Poker is one fun card game – only when you get to know what it is! Knowing the knick-knacks of poker will help you slowly and steadily master the game. So here we are, with the basic rules that will help you get started off with poker:

You have to keep in mind the rank of the cards. Ace has the highest value, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8……2. This ranking of cards comes handy when two players have the same hand. The ranking works as a tiebreaker.

The game begins with the drawing of cards. Each player gets dealt five cards.

After this, betting begins. Here you need to be accustomed to four terms :

Raise: You can increase the wager required to continue playing the game. The players who have a good hand or want to trick the other players into thinking they have a good hand generally opt for a Raise.

Fold:
This is for the players who don’t have a good hand and are not in favour of the increased wager. Fold gives them the option to lay down their cards.

Call:
When one player has opted for a Raise, Call gives the other players an option to raise the stakes again. Here, the players can also go in for Fold, if they’re not in favour of the raised stakes. If a player opts for Call, he has to equal the amount raised by the other player.

Check:
If there’s no raise, the players can choose to Check. Check allows you to stay put and pass your option to bet.

Ranking of hands:

High card:
The card with the highest value is considered to break the tie. If two players have the same High card, the second highest card is considered.

One pair:
One pair is when you have two of the same cards. For example 8 of hearts and 8 of spades. 7 of spades and 3 of spades are also eligible to form One pair. Either the rank or the suit has to be the same to create a pair.

Two pairs:
When there are two players with two pairs, the one with the highest pair wins the game.

Three of a kind:
Simple as it is – three cards of the same suit or rank.

Flush:
When any player has cards in succession irrespective of the suit, he’s said to have a Flush. The player with the highest card wins.

Full house:
If you have One pair and Three of a Kind, you have a Full House.

Four of a Kind:
Four cards of a similar kind in hand gives you a stronger hand.

Straight Flush:
Similar to the regular Flush, only all the cards are from the same suit! Rarest of rare incidence in a game of Poker!

Royal Flush:
The one that begins with a 10 and ends up with an Ace is a Royal Flush. And the odds of this happening is once in a blue moon!

Equip yourself with these poker rules and terms and start off! Have fun!