Online Poker – Rules, How to Win, Where to Play

As early as the 16th century, people in Germany played a game called “Pochen”. This game later developed into a French variation called “Poque,” which was then introduced to people in New Orleans, USA where they played the game on riverboats.

In the 1830s, the game was improved even more and eventually became the Poker we know today. Poker can be played socially for a pack of cigarettes, or professionally for millions of dollars. Luck is a major component, but this game also requires incredible focus and some guessing as well.

To help you succeed, check out the rest of this page to learn about Poker rules, strategies, and where to play the best games!

Professional Poker – How many decks are used?

According to the official rules of major tournaments, Poker is played with one standard 52-card deck containing cards from 2’s to Aces. No Jokers are used.

However, you might see many casinos use a 2nd deck of 52 cards to speed up the game along with an automatic shuffling machine (ASM). So in essence, yes, a 2nd deck is used, but only for the following purposes:

• The dealer uses the 1st deck to deal all hands while the 2nd deck stays untouched in the shuffling machine.
• When this hand is over, the dealer takes the 2nd deck out of the ASM and places the 1st deck into the machine.
• The dealer then deals the 2nd hand without needing to shuffle cards. This saves time and allows the game to continue for impatient Poker players!
• When the hand finishes, the dealer repeats the whole process again.

Poker Hand Values

Even though Poker has hundreds of variations, if you understand the values of Poker hands and the principles of betting, then you can play without difficulty in any Poker variant. A Poker hand will almost always consist of 5 cards (except in a few other versions of the game).

Let’s check out all possible hands and their values, in descending order:

Royal Flush

This is the rarest hand. It’s when you get a 10 to A sequence, all in the same suit. An example is A♦K♦Q♦J♦10♦.

Straight Flush

This is 5 consecutive cards from 1 single suit. An example is 8♠7♠6♠5♠4♠.

4 of a Kind

This is when you get all 4 of the same card from the 4 different suits, plus 1 more card of anything. An example is 4♠4♣4♥4♦2♠.

Full House

This is a hand that lands any 3 of a kind, plus 1 pair of something else. An example is A♦A♣A♥J♥J♠.

Flush

When you get any 5 cards from the same suit, you have a flush. No consecutive order is required. An example is A♥J♥8♥4♥2♥.

Straight

Getting 5 consecutive cards of differing suits will form a straight. An example is 8♥7♣6♦5♦4♠.

3 of a Kind

This is when you get 3 of the same cards from different suits, plus any 2 other non-matching cards. An example is J♠J♦J♣ 8♠6♥.

Two Pair

This is when you get not just 1 pair, but 2 pairs of a card. The 5th card can be anything else. An example of a two pair hand is K♠K♥5♥5♦3♣.

One Pair

Out of the 13 different cards in each suit, whenever you match 2 cards together, it’s called a pair. An example is A♦A♣7♠4♣2♦.

High Card

In the case that no player can get a special hand of any sort, then the winner will be decided by the high card(s). If you have A♣Q♦9♥6♣3♦, then you have an Ace-hand. K♥ J♣ 8♠5♦2♠ is considered a King-hand. The Ace-hand will always beat the King-hand. A King-hand will beat a Queen-hand, and so on and so forth, until you reach the 2-hand.

How to Bet in Poker

In order to understand how to start betting in the game of Poker, let’s go through the general flow of the rounds.

As an example, let’s use the most popular version of Poker called Texas Hold’em. This is how the flow looks like:

• Every player receives 2 cards faced down, and only they can use these cards.
• The 1st betting round occurs, and then 3 community cards are dealt to the middle of the Poker table. Every player can use these 3 cards.
• The 2nd betting round occurs, and the 4th community card is dealt to join the previous 3 community cards.
• The 3rd betting round occurs, and the 5th community card is dealt to join the existing 4 community cards.
• The final 4th betting round occurs, and all remaining players do a “Showdown” to see who the winner is.

The idea of using community cards is quite genius because these cards can be used by every player to make the best possible combination for themselves. And since you already know 5 of the cards in the middle of the table, you can guess what your opponent might be holding during the rounds. Isn’t that exciting!?!?

Player Actions During Poker Rounds

The main idea of Poker is to have players contribute to a pot (or pool) of money during rounds, and the winner can win the pot. Before the pot can be won, let’s see how each player can act.

After a round of cards are dealt, every player will be asked to make an action, and the order is clockwise around the table. Each player can make one of the following actions when it is their turn:

Fold

If you think that you have a bad hand and you decide to not play this hand, you can “Fold” at any time. If you fold, then you stop playing.

Check

You can “Check” to decline the opportunity to open the betting. Players can only check when there is no bet made during the current round, and your choice to check means that you will pass the action clockwise to the next person in the hand. If all active players check, those players remain in the hand, and the round is considered complete.

Call

When you “Call”, you are matching the same amount of money put in to the pot as another player.

Bet

You may “Bet” if no other players have made a bet during the current round. Once your bet is made, other players must call by matching the bet amount. If they do not match, then they cannot remain in the hand.

Raise

When you “Raise”, this simply means that you are going above the current bet made by another player. After you raise, another player will have an option to decide if he wants to raise once more, call, or fold.

