Sampai-Chan
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Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:55:57 +0000
~Signatures~
01. SumBumSam
02. Seltzer Cole
03. Tiggen_Nomir
04. CumbrianRedFox
05. I am 4 Angry birds
06. Salted Lemon
07. Lief Kalm
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13.
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15.
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20.
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:56:17 +0000
~Suggestions~
Farkle Suggested by SumBumSam
5 Card Draw/7 Card Stud
Texas Hold'em
Craps
Roulette
Pachinko
Keno all Suggested by Tiggen_Nomir
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:56:45 +0000
~Instructions~
Farkle Instructions:
1. Roll a single die to determine who goes first, with the highest score getting the first
score; one player is elected scorekeeper and is responsible for recording each player's score at
the end of her turn.
2. Begin your turn by rolling all six dice. From these six dice, the player chooses which dice to
"score." These dice are grouped into scoring combinations and set aside.
Possible Scoring Combination
Any 1 = 100 Three 6's = 600
Any 5 = 50 Four of kind (Any) = 1,000
Three 1's = 300 Five of a kind (Any) = 2,000
Three 2's = 200 Six of a kind(Any) = 3,000
Three 3's = 300 Two triplets (Any) = 2,500
Three 4's = 400 Three pairs, or four of a kind and a pair = 1,500
Three 5's = 500 Straight (1,2,3,4,5,6) = 1,500
For a combination to count, it must all be rolled in a single throw. Players don't have to score all
possible combinations, but can choose which dice to score and which to set aside to re-roll.
From here, the player can choose to "bank" his score and end his turn, or to re-roll any dice
that haven't been scored. On a player's first turn he has to score 500 or more to "get on the
board," but after that, any score may be banked.
3. Score all six dice in one or more throws. You can choose to continue, rolling all six dice
again, but you don't bank your score until the end of your turn. This is called "hot dice."
4. End your turn by saying "bank" and handing the dice to the person to your left. If you roll a
combination of dice that cannot be scored in any way, then you "farkel," which means you lose
any points you have scored on that turn and must pass the dice immediately.
5. Continue play in this manner until one player reaches 10,000 points. When that happens,
each of the other players gets one last roll. During this last roll, players are required to keep
rolling until they have beaten the high score or farkel. No ties are allowed.
score; one player is elected scorekeeper and is responsible for recording each player's score at
the end of her turn.
2. Begin your turn by rolling all six dice. From these six dice, the player chooses which dice to
"score." These dice are grouped into scoring combinations and set aside.
Possible Scoring Combination
Any 1 = 100 Three 6's = 600
Any 5 = 50 Four of kind (Any) = 1,000
Three 1's = 300 Five of a kind (Any) = 2,000
Three 2's = 200 Six of a kind(Any) = 3,000
Three 3's = 300 Two triplets (Any) = 2,500
Three 4's = 400 Three pairs, or four of a kind and a pair = 1,500
Three 5's = 500 Straight (1,2,3,4,5,6) = 1,500
For a combination to count, it must all be rolled in a single throw. Players don't have to score all
possible combinations, but can choose which dice to score and which to set aside to re-roll.
From here, the player can choose to "bank" his score and end his turn, or to re-roll any dice
that haven't been scored. On a player's first turn he has to score 500 or more to "get on the
board," but after that, any score may be banked.
3. Score all six dice in one or more throws. You can choose to continue, rolling all six dice
again, but you don't bank your score until the end of your turn. This is called "hot dice."
4. End your turn by saying "bank" and handing the dice to the person to your left. If you roll a
combination of dice that cannot be scored in any way, then you "farkel," which means you lose
any points you have scored on that turn and must pass the dice immediately.
5. Continue play in this manner until one player reaches 10,000 points. When that happens,
each of the other players gets one last roll. During this last roll, players are required to keep
rolling until they have beaten the high score or farkel. No ties are allowed.
5 Card Draw
Five Card Draw is one of most basic forms of poker, and it's the kind of poker you're used to seeing in movies and on TV.
Because the game has been around for such a long time, and has been played in countless home games and card rooms across the nation, there are a couple different variations on the traditional rules. Below you will find all of the most commonly used rules for playing Five Card Draw.
The game is simple: make the best 5-card poker hand possible after one draw, and bet accordingly. The player with the best hand after the second betting round takes the pot.
Blinds and Antes
There are two main ways to play 5-Card Draw:
Ante
Blinds
The ante method is the original way the game was played, and is most commonly the system used in home games around the world. In this version each player must pay a predetermined ante before being dealt any cards.
In the second system, the game functions as a blinds game, similar to Texas Hold'em. In a blind game, only the two players to the left of the dealer must pay money before the cards are dealt.
The player to the dealer's immediate left pays the small blind, while the player to the left of the small blind pays the big blind.
Although the blind amounts can be set to any amount you like, the small blind is typically half of the big blind, the big blind being approximately 1/100th of your total buy-in.
The Deal
Once all players have anted (or the blinds have been paid), the dealer deals every player (starting on his left) five cards face down.
After all players receive their five cards, the first betting round ensues. If you're playing with blinds, the betting will start with the player to the left of the big blind (same as Hold'em), while if you're playing with antes, the betting must start with the player to the left of the dealer.
In an ante game like this, the first player to act is allowed to check (meaning they are not forced to bet, and can choose to stay in the hand for free).
The Draw Round
When the betting round completes the draw round begins with the player closest to the dealer's left. Assuming this player hasn't already folded, they have the option of changing any amount of cards they choose.
A player can "stand pat", meaning they keep all five cards, or they can throw away any amount from 1-5 cards, getting them replaced with an equal number of cards from the top of the deck.
In some home-games and rule-sets a player may only exchange up to a maximum of three cards. This rule is typically used only in home-games as it only benefits the weaker players. It is almost never correct to call in the first betting round, only to throw away four or all five of your cards.
The Second Betting Round and Showdown
Once all players have received their new cards, each player must evaluate their hand and proceed to the second (and final) betting round. Once this betting round is completed it's time for the showdown (assuming more than one player still has a hand).
Just like almost every other form of poker, the player with the best 5-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot. Head here for a complete list of poker hand rankings.
Once the showdown is complete, the dealer collects all the cards, and passes the deal on to the player to his left.
Because the game has been around for such a long time, and has been played in countless home games and card rooms across the nation, there are a couple different variations on the traditional rules. Below you will find all of the most commonly used rules for playing Five Card Draw.
The game is simple: make the best 5-card poker hand possible after one draw, and bet accordingly. The player with the best hand after the second betting round takes the pot.
Blinds and Antes
There are two main ways to play 5-Card Draw:
Ante
Blinds
The ante method is the original way the game was played, and is most commonly the system used in home games around the world. In this version each player must pay a predetermined ante before being dealt any cards.
In the second system, the game functions as a blinds game, similar to Texas Hold'em. In a blind game, only the two players to the left of the dealer must pay money before the cards are dealt.
The player to the dealer's immediate left pays the small blind, while the player to the left of the small blind pays the big blind.
Although the blind amounts can be set to any amount you like, the small blind is typically half of the big blind, the big blind being approximately 1/100th of your total buy-in.
The Deal
Once all players have anted (or the blinds have been paid), the dealer deals every player (starting on his left) five cards face down.
After all players receive their five cards, the first betting round ensues. If you're playing with blinds, the betting will start with the player to the left of the big blind (same as Hold'em), while if you're playing with antes, the betting must start with the player to the left of the dealer.
In an ante game like this, the first player to act is allowed to check (meaning they are not forced to bet, and can choose to stay in the hand for free).
The Draw Round
When the betting round completes the draw round begins with the player closest to the dealer's left. Assuming this player hasn't already folded, they have the option of changing any amount of cards they choose.
A player can "stand pat", meaning they keep all five cards, or they can throw away any amount from 1-5 cards, getting them replaced with an equal number of cards from the top of the deck.
In some home-games and rule-sets a player may only exchange up to a maximum of three cards. This rule is typically used only in home-games as it only benefits the weaker players. It is almost never correct to call in the first betting round, only to throw away four or all five of your cards.
The Second Betting Round and Showdown
Once all players have received their new cards, each player must evaluate their hand and proceed to the second (and final) betting round. Once this betting round is completed it's time for the showdown (assuming more than one player still has a hand).
Just like almost every other form of poker, the player with the best 5-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot. Head here for a complete list of poker hand rankings.
Once the showdown is complete, the dealer collects all the cards, and passes the deal on to the player to his left.
7 Card Stud
Before community-card games such as Hold'em and Omaha became popular, the most widely played poker variation was Seven-Card Stud.
Even now Stud is regarded as a more "pure" poker variation, as much for its historic past as its increased difficulty of play.
Seven Card Stud requires more attention and card-playing prowess, along the lines of Bridge or Gin, than a community-card game.
This is not to say that Stud is any better than any other variation, but it is a game worth knowing how to play. Every poker player should have the ability to play multiple variations of the game, and Seven-Card is one of the most popular and important.
The game of 7 Card Stud can be played with two to eight players at a table. The goal in Stud is the same as any other poker variation: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
Stud has a lot of little rules and a few quirks, but it's a simple game at its core. The game can be broken up into four sections:
Setup
The Bring
Betting Rounds
Showdown
If you've just read the Texas Hold'em Rules and Game Play article, you'll notice that Stud has one more section. For players familiar to the rules and game play of a community-card game, the only completely new concept you'll learn in this article will be "the bring."
Setup
The first thing you need to do is get everyone at your table some chips. You will need a combination of chips that will allow for a big bet, small bet and an ante.
The size of the bets will dictate how large your game will play. A big bet is typically twice the size of the small bet, with the ante around 10% of the big bet.
Here's a chart of buy-ins and bets to give you some ideas. The buy-in amounts are the minimum amounts you would want to buy in for the stakes. If you want to be sure to have lots of chips, play with smaller stakes for the buy in - for example, use the bets for a $10 game, and buy in for $20:
Recommended Buy-in Big Bet Small Bet Ante
$100+ $4 $2 50¢
$20+ $1 50¢ 10¢
$10+ 50¢ 25¢ 5¢
Once you all have chips, one player needs to grab the deck and shuffle up. It doesn't matter who starts as the dealer in a Stud game.
Betting Rules: Stud can be played in a variety of different betting structures. This article uses the most common structure: Fixed Limit.
Once the cards are shuffled, all players must ante. Antes are dead money, meaning they go immediately into the pot: any bets you make will be in addition to the antes.
