Poker is a game that has only gone from strength to strength in the modern age. The game has gone from a recreational activity to a televised sport phenomenon. From the game’s humble beginnings in the 1800’s , spreading through America via riverboat gambling, the rules of the game have not changed much, even with subsequent variations on the main game that have been developed. The sequence of events during play, as well as the hierarchy of card hands has remained pretty constant.
The Various Poker Hands
Poker hands start with a High Card. This imply means you have no specific combinations in hand, simply one high value card. Next in line is a single pair. This means you have two jacks or two sevens for instance. Two pairs are next in value. Three of a kin is where you have three cards of the same value.
From here the hands become a bit more complex. A Straight is where you have your hand of cards in sequence, regardless of their suit, so say a 4,5,6,7 and 8. A Flush is where your card hand is made up of a single suit, for instance all hearts or all spades. The Full House is next in value and represents a hand made up of a pair and three of a kind. Next is Four of a Kind. This is where you have all 4 cards of a single value in the deck; say all jacks or all kings. Finally you have a straight Flush which is like the Flush, but all the cards are of the same suit as well. These hands are considered standard in almost all variations of the game. Notable exceptions being games like three card poker that has slight variations on the hands values.
The Rules of Poker Wagering
A standard game of poker starts when a player makes an initial wager. This first wager is compulsory for the starting player, with this responsibility rotating between each player with the start of each new round. This compulsory wager is known as either the Blind or the Ante wager at NZD casinos. Each player following the first must now either match the initial wager, termed a Call.
If a player wishes to increase the wager, due to his or her confidence in their cards in hand they can choose to raise the wager pot. If a player cannot match the Raise value, he or she must fold and lose all wagers made on the current pot. During the start of a standard poker game, after the Ante/Blind wager has been made, the dealer will deal the cards for play. The number and way cards are dealt varies a lot between the four main poker games.
The Poker Variants
In Straight Poker a player will receive five cards at the beginning of the match. This form of the game is pretty much a no frills poker match. It is one of the oldest forms of the game, if not the oldest form. It has grown into all the families of poker we see today, after it became a popular game during the revolutionary war.
Community Card poker is the family under which extremely popular games like Texas Hold’em fall under. In These poker games, players are usually dealt two cards and expected to make a winning combination with three or more cards dealt face up on the table. Draw poker is a poker variant where you are dealt five cards at the start of the game, but players can make amendments to their hand by discarding unwanted cards then being able to redraw the same amount they discarded.