Redding Neighbor & Newcomers Poker Night
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Redding Neighbor & Newcomers Poker Night “Poker is a game of incomplete information – correct decision-making depends on many, many factors. Playing perfectly is never attainable. All we can do as players is strive to make the best decisions we can under uncertain circumstances, always having the goal of that perfect session in mind.” The object of poker is to make the best five-card poker hand in order to win the pot . The pot is the money that accumulates as players who remain in the game keep raising their bets (betting is described in detailed further on). In order to play poker well, you need to know two basic skills: (1) how the cards rank, and (2) how to bet. The rest is chance and psychology. The Very Basics Poker is played with a standard pack of 52 cards. The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. Note that the Ace can be high or low, but is usually high. There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, no suit is higher than another. All poker hands consist of five cards. When a poker game is played high, the highest hand wins the pot. When a poker game is played high/low, the pot is split between the person with the highest hand and the person with the lowest (or the best worst) hand. There are two ways to win, by holding the highest hand in the game, or by making your opponents think you've got the highest hand-in which everyone else folds leaving you to win the pot. In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker hand rankings are always based on five cards only. How the Hands are Ranked The hands are ranked as follows (from high to low): 1. Royal Flush 2. Straight Flush 3. Four of a Kind 4. Full House 5. Flush 6. Straight 7. Three of a Kind 8. Two Pair 9. Pair 10. High Card 1 Description of Hand Ranks 1. Royal Flush This is the highest poker hand. It consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten, all in the same suit. As all suits are equal, all royal flushes are equal. 2. Straight Flush A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such as J-10-9-8-7) that are all of the same suit. Between two straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is higher. An ace can be counted as low, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The cards cannot "wrap around": 4-3-2- A-K is not valid. 3. Four of a kind Four of a kind is simply four cards of the same rank - such as four queens. The fifth card can be anything. Between two fours of a kind, the one with the higher set of four cards is higher, so 3-3-3-3-A is beaten by 4-4-4-4-2. 4. Full House A full house consists of a three of a kind and a pair, such as 7-7-7-10-10. When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher. So, 9-9-9- 4-4 beats 8-8-8-A-A. 5. Flush A flush is a hand where all five cards are of the same suit. When comparing two flushes, the highest card determines which is higher. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is compared; if those are equal as well, then the third highest card is compared, and so on. So, K-J-9-3-2 beats K-J-7-6-5 because the nine beats the seven. 6. Straight A straight is five cards in order, such as J-10-9-8-7. The cards do not need to be of the same suit. When comparing two straights, the one with the higher ranking top card is the better. An Ace can be a high or a low card in a straight, but not both at once, so A-K-Q-J- 10 and 5-4-3-2-A are both valid straights, but 2-A-K-Q-J is not since the cards cannot "wrap around". 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest kind of straight, the top card being the five. 7. Three of a Kind A three of a kind is three matched cards plus two other cards that are not a pair (otherwise it would be a full house). When comparing hands with three of a kinds, the one with the higher ranking three equal cards is better. So, 5-5-5-3-2 beats 4-4-4-K-Q. 2 8. Two Pairs A pair is two matching cards. In a hand with two pairs, the two pairs are distinct (otherwise you would have four of a kind), and there is an odd card to make the hand up to five cards. When comparing hands with two pairs, the hand with the highest pair wins, irrespective of the rank of the other cards, so J-J-2-2-4 beats 10-10-9-9-8 because the jacks beat the tens. If the higher pairs are equal, the lower pairs are compared. So, 8-8-6- 6-3 beats 8-8-5-5-K. Finally, if both pairs are the same, the odd cards are compared, so Q- Q-5-5-8 beats Q-Q-5-5-4. 9. Pair A pair is two matching cards. In a hand with a pair, the three other cards do not match the pair or each other. When comparing hands with a pair, the hand with the higher pair is better. So, 6-6-4-3-2 beats 5-5-A-K-Q. If the pairs are equal, the highest ranking odd cards from each hand is compared; if these are equal, the second highest odd card is compared, and if these as well are equal the lowest odd cards are compared. So, J-J-A-9-3 beats J-J-A-8-7 because the 9 beats the 8. 10. High Card This is any hand that does not meet the definition of any of the above hands. When comparing two high card hands, the one with the better highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal then the second cards are compared; if they are equal as well, then the third cards are compared, and so on. So, A-J-9-5-3 beats A-10-9-6-4 because the jack beats the ten. Notes on Low Poker A hand is always considered to belong to the highest category into which it fits. For example, 7-7-7-5-5 counts as a full house, not (for example) as a pair with three odd cards that happen to match. The best low hand is 6-4-3-2-A. In other words, the best low hand is the best worst hand in poker. Poker Hand Ranking with Wild Cards Some games have Wild Cards, which can take on whatever suit and rank their possessor desires. Sometimes jokers will be used as wild cards, other times, the game will specify which cards are wild (deuces, one-eyed jacks, or whatever). A wild card can be used to substitute for any card the holder wishes, even a duplicate of a card the holder already has. Even with the use of Wild Cards, the hand ranking is the same as described above. In our play, it is not possible to have five of a kind – or five cards of the same rank. 3 Betting We use poker chips in place of actual money to bet with. In most games, you must ante something just to get dealt cards. To ante, each player is required to put a small amount of money, usually a percentage of the minimum bet, into the pot. After the ante is made, the players bet into the pot in the middle of the table. The pot grows with each bet made. At the end of the hand, the highest hand (that hasn't folded), or sometimes the lowest hand (depending on the game) wins the pot. Basically, when betting gets around to you (betting is typically done in clockwise order or starts with the highest hand shown), you have one of four choices: Check When you check that means you want to stay in the game, but don't want to bet. If there has been no betting before you in a betting round, you may check, which is like calling a bet of $0, or passing your turn. Call When you call, you bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (for instance, if you bet a white chip last time, and someone else bet a red chip, you would owe a white chip). Raise When you raise, you first bet enough to match what has been bet since the last time you bet (as in calling), then you 'raise' the bet another amount (up to you, but there is typically a limit.) Continuing the above example, if you had bet a white chip, the other person raised you a white chip, you might raise another white chip.