Poker is a great casino game. It’s a game that has an element of luck or chance, but a healthy dose of skill. You need to understand the rules of the game, and you need to understand how your opponents might think.
The Winning Hands
There are several ways to win a hand of poker. These are in order of the best winning hands down to the lowest:
- Five of a Kind – If you’re playing with a few wild cards in the mix, you can get five of the same number across the different suits.
- Straight Flush – This is when you get a numerical series of cards from the same suit. The higher the numbers in your suit, the better. You get a Royal Flush when you’re playing with Aces high and you have the cards Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
- Four of a Kind – The same as Five of a Kind, but more likely to get and you don’t need to have any wild cards in the playing deck.
- Full House – This is when you manage to get Three of a Kind and Two Pair in one hand. If more than one player gets a Full House, then you look at who has the higher card in their Three of a Kind first. If it’s still a draw, you look at the Two Pair.
- Flush – Similar to a Straight Flush, but you don’t need to get the cards in order. You can have any five cards from the same suit to get a regular Flush.
- Straight – This one is the other side of a Straight Flush. It’s when you get five cards in order but they aren’t all from the same suit.
- Three of a Kind – As the name suggests, this is when you have three of the same number in different suits.
- Two Pair – This one is just two cards of the same number or rank from different suits.
- High Card – When all else fails, the player with the highest single card in their hand wins the round.
The Bets
Now, on to how you place your bets in the exciting game of Poker. To begin with, everyone puts out the agreed upon opening bet and the cards are dealt. Then, the players can do one of the following:
- Call – To call, you have to match what has been put out on the table since your last turn. If everyone put out a $10 chip and there are five other players, you’ll have to put out $50 worth of chips.
- Raise – You start with matching the bet as you would when calling, and then you add a new amount to the pot. You can raise as much as you want. When you see someone going “all in”, they’re essentially raising by everything they have.
- Fold – This isn’t a bet. You’re essentially taking yourself out of the game, but you can’t take back any money you’ve bet.
Enjoy Poker Night at the Casino
You can play Poker for high or low stakes at home with your friends, for real money at an online or mobile casino, or at land-based casinos on a night out.