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Poker Rules

Community Card poker:

Texas Hold’em is far and away the most popular community card poker game and is a favourite for poker tournaments. It also tends to be one of the most popular game featured by online poker rooms. Each player is dealt two private, or ‘pocket’ cards, after which there is a betting round.In this round, called the ‘flop’, three community cards are dealt face up (in no particular order or pattern), followed by a second betting round.A fourth community card, or the ‘turn’, is followed by a third betting round, a fifth community card – the ‘river’ - and the fourth and final betting round. At the end of the betting, each player plays the best five-card poker hand he can make using any five cards from the two in his hand and the five on the board.
On showdown, a player may use both of his own two pocket cards, only one, or none at all to form his final five-card hand. If the best five-card poker hand he can make is to play the five community cards, then he is said to be ‘playing the board’, and is entitled to split the pot with others playing the board if no one can play a better hand. It is common for players to have closely-valued hands. In particular,’kickers’ often are needed to break ties, straights often split the pot, and multiple flushes may occur (where the ranks of the cards in each flush must be counted carefully to determine a winner).

Your two pocket cards, or hole cards, are the only factors that separate your hand from the other players' hands. So learning how to play them is vital. An AA (ace-ace) combo simply has a much greater chance of winning than say a 7-3 combo. Play the good starting hands. Fold the bad.
In terms of strategy, the first decision to be made before playing poker is the size of the table. The strategy required for playing, for instance, on a ten-player table is completely different to that of a straight-forward two-player 'heads up' game. It is also generally more difficult to play short handed than at a full 10-player table, and the pots will be lower – however, so will potential losses.

Choosing your opponents is crucial - you don't have to be the best poker player in the world to be profitable at poker, you just have to be better than the other players at your table – or be able to spot players that are better than you.

Don’t play on a table where you are clearly out of your depth – you’ll be spotted fairly soon and become prey for the better players.
Try and use statistic available for the online poker room you use – most will have them available. This should help you decide which table to play at.
Look at flop percentage - the most important figure in determining the quality of players at the table. It shows how many players are paying to see the flop.

The pot size average will give an indication on how ‘loose’ the game is. If the pots are large, more players are likely to be contributing.
During the actual game, the first decision is to select the hands you play. To learn more on which hands to play and when to play them - a good rule of thumb is to play fewer hands than your opponents.

The flop:

A crucial stage in the game, the decision you make on the flop can win or lose you large amounts of cash. If, with your two pocket cards and the three community cards, you’ve got nothing at the flop, get out of the hand. It can be an expensive mistake to try and make something from nothing at the flop. A flush or outside straight draw at the flop is normally a good thing. If there are others in the pot, try to raise - if it doesn't scare people off - to get more money in, as you will win your fair share of the hands.
Pocket pairs that haven't made trips on the flop and with over cards on the flop are not so good. The chance of improving on the turn is very small.
It is important to identify ‘scares’ on the table - flops that can make draws for other players. When this happens, you will probably win less frequently than on a top pair. For example, three consecutive or close cards might very well give someone a straight draw. Two consecutive cards may give a two pair (more connectors played than other cards). It’s important to try and get an idea of the hands other players will be trying to put together based on the draw. Be honest with yourself when you misjudge it, be critical and learn to get it right.

On the Turn:

This is where the bet increases, and where the most money can be won or lost. The key to this is managing to make it two bets on the turn when you'll win and no bets when you would have lost. Not easy, but if you can get people to put money into the pot on your good hands, and put them off on your bad hands, you are on your way to poker success.

Go for a ‘check’ raise on the turn with good hands, as you would often checking/folding less good hands on the turn anyway, so as not to waste money on a poor hand. This way, your opponent will not be able to read your hand.

In low limit games, bluffing is rare, which means that a raise on the turn almost always means that the other player has a good hand.
Try to avoid betting on the draw. At the turn, the probability for making a good hand is lower than on the flop, and the number of opponents calling is probably less. Checking and calling is often the right thing to do, while betting is mostly wrong.

