Poker rules

Although poker is a game of people played with cards, normally involving money, it is also a game that has rules. Each game has its own set of rules and a format that has to be followed in order to make the game work and keep it honest and fair for everyone. Below you will find basic and advanced poker rules for most of the poker variations: Texas Holdem, Omaha, Seven Card Stud as well as not so common Deuce to 7, Razz, Badugi and other poker variations.

Playing Omaha and Omaha 8 or Better (or hi/lo as it’s commonly called), can be a lot of fun. Learning to look at all of your cards and all of the combinations available can be difficult until you’ve played it a few times and remembering that if there aren’t three cards – on the board – that are ‘8’ or lower, there is NO low possible. Badugi and Deuce to 7 have also become quite popular and are know as ‘game variants ’. They are normally played as ‘triple draw’ games. Each player has the option to draw to their hand three times – in between betting rounds. This game heats up the action fast. The old standard, draw games, are still out there. Most of the older generation learned to play Five Card Draw or even Five Card Stud long before Holdem ever became popular.

Poker hand combinations are listed here by strength. Each poker hand has a picture as an example and a short description next to it. The hand order is ranked from the highest to the lowest.

Poker hand picture	Poker hand description
	Royal Flush Straight flush from 10 to the ace. Example: Td, Jd, Qd, Kd, Ad
	Straight Flush Straight with all five cards of the same suit. Example: 5c, 6c, 7c, 8c, 9c
	Four of a Kind Four cards of the same rank. Suit is irrelevant. Example: Qh, Qc, Qd, Qs
	Full House Three cards of one rank together with two cards of another rank. When more than one full house is competing, the one with the highest ranking group of three wins. Example: Js, Jh, 10s, 10c, 10d
	Flush Five cards of the same suit. When more than one flush is competing, the one with the highest card wins. Example: 4d, 6d, 9d, Kd, Ad
	Straight Five cards in sequence. When more than one straight is competing, the one with the highest card wins. An ace can be taken as either high or low (but not both high and low in the same hand). Example: 7, 8, 9, 10, J; suit is irrelevant.
	Three of a Kind Three cards of the same rank. Example: Jh, Jc, Jd
	Two Pair Any two cards of one rank together with two cards of another rank. When more than one hand has two pairs of the same rank, the hand with the highest card outside the paired cards wins. Example: 2s, 2c, 6h, 6s
	One Pair Two cards of the same rank. In case two hands have pairs, the highest pair wins. When more than one hand has a pair of the same rank, the hand with the highest card outside the pair wins. Example: 10h, 10d
	Highest Card When players have none of the above, the hand with the highest card wins. Example: Kh