In this page, we will discuss the different poker variations. We will start the discussion with basic poker game play.
How to Play Basic Poker Game
There are different poker variations and each of them plays differently. However, knowing the basic poker game play will prepare you to knowing the rest of the variations and the other game plays that are involved.
Let us start discussion on how to play poker by playing the most basic poker game play.
In this game, you will need several players ranging from 5 to 8 players will be good.
For the basic poker game play here are their positions.
1. Dealer
2. Players in the Early Position
3. Players in the Middle Position
4. Players in the Late Position
The flow of the game
The dealers shuffle the cards. You need a 52-card deck. It used to be just 40 without the face cards, but rarely will you find a forty deck card in this modern day.
The person on the left of the Dealer, the player in the Early Position then cuts the deck.
The dealer will now deal one card for each player face down starting from his left. The dealer is the last person to be dealt a card, if he is playing.
Then, the second card will be dealt to everyone until each player has five cards in front of him.
The players will now look at their cards and make a bet. The first player to bet will be the player at the left of the dealer. This is the reason why the players seated on the left of the dealer are called players in the Early Position. This is because they will have to act ahead of everyone without a hint of idea what the hands of the other players are.
They are the first to make a bet or fold if they have a bad hand.
Then, the players in the middle position will have to act. Actions will either be to fold – withdraw from the game, bet – bet the minimum if it is set or raise – bet higher than the minimum or higher than the bet of the player before him.
Now, it is the turn of the players in the late position. The players in the late position including the dealer have a better understanding of the hands other players are holding. They know if any of the players have a strong hand that makes them raise the bet or have a somewhat good card if they only did a bet.
They also know if there are players who fold and thus, these players may have a bad hand.
The players in the late position now act either fold, bet or raise.
In the draw poker variation, players have the option for another round of betting. This is where they will be dealt up to 3 cards and discard the bad cards in their hand. The next betting round will increase the pot and allow the players to draw a better hand if the replacement cards make their hands better.
Now, it is showdown. All remaining active players will have to show their hand and the highest ranking hand wins the pot.
This is the most basic poker game play. There are numerous poker variations including Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hold’em, Stud Poker and Draw Poker. Of these variations, there are still some sub variations and in the next pages we will discuss all popular poker variations, cool poker variations and the different poker game plays relative to those variations.
Poker jargons which will help you understand what is happening on the table and some tell signs that will help you win games will be discussed as well.