On the River:

Normally you should bet on the river if you think you’ve got a strong hand. There is one exception though. If you have a hand that was good at the flop but hasn’t got any better since, such as a top pair with a weak kicker, have continued betting and just been called throughout the hand, you should probably check, as it’s unlikely that you'll be called with a hand worse than yours - giving you no profit - and you risk someone having a stronger hand on the river and raising you. Frequently on the river, though, there is enough money in the pot to make it worthwhile calling a bet anyway, even if you are not sure if you have the best hand.

Bankroll:

To play consistently, you'll need to have a decent bankroll to survive. And remember – only gamble what you can afford to lose.
In low limit poker you should be able to handle losing your entire bankroll, as it should be in small manageable amounts. Playing high stakes could require as much as $1m in bankroll.

A good starting bankroll would probably be 100 small bets on a $1-$2 table. Playing conservatively will give you a buffer for losing streaks, as well as giving you time to get used to the table, work out other players’ tactics, etc. When your luck is in and you are winning, it's important to build your bankroll in order to try a higher stakes table. This will let you can move up the buy-in limits without any further deposits.

Multi-way Pots:

In large multi-way pots, the number of players going all the way to the river makes the likelihood of your opponents’ building up potentially winning hands increase. However, the pot will be large, so by not betting on bad hands, you won’t have to win too many pots to end up a winner.

Bluffing:

In loose low limit poker, bluffing is generally a bad thing and is not likely to be profitable, so use it scarcely when trying to put people off. It can sometimes be a good tactic to be caught in a bluff early in the game to draw more callers when you actually have a good hand.

General:

Texas Hold’em plays especially well at no limit – the final game of the World Series of Poker is a $10,000 entry no limit Texas Hold’em game.
Texas Hold’em is generally played with anywhere between two and 10 players, but can be played with more. It is a ‘positional’ game, since betting rounds begin at the dealer's left. In casino play, it’s common to use a fixed limit and two blinds, one for half of the first-round betting limit and one for a full bet.The limit for the third and fourth betting rounds is generally double that of the first two rounds. It is also not uncommon for the fourth bet to be larger still, and for the big blind to be less than the normal first-round bet, in which case it is treated the same way a sub-minimum bring-in is treated in stud poker. An ante might sometimes be used instead of or even in addition to blinds.

