is $4.50 in the pot, then the maximum bet a player can make in a pot limit game is $4.50. But once such a bet is made, the maximum bet the next player can make has doubled to $9.00.
Sometimes, a player will place a bet that other players do not have enough chips to call. In such cases, there are a few options:
1) Creating a Side-Pot:
Here, a player will call with whatever remaining chips they have. They are then entitled to the same amount from the bet they are calling, but the excess amount is placed in a separate pot called a side-pot. Any further bets are placed in this side-pot. At the showdown, the player who could not call the full initial bet cannot win any money from the side-pot, only from the main pot. The money in the side pot will go to the player with the best hand who contributed to the side-pot, should the player who ran out of chips take the main pot. If the player who ran out of chips does not have the best hand, both pots go to the player that does.
The Mile End Poker Society normally plays with side-pots, although several members also play in regular games that do not utilize side-pots.
2) Pulling from the Pot:
In this option, a player that has run out of chips simply takes chips from the pot equal to the amount that they wish to bet and places them in a separate pile beside the pot. These chips indicate how much money they will have to contribute to the winning player, in cash, should they lost the hand. Because of this, a player can never pull from the pot more money than they have on their person. Pulling from the pot only works if players know each other well enough to trust that no one will pull more from the pot than they have on their person.
Utilizing these options, along with bet limits, prevents players from winning pots simply because they have more chips than anyone else and can therefore "buy" the pots because players with less chips cannot match their bets.
After all cards have been dealt and all betting rounds are complete, those players who have not folded their hands enter into a showdown to determine who has the best hand and will take the pot.
The person who last bet or raised must show their hand first. No other players are obligated to show their hands if they have lost to this person and are not contesting this person's claim to the pot. But if other players believe they hold a superior hand, then they show their hands going clockwise beginning from the left of the player who had to show their cards first.
In some poker games, the "players speak" - meaning that the hand the player verbally claims is the hand they are stuck with, even if they have made an error and have overlooked a better possible hand they could have claimed from their cards (or course, if a player does not have the cards needed for the hand they are claiming to hold, then they are not considered to have that hand).
After some debate, The Mile End Poker Society instead plays with a "cards speak" policy, which means that the best possible hand in a given player's cards is what stands, even if the player did not recognize the hand they were holding. This is generally a better rule for a game with rookie players and will diffuse potentially contentious situations.
After the winner of the pot has been determined, the winner takes all the chips from the pot and the player to the dealer's immediate left becomes the dealer for the next hand and receives the cards.
* The Hong Kong Triple is a hand introduced to The Mile End Poker Society by Lan Vu, who in turn picked it up from games he played with Korean ex-pats while residing in Japan. While the hand normally holds no value outside of two-pair, Mile End Poker Society etiquette and tradition requires comment on the hand, such as players exclaiming "Hong Kong Triple!"
**At this point, the player to the immediate right has the option of not cutting the deck by rapping on the deck once, indicating that they trust that the shuffle was fair. This is sometimes done to save time. But cutting the deck should never be taken as a sign of mistrust of the dealer!
*** Exceptions to this include stud games where the player with the highest hand showing begins each round of betting; and games utilizing blinds instead of antes - in those games, the player to the immediate left of the player who put in the big blind will start the first round of betting by either calling the big blind, raising the big blind or folding. In all subsequent betting rounds in a game with blinds, the player who paid the small blind (that is, the player to the immediate left of the dealer), will begin the betting.
****Credit for this procedure goes to Jesse Brown's Chinatown Poker Society, who developed it by essentially reversing the standard practice of Las Vegas casinos of requiring "live" players to "protect their hand" by placing a chip on it, removing the chip when they fold.