Starting with the player on the dealer's left and moving around the table clockwise, the dealer deals every player two cards face down (all cards face down are known as as down cards or hole cards), followed by one card face up (this card is known as the door card, or window card. All cards face up are collectively known as up cards or show cards).
The Bring
In every form of poker, there is some determining factor as to how and where the action starts in the hand. In Hold'em or Omaha the action starts to the left of the big blind; in Stud it starts with the bring.
The player with the lowest-value door card is the one required to "bring it in." Here's what you need to discern the losing player for the bring:
All cards are worth face value and face cards are valued from worst to best: Jack, Queen, King.
Aces are high for the bring, which means they rank higher than a king.
If two players have the same value low card, suits are used to determine the loser.
Stud uses poker-suit ordering, alphabetic from worst to best: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
The player required to bring has two choices. They can either bring by making a bet equal to the size of the ante, or they can complete the bet to the full amount of the small bet.
Betting Round One (Third Street)
The player to the left of the bring is next to act. That player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the bring.
Raise: If the first player made a minimum bring (only brought the amount of the ante) a raise will be completing the bet to the amount of the small bet limit. If the first player completed their bring to the full small bet a raise would be doubling the small bet amount.
For example in a $20 game:
Min Bring
Player 1 brings 10¢
Player 2 can call 10¢ or complete to 50¢.
Max Bring (Completion)
Player 1 brings (completes) 50¢
Player 2 can call 50¢ or raise to $1
Play moves clockwise around the table one player at a time. A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Betting Round Two (Fourth Street)
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer deals every player (always starting at the first live player to his or her left and moving clockwise around the table) one card face up, next to the first face-up card.
In this betting round, and every betting round to follow, the first player to act is decided by the value of the show cards. The player with the highest value show cards acts first. The value of show cards are ranked in the same order as poker hands.
On fourth street, with only two cards showing, the best possible hand would be two aces showing (A♠ A♥ to be exact). The worst possible hand would be 2♣ 3♣. Any pair is better than any two non-paired cards; for example 2♣ 2♦ is better than A♠ K♠.
Suit ranks are used in the event of a tie for the highest-ranked show cards. When evaluating rank by suit, the value of the hand is determined by the suit of the highest ranking card. For example:
Player 1: A♠ K♣
Player 2: A♥ K♠
Player 1 has the better hand since the Ace of spades is of higher rank than the Ace of hearts.
Example 2:
Player 1: 3♠ 3♣
Player 2: 3♥ 3♦
Player 1 wins, since they have the Three of Spades, which is a higher ranked card than Player 2's Three of Hearts.
Once you have discerned the highest hand, that person acts first. They have the option to check (wager no money, and move the action to the player on their left) or bet the small betting limit.
The action moves from that player clockwise around the table one player at a time. Each player has the option to:
Check (if no bet has been made).
Call (match any bet made).
Bet/Raise (If no bet is made, they can bet the small limit; if a bet has been made they can raise it by adding an additional amount to the bet, equal to the small limit).
fold (throw away their hand).
Once every player has acted, and every player that has not folded has put the same amount of money into the pot, the betting round ends.
Betting Round Three (Fifth Street)
At the completion of fourth street, the dealer deals every remaining player another card face up, starting with the first live player to his or her left, moving clockwise around the table.
Once all the cards have been dealt, the betting round starts the same way fourth street started. The player with the best show cards bets first. Three of a kind is the best combination, followed by a pair, followed by the highest cards.
In this betting round, players bet using the big betting limit. Other than the size of the bets, this betting round is identical to fourth street.
Betting Round Four (Sixth Street)
Sixth street is identical to fifth street. Every player is dealt one card face up, and the highest valued show cards bets first. On sixth street, with four show cards for each player, the best possible show card value is four of a kind.
Sixth street betting uses the big betting limit.
The Final Betting Round (Seventh Street)
When the sixth street betting round is complete, the dealer deals one final card FACE DOWN to every player. Again, the dealer starts at the first player with cards to their left, and moves on clockwise around the table.
The player with the highest-ranked show cards in the previous betting round is the first to act in this betting round as well. The final card having been dealt face down does not affect the value of the four show cards.
The final betting round uses the big betting limit.
Showdown
Once the final betting round has been completed, the players still in the hand enter into the showdown. In the showdown, each player makes the best five card hand possible out of their own seven cards.
The remaining two cards are "dead" and have no value towards the hand at all. They are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Evaluating Hands
Here are the rules for evaluating the winning hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. (there will be another link at the bottom of this page) There are no exceptions to this ordering, a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no other hands used in Stud than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair" with the highest valued two pairs making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the player holds 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦ 10♠ 9♣, the player's best hand is a straight: 10♠ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
If all remaining players have nothing, no pair or anything stronger, the winning hand is the hand with the highest valued single card. meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand. If two players have the exact same hand (disregarding the suits of the cards), the pot is split between the players.
Once you have discerned the winning hand, that player is awarded the pot. After the pot has been shipped, all players ante and are dealt their next hand. Unless you have a professional dealer, typically the role of dealer will rotate around the table, although it is not necessary for Stud.
Having one player as the dealer for the entire duration of the game will give no player an advantage or disadvantage during the game.
Random Rules
Fourth Street Open Pair: If a player pairs up their door card on fourth street (giving them a pair as the winning high hand for fourth street), the player has the option of checking, betting the small limit or betting the big limit.
If the player chooses to check, the next player to act inherits the same options (meaning they can check, or bet either the small or big limit).
If a player chooses to bet the larger betting limit, all bets and raises in that betting round must be in the big betting limit unit. For example in a $10-$20 limit game, if a player is dealt a pair on fourth street, they can bet $10 or $20.
If they choose to bet $20, the next player must fold, call $20 or raise to $40.
Capping the Bet: In any one betting round while there are three or more players still in the hand, there can only be one bet and three raises. Once the third raise has been made, the betting is "capped," meaning all future action in that betting round is restricted to calling or folding.
Running Out of Cards: If you are playing with eight people, it is not possible for every player to be dealt a full 7 cards, since there are only 52 cards in the deck.
If you ever get to the point where all eight players are in the hand until seventh street, instead of dealing every player one card, you must deal a single card face up in the middle of the table.
This card is used as a community card (like in Hold'em or Omaha). Every player shares that card as the seventh card of their hand.
Even now Stud is regarded as a more "pure" poker variation, as much for its historic past as its increased difficulty of play.
Seven Card Stud requires more attention and card-playing prowess, along the lines of Bridge or Gin, than a community-card game.
This is not to say that Stud is any better than any other variation, but it is a game worth knowing how to play. Every poker player should have the ability to play multiple variations of the game, and Seven-Card is one of the most popular and important.
The game of 7 Card Stud can be played with two to eight players at a table. The goal in Stud is the same as any other poker variation: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
Stud has a lot of little rules and a few quirks, but it's a simple game at its core. The game can be broken up into four sections:
Setup
The Bring
Betting Rounds
Showdown
If you've just read the Texas Hold'em Rules and Game Play article, you'll notice that Stud has one more section. For players familiar to the rules and game play of a community-card game, the only completely new concept you'll learn in this article will be "the bring."
Setup
The first thing you need to do is get everyone at your table some chips. You will need a combination of chips that will allow for a big bet, small bet and an ante.
The size of the bets will dictate how large your game will play. A big bet is typically twice the size of the small bet, with the ante around 10% of the big bet.
Here's a chart of buy-ins and bets to give you some ideas. The buy-in amounts are the minimum amounts you would want to buy in for the stakes. If you want to be sure to have lots of chips, play with smaller stakes for the buy in - for example, use the bets for a $10 game, and buy in for $20:
Recommended Buy-in Big Bet Small Bet Ante
$100+ $4 $2 50¢
$20+ $1 50¢ 10¢
$10+ 50¢ 25¢ 5¢
Once you all have chips, one player needs to grab the deck and shuffle up. It doesn't matter who starts as the dealer in a Stud game.
Betting Rules: Stud can be played in a variety of different betting structures. This article uses the most common structure: Fixed Limit.
Once the cards are shuffled, all players must ante. Antes are dead money, meaning they go immediately into the pot: any bets you make will be in addition to the antes.
Starting with the player on the dealer's left and moving around the table clockwise, the dealer deals every player two cards face down (all cards face down are known as as down cards or hole cards), followed by one card face up (this card is known as the door card, or window card. All cards face up are collectively known as up cards or show cards).
The Bring
In every form of poker, there is some determining factor as to how and where the action starts in the hand. In Hold'em or Omaha the action starts to the left of the big blind; in Stud it starts with the bring.
The player with the lowest-value door card is the one required to "bring it in." Here's what you need to discern the losing player for the bring:
All cards are worth face value and face cards are valued from worst to best: Jack, Queen, King.
Aces are high for the bring, which means they rank higher than a king.
If two players have the same value low card, suits are used to determine the loser.
Stud uses poker-suit ordering, alphabetic from worst to best: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
The player required to bring has two choices. They can either bring by making a bet equal to the size of the ante, or they can complete the bet to the full amount of the small bet.
Betting Round One (Third Street)
The player to the left of the bring is next to act. That player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the bring.
Raise: If the first player made a minimum bring (only brought the amount of the ante) a raise will be completing the bet to the amount of the small bet limit. If the first player completed their bring to the full small bet a raise would be doubling the small bet amount.
For example in a $20 game:
Min Bring
Player 1 brings 10¢
Player 2 can call 10¢ or complete to 50¢.
Max Bring (Completion)
Player 1 brings (completes) 50¢
Player 2 can call 50¢ or raise to $1
Play moves clockwise around the table one player at a time. A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Betting Round Two (Fourth Street)
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer deals every player (always starting at the first live player to his or her left and moving clockwise around the table) one card face up, next to the first face-up card.
In this betting round, and every betting round to follow, the first player to act is decided by the value of the show cards. The player with the highest value show cards acts first. The value of show cards are ranked in the same order as poker hands.
On fourth street, with only two cards showing, the best possible hand would be two aces showing (A♠ A♥ to be exact). The worst possible hand would be 2♣ 3♣. Any pair is better than any two non-paired cards; for example 2♣ 2♦ is better than A♠ K♠.
Suit ranks are used in the event of a tie for the highest-ranked show cards. When evaluating rank by suit, the value of the hand is determined by the suit of the highest ranking card. For example:
Player 1: A♠ K♣
Player 2: A♥ K♠
Player 1 has the better hand since the Ace of spades is of higher rank than the Ace of hearts.
