Online Poker Rules

Poker is a game popular worldwide. It is based on a valid combination of five cards and contains an element of vying, where the players keep betting until one wins the pot. The rules of Poker game have been well defined in a book named “Robert’s Rules Of Poker”. The author of the book is Robert Ciaffone, also known by the name of Bob Ciaffone on the poker planet. He has a got a legal authority to publish a book on card room rules. He drafted the book in the year 1984 for the Poker Players Association and for the public. He is also a regular columnist Card Player magazine. It is to be noted that all the rules given in the book are in clearly comply with the Tournament Director’s Association rules. The rules differ only in wording.

Basics

A 52-card pack of playing cards is used in Poker. The cards are ranked from highest to lowest, that is, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. In some games, Ace is considered the highest, while in others the lowest. A card always has four suits, namely, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. In Poker game, one who holds the highest hand or a valid five-card combination wins the game. Some of the Poker games also contain Wild Cards. These Wild Cards can be used in exchange of any suit or rank a player desires. Many a times, jokers are used as Wild Cards, while in other times; the game specifies which cards are wild.

Ranking of Hands

In Poker, the hands are ranked from highest to lowest:

Five of a Kind
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
Pair
High Card

Rules on Betting

Betting allows three choices as follows:

Call
When a hand calls, one bets to the extent that it matches with what has been bet since the last time the hand had bet.

Raise
After making a call, the player raises the bet up to a limited amount.

Fold
Fold occurs when one of the players quit without having to put anything into the pot. The betting continues until everyone folds from the game.