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See The
many Variations Winning hands
Introduction
 
Poker
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Poker generally refers to a five-card vying game (betting
on who has the best hand) and is played with standard playing-cards. The are
many variants of this game and even some that utilize 7 cards in play by each
person.
Generally There is an "ante: ( a minimal fee to be allowed to play in
each hand of the game) as determined either by the house or a quorum of the
players. As each player is dealt their hand (dealing starts in a clockwise
direction, starting at the dealers left) they will determine the strength of their
hand, and based upon what they hold, attempt to determine the odds of the other players
having a better hand. The person to the left of the dealer is the first to
request replacement cards (depending upon which variation of the game) or to
place a bet or even pass (withhold). Once this player has chosen their course of
action then the option is passed to each successive person to the left. When
betting has begun, each person must match the bet and/or raise it, or fold
(drop out of this particular hand). This continues, progressively raising the
stakes until either there is:
- a showdown, (the best hand wins all), As verified by a showing of
all the hands that matched the last bet.
- or all but one player have given up betting and folded. The last person to
raise becomes the winner. In this case of the winner need not show his hand.
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It is therefore possible for the pot to be won by a hand that is not in fact
the best, everyone else having folded. This does not necessarily mean that the
winner in this case had the best hand or even a good hand. but rather may have
been bluffing (giving the appearance of having a great hand by matching all bets
and raising in an effort to cause the other players to drop out)
A five-card vying game is one where, no matter how many cards may be dealt to
each player, the only valid combinations are those of five cards. In pure Poker
(Straight Poker-nothing wild) these are, from highest to lowest:
Winning
hands - ranked in order of strength.
In the following examples,
colors and suits are not specific but are only used for clarity.
- Straight Flush (five cards in suit and
sequence, Ace high , as AKQJ10 of
hearts
 (being a "Royal Flush" the
highest of all hands because the odds against getting this hand is so
high) or even an Aces low as in 5432A of
spades.
- Four of a kind, fours (four cards of the same rank but of a
different suits, and one idler, such as K-K-K-K-x)
- Full house (three of one rank and two of another, as Q-Q-Q-4-4)
- Flush (five cards in suit but not in sequence, as
J-10-8-7-2
a heart flush or reds) in
the case of 2 players having a flush in one hand of poker, the numerical
value of all the cards is tabulated and the highest value being the
winning hand.
- Straight (five cards in sequence but not in suit, as
J -
10 -
9 -
8 -
7)
In the case of 2 players having a straight in one game, the straight with the highest card
wins as in the one above which is a "Jack high straight"
- Three of a kind, threes, triplet, trips (three of the same rank
plus two of two different ranking idlers, as 8-8-8-x-y)
- Two pair (as Q-Q-9-9-x) If by
some quirk of fate there were 2 hands with exactly the same ranking set of
pairs (but of different suits) then the highest idler would determine
the winning hand.
- Pair (as 3-3-x-y-z) again if
there were 2 hands with exactly the same ranking set of pairs (but of
different suits) then the highest idler would determine the winning hand.
- High Card (no combination: as between two such hands the one with
the highest card wins)
- Ranking the value from the highest, regardless of suit is Ace
then King, Queen, Jack,10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 ,2 and there is no 1
card but the Ace can be used used a a numerical 1 as in the "Aces
low straight flush" as shown in #1.
- The numerical value of the face cards is 10 for
all Jacks, Queens, Kings) where as the Ace is either 1 or 11.
A player wishing to stay in the pot must increase his stake by the amount
necessary to match the total so far staked by the last raiser
("seeing"), and may also
raise it further ("see and raise"). If unwilling to do either, he must fold.
An early version of Poker was a 20 card game (5 cards each to 4
players) from a 20 card deck made up of only the Ace-King-Queen- Jack and
10 of the four suits. There is no draw, and more than 1 royal flush is
possible in a game so in this case 4 aces or 4 Kings with and Ace high are the
winning hands. See The
many Variations of Poker
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