Example 2:
Player 1: 3♠ 3♣
Player 2: 3♥ 3♦
Player 1 wins, since they have the Three of Spades, which is a higher ranked card than Player 2's Three of Hearts.
Once you have discerned the highest hand, that person acts first. They have the option to check (wager no money, and move the action to the player on their left) or bet the small betting limit.
The action moves from that player clockwise around the table one player at a time. Each player has the option to:
Check (if no bet has been made).
Call (match any bet made).
Bet/Raise (If no bet is made, they can bet the small limit; if a bet has been made they can raise it by adding an additional amount to the bet, equal to the small limit).
fold (throw away their hand).
Once every player has acted, and every player that has not folded has put the same amount of money into the pot, the betting round ends.
Betting Round Three (Fifth Street)
At the completion of fourth street, the dealer deals every remaining player another card face up, starting with the first live player to his or her left, moving clockwise around the table.
Once all the cards have been dealt, the betting round starts the same way fourth street started. The player with the best show cards bets first. Three of a kind is the best combination, followed by a pair, followed by the highest cards.
In this betting round, players bet using the big betting limit. Other than the size of the bets, this betting round is identical to fourth street.
Betting Round Four (Sixth Street)
Sixth street is identical to fifth street. Every player is dealt one card face up, and the highest valued show cards bets first. On sixth street, with four show cards for each player, the best possible show card value is four of a kind.
Sixth street betting uses the big betting limit.
The Final Betting Round (Seventh Street)
When the sixth street betting round is complete, the dealer deals one final card FACE DOWN to every player. Again, the dealer starts at the first player with cards to their left, and moves on clockwise around the table.
The player with the highest-ranked show cards in the previous betting round is the first to act in this betting round as well. The final card having been dealt face down does not affect the value of the four show cards.
The final betting round uses the big betting limit.
Showdown
Once the final betting round has been completed, the players still in the hand enter into the showdown. In the showdown, each player makes the best five card hand possible out of their own seven cards.
The remaining two cards are "dead" and have no value towards the hand at all. They are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Evaluating Hands
Here are the rules for evaluating the winning hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. (there will be another link at the bottom of this page) There are no exceptions to this ordering, a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no other hands used in Stud than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair" with the highest valued two pairs making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the player holds 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦ 10♠ 9♣, the player's best hand is a straight: 10♠ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
If all remaining players have nothing, no pair or anything stronger, the winning hand is the hand with the highest valued single card. meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand. If two players have the exact same hand (disregarding the suits of the cards), the pot is split between the players.
Once you have discerned the winning hand, that player is awarded the pot. After the pot has been shipped, all players ante and are dealt their next hand. Unless you have a professional dealer, typically the role of dealer will rotate around the table, although it is not necessary for Stud.
Having one player as the dealer for the entire duration of the game will give no player an advantage or disadvantage during the game.
Random Rules
Fourth Street Open Pair: If a player pairs up their door card on fourth street (giving them a pair as the winning high hand for fourth street), the player has the option of checking, betting the small limit or betting the big limit.
If the player chooses to check, the next player to act inherits the same options (meaning they can check, or bet either the small or big limit).
If a player chooses to bet the larger betting limit, all bets and raises in that betting round must be in the big betting limit unit. For example in a $10-$20 limit game, if a player is dealt a pair on fourth street, they can bet $10 or $20.
If they choose to bet $20, the next player must fold, call $20 or raise to $40.
Capping the Bet: In any one betting round while there are three or more players still in the hand, there can only be one bet and three raises. Once the third raise has been made, the betting is "capped," meaning all future action in that betting round is restricted to calling or folding.
Running Out of Cards: If you are playing with eight people, it is not possible for every player to be dealt a full 7 cards, since there are only 52 cards in the deck.
If you ever get to the point where all eight players are in the hand until seventh street, instead of dealing every player one card, you must deal a single card face up in the middle of the table.
This card is used as a community card (like in Hold'em or Omaha). Every player shares that card as the seventh card of their hand.
Texas Hold'em
Learning how to play a game of Texas Hold'em can seem much more difficult than it really is.
The game itself is actually very logical and simple and requires just a few minutes to learn.
Mastering it, however, will take you a bit longer.
This article provides all the information you need to start playing the game.
Any time you get confused by the action, read below for some guidance. Each topic also contains links to more in-depth articles on that specific subject.
When you feel you've got the hang of it and are ready to play for real, check out our Texas Hold'em toplist for the best places to get started.
Quick Glossary
Before we get into describing the rules and game play, here's a quick glossary of terms you'll encounter.
Blinds: Short for "blind bets," these are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic "ante."
Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand.
Check: Similar to a call but no money is bet. If there is no raise preflop, the big blind may check.
Fifth Street: See River.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
Fourth Street: See Turn.
Preflop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is preflop.
River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.
Overview
Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game, with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played.
Although the rules and game play remain mostly the same, the end goal is slightly different depending on if you're playing a cash game or a tournament.
A Hold'em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold'em with a few added rules and twists. If you'd like to learn the rules unique to tournaments, head to this article. (There will also be a link at the bottom of the page).
Texas Holdem is played on a single table with two to 10 players. The goal is simple: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
You win a pot by having the best hand, or by having all other players fold before the showdown.
The structure of Texas Hold'em can be broken up into three main divisions:
Setup
Betting Rounds
Showdown
Setup
Once you have your players sitting around the table, the first thing you need to have is chips. Before you can figure out what kind of chips to give each player, you need to understand how the game works a little better, so we'll get back to this.
For now, assume all players have chips in front of them.
The next step is picking the player who will start with the dealer button. Hold'em is played with what's known as a rotating dealer, meaning a player will act as the dealer for one hand, handing the role of dealer to the player on their left when the hand is completed.
To choose the dealer, either deal every player one card, or spread the cards facedown on the table and have every player choose one.
The player with the highest-valued card (aces are high for selecting a dealer) starts as the dealer.
If you're in a place with a professional dealer, or someone volunteers to always physically deal the cards, the dealer button will still rotate around the table.
Even though he or she is physically dealing the cards, for all intents and purposes, the person with the button is viewed as being the dealer for the hand.
Once the hand completes, the player with the dealer button will pass it to the player on his or her left.
Putting Out the Blinds
Now that you have a dealer, you need to put out the blinds.
There are two blinds in Holdem - a small blind and a big blind. The player directly to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind.
The big blind (exactly, or conveniently close to, double that of the small blind) is placed by the player to the left of the small blind.
The size of the blinds will dictate the stakes of the game you're about to play. Typically, you want players to buy in for no less than 100 times the size of the big blind.
If you want to buy in for $20, you should play with blinds 10¢/20¢, or for convenience, most people will play 10¢/25¢.
Back to chips: Once the blinds are set we know what kind of chips we'll need to play. (In the above example, we'd use 10¢ chips, 25¢ chips and maybe a few $1 chips.)
You want to give players enough chips in each denomination to allow the game to run smoothly.
Typically a player will need only 10% of their total chips in the smallest denomination, as they are only ever used to pay the small blind. For the most part, all betting will be done with chips larger than that of the small blind.
Once you have the blinds out, you're now ready to deal the first hand.
Game-Play and Betting Rounds
The person dealing the cards deals to the left of the player with the dealer button first, rotating around the table in a clockwise manner, giving each player one card at a time until each player has two cards. These are known as your hole cards.
A hand of Hold'em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all players but one have folded, or the fourth and final betting round completes with multiple players still in the hand - whichever comes first.
At that point, players enter into the showdown (to be explained in the next section).
Preflop
When all players receive their hole cards, you are now in the preflop betting round.
Each player must look at their cards and decide what action they would like to take. In Hold'em, only one player can act at a time.
The preflop betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind. This player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the big blind.
Raise: They raise the bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. A player may raise more depending on the betting style being played. (For more about No-Limit and Pot-Limit betting formats, check out this article here.)
Once a player has made their action, the player to the left of them gets their turn to act. Each player is given the same options: fold, call the bet of the player to their right (if the previous player raised, that is the amount you must call) or raise.
A raise is always the amount of one bet in addition to the amount of the previous bet, for example: if the big blind is 25¢, and the first player to act would like to raise, they put in a total of 50¢ (the big blind + one additional bet).
If the next player would like to reraise, they would put in a total of 75¢ (the previous bet + one additional bet).
A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Example Betting Round 1
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - folds
Player 1 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 2 - Calls the big blind (since they already have 10¢ bet, they only have to add another 15¢, for a total of 25¢)
Player 3 - Checks (since they already have the bet matched, they do not need to add more money to call; this is called checking)
End of betting round
When Player 2 calls the big blind, all players now have the same amount of money in front of them, but Player 3 (the big blind) has not had a chance to act, so the betting round is not over.
Once Player 3 checks, both conditions are met, and the betting round is over.
Example Betting Round 2
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - Raises (50¢)
Player 1 - Folds
Player 2 - Folds
Player 3 - Reraises (they already have 25¢ in as the big blind. They complete the bet of 50¢, and add one additional bet for a total of 75¢)
Player 4 - Folds (their previous call of 25¢ is now in the pot)
Player 5 - Calls (matches the bet of Player 3 for a total of 75¢)
End of betting round
In this scenario all players had had a chance to act when Player 3 made the reraise. But all players did not have the same amount of money bet.
Once Player 4 folds, only Player 3 and Player 5 are left in the pot. When Player 5 calls, both conditions are met, and the betting round ends.
The Flop
Once the preflop betting round ends, the flop is dealt. This is done by dealing the top card in the deck facedown on the table (it becomes the burn card), followed by three cards faceup.
Once this has been dealt, the first post-flop betting round begins.
The rules of a post-flop betting round are the same as a preflop, with two small exceptions: The first player to act is the next player with a hand to the left of the dealer, and the first player to act can check or bet; as there has been no bet made, calling is free.
A bet on the flop is the amount of the big blind. In our game, a player must put out 25¢ to make a bet.
The Turn
Once the betting round on the flop completes, the dealer deals one card facedown followed by a single card faceup, also known as the "burn and turn." Once the turn has been dealt, the third betting round starts.
The third betting round is identical to the flop betting round with one single exception: The size of a bet for this round, and the final betting round, is doubled, meaning that to make a bet in our game will now cost a player 50¢.
The River
Assuming more than one player is left, having not folded on one of the previous streets, the river is now dealt. Dealing the river is identical as dealing the turn, with one card being dealt facedown, followed by a single card faceup.
This is the final street, and no more cards will be dealt in this hand. The betting round is identical to the betting round on the turn.