Hand Nicknames:
AA
Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines
KK
Cowboys, King Kong
QQ
Double date, Canadian Aces, Siegfried and Roy
JJ
Fish hooks
99
German virgin
88
Snowmen
77
Sunset strip
66
Route 66
55
Speed limit
44
Magnum, Sail boat
33
Crabs
22
Ducks
AK
Big slick
AQ
Big chick
AJ
Black Jack, Jack-ass
KQ
Royalty, Marriage
KJ
Kojak
J5
Jackson five
Q3
Gay waiter
95
Dolly Parton
A8
Dead man’s hand (A player named Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876 after winning with it)
K9
Canine
J4
Flat tyre (as you need a Jack four a flat tyre…)
Pineapple Poker Crazy Pineapple and Tahoe Poker involve variants of Texas Hold’em, in which each player is initially dealt three cards instead of two. In Pineapple Poker, each player then immediately discards one of the three cards he is dealt, and the game continues exactly as in Texas Hold’em. In Crazy Pineapple, the players discard their third card after the second betting round, before the fourth community card is dealt. In Tahoe Poker, players keep all three cards through showdown, but may not use all three of them to make a poker hand - each player may use none, one, or two cards from his poker hand, combined with those cards on the board, to make his final five-card poker hand.
Double-Board Hold’em poker is a split-pot poker game variant that can be applied to many poker games (but which is generally only applied to normal Hold’em poker games). For Double-Board Hold’em games, two separate five-card boards are dealt, and the high poker hand using each board takes half of the pot. For example, after the first betting round, three community cards are dealt to each of two separate boards; after the second round, another community card is dealt to each board; and before the final round, a fifth community card is dealt to each board (so there will be in total ten community cards, comprising two separate five-card Hold’em boards).
Omaha poker is a variant of Texas Hold’em poker and is a slightly more complex poker game, although almost as popular. Each player is dealt four pocket cards instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical. At showdown, each player's poker hand is the best five-card hand he can make from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own cards. Unlike Texas Hold’em, a player cannot play only one of his cards with four of the board, nor can he play the board, nor play three from his hand and two from the board, or any other combination. Each player must play exactly two of his own cards with exactly three of the community cards.
Omaha poker was originally created as a high-hand only game, but the high-low split variant, called Omaha 8 or better, has become so popular that the term Omaha usually now refers to that, while the original poker game is more commonly known as Omaha High. It generally plays best with five to 10 players.
In Omaha 8 or better, or just Omaha 8, each player makes a separate five-card high poker hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player) hands.
To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 hand or lower. A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. This poker game is generally played at a fixed limit. When high poker hands only are used, the game is generally called Omaha high. This game plays particularly well at pot limit.
Another popular variant is to deal each player five cards instead of four. The same rules apply for showdown - each player must use two of his cards with three of the community cards.
Before learning Omaha poker, it would be useful to make yourself familiar with Texas Hold’em as well as general poker game play and poker hands.
The basic differences between Omaha and Texas Hold’em are as follows:
Firstly, each player is dealt four pocket cards to his private hand instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical.
At showdown, each player's poker hand is the best five-card hand he can make from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own cards. Unlike Texas Hold’em, a player cannot play only one of his cards with four of the board, nor can he play the board, nor play three from his hand and two from the board, or any other combination. Each player must play exactly two of his own cards with exactly three of the community cards.
In high-low split, each player, using these rules, muxt make a separate five-card poker high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand (eight-high or lower to qualify), and the pot is split between the high and low hands (which may be the same player). To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower hand (this is why it is called 8 or better, or simply Omaha 8). A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but again, this is rare. Each player can play any two of his four pocket cards to make his high poker hand, and any two of his four pocket cards to make his low hand.
In order for anyone to qualify low, there must be at least three cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board. For example, a board of K-8-J-7-5 makes low possible (the best low poker hand would be A-2, followed by A-3, 2-3, etc.). A board of K-8-J-8-5, however, cannot make any qualifying low poker hand (the best low hand possible would be J-8-5-2-A, which doesn't qualify).
Just as in Texas Hold’em, three or more suited cards on the board makes a flush possible, but unlike that poker game, a player still needs two of that suit in his hand to play a flush. For example, with a board of K-9-Q-Q-5, a player with A-2-4-5 cannot play a flush using his ace; he must play two cards from his hand and only three from the board. A player with 2-3-K-Q can play the spade flush.
Likewise, two pair or trips on the board does not make a full house for anyone with a single matching card as it does in Texas Hold’em. For example, with a board of J-J-9-5-9, a hand of A-2-J-K cannot play a full house; he can only use his A-J to play J-J-J-A-9, since he must play only three of the board cards. A player with 2-5-9-10 can use his 9-5 to play the full house 9-9-9-5-5. With trips on the board, the player with the fourth card of that rank can play quads because any other card in his hand can act as a kicker.
Low poker hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well. It is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot (though this is extremely rare). Winning a quarter of the pot is quite common, and is called getting quartered, a term referring to the ancient torture of being ‘drawn and quartered’.
When four or five low cards appear on the board, it can become very difficult to read the low poker hands properly. For example, with a board of 2-6-A-5-8, the hand 2-4-5-K is playing a 6-5-4-2-A (either his 2-4 with the board's A-5-6, or his 4-5 with the board's A-2-6 - either way makes the same hand). In this situation, he is often said to be playing his ‘live’ 4, that is, his 4, plus some other low card that matches the board but still makes a low hand because the one on the board isn't needed. A player with 3-5-10-J is playing a ‘live’ 3, for a low poker hand of 6-5-3-2-A, which makes a better low. However, a player with 3-7-Q-Q can only play 7-5-3-2-A low; even though he has a ‘live’ 3, he must play two low cards from his hand, and so he must play his 7-3, and cannot make a 6-high low hand.
Starting poker hands with three or four cards of one rank are very bad. In fact, the worst possible hand in the game is 2-2-2-2. Since the only possible combination of two cards from this hand is 2-2, it is impossible to make low; since no deuce remains to appear on the board, it will be impossible to make three deuces or deuces full, and anyone with any matching card to the board will make a higher pair. Likewise, starting with four cards of one suit makes it less likely that you will be able to make a flush.

