Poker is a popular card game that can be played in many different settings. The rules vary from place to place, but all poker games involve dealing cards and betting in a sequence of rounds.
The player who is dealt the lowest hand starts first and play proceeds clockwise until everyone has a chance to make a bet or fold. At the end of each round, the players reveal their hole cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand wins the pot.
A poker hand is made up of five cards. It can be a high card, a pair of cards (two of the same rank), two pairs, three of a kind, or a straight. There are 10 possible combinations of poker hands, and each combination has a different value.
Getting Started with Poker
In most poker variants, the highest hand wins the pot. Several ways to win include having the highest poker combination in your faceup cards, or making a bet that no other player calls.
Poker Variants
Each poker variant differs slightly in terms of how the cards are dealt, betting intervals, and the number of players. For example, in some variants, a player may be required to make an initial forced bet.
The Dealing and Betting Intervals
In most poker variants, the dealer deals three cards to each player; each card is then interrupted for a betting interval. There is a showdown after the third round of dealing. The dealer then shuffles the deck and passes it to the next player.
