Learning to play poker is not tough. If you want to understand why people love this game, then this beginner’s guide with all the basic rules is just for you. Poker is a simple game, but its rules can be a little tricky to understand as a starter. But do not let it break your confidence. It is not that tough to learn how to play poker. Who knows, you can move from the basics of the game to the tables of the top online pokers.
Now before you start to learn the practical and other variants of poker, you must learn the basics of poker. Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular poker, and you can find it on every online poker website. Many poker rules are changing from game to game, it depends. However, among many variants such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and seven card stud. Without any further delay, let us see how to play poker.
How to Play No limit Hold’em poker
No Limit Hold’em or Texas hold’em poker, is a famous poker game which you might have seen on TV, also you must have seen your friends playing in the home game.
This is how you will play Texas Hold’em:
Two Hole Cards: Each player is dealt with the two cards face down, that is it.
Five Community Cards: Each player then will use those two cards, in combination with the other five community cards in order to make their best five cards as poker hands.
Make the best hand: The player with the best hand will win the game. Isn’t it simple?
As much as you want: It has four rounds of betting. And any player keeps all their chips in the middle at any time. You are always one hand away from doubling, that is the allure of Texas hold’em poker. Also, you are just one hand away from busting completely.
Though there are other pokers, in terms of complete simplicity Texas Hold’em is the one. This game has a mix of strategies and psychology.
How to Play Poker?
Before we dig deeper, let us have a look at some basic rules of how to play poker. 90 percent of the beginners do this mistake when they are not clear with the basics.
- Royal Flush (All of same suit; A-K-Q-J-T)
- Straight Flush (Any sequence all same suit; 9-8-7-6-5)
- Four of a Kind (Four cards that has same value; A-A-A-A)
- Full House (Three of same kind and one pair)
- Flush (All of same suit)
- Straight (basic sequence ; 6-5-4-3-2)
- Three of a kind (three cards that has same value; 5-5-5)
- Two Pair (Two Pairs such as 9-9 and 5-5)
- Pair (any pair be it A-A or 2-2)
- High Card (whatever highest card you have)
It is not that hard. Work hard to memorize the hand ranking. Write them or repeat them 100 times, do whatever it takes but remember them.
Some common misconceptions
- A straight can beat flush (No, remember all one suit > sequence )
- Two pair beats three of a kind (No, in poker if you will have three aces or two aces and two kings)
- Overall card strength does not matter, but the highest card does. (An ace high flush is better than king high flush)
Where can you play poker?
If you want to play poker in real time. The easiest option is to head over to many real online pokers.
How to play Poker for beginners
Texas Hold’em uses a standard 52 card deck even if you are playing online. You can play it anywhere from 2-10 players at a table. If you have space and tables, you can play it with thousands of players at a time in a poker format of tournament.
Here it is how it works:
The dealer will deal everyone with two cards, beginning with the player on his left and ending on himself. The player who is on the dealer’s left will be the first player, they have a choice:
- Bet
- Check
If anyone decides to bet, then the rest of the players have two options:
- Call (match the amount of the raise into the pot)
- Fold (Give up the hand and chips they have already)
- Raise (Put even more chips in the pot)
This will continue until everyone has called or all the chips are in the middle. After the first betting round is complete, the dealer will deal three cards facing up on the board. These are called community cards that anyone can use. Also known as the flop.
Does everyone Bluff in the poker game?
Well bluffing is a part of poker. However as a beginner you should not mess around until you are confident. Because you are already in a learning phase of hands and ranks, you might not even be knowing if you are bluffing or not. There are many other strategies which you can use instead of bluffing.
However, if you still want to feel the spark of bluffing, then you can try semi-bluffing. Which means you do not fire bets with 2-7 offsuit instead play hands that have potential.