Showdown
Once the river betting round has been completed, the players now enter into the showdown. At this point, the best hand wins the pot. Here are the rules you need to know about a Hold'em showdown:
The player who bet on the river is the default first player to reveal their hand. If any other players choose to show their hand first, that is OK.
If no betting happened on the river (all players checked), the player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.
If a player is holding a losing hand, it is their option to reveal their cards or simply muck their hand and concede the pot.
Evaluating Hands
In Hold'em you must make the best hand possible using any combination of your two cards and the five community cards on the table.
You can use both, one or none of your own cards in making your best hand. Here are some rules about evaluating a winning poker hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. There are no exceptions to this ordering: a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no hands used in Hold'em other than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair," with the highest-valued two pair making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards, and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the board is 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
Player 1 holds T♠ 9♣
Player 2 holds T♣ 2♣
Both players hold the very same hand (a straight from ten to ace). This means the pot is split between the two players. The remaining cards and the fact Player 1 also has a pair means nothing - only the best five-card hand factors into deciding the winner.
If all remaining players have nothing (no pair or anything stronger), the winning hand is the hand with the highest-valued single card, meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Once you determine the winning hand, that player receives the pot. The dealer passes the dealer button to his or her left and the two players to the left of the new dealer put out their big and small blinds respectively.
Random Rules
Raising: When there are more than two players still in the hand, only one bet and three raises can be made in one betting round. Once the third raise is made the betting is "capped." Once betting is capped, players may only call or fold.
A player must either declare their intent to raise verbally before making any actions, or bring the amount of chips equal to the total amount of their raise into play at the same time. A player is not allowed to place chips, return to their stack and place more chips. This is known as a string bet.
Solutions to any other random situation you come across can be found here.
Buying Chips: The minimum number of chips a player is allowed to buy before their first hand dealt is determined by the house rules governing the game. Typically a minimum is 50-100 times the big blind.
There is no maximum to the number of chips a player may buy at any time.
A player may reload, or add more chips to their stack, at any time between hands. Once a hand is started, a player may only use the chips they had in play at the beginning of the hand, during that hand. Any additional chips will not be "in play" until the next deal.
The game itself is actually very logical and simple and requires just a few minutes to learn.
Mastering it, however, will take you a bit longer.
This article provides all the information you need to start playing the game.
Any time you get confused by the action, read below for some guidance. Each topic also contains links to more in-depth articles on that specific subject.
When you feel you've got the hang of it and are ready to play for real, check out our Texas Hold'em toplist for the best places to get started.
Quick Glossary
Before we get into describing the rules and game play, here's a quick glossary of terms you'll encounter.
Blinds: Short for "blind bets," these are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic "ante."
Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand.
Check: Similar to a call but no money is bet. If there is no raise preflop, the big blind may check.
Fifth Street: See River.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
Fourth Street: See Turn.
Preflop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is preflop.
River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.
Overview
Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game, with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played.
Although the rules and game play remain mostly the same, the end goal is slightly different depending on if you're playing a cash game or a tournament.
A Hold'em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold'em with a few added rules and twists. If you'd like to learn the rules unique to tournaments, head to this article. (There will also be a link at the bottom of the page).
Texas Holdem is played on a single table with two to 10 players. The goal is simple: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
You win a pot by having the best hand, or by having all other players fold before the showdown.
The structure of Texas Hold'em can be broken up into three main divisions:
Setup
Betting Rounds
Showdown
Setup
Once you have your players sitting around the table, the first thing you need to have is chips. Before you can figure out what kind of chips to give each player, you need to understand how the game works a little better, so we'll get back to this.
For now, assume all players have chips in front of them.
The next step is picking the player who will start with the dealer button. Hold'em is played with what's known as a rotating dealer, meaning a player will act as the dealer for one hand, handing the role of dealer to the player on their left when the hand is completed.
To choose the dealer, either deal every player one card, or spread the cards facedown on the table and have every player choose one.
The player with the highest-valued card (aces are high for selecting a dealer) starts as the dealer.
If you're in a place with a professional dealer, or someone volunteers to always physically deal the cards, the dealer button will still rotate around the table.
Even though he or she is physically dealing the cards, for all intents and purposes, the person with the button is viewed as being the dealer for the hand.
Once the hand completes, the player with the dealer button will pass it to the player on his or her left.
Putting Out the Blinds
Now that you have a dealer, you need to put out the blinds.
There are two blinds in Holdem - a small blind and a big blind. The player directly to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind.
The big blind (exactly, or conveniently close to, double that of the small blind) is placed by the player to the left of the small blind.
The size of the blinds will dictate the stakes of the game you're about to play. Typically, you want players to buy in for no less than 100 times the size of the big blind.
If you want to buy in for $20, you should play with blinds 10¢/20¢, or for convenience, most people will play 10¢/25¢.
Back to chips: Once the blinds are set we know what kind of chips we'll need to play. (In the above example, we'd use 10¢ chips, 25¢ chips and maybe a few $1 chips.)
You want to give players enough chips in each denomination to allow the game to run smoothly.
Typically a player will need only 10% of their total chips in the smallest denomination, as they are only ever used to pay the small blind. For the most part, all betting will be done with chips larger than that of the small blind.
Once you have the blinds out, you're now ready to deal the first hand.
Game-Play and Betting Rounds
The person dealing the cards deals to the left of the player with the dealer button first, rotating around the table in a clockwise manner, giving each player one card at a time until each player has two cards. These are known as your hole cards.
A hand of Hold'em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all players but one have folded, or the fourth and final betting round completes with multiple players still in the hand - whichever comes first.
At that point, players enter into the showdown (to be explained in the next section).
Preflop
When all players receive their hole cards, you are now in the preflop betting round.
Each player must look at their cards and decide what action they would like to take. In Hold'em, only one player can act at a time.
The preflop betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind. This player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the big blind.
Raise: They raise the bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. A player may raise more depending on the betting style being played. (For more about No-Limit and Pot-Limit betting formats, check out this article here.)
Once a player has made their action, the player to the left of them gets their turn to act. Each player is given the same options: fold, call the bet of the player to their right (if the previous player raised, that is the amount you must call) or raise.
A raise is always the amount of one bet in addition to the amount of the previous bet, for example: if the big blind is 25¢, and the first player to act would like to raise, they put in a total of 50¢ (the big blind + one additional bet).
If the next player would like to reraise, they would put in a total of 75¢ (the previous bet + one additional bet).
A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Example Betting Round 1
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - folds
Player 1 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 2 - Calls the big blind (since they already have 10¢ bet, they only have to add another 15¢, for a total of 25¢)
Player 3 - Checks (since they already have the bet matched, they do not need to add more money to call; this is called checking)
End of betting round
When Player 2 calls the big blind, all players now have the same amount of money in front of them, but Player 3 (the big blind) has not had a chance to act, so the betting round is not over.
Once Player 3 checks, both conditions are met, and the betting round is over.
Example Betting Round 2
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - Raises (50¢)
Player 1 - Folds
Player 2 - Folds
Player 3 - Reraises (they already have 25¢ in as the big blind. They complete the bet of 50¢, and add one additional bet for a total of 75¢)
Player 4 - Folds (their previous call of 25¢ is now in the pot)
Player 5 - Calls (matches the bet of Player 3 for a total of 75¢)
End of betting round
In this scenario all players had had a chance to act when Player 3 made the reraise. But all players did not have the same amount of money bet.
Once Player 4 folds, only Player 3 and Player 5 are left in the pot. When Player 5 calls, both conditions are met, and the betting round ends.
The Flop
Once the preflop betting round ends, the flop is dealt. This is done by dealing the top card in the deck facedown on the table (it becomes the burn card), followed by three cards faceup.
Once this has been dealt, the first post-flop betting round begins.
The rules of a post-flop betting round are the same as a preflop, with two small exceptions: The first player to act is the next player with a hand to the left of the dealer, and the first player to act can check or bet; as there has been no bet made, calling is free.
A bet on the flop is the amount of the big blind. In our game, a player must put out 25¢ to make a bet.
The Turn
Once the betting round on the flop completes, the dealer deals one card facedown followed by a single card faceup, also known as the "burn and turn." Once the turn has been dealt, the third betting round starts.
The third betting round is identical to the flop betting round with one single exception: The size of a bet for this round, and the final betting round, is doubled, meaning that to make a bet in our game will now cost a player 50¢.
The River
Assuming more than one player is left, having not folded on one of the previous streets, the river is now dealt. Dealing the river is identical as dealing the turn, with one card being dealt facedown, followed by a single card faceup.
This is the final street, and no more cards will be dealt in this hand. The betting round is identical to the betting round on the turn.
Showdown
Once the river betting round has been completed, the players now enter into the showdown. At this point, the best hand wins the pot. Here are the rules you need to know about a Hold'em showdown:
The player who bet on the river is the default first player to reveal their hand. If any other players choose to show their hand first, that is OK.
If no betting happened on the river (all players checked), the player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.
If a player is holding a losing hand, it is their option to reveal their cards or simply muck their hand and concede the pot.
Evaluating Hands
In Hold'em you must make the best hand possible using any combination of your two cards and the five community cards on the table.
You can use both, one or none of your own cards in making your best hand. Here are some rules about evaluating a winning poker hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. There are no exceptions to this ordering: a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no hands used in Hold'em other than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair," with the highest-valued two pair making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards, and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the board is 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
Player 1 holds T♠ 9♣
Player 2 holds T♣ 2♣
Both players hold the very same hand (a straight from ten to ace). This means the pot is split between the two players. The remaining cards and the fact Player 1 also has a pair means nothing - only the best five-card hand factors into deciding the winner.
If all remaining players have nothing (no pair or anything stronger), the winning hand is the hand with the highest-valued single card, meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Once you determine the winning hand, that player receives the pot. The dealer passes the dealer button to his or her left and the two players to the left of the new dealer put out their big and small blinds respectively.
Random Rules
Raising: When there are more than two players still in the hand, only one bet and three raises can be made in one betting round. Once the third raise is made the betting is "capped." Once betting is capped, players may only call or fold.
A player must either declare their intent to raise verbally before making any actions, or bring the amount of chips equal to the total amount of their raise into play at the same time. A player is not allowed to place chips, return to their stack and place more chips. This is known as a string bet.
Solutions to any other random situation you come across can be found here.
Buying Chips: The minimum number of chips a player is allowed to buy before their first hand dealt is determined by the house rules governing the game. Typically a minimum is 50-100 times the big blind.