Different versions of Poker have slightly different betting rules, but Texas Hold’em and Omaha are the 2 most popular Poker variants in the world that have the same betting flow as mentioned above.

Poker Showdown

Once the last Bet or Raise has been used during the final round of betting, a Showdown occurs! Here, the remaining players must show their hands, and the player or players with the best ranking hand(s) will win the pot.

Players will usually show their hands according to the order. In the end, multiple players can win a single pot together, and the pot can be divided into different ways depending on the rules of the Poker variant.

Poker Betting Limits

Betting limits refer to the amount that players may Bet and Raise. Typically, Poker games are of the following types; no limit, pot limit, and fixed limit.

No Limit – In games with a no limit betting structure, each player can bet or raise by any amount up to and including their own full stack (the total number of chips they possess) in any betting round, whenever it is their turn to act.

Pot Limit – In games with a pot limit betting structure, each player can bet or raise by any amount up to and including the size of the total pot amount at that time.

Fixed Limit – In games with a fixed limit betting structure, each player can choose to call, bet, or raise, but only by a fixed amount. This fixed amount depends on the type of Poker variant.

Popular Poker Variants

Let’s check out the top 5 most popular Poker variants in the online world.

Texas Hold’em

Played in the World Series of Poker, Texas Hold’em is simply the most popular version of Poker across the globe. As explained above, in Texas Hold’em, players are dealt 2 cards and then wait for 5 community cards to be revealed. Betting takes place in 4 rounds, and players must create their best hands with 5 cards out of the 7 cards.

Recommended casinos that offer a lot of Texas Hold’em games:

Omaha

Omaha is a similar type of Hold’em that can be played by 2-10 players at a time. Like Texas Hold’em, there are 4 rounds of betting. The main difference is that, for Omaha Poker, each player is dealt 4 cards and the 5 community (shared) cards are immediately revealed. A player must make their best 5-card hand from 2 of their own cards and 3 from the community cards.

Recommended casinos where you can play an abundance of Omaha games:

7-Card Stud

In 7-Card Stud Poker, each player is dealt 7 cards, with 3 cards facing down and 4 cards facing up (visible to other players). A player must make the best possible 5-card hand from these 7 cards.

Recommended casinos to enjoy 7-Card Stud games:

5-Card Draw

In 5-Card Draw Poker, each player is dealt 5 cards. However, in the 1st round, the player may choose to trade 3 of the 5 cards.

Recommended casinos to enjoy 5-Card Draw games:

High Chicago / Low Chicago

This Stud-style game can be played for the highest hand or the lowest hand. In High Chicago, the player with the highest face-down spade card will win half the pot. In Low Chicago, the player with the lowest face-down spade card will win half the pot. In both cases, the other half of the pot is won by the player with the best hand.

What’s special about High Chicago or Low Chicagao is that if someone has the best hand AND the winning spade, that player wins the entire pot!

Recommended casinos that offer a wealth of Chicago games:

Online Poker Strategies

Wanting to utilize Poker strategies to enhance your game? Check out the following to help improve your chances!

1. Be Selective with Your Starting Hand

As a player, it is always tempting to continue playing every hand. Why fold and sit watching everyone else enjoy the round? However, good Poker strategy boils down to 2 basic principles:

Pick a few premium hands to raise in later rounds and almost always fold with bad hands in the 1st round. The best starting hands in Poker can be grouped like this:

• A + A
• K + K
• Q + Q
• J + J
• A + K of the same suit
• A + Q of the same suit
• A + J of the same suit
• K + Q of the same suit

2. Learn to be Aggressive

Another effective Poker strategy is to play aggressively. There’s no point playing advantageous hands if you are not willing to bet a lot of chips and force other players out!

3. Improve Your Bluffing Skills

If the best players did not bluff, they would not be winning so many pots. According to statistics, you are likely to hold bad hands in the 1st and 2nd rounds, so learning to bluff is a good way of forcing players to fold!

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Fold

You need to learn to fold when you think you have a bad or average hand. Give up and save your money for another hand, because you need to be 100% sure of your play all the time. If someone uses a Raise on you and you are not confident in your own hand, then you need to fold.

5. Don’t Play Beyond Your Bankroll

Always play Poker within your own financial boundaries. At many online casinos, you can choose from $0.10 per bet for Hold’em games or dive into high roller tournaments costing $500 per bet.

Good Poker strategy is to spend 5-10% of your bankroll on a single bet. However, in the end, it all depends on the comfort level that you have with your bankroll.

Where to Play the Best Online Poker Games?

Every online casino introduced on our website will have at least 30 poker games (and all the major variations) for you to choose from. Some casinos even have over 100 poker titles available, meaning you will have days and days of entertainment!

But which website to choose?

If you always enjoy new titles as soon as they are released, then Kingdom Casino will be the perfect choice! New poker games (video poker and live casino versions) are added weekly!

If you enjoy the thrill of live casino games, then Megapari Casino will never disappoint. Their gallery of over 50 live poker titles will entertain you, no doubt!

If you prefer to play poker at an online casino that offers a generous welcome bonus, then please consider TrustDice Casino. As a welcome present for all new players, you can get up to 3 Bitcoin for free!