Poker is a card game in which players try to make the best five-card hand from a combination of their own cards and community cards. There are hundreds of variants, but most share the following basic rules:

How to Play

The first step in playing poker is to bet a small amount of money into the pot called an “ante.” Once all players have their antes, the dealer will deal two cards face down and keep them secret from everyone else.

Next, all players take a look at their cards and decide if they want to bet or fold. They can choose to “fold,” which means not playing this round, or “check,” which means matching the previous bet and adding more money into the betting pool.

If no one has a hand that matches the other players’ hands, the player with the highest single card wins. This is known as the high card and may be a single, double, or triple in suit.

Other common poker hands include:

1-Pair, which is when you have two cards of the same rank. 2-Pair, when you have a pair and a third card of the same rank.

3-of-a-Kind, when you have three of the same cards and a fourth card that is not a pair.

4-of-a-Kind, when all four of your cards are the same rank.

5-of-a-Kind, when your cards are all the same suit (like ace, queen, and king).

The most popular type of poker is Texas hold’em, also called “the Cadillac of poker.” This game has a fixed limit or pot limit in home and casino play but is usually played with table stakes in tournaments.