Variations
Sometimes the high-low split poker game is played with a 9-high qualifier instead of 8-high. It can also be played with five cards dealt to each player instead of four. In that case, the same rules for making a hand apply - exactly two from the player's hand, and exactly three from the board.

In the game of Courcheval Poker, which is more popular in Europe, instead of betting on the initial four cards and then flopping three community cards for the second betting round, the first community card is dealt before the first betting round, so that each poker player has four private cards and the single community card on his first bet. Then two more community cards are dealt, and poker play proceeds exactly as in an Omaha poker game.

In Six Pack Poker, at showdown, each poker player will have two pocket cards, and there will be six community cards on the board arranged in a circle. The betting rounds then proceed as such: each poker player is dealt two pocket cards, followed by the first betting round. Then two of the board cards at opposite sides of the circle are dealt, followed by a second betting round. Two more opposite community cards are dealt followed by a third betting round. Finally, the remaining two cards are dealt followed by a fourth and final betting round, and showdown.
At showdown, each player makes a hand by combining his two cards with any three consecutive cards of the board. With exactly two pocket cards, there are only six possible choices which to play. The game can be modified a bit by dealing three pocket cards, where each player is required to use exactly two of the pocket cards plus three consecutive board cards.

Draw poker
Any draw poker game can be played with two draw phases, which means three betting rounds. Double Draw California lowball poker is a particularly common game, and a good introduction to draw poker.
Triple Draw poker games can be played as well. Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is a good lowball game. The World Series of Poker generally has a Deuce to Seven Triple Draw tournament as does the Grand Prix de Paris Poker Tournament at Aviation Club de France.
Q Ball draw poker is a lowball poker game that combines some of the variations of draw poker. It is generally played with three blinds - one unit from the dealer, one unit to his left, and two units for the second poker player to the dealer's left. The deck contains one joker.
Each poker player is dealt three cards, followed by a round of betting (beginning with the player immediately after the big blind, who may call the big blind, raise, or fold - there is no checking on the first round). Next, each player is dealt a fourth card, followed by a second round of betting starting with the still-active player to the dealer's left. No checking is permitted on this round either, despite the fact that there is no bet facing the first player - the first poker player must open or fold.
Each player is then dealt a fifth card, followed by a third betting round beginning on the dealer's left. At this point, checking is allowed. Finally, each poker player draws as in normal draw poker followed by a fourth betting round and showdown.
Played at fixed limit, it is recommended that the betting structure is 1-2-2-4; the second and third betting rounds should allow a bet of twice the amount of the first betting round, and the final bet should allow four times the amount of the first betting round.

Shotgun Poker is draw poker that plays very much like a stud poker game. First five cards are dealt to each poker player, followed by a betting round, and a draw. Now, in place of a second betting round and showdown, there is a rollout phase, which begins with the poker players arranging their five cards in any chosen order and placing them face down in front of themselves. Each player's top card is now revealed, followed by a betting round. Then each player reveals his next card, followed by a betting round. Then a third card is revealed, followed by a betting round, a fourth card, a betting round, and finally a showdown. Players may not change the order of their cards at any time during the rollout phase of the poker game.
This poker game can be played for high or low, but plays best at high-low split, in which case it is called Skinny Minnie

Stud poker
Some poker rule variations can be applied to almost any stud poker game, and combinations of these variations can be used to create other games. These include roll your own, rollouts, blind stud, and twist rounds.
Any poker game can also be changed by adding one or more jokers to the deck to act as wild cards, or by designating certain other cards as wild. Some specific common variations include low hole card wild, in which each player's lowest-ranking down card (and all other cards of that same rank) are wild in that player's hand only, and follow the queen, in which each time a queen is dealt face up to anyone, the next face up card (and all others of that rank) become wild. The usual practice in follow the queen is that if a second queen appears among the up cards, the previous wild card loses its status to the new wild card following the second queen.
One can also vary any stud poker game by dealing extra down cards and requiring either that one or more hole cards be discarded at some point in the game or adding a restriction on how many of those hole cards may be played in the final hand.