There is no maximum to the number of chips a player may buy at any time.
A player may reload, or add more chips to their stack, at any time between hands. Once a hand is started, a player may only use the chips they had in play at the beginning of the hand, during that hand. Any additional chips will not be "in play" until the next deal.
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Roulette N/A
Pachinko N/A
Keno N/A
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:57:11 +0000
Seltzer Cole
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- Posted: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 23:08:44 +0000
I sign!
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:35:33 +0000
Thanks for the signature and sorry I've been busy as of late.
Tiggen_Nomir
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- Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 12:51:32 +0000
Signing
Casino Style Games?
I'd like to see
5 Card Draw/7 Card Stud
Texas Hold'em
Craps
Roulette
Pachinko
Keno
Casino Style Games?
I'd like to see
5 Card Draw/7 Card Stud
Texas Hold'em
Craps
Roulette
Pachinko
Keno
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:15:11 +0000
Tiggen_Nomir
Thanks for the signature and the suggestions, they do need a brief how to however... only one I might recall how to play was Texas Hold'em.
CumbrianRedFox
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- Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 20:11:54 +0000
I'll sign blaugh it sounds like a good idea
Sampai-Chan
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- Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 20:51:50 +0000
CumbrianRedFox
Thank you for the signature and glad you think it's a great idea
Tiggen_Nomir
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- Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 21:11:15 +0000
The difference in texas holdem and 5/7 card is Texas Hold em lays cards out for everyone instead of giving individual hands...but I will get a guide for everything tonight
SumBumSam
Tiggen_Nomir
Thanks for the signature and the suggestions, they do need a brief how to however... only one I might recall how to play was Texas Hold'em.
Tiggen_Nomir
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- Posted: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 09:46:38 +0000
SumBumSam
GAME RULES
5 Card Draw
Five Card Draw is one of most basic forms of poker, and it's the kind of poker you're used to seeing in movies and on TV.
Because the game has been around for such a long time, and has been played in countless home games and card rooms across the nation, there are a couple different variations on the traditional rules. Below you will find all of the most commonly used rules for playing Five Card Draw.
The game is simple: make the best 5-card poker hand possible after one draw, and bet accordingly. The player with the best hand after the second betting round takes the pot.
Blinds and Antes
There are two main ways to play 5-Card Draw:
Ante
Blinds
The ante method is the original way the game was played, and is most commonly the system used in home games around the world. In this version each player must pay a predetermined ante before being dealt any cards.
In the second system, the game functions as a blinds game, similar to Texas Hold'em. In a blind game, only the two players to the left of the dealer must pay money before the cards are dealt.
The player to the dealer's immediate left pays the small blind, while the player to the left of the small blind pays the big blind.
Although the blind amounts can be set to any amount you like, the small blind is typically half of the big blind, the big blind being approximately 1/100th of your total buy-in.
The Deal
Once all players have anted (or the blinds have been paid), the dealer deals every player (starting on his left) five cards face down.
After all players receive their five cards, the first betting round ensues. If you're playing with blinds, the betting will start with the player to the left of the big blind (same as Hold'em), while if you're playing with antes, the betting must start with the player to the left of the dealer.
In an ante game like this, the first player to act is allowed to check (meaning they are not forced to bet, and can choose to stay in the hand for free).
The Draw Round
When the betting round completes the draw round begins with the player closest to the dealer's left. Assuming this player hasn't already folded, they have the option of changing any amount of cards they choose.
A player can "stand pat", meaning they keep all five cards, or they can throw away any amount from 1-5 cards, getting them replaced with an equal number of cards from the top of the deck.
In some home-games and rule-sets a player may only exchange up to a maximum of three cards. This rule is typically used only in home-games as it only benefits the weaker players. It is almost never correct to call in the first betting round, only to throw away four or all five of your cards.
The Second Betting Round and Showdown
Once all players have received their new cards, each player must evaluate their hand and proceed to the second (and final) betting round. Once this betting round is completed it's time for the showdown (assuming more than one player still has a hand).
Just like almost every other form of poker, the player with the best 5-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot. Head here for a complete list of poker hand rankings.
Once the showdown is complete, the dealer collects all the cards, and passes the deal on to the player to his left.
7 Card Stud
Before community-card games such as Hold'em and Omaha became popular, the most widely played poker variation was Seven-Card Stud.
Even now Stud is regarded as a more "pure" poker variation, as much for its historic past as its increased difficulty of play.
Seven Card Stud requires more attention and card-playing prowess, along the lines of Bridge or Gin, than a community-card game.
This is not to say that Stud is any better than any other variation, but it is a game worth knowing how to play. Every poker player should have the ability to play multiple variations of the game, and Seven-Card is one of the most popular and important.
The game of 7 Card Stud can be played with two to eight players at a table. The goal in Stud is the same as any other poker variation: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
Stud has a lot of little rules and a few quirks, but it's a simple game at its core. The game can be broken up into four sections:
Setup
The Bring
Betting Rounds
Showdown
If you've just read the Texas Hold'em Rules and Game Play article, you'll notice that Stud has one more section. For players familiar to the rules and game play of a community-card game, the only completely new concept you'll learn in this article will be "the bring."
Setup
The first thing you need to do is get everyone at your table some chips. You will need a combination of chips that will allow for a big bet, small bet and an ante.
The size of the bets will dictate how large your game will play. A big bet is typically twice the size of the small bet, with the ante around 10% of the big bet.
Here's a chart of buy-ins and bets to give you some ideas. The buy-in amounts are the minimum amounts you would want to buy in for the stakes. If you want to be sure to have lots of chips, play with smaller stakes for the buy in - for example, use the bets for a $10 game, and buy in for $20:
Recommended Buy-in Big Bet Small Bet Ante
$100+ $4 $2 50¢
$20+ $1 50¢ 10¢
$10+ 50¢ 25¢ 5¢
Once you all have chips, one player needs to grab the deck and shuffle up. It doesn't matter who starts as the dealer in a Stud game.
Betting Rules: Stud can be played in a variety of different betting structures. This article uses the most common structure: Fixed Limit.
Once the cards are shuffled, all players must ante. Antes are dead money, meaning they go immediately into the pot: any bets you make will be in addition to the antes.
Starting with the player on the dealer's left and moving around the table clockwise, the dealer deals every player two cards face down (all cards face down are known as as down cards or hole cards), followed by one card face up (this card is known as the door card, or window card. All cards face up are collectively known as up cards or show cards).
The Bring
In every form of poker, there is some determining factor as to how and where the action starts in the hand. In Hold'em or Omaha the action starts to the left of the big blind; in Stud it starts with the bring.
The player with the lowest-value door card is the one required to "bring it in." Here's what you need to discern the losing player for the bring:
All cards are worth face value and face cards are valued from worst to best: Jack, Queen, King.
Aces are high for the bring, which means they rank higher than a king.
If two players have the same value low card, suits are used to determine the loser.
Stud uses poker-suit ordering, alphabetic from worst to best: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
The player required to bring has two choices. They can either bring by making a bet equal to the size of the ante, or they can complete the bet to the full amount of the small bet.
Betting Round One (Third Street)
The player to the left of the bring is next to act. That player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the bring.
Raise: If the first player made a minimum bring (only brought the amount of the ante) a raise will be completing the bet to the amount of the small bet limit. If the first player completed their bring to the full small bet a raise would be doubling the small bet amount.
For example in a $20 game:
Min Bring
Player 1 brings 10¢
Player 2 can call 10¢ or complete to 50¢.
Max Bring (Completion)
Player 1 brings (completes) 50¢
Player 2 can call 50¢ or raise to $1
Play moves clockwise around the table one player at a time. A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Betting Round Two (Fourth Street)
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer deals every player (always starting at the first live player to his or her left and moving clockwise around the table) one card face up, next to the first face-up card.
In this betting round, and every betting round to follow, the first player to act is decided by the value of the show cards. The player with the highest value show cards acts first. The value of show cards are ranked in the same order as poker hands.
On fourth street, with only two cards showing, the best possible hand would be two aces showing (A♠ A♥ to be exact). The worst possible hand would be 2♣ 3♣. Any pair is better than any two non-paired cards; for example 2♣ 2♦ is better than A♠ K♠.
Suit ranks are used in the event of a tie for the highest-ranked show cards. When evaluating rank by suit, the value of the hand is determined by the suit of the highest ranking card. For example:
Player 1: A♠ K♣
Player 2: A♥ K♠
Player 1 has the better hand since the Ace of spades is of higher rank than the Ace of hearts.
Example 2:
Player 1: 3♠ 3♣
Player 2: 3♥ 3♦
Player 1 wins, since they have the Three of Spades, which is a higher ranked card than Player 2's Three of Hearts.
Once you have discerned the highest hand, that person acts first. They have the option to check (wager no money, and move the action to the player on their left) or bet the small betting limit.
The action moves from that player clockwise around the table one player at a time. Each player has the option to:
Check (if no bet has been made).
Call (match any bet made).
Bet/Raise (If no bet is made, they can bet the small limit; if a bet has been made they can raise it by adding an additional amount to the bet, equal to the small limit).
fold (throw away their hand).
Once every player has acted, and every player that has not folded has put the same amount of money into the pot, the betting round ends.
Betting Round Three (Fifth Street)
At the completion of fourth street, the dealer deals every remaining player another card face up, starting with the first live player to his or her left, moving clockwise around the table.
Once all the cards have been dealt, the betting round starts the same way fourth street started. The player with the best show cards bets first. Three of a kind is the best combination, followed by a pair, followed by the highest cards.
In this betting round, players bet using the big betting limit. Other than the size of the bets, this betting round is identical to fourth street.
Betting Round Four (Sixth Street)
Sixth street is identical to fifth street. Every player is dealt one card face up, and the highest valued show cards bets first. On sixth street, with four show cards for each player, the best possible show card value is four of a kind.
Sixth street betting uses the big betting limit.
The Final Betting Round (Seventh Street)
When the sixth street betting round is complete, the dealer deals one final card FACE DOWN to every player. Again, the dealer starts at the first player with cards to their left, and moves on clockwise around the table.
The player with the highest-ranked show cards in the previous betting round is the first to act in this betting round as well. The final card having been dealt face down does not affect the value of the four show cards.
The final betting round uses the big betting limit.
Showdown
Once the final betting round has been completed, the players still in the hand enter into the showdown. In the showdown, each player makes the best five card hand possible out of their own seven cards.
