POKER

Poker Hands
Royal Flush	Straight Flush	Four of a kind	Full house	Flush
Straight	Three of a Kind	Two Pair	Pair	High Card

Royal Flush : a hand which contains the five highest cards of a suit.

Straight Flush : a hand which contains five cards in sequence, all of the same suit. Aces can play low in straight flushes:

Four of a kind : a hand which contains four cards of one rank, and an unmatched card of another rank. In community-card games it is possible for two or more players to obtain the same quad; in this instance, the unmatched card acts as a kicker

Full house : a hand which contains three matching cards of one rank, and two matching cards of another rank. Between two full houses, the one with the higher ranking set of three wins. If two hands have the same set of three the hand with the higher pair wins.

Flush : a hand which contains five cards of the same suit, not in rank sequence. Flushes are described by their highest card with the highest ranking card of each compared to determine the winner. If the two flushes contain the same five ranks of cards, they are tied – suits are not used to differentiate them.

Straight : a hand which contains five cards of sequential rank but in more than one suit. Straights are described by their highest card with the highest ranking card of each compared to determine the winner. The ace may also be played as a low card in a straight but cannot “wrap round”.

Three of a Kind : a hand which contains three cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards.

Two Pair : a hand which contains two cards of the same rank, plus two cards of another rank (that match each other but not the first pair), plus one unmatched card. The higher ranking pair of each is first compared, and the higher pair wins. If both hands have the same two pairs, the kicker determines the winner.

One Pair : a hand which contains two cards of the same rank, plus three other unmatched cards.

High Card : a poker hand in which no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not in sequence, and the five cards are not all the same suit. The lowest possible high card is seven-high.

Five Card Games.

5 Card Draw

5 Card Stud

Five Card Draw Poker.

Gameplay

In casino play the first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind, and subsequent rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left. Home games typically use an ante; the first betting round begins with the player to the dealer's left, and the second round begins with the player who opened the first round.

Play begins with each player being dealt five cards, one at a time, all face down. The remaining deck is placed aside, often protected by placing a chip or other marker on it.

Players pick up the cards and hold them in their hands, being careful to keep them concealed from the other players, then a round of betting occurs.

If more than one player remains after the first round, the "draw" phase begins. Each player specifies how many of his cards he wishes to replace, and discards them.

The deck is retrieved, and each player is dealt in turn from the deck the same number of cards he discarded so that each player again has five cards.

It is important that each player discards the cards he wishes to replace before he takes any replacements, and that he takes the same number of replacements as he discarded.

A second "after the draw" betting round occurs beginning with the player to the dealer's left or else beginning with the player who opened the first round (the latter is common when antes are used instead of blinds).

This is followed by a showdown if more than one player remains, in which the player with the best hand wins the pot.

Five Card Stud Poker.

The earliest form of stud poker, but less commonly played today than many other games.

Description of play

Play begins with each player being dealt one card face down, followed by one card face up.

If played with a bring-in, the player with the lowest-ranking upcard must pay the bring in, and betting proceeds after that.

If there is no bring-in, then the first betting round begins with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check. If two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

After the first betting round is complete, another face-up card is dealt to each player (after a burn card) as with all subsequent rounds.

Betting now begins with the player whose upcards make the best poker hand.

On this and subsequent betting rounds, the player to act first may check or bet up to the game's limit.

The second betting round is followed by a third upcard to each player and a third betting round, again starting with the player with the best poker hand showing.

A fourth face-up card (also called the River card) and fourth betting round is followed by a showdown, if necessary.

The highest surviving hand wins.

Seven Card Games.

7 Card Draw Poker

7 Card Stud Poker

Seven Card Draw Poker.

Seven Card Stud Poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country.

In-depth play rules The game begins with each player being dealt two cards face down and one card face up.

If played with a bring-in, the player with the lowest-ranking upcard pays the bring-in, and betting proceeds after that in normal clockwise order.

The bring-in is considered an open, so the next player in turn may not check. If two players have equally ranked low cards, suit may be used to break the tie and assign the bring-in (see high card by suit).

If there is no bring-in, then the first betting round begins with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check. In this case, suit should not be used to break ties.

If two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

After the first betting round, another upcard is dealt to each player (after a burn card), followed by a second betting round beginning with the player whose upcards make the best poker hand.

Since fewer than five cards are face up, this means no straights, flushes, or full houses will count for this purpose. On this and all subsequent betting rounds, the player whose face-up cards make the best poker hand will act first, and may check or bet up to the game's limit.

The second round is followed by a third upcard and betting round, a fourth upcard and betting round, and finally a downcard, a fifth betting round, and showdown if necessary.

Seven-card stud can be summarized therefore as "two down, four up, one down". Upon showdown, each player makes the best five-card poker hand he can out of the seven cards he was dealt.

Note that seven cards to eight players plus four burn cards makes 60 cards, and there are only 52 in the deck. In most games this is not a problem because several players will have folded in early betting rounds.

But there are certainly low-stakes home games where few if any players fold.

If this is the case in your game, you may want to limit the game to seven players.

If the deck does become exhausted during play, previously-dealt burn cards can be used when only a few cards are needed to complete the deal.

If even those are not sufficient, then on the final round instead of dealing a downcard to each player, a single community card is dealt to the center of the table, and is shared by everyone (that is, each player treats it as his seventh card).

Under no circumstances can any discarded card from a folded hand be "recycled" for later use.

Unlike draw poker, where no cards are ever seen before showdown, stud poker players use the information they get from face-up cards to make strategic decisions, and so a player who sees a certain card folded is entitled to make decisions knowing that the card will never appear in another opponent's hand.