For example, five-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each player an extra down card at the start of the poker game, and adding the restriction that each player may only use one of his two down cards in his final hand - this game is called Crocodile Stud Poker. Likewise, seven-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each player three down cards instead of two on the first round, but adding the restriction that a player may use no more than two of those cards in his final hand (called Buffalo Stud Poker - if the extra hole card must be discarded after the first betting round, then it is Australian Stud Poker).

If playing one of these stud poker games without the requirement to discard the extra hole card at some time during play, it is recommended as a practical matter to ensure compliance that each player physically discards one pocket card immediately before showdown, before revealing the ‘live’ pocket cards, so that there can be no confusion about which cards were down. Variations can be made by either eliminating betting rounds or dealing more than one up card at a time for one or more betting rounds. For example, Mississippi Stud poker is basically seven-card stud poker with the second betting round removed, and the last card dealt face up instead of face down. Further, adding an extra hole card as above makes it Murrumbidgee Stud poker.

Mississippi stud poker was created to make seven-card stud play better at no limit and pot limit, and is slowly becoming popular for that reason. It is also often played with a betting structure more typical of Texas Hold’em poker - fixed limit with the last two rounds double the limit of the first two rounds. The bring-in should be less than the first-round limit.
The initial deal is the same as standard seven-card stud poker. After the first betting round, two up cards are dealt to each poker player, so each player now has two down cards and three up cards (so unlike standard stud there is no betting on ‘fourth street’). A second betting round is followed by one more up card and a third betting round. Finally, the last card is dealt face up, so that each poker player ends with two down cards and five up cards. Because each player has five up cards on the last round, straights, flushes, and full houses count as high hand exposed for the purpose of determining who must bet first. After the seventh street bet, there is a normal showdown.

Mississippi stud poker can also be played with low hands or high-low split. If three down cards are dealt initially instead of two, with the restriction that no more than two of them can be used in the final hand, this variation is called Murrumbidgee stud poker.
Auction stud poker is a poker game variation in which each up card round (or possibly just those after the first card) begins with an auction phase. Instead of dealing each poker player one up card, the first card is dealt to the center and all players bid on it; the player who bids the highest amount places that amount into the pot, and then has the right to either keep the auction card as his own up card, or designate another poker player who is required to take it as his.

After the first card is auctioned off and placed, the remaining poker players are dealt a random up card as usual, and betting proceeds as usual. This variation is commonly played as high-low split, so it is common for a player to purchase a high card to force it upon an opponent seeking low.
Several different poker games played only in low-stakes home poker games are called Baseball and generally involve many wild cards (often 3s and 9s), paying a specified amount for wild cards, being dealt an extra up card upon receiving a 4, and many other ad-hoc rules (for example, in some variations, the appearance of the queen of spades is called a rainout and ends the hand). These same rules can be applied to a no peek poker game, in which case the game is called night baseball.

Six Card stud poker is usually played in the same way as seven-card stud poker games, except that the last face-up betting round is removed (making it two down, three up, one down). It can also be played as 1-4-1, where the first betting round occurs after only two cards are dealt (one down and one up). This latter form more closely resembles five-card stud poker with an extra down card. A variation of six card stud poker called Alligator Stud Poker starts with one pocket card and one up card, followed by a first betting round; then two up cards are dealt to each player followed by a second betting round; then a fourth up card and betting round, and finally a fifth up card and betting round. This game plays well at no limit and pot limit. The same game, but with each player initially dealt two down cards and one up card, and restricted to using only one of his down cards in his final poker hand, is called Zanetti Stud Poker.
These are various forms of roll your own five-card stud poker, often with a stripped deck and wild cards – these are Mexican Stud Poker Mexican Poker, or Stud Loco. For example, one such common game variant has these rules - 8s, 9s, and 10s are stripped from the deck, and a single joker is added (so the deck contains 41 cards). The 7-spot and the J become consecutive, so that 5-6-7-J-Q is a straight. A flush beats a full house, as flushes are harder to get with fewer cards of each suit.