The remaining two cards are "dead" and have no value towards the hand at all. They are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Evaluating Hands
Here are the rules for evaluating the winning hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. (there will be another link at the bottom of this page) There are no exceptions to this ordering, a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no other hands used in Stud than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair" with the highest valued two pairs making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the player holds 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦ 10♠ 9♣, the player's best hand is a straight: 10♠ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
If all remaining players have nothing, no pair or anything stronger, the winning hand is the hand with the highest valued single card. meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand. If two players have the exact same hand (disregarding the suits of the cards), the pot is split between the players.
Once you have discerned the winning hand, that player is awarded the pot. After the pot has been shipped, all players ante and are dealt their next hand. Unless you have a professional dealer, typically the role of dealer will rotate around the table, although it is not necessary for Stud.
Having one player as the dealer for the entire duration of the game will give no player an advantage or disadvantage during the game.
Random Rules
Fourth Street Open Pair: If a player pairs up their door card on fourth street (giving them a pair as the winning high hand for fourth street), the player has the option of checking, betting the small limit or betting the big limit.
If the player chooses to check, the next player to act inherits the same options (meaning they can check, or bet either the small or big limit).
If a player chooses to bet the larger betting limit, all bets and raises in that betting round must be in the big betting limit unit. For example in a $10-$20 limit game, if a player is dealt a pair on fourth street, they can bet $10 or $20.
If they choose to bet $20, the next player must fold, call $20 or raise to $40.
Capping the Bet: In any one betting round while there are three or more players still in the hand, there can only be one bet and three raises. Once the third raise has been made, the betting is "capped," meaning all future action in that betting round is restricted to calling or folding.
Running Out of Cards: If you are playing with eight people, it is not possible for every player to be dealt a full 7 cards, since there are only 52 cards in the deck.
If you ever get to the point where all eight players are in the hand until seventh street, instead of dealing every player one card, you must deal a single card face up in the middle of the table.
This card is used as a community card (like in Hold'em or Omaha). Every player shares that card as the seventh card of their hand.
Texas Hold'em
Learning how to play a game of Texas Hold'em can seem much more difficult than it really is.
The game itself is actually very logical and simple and requires just a few minutes to learn.
Mastering it, however, will take you a bit longer.
This article provides all the information you need to start playing the game.
Any time you get confused by the action, read below for some guidance. Each topic also contains links to more in-depth articles on that specific subject.
When you feel you've got the hang of it and are ready to play for real, check out our Texas Hold'em toplist for the best places to get started.
Quick Glossary
Before we get into describing the rules and game play, here's a quick glossary of terms you'll encounter.
Blinds: Short for "blind bets," these are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic "ante."
Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand.
Check: Similar to a call but no money is bet. If there is no raise preflop, the big blind may check.
Fifth Street: See River.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
Fourth Street: See Turn.
Preflop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is preflop.
River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.
Overview
Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game, with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played.
Although the rules and game play remain mostly the same, the end goal is slightly different depending on if you're playing a cash game or a tournament.
A Hold'em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold'em with a few added rules and twists. If you'd like to learn the rules unique to tournaments, head to this article. (There will also be a link at the bottom of the page).
Texas Holdem is played on a single table with two to 10 players. The goal is simple: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
You win a pot by having the best hand, or by having all other players fold before the showdown.
The structure of Texas Hold'em can be broken up into three main divisions:
Setup
Betting Rounds
Showdown
Setup
Once you have your players sitting around the table, the first thing you need to have is chips. Before you can figure out what kind of chips to give each player, you need to understand how the game works a little better, so we'll get back to this.
For now, assume all players have chips in front of them.
The next step is picking the player who will start with the dealer button. Hold'em is played with what's known as a rotating dealer, meaning a player will act as the dealer for one hand, handing the role of dealer to the player on their left when the hand is completed.
To choose the dealer, either deal every player one card, or spread the cards facedown on the table and have every player choose one.
The player with the highest-valued card (aces are high for selecting a dealer) starts as the dealer.
If you're in a place with a professional dealer, or someone volunteers to always physically deal the cards, the dealer button will still rotate around the table.
Even though he or she is physically dealing the cards, for all intents and purposes, the person with the button is viewed as being the dealer for the hand.
Once the hand completes, the player with the dealer button will pass it to the player on his or her left.
Putting Out the Blinds
Now that you have a dealer, you need to put out the blinds.
There are two blinds in Holdem - a small blind and a big blind. The player directly to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind.
The big blind (exactly, or conveniently close to, double that of the small blind) is placed by the player to the left of the small blind.
The size of the blinds will dictate the stakes of the game you're about to play. Typically, you want players to buy in for no less than 100 times the size of the big blind.
If you want to buy in for $20, you should play with blinds 10¢/20¢, or for convenience, most people will play 10¢/25¢.
Back to chips: Once the blinds are set we know what kind of chips we'll need to play. (In the above example, we'd use 10¢ chips, 25¢ chips and maybe a few $1 chips.)
You want to give players enough chips in each denomination to allow the game to run smoothly.
Typically a player will need only 10% of their total chips in the smallest denomination, as they are only ever used to pay the small blind. For the most part, all betting will be done with chips larger than that of the small blind.
Once you have the blinds out, you're now ready to deal the first hand.
Game-Play and Betting Rounds
The person dealing the cards deals to the left of the player with the dealer button first, rotating around the table in a clockwise manner, giving each player one card at a time until each player has two cards. These are known as your hole cards.
A hand of Hold'em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all players but one have folded, or the fourth and final betting round completes with multiple players still in the hand - whichever comes first.
At that point, players enter into the showdown (to be explained in the next section).
Preflop
When all players receive their hole cards, you are now in the preflop betting round.
Each player must look at their cards and decide what action they would like to take. In Hold'em, only one player can act at a time.
The preflop betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind. This player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the big blind.
Raise: They raise the bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. A player may raise more depending on the betting style being played. (For more about No-Limit and Pot-Limit betting formats, check out this article here.)
Once a player has made their action, the player to the left of them gets their turn to act. Each player is given the same options: fold, call the bet of the player to their right (if the previous player raised, that is the amount you must call) or raise.
A raise is always the amount of one bet in addition to the amount of the previous bet, for example: if the big blind is 25¢, and the first player to act would like to raise, they put in a total of 50¢ (the big blind + one additional bet).
If the next player would like to reraise, they would put in a total of 75¢ (the previous bet + one additional bet).
A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Example Betting Round 1
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - folds
Player 1 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 2 - Calls the big blind (since they already have 10¢ bet, they only have to add another 15¢, for a total of 25¢)
Player 3 - Checks (since they already have the bet matched, they do not need to add more money to call; this is called checking)
End of betting round
When Player 2 calls the big blind, all players now have the same amount of money in front of them, but Player 3 (the big blind) has not had a chance to act, so the betting round is not over.
Once Player 3 checks, both conditions are met, and the betting round is over.
Example Betting Round 2
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - Raises (50¢)
Player 1 - Folds
Player 2 - Folds
Player 3 - Reraises (they already have 25¢ in as the big blind. They complete the bet of 50¢, and add one additional bet for a total of 75¢)
Player 4 - Folds (their previous call of 25¢ is now in the pot)
Player 5 - Calls (matches the bet of Player 3 for a total of 75¢)
End of betting round
In this scenario all players had had a chance to act when Player 3 made the reraise. But all players did not have the same amount of money bet.
Once Player 4 folds, only Player 3 and Player 5 are left in the pot. When Player 5 calls, both conditions are met, and the betting round ends.
The Flop
Once the preflop betting round ends, the flop is dealt. This is done by dealing the top card in the deck facedown on the table (it becomes the burn card), followed by three cards faceup.
Once this has been dealt, the first post-flop betting round begins.
The rules of a post-flop betting round are the same as a preflop, with two small exceptions: The first player to act is the next player with a hand to the left of the dealer, and the first player to act can check or bet; as there has been no bet made, calling is free.
A bet on the flop is the amount of the big blind. In our game, a player must put out 25¢ to make a bet.
The Turn
Once the betting round on the flop completes, the dealer deals one card facedown followed by a single card faceup, also known as the "burn and turn." Once the turn has been dealt, the third betting round starts.
The third betting round is identical to the flop betting round with one single exception: The size of a bet for this round, and the final betting round, is doubled, meaning that to make a bet in our game will now cost a player 50¢.
The River
Assuming more than one player is left, having not folded on one of the previous streets, the river is now dealt. Dealing the river is identical as dealing the turn, with one card being dealt facedown, followed by a single card faceup.
This is the final street, and no more cards will be dealt in this hand. The betting round is identical to the betting round on the turn.
Showdown
Once the river betting round has been completed, the players now enter into the showdown. At this point, the best hand wins the pot. Here are the rules you need to know about a Hold'em showdown:
The player who bet on the river is the default first player to reveal their hand. If any other players choose to show their hand first, that is OK.
If no betting happened on the river (all players checked), the player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.
If a player is holding a losing hand, it is their option to reveal their cards or simply muck their hand and concede the pot.
Evaluating Hands
In Hold'em you must make the best hand possible using any combination of your two cards and the five community cards on the table.
You can use both, one or none of your own cards in making your best hand. Here are some rules about evaluating a winning poker hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. There are no exceptions to this ordering: a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no hands used in Hold'em other than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair," with the highest-valued two pair making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards, and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the board is 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
Player 1 holds T♠ 9♣
Player 2 holds T♣ 2♣
Both players hold the very same hand (a straight from ten to ace). This means the pot is split between the two players. The remaining cards and the fact Player 1 also has a pair means nothing - only the best five-card hand factors into deciding the winner.
If all remaining players have nothing (no pair or anything stronger), the winning hand is the hand with the highest-valued single card, meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Once you determine the winning hand, that player receives the pot. The dealer passes the dealer button to his or her left and the two players to the left of the new dealer put out their big and small blinds respectively.
Random Rules
Raising: When there are more than two players still in the hand, only one bet and three raises can be made in one betting round. Once the third raise is made the betting is "capped." Once betting is capped, players may only call or fold.
A player must either declare their intent to raise verbally before making any actions, or bring the amount of chips equal to the total amount of their raise into play at the same time. A player is not allowed to place chips, return to their stack and place more chips. This is known as a string bet.
Solutions to any other random situation you come across can be found here.
Buying Chips: The minimum number of chips a player is allowed to buy before their first hand dealt is determined by the house rules governing the game. Typically a minimum is 50-100 times the big blind.
There is no maximum to the number of chips a player may buy at any time.
