Do you want to know everything about poker? If you are new to the gambling world, start with the basics of its most iconic card game. Learn the main rules and objectives of poker, its types, and variations. In addition to this, our introduction to poker will tell you where to play it for real money.
Introduction to poker
Poker is a family of card games that involves betting with chips and playing with a standard deck of 52 cards. All cards are divided into four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. A typical poker game involves at least two players or a player competing with a dealer.
The object of poker is to win the money from the pot, which contains the sum of all bets that have been made by players. Players make bets on their own hands which they believe will be the best. Then, all players are given cards that are used for forming poker hands – combinations of cards with different values.
The winner of a poker game is determined (mostly) based on the value of the hand. Why mostly? Because some poker games allow players to bluff a.k.a. pretend they have better hands than they actually do. Learn more about poker variations from our introduction to poker.
Types and variations of poker
There are many poker variations in the world. They all have slightly different rules such as the number of players, the value of poker hands, the number of hole/community cards, etc. Below you can find the most popular types and variants of poker played in land-based and online casinos.
The three main types of poker games are:
- Draw poker. Games in this category ask players to deal with hands that are hidden from other players, so they try to improve their hands by replacing a certain number of cards.
- Stud poker. Players’ hands contain a combination of hidden and open cards, so other players can see and come up with suggestions about hands they might have.
- Community poker. Here players are given hidden cards and they use these cards in combination with the community cards to make up winning hands.
Based on the type of poker, the following variations of the game exist: Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, 7-Card Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw, 5-Card Draw, 5-Card Omaha, mixed poker games… Surely, there are even more exotic variants of poker all over the world. If you are interested, you can read more about poker variations and their peculiarities.
Rules of poker
Although the rules of poker vary from one variation to another. In some games, players must collect the highest-ranking hands to win, while some games require them to win with the lowest hands. Some poker variations allow players to see other players’ cards, while others don’t. There can be many differences between all poker games that exist, but the basics are always the same.
To win, players must come up with the best hand possible. To do so, they place bets and then are dealt a certain number of cards. Players should use these cards, cards on the table, and, in some cases, cards from the deck to form the best hand. In the end, all players reveal their hands, and the player with the strongest one wins.
This is a very rough introduction to poker as Hold’Em, Omaha, Razz, and other poker games have many nuances. To learn how to play poker, choose the variation first and then follow our online poker guides for beginners to learn the rules of each game.
Where to play poker?
The last question is: where to play poker? There are two ways to play it as an actual gambling game. The first one means going to a land-based casino, the second one is about visiting an online poker/casino site. Surely, you can always play poker for real cash with your friends, but we are speaking about real gambling.
Land-based casinos offer the most popular variations of poker: Texas Hold’Em, Omaha, Caribbean Stud, and 5-Card Draw. These games are played at the table and require the presence of a real dealer. The dealer is responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards, accepting bets, and, sometimes, taking part in the game.
Online casinos offer a much wider range of poker variants. Here you can find dozens of classic and unique poker games. Most of them are RNG-based, so the outcome doesn’t depend on the player. However, you can always play Live Poker with a real dealer at selected casino sites like VegasPlus.
