Pokerपोकर

Players, chips and cards

Two to six people play with one 52-card pack and no jokers. Aces are high, and also low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A.

Everyone starts with 1,000 play chips. They are only a way of keeping score: they have no value outside this table and start again from 1,000 every game.

Play goes to the left (clockwise) round the table.

Hand ranking

Your hand is the best five cards out of seven: your two and the five on the table, in any mix. You can use both of your cards, one of them, or none. From highest to lowest, the hands are:

• Straight flush: five cards in a row in one suit, such as 9-8-7-6-5 of hearts. A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit is a royal flush, the best hand there is.
• Four of a kind: four cards of the same rank.
• Full house: three cards of one rank and two of another, such as three kings and two sevens.
• Flush: five cards of one suit that are not in a row.
• Straight: five cards in a row in mixed suits. The ace can be high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (5-4-3-2-A, the lowest straight), but a straight cannot go round the corner: Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight.
• Three of a kind: three cards of the same rank.
• Two pair: two cards of one rank and two of another.
• Pair: two cards of the same rank.
• High card: anything else.

Two hands of the same kind compare the cards that make them first: the higher pair, the higher three of a kind, the top card of a straight. Then the other cards of the five (the kickers) are compared one at a time, highest first. Only five cards count, so a sixth or seventh card never breaks a tie, and neither do suits: equal hands share the pot.

The button and the blinds

One player has the dealer button. The player to the left of the button puts in the small blind and the next player the big blind before the cards are dealt. These forced bets give everyone something to play for.

After every hand the button moves to the next player to the left who still has chips.

With two players, the button puts in the small blind and the other player the big blind. The button acts first before the flop and last after it. When the table goes down to two players, the button may move one extra seat so that nobody puts in the big blind twice in a row.

The deal

Each player gets two cards face down, one at a time, starting with the player to the left of the button. These are your hole cards, and only you see them.

Five shared cards are turned face up in the middle during the hand: three at once (the flop), then one more (the turn), then a last one (the river). Before each of these, the top card of the pack is burnt: put aside unseen.

The four betting rounds

There is a round of betting after the hole cards are dealt (preflop), after the flop, after the turn and after the river.

Before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind acts first and the big blind acts last. After the flop, the first player still in to the left of the button acts first.

A round ends when everyone still in has had a turn and has put in the same amount, or is all in. The bets then go into the pot.

If everyone else folds, the last player takes the pot and nobody has to show their cards.

Check, bet, call, raise or fold

On your turn you can:

• Check: when nobody has bet in this round, pass without putting in chips.
• Bet: be the first to put chips in this round. A bet is at least the big blind.
• Call: put in enough to match the biggest bet.
• Raise: put in more than the biggest bet. A raise must add at least as much as the last bet or raise in this round.
• All in: put in every chip you have.
• Fold: give up the hand. The chips you have put in stay in the pot.

No limit means you can bet or raise any amount up to all your chips. Before the flop the big blind counts as the bet: with blinds of 10 and 20, a raise is to at least 40. If someone then raises to 100, which adds 80, the next raise is to at least 180.

If you cannot afford to call, you can call with everything you have and stay in for the part of the pot you can match.

All in for less

An all-in that is less than a full raise does not open the betting again for players who have already acted: when the turn comes back to them, they can only call or fold. Players who have not acted yet can still raise. Two or more short all-ins that together add up to a full raise do open the betting again.

A big blind who has fewer chips than the big blind goes all in with what they have, and the others still call the full big blind.

When everyone else still in is all in, you can only call or fold, and you only match the chips they have actually put in.

Any part of a bet that nobody calls goes back to the player who made it.

Side pots

A player who is all in can only win from each other player as much as they put in themselves. The chips beyond that go into a side pot that only the players who put them in can win. Several all-ins can make several side pots.

For example, Asha is all in for 200, and Bikash and Chandra put in 500 each. The main pot is 600, 200 from each of them, and any of the three can win it. The side pot is the other 600, and only Bikash or Chandra can win it.

Side pots are handed out first and the main pot last. Chips from a player who folds stay in the pots, but that player cannot win any of them.

When the betting stops early

If no more than one player still in has chips left to bet, there can be no more betting. Every hand is turned face up and the rest of the shared cards are dealt.

The showdown

After the betting on the river, the players still in compare hands.

If anyone is all in, every hand is turned over at once. Otherwise the last player to bet or raise on the river shows first; if everyone checked, the first player still in to the left of the button shows first. Then each player in turn to the left shows their hand if it is at least as good as the best one shown so far, or mucks it: throws it away face down. At this table a hand that cannot win is mucked for you.

The best hand takes the pot, and the five cards that make it light up on the table. Equal hands share the pot, and a chip that will not split evenly goes to the first winner to the left of the button.

Blinds going up

The blinds start at 10 and 20 and go up every 10 hands, or every 5 or 20 if you choose. The levels are 10 and 20, 15 and 30, 25 and 50, 50 and 100, 75 and 150, 100 and 200, 150 and 300, 200 and 400, 300 and 600, 400 and 800, 500 and 1,000, 750 and 1,500, 1,000 and 2,000, 1,500 and 3,000, 2,000 and 4,000, and last 3,000 and 6,000, where they stay.

Rising blinds keep the game moving: waiting for good cards costs more as the game goes on.

Leaving the table and winning

A player with no chips left after a hand leaves the table. When two or more go out in the same hand, the one who started that hand with fewer chips finishes lower.

You choose the length of the game: play until one player has every chip, or for 30 or 60 hands, after which the biggest stack wins. Players who finish level share first place.

If every person at the table runs out of chips, the game ends there and the biggest stack left takes first place.

Game length

Play until one player has won every chip, or for 30 or 60 hands, after which the biggest stack wins.

Blinds go up every

5, 10 or 20 hands. Ten is the standard game. Every 5 hands makes a quick game where you have to play the cards you get; every 20 hands gives you time to wait for a good hand.

House rules this table does not use

Antes, a straddle, fixed-limit or pot-limit betting, rebuys, and the dead button some tournaments use: here the button simply moves to the next player with chips. You cannot choose to show a hand that lost or a hand that won when everyone else folded.