A player may reload, or add more chips to their stack, at any time between hands. Once a hand is started, a player may only use the chips they had in play at the beginning of the hand, during that hand. Any additional chips will not be "in play" until the next deal.
THE FOLLOWING ARE PLACE HOLDERS I WILL UPDATE THEM AT A LATER DATE
Craps
Roulette
Pachinko
Keno
5 Card Draw
Five Card Draw is one of most basic forms of poker, and it's the kind of poker you're used to seeing in movies and on TV.
Because the game has been around for such a long time, and has been played in countless home games and card rooms across the nation, there are a couple different variations on the traditional rules. Below you will find all of the most commonly used rules for playing Five Card Draw.
The game is simple: make the best 5-card poker hand possible after one draw, and bet accordingly. The player with the best hand after the second betting round takes the pot.
Blinds and Antes
There are two main ways to play 5-Card Draw:
Ante
Blinds
The ante method is the original way the game was played, and is most commonly the system used in home games around the world. In this version each player must pay a predetermined ante before being dealt any cards.
In the second system, the game functions as a blinds game, similar to Texas Hold'em. In a blind game, only the two players to the left of the dealer must pay money before the cards are dealt.
The player to the dealer's immediate left pays the small blind, while the player to the left of the small blind pays the big blind.
Although the blind amounts can be set to any amount you like, the small blind is typically half of the big blind, the big blind being approximately 1/100th of your total buy-in.
The Deal
Once all players have anted (or the blinds have been paid), the dealer deals every player (starting on his left) five cards face down.
After all players receive their five cards, the first betting round ensues. If you're playing with blinds, the betting will start with the player to the left of the big blind (same as Hold'em), while if you're playing with antes, the betting must start with the player to the left of the dealer.
In an ante game like this, the first player to act is allowed to check (meaning they are not forced to bet, and can choose to stay in the hand for free).
The Draw Round
When the betting round completes the draw round begins with the player closest to the dealer's left. Assuming this player hasn't already folded, they have the option of changing any amount of cards they choose.
A player can "stand pat", meaning they keep all five cards, or they can throw away any amount from 1-5 cards, getting them replaced with an equal number of cards from the top of the deck.
In some home-games and rule-sets a player may only exchange up to a maximum of three cards. This rule is typically used only in home-games as it only benefits the weaker players. It is almost never correct to call in the first betting round, only to throw away four or all five of your cards.
The Second Betting Round and Showdown
Once all players have received their new cards, each player must evaluate their hand and proceed to the second (and final) betting round. Once this betting round is completed it's time for the showdown (assuming more than one player still has a hand).
Just like almost every other form of poker, the player with the best 5-card poker hand at showdown wins the pot. Head here for a complete list of poker hand rankings.
Once the showdown is complete, the dealer collects all the cards, and passes the deal on to the player to his left.
7 Card Stud
Before community-card games such as Hold'em and Omaha became popular, the most widely played poker variation was Seven-Card Stud.
Even now Stud is regarded as a more "pure" poker variation, as much for its historic past as its increased difficulty of play.
Seven Card Stud requires more attention and card-playing prowess, along the lines of Bridge or Gin, than a community-card game.
This is not to say that Stud is any better than any other variation, but it is a game worth knowing how to play. Every poker player should have the ability to play multiple variations of the game, and Seven-Card is one of the most popular and important.
The game of 7 Card Stud can be played with two to eight players at a table. The goal in Stud is the same as any other poker variation: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
Stud has a lot of little rules and a few quirks, but it's a simple game at its core. The game can be broken up into four sections:
Setup
The Bring
Betting Rounds
Showdown
If you've just read the Texas Hold'em Rules and Game Play article, you'll notice that Stud has one more section. For players familiar to the rules and game play of a community-card game, the only completely new concept you'll learn in this article will be "the bring."
Setup
The first thing you need to do is get everyone at your table some chips. You will need a combination of chips that will allow for a big bet, small bet and an ante.
The size of the bets will dictate how large your game will play. A big bet is typically twice the size of the small bet, with the ante around 10% of the big bet.
Here's a chart of buy-ins and bets to give you some ideas. The buy-in amounts are the minimum amounts you would want to buy in for the stakes. If you want to be sure to have lots of chips, play with smaller stakes for the buy in - for example, use the bets for a $10 game, and buy in for $20:
Recommended Buy-in Big Bet Small Bet Ante
$100+ $4 $2 50¢
$20+ $1 50¢ 10¢
$10+ 50¢ 25¢ 5¢
Once you all have chips, one player needs to grab the deck and shuffle up. It doesn't matter who starts as the dealer in a Stud game.
Betting Rules: Stud can be played in a variety of different betting structures. This article uses the most common structure: Fixed Limit.
Once the cards are shuffled, all players must ante. Antes are dead money, meaning they go immediately into the pot: any bets you make will be in addition to the antes.
Starting with the player on the dealer's left and moving around the table clockwise, the dealer deals every player two cards face down (all cards face down are known as as down cards or hole cards), followed by one card face up (this card is known as the door card, or window card. All cards face up are collectively known as up cards or show cards).
The Bring
In every form of poker, there is some determining factor as to how and where the action starts in the hand. In Hold'em or Omaha the action starts to the left of the big blind; in Stud it starts with the bring.
The player with the lowest-value door card is the one required to "bring it in." Here's what you need to discern the losing player for the bring:
All cards are worth face value and face cards are valued from worst to best: Jack, Queen, King.
Aces are high for the bring, which means they rank higher than a king.
If two players have the same value low card, suits are used to determine the loser.
Stud uses poker-suit ordering, alphabetic from worst to best: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
The player required to bring has two choices. They can either bring by making a bet equal to the size of the ante, or they can complete the bet to the full amount of the small bet.
Betting Round One (Third Street)
The player to the left of the bring is next to act. That player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the bring.
Raise: If the first player made a minimum bring (only brought the amount of the ante) a raise will be completing the bet to the amount of the small bet limit. If the first player completed their bring to the full small bet a raise would be doubling the small bet amount.
For example in a $20 game:
Min Bring
Player 1 brings 10¢
Player 2 can call 10¢ or complete to 50¢.
Max Bring (Completion)
Player 1 brings (completes) 50¢
Player 2 can call 50¢ or raise to $1
Play moves clockwise around the table one player at a time. A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Betting Round Two (Fourth Street)
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer deals every player (always starting at the first live player to his or her left and moving clockwise around the table) one card face up, next to the first face-up card.
In this betting round, and every betting round to follow, the first player to act is decided by the value of the show cards. The player with the highest value show cards acts first. The value of show cards are ranked in the same order as poker hands.
On fourth street, with only two cards showing, the best possible hand would be two aces showing (A♠ A♥ to be exact). The worst possible hand would be 2♣ 3♣. Any pair is better than any two non-paired cards; for example 2♣ 2♦ is better than A♠ K♠.
Suit ranks are used in the event of a tie for the highest-ranked show cards. When evaluating rank by suit, the value of the hand is determined by the suit of the highest ranking card. For example:
Player 1: A♠ K♣
Player 2: A♥ K♠
Player 1 has the better hand since the Ace of spades is of higher rank than the Ace of hearts.
Example 2:
Player 1: 3♠ 3♣
Player 2: 3♥ 3♦
Player 1 wins, since they have the Three of Spades, which is a higher ranked card than Player 2's Three of Hearts.
Once you have discerned the highest hand, that person acts first. They have the option to check (wager no money, and move the action to the player on their left) or bet the small betting limit.
The action moves from that player clockwise around the table one player at a time. Each player has the option to:
Check (if no bet has been made).
Call (match any bet made).
Bet/Raise (If no bet is made, they can bet the small limit; if a bet has been made they can raise it by adding an additional amount to the bet, equal to the small limit).
fold (throw away their hand).
Once every player has acted, and every player that has not folded has put the same amount of money into the pot, the betting round ends.
Betting Round Three (Fifth Street)
At the completion of fourth street, the dealer deals every remaining player another card face up, starting with the first live player to his or her left, moving clockwise around the table.
Once all the cards have been dealt, the betting round starts the same way fourth street started. The player with the best show cards bets first. Three of a kind is the best combination, followed by a pair, followed by the highest cards.
In this betting round, players bet using the big betting limit. Other than the size of the bets, this betting round is identical to fourth street.
Betting Round Four (Sixth Street)
Sixth street is identical to fifth street. Every player is dealt one card face up, and the highest valued show cards bets first. On sixth street, with four show cards for each player, the best possible show card value is four of a kind.
Sixth street betting uses the big betting limit.
The Final Betting Round (Seventh Street)
When the sixth street betting round is complete, the dealer deals one final card FACE DOWN to every player. Again, the dealer starts at the first player with cards to their left, and moves on clockwise around the table.
The player with the highest-ranked show cards in the previous betting round is the first to act in this betting round as well. The final card having been dealt face down does not affect the value of the four show cards.
The final betting round uses the big betting limit.
Showdown
Once the final betting round has been completed, the players still in the hand enter into the showdown. In the showdown, each player makes the best five card hand possible out of their own seven cards.
The remaining two cards are "dead" and have no value towards the hand at all. They are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Evaluating Hands
Here are the rules for evaluating the winning hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. (there will be another link at the bottom of this page) There are no exceptions to this ordering, a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no other hands used in Stud than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair" with the highest valued two pairs making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the player holds 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦ 10♠ 9♣, the player's best hand is a straight: 10♠ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
If all remaining players have nothing, no pair or anything stronger, the winning hand is the hand with the highest valued single card. meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand. If two players have the exact same hand (disregarding the suits of the cards), the pot is split between the players.
Once you have discerned the winning hand, that player is awarded the pot. After the pot has been shipped, all players ante and are dealt their next hand. Unless you have a professional dealer, typically the role of dealer will rotate around the table, although it is not necessary for Stud.
Having one player as the dealer for the entire duration of the game will give no player an advantage or disadvantage during the game.
Random Rules
Fourth Street Open Pair: If a player pairs up their door card on fourth street (giving them a pair as the winning high hand for fourth street), the player has the option of checking, betting the small limit or betting the big limit.
If the player chooses to check, the next player to act inherits the same options (meaning they can check, or bet either the small or big limit).
If a player chooses to bet the larger betting limit, all bets and raises in that betting round must be in the big betting limit unit. For example in a $10-$20 limit game, if a player is dealt a pair on fourth street, they can bet $10 or $20.
If they choose to bet $20, the next player must fold, call $20 or raise to $40.
Capping the Bet: In any one betting round while there are three or more players still in the hand, there can only be one bet and three raises. Once the third raise has been made, the betting is "capped," meaning all future action in that betting round is restricted to calling or folding.
Running Out of Cards: If you are playing with eight people, it is not possible for every player to be dealt a full 7 cards, since there are only 52 cards in the deck.
If you ever get to the point where all eight players are in the hand until seventh street, instead of dealing every player one card, you must deal a single card face up in the middle of the table.
This card is used as a community card (like in Hold'em or Omaha). Every player shares that card as the seventh card of their hand.
Texas Hold'em
Learning how to play a game of Texas Hold'em can seem much more difficult than it really is.
The game itself is actually very logical and simple and requires just a few minutes to learn.
Mastering it, however, will take you a bit longer.
This article provides all the information you need to start playing the game.
Any time you get confused by the action, read below for some guidance. Each topic also contains links to more in-depth articles on that specific subject.
When you feel you've got the hang of it and are ready to play for real, check out our Texas Hold'em toplist for the best places to get started.
Quick Glossary
Before we get into describing the rules and game play, here's a quick glossary of terms you'll encounter.
Blinds: Short for "blind bets," these are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic "ante."
Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand.
Check: Similar to a call but no money is bet. If there is no raise preflop, the big blind may check.
Fifth Street: See River.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
Fourth Street: See Turn.
Preflop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is preflop.
River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.
Overview
Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game, with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played.
Although the rules and game play remain mostly the same, the end goal is slightly different depending on if you're playing a cash game or a tournament.
A Hold'em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold'em with a few added rules and twists. If you'd like to learn the rules unique to tournaments, head to this article. (There will also be a link at the bottom of the page).
Texas Holdem is played on a single table with two to 10 players. The goal is simple: win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.
You win a pot by having the best hand, or by having all other players fold before the showdown.
The structure of Texas Hold'em can be broken up into three main divisions:
Setup
Betting Rounds
Showdown
Setup
Once you have your players sitting around the table, the first thing you need to have is chips. Before you can figure out what kind of chips to give each player, you need to understand how the game works a little better, so we'll get back to this.
For now, assume all players have chips in front of them.
The next step is picking the player who will start with the dealer button. Hold'em is played with what's known as a rotating dealer, meaning a player will act as the dealer for one hand, handing the role of dealer to the player on their left when the hand is completed.
To choose the dealer, either deal every player one card, or spread the cards facedown on the table and have every player choose one.
The player with the highest-valued card (aces are high for selecting a dealer) starts as the dealer.
If you're in a place with a professional dealer, or someone volunteers to always physically deal the cards, the dealer button will still rotate around the table.
Even though he or she is physically dealing the cards, for all intents and purposes, the person with the button is viewed as being the dealer for the hand.
Once the hand completes, the player with the dealer button will pass it to the player on his or her left.
Putting Out the Blinds
Now that you have a dealer, you need to put out the blinds.
There are two blinds in Holdem - a small blind and a big blind. The player directly to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind.
The big blind (exactly, or conveniently close to, double that of the small blind) is placed by the player to the left of the small blind.
The size of the blinds will dictate the stakes of the game you're about to play. Typically, you want players to buy in for no less than 100 times the size of the big blind.
If you want to buy in for $20, you should play with blinds 10¢/20¢, or for convenience, most people will play 10¢/25¢.
Back to chips: Once the blinds are set we know what kind of chips we'll need to play. (In the above example, we'd use 10¢ chips, 25¢ chips and maybe a few $1 chips.)
You want to give players enough chips in each denomination to allow the game to run smoothly.
Typically a player will need only 10% of their total chips in the smallest denomination, as they are only ever used to pay the small blind. For the most part, all betting will be done with chips larger than that of the small blind.
Once you have the blinds out, you're now ready to deal the first hand.
Game-Play and Betting Rounds
The person dealing the cards deals to the left of the player with the dealer button first, rotating around the table in a clockwise manner, giving each player one card at a time until each player has two cards. These are known as your hole cards.
A hand of Hold'em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all players but one have folded, or the fourth and final betting round completes with multiple players still in the hand - whichever comes first.
At that point, players enter into the showdown (to be explained in the next section).
Preflop
When all players receive their hole cards, you are now in the preflop betting round.
Each player must look at their cards and decide what action they would like to take. In Hold'em, only one player can act at a time.
The preflop betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind. This player has three options:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the big blind.
Raise: They raise the bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. A player may raise more depending on the betting style being played. (For more about No-Limit and Pot-Limit betting formats, check out this article here.)
Once a player has made their action, the player to the left of them gets their turn to act. Each player is given the same options: fold, call the bet of the player to their right (if the previous player raised, that is the amount you must call) or raise.
A raise is always the amount of one bet in addition to the amount of the previous bet, for example: if the big blind is 25¢, and the first player to act would like to raise, they put in a total of 50¢ (the big blind + one additional bet).
If the next player would like to reraise, they would put in a total of 75¢ (the previous bet + one additional bet).
A betting round ends when two conditions are met:
All players have had a chance to act.
All players who haven't folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Example Betting Round 1
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - folds
Player 1 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 2 - Calls the big blind (since they already have 10¢ bet, they only have to add another 15¢, for a total of 25¢)
Player 3 - Checks (since they already have the bet matched, they do not need to add more money to call; this is called checking)
End of betting round
When Player 2 calls the big blind, all players now have the same amount of money in front of them, but Player 3 (the big blind) has not had a chance to act, so the betting round is not over.
Once Player 3 checks, both conditions are met, and the betting round is over.
Example Betting Round 2
There are five players at the table:
Player 1 - Button
Player 2 - Small blind (10¢)
Player 3 - Big blind (25¢)
Start of betting round
Player 4 - Calls the big blind (25¢)
Player 5 - Raises (50¢)
Player 1 - Folds
Player 2 - Folds
Player 3 - Reraises (they already have 25¢ in as the big blind. They complete the bet of 50¢, and add one additional bet for a total of 75¢)
Player 4 - Folds (their previous call of 25¢ is now in the pot)
Player 5 - Calls (matches the bet of Player 3 for a total of 75¢)
End of betting round
In this scenario all players had had a chance to act when Player 3 made the reraise. But all players did not have the same amount of money bet.
Once Player 4 folds, only Player 3 and Player 5 are left in the pot. When Player 5 calls, both conditions are met, and the betting round ends.
The Flop
Once the preflop betting round ends, the flop is dealt. This is done by dealing the top card in the deck facedown on the table (it becomes the burn card), followed by three cards faceup.
Once this has been dealt, the first post-flop betting round begins.
The rules of a post-flop betting round are the same as a preflop, with two small exceptions: The first player to act is the next player with a hand to the left of the dealer, and the first player to act can check or bet; as there has been no bet made, calling is free.
A bet on the flop is the amount of the big blind. In our game, a player must put out 25¢ to make a bet.
The Turn
Once the betting round on the flop completes, the dealer deals one card facedown followed by a single card faceup, also known as the "burn and turn." Once the turn has been dealt, the third betting round starts.
The third betting round is identical to the flop betting round with one single exception: The size of a bet for this round, and the final betting round, is doubled, meaning that to make a bet in our game will now cost a player 50¢.
The River
Assuming more than one player is left, having not folded on one of the previous streets, the river is now dealt. Dealing the river is identical as dealing the turn, with one card being dealt facedown, followed by a single card faceup.
This is the final street, and no more cards will be dealt in this hand. The betting round is identical to the betting round on the turn.
Showdown
Once the river betting round has been completed, the players now enter into the showdown. At this point, the best hand wins the pot. Here are the rules you need to know about a Hold'em showdown:
The player who bet on the river is the default first player to reveal their hand. If any other players choose to show their hand first, that is OK.
If no betting happened on the river (all players checked), the player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.
If a player is holding a losing hand, it is their option to reveal their cards or simply muck their hand and concede the pot.
Evaluating Hands
In Hold'em you must make the best hand possible using any combination of your two cards and the five community cards on the table.
You can use both, one or none of your own cards in making your best hand. Here are some rules about evaluating a winning poker hand:
The poker hand ranking order can be found here. There are no exceptions to this ordering: a flush always beats a straight, and three of a kind always beats two pair.
There are no hands used in Hold'em other than the hands listed in this chart. For example, having three pairs is actually only "two pair," with the highest-valued two pair making your hand.
Poker hands must be exactly five cards, and only those five cards are used to evaluate the winning hand. For example:
if the board is 2♥ J♣ Q♣ K♠ A♦
Player 1 holds T♠ 9♣
Player 2 holds T♣ 2♣
Both players hold the very same hand (a straight from ten to ace). This means the pot is split between the two players. The remaining cards and the fact Player 1 also has a pair means nothing - only the best five-card hand factors into deciding the winner.
If all remaining players have nothing (no pair or anything stronger), the winning hand is the hand with the highest-valued single card, meaning:
A♣ 3♥ 4♦ 6♠ 7♠ is a better hand than K♠ Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 8♦
A♣ J♥ 9♠ 8♦ 6♥ is a better hand than A♥ J♣ 9♦ 8♣ 2♠
Suits are never used to evaluate the strength of a hand.
Once you determine the winning hand, that player receives the pot. The dealer passes the dealer button to his or her left and the two players to the left of the new dealer put out their big and small blinds respectively.
Random Rules
Raising: When there are more than two players still in the hand, only one bet and three raises can be made in one betting round. Once the third raise is made the betting is "capped." Once betting is capped, players may only call or fold.
A player must either declare their intent to raise verbally before making any actions, or bring the amount of chips equal to the total amount of their raise into play at the same time. A player is not allowed to place chips, return to their stack and place more chips. This is known as a string bet.
Solutions to any other random situation you come across can be found here.
Buying Chips: The minimum number of chips a player is allowed to buy before their first hand dealt is determined by the house rules governing the game. Typically a minimum is 50-100 times the big blind.
There is no maximum to the number of chips a player may buy at any time.
A player may reload, or add more chips to their stack, at any time between hands. Once a hand is started, a player may only use the chips they had in play at the beginning of the hand, during that hand. Any additional chips will not be "in play" until the next deal.
THE FOLLOWING ARE PLACE HOLDERS I WILL UPDATE THEM AT A LATER DATE
Craps
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Pachinko
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Sampai-Chan
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Tiggen_Nomir
You have been busy and thank you... I've started to add them in the instructions, updated and added the suggestions by your self.
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Okies. I sign for Pachinko.