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How to Play Poker

Welcome to the full beginners guide on how to play poker. The guide is separated into sections and will take you through everything from introduction to poker and types of games to poker hands rankings and general rules of poker. You can also watch the full guide on how to play poker in the video below.

How to Play Poker Video Guide

Watch the full tutorial on how to play poker in this video.

An easy way to get started with poker is to use EasyPoker. This is a free app that facilitates your poker games with friends. I keeps track on all rules, so you just have to enjoy the game.

The most common types of poker games are Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker. These two go way back to the beginning of poker and have been played by eveyone from cowboys to presidents. This guide will focus on Texas Hold’em – but once you get the hang on the general rules of poker you will easily be able to move to other types of games like Omaha.

Poker Hands Ranking

Before we start the guide on how to play poker you will need to know the 10 basic hand combinations and how they rank. For an in debt guide on this you should visit our full poker hands ranking guide. But here is a quick guide: The lowest ranked is called high card and is basically just used when no players have any other combinations.

The second lowest poker combo is called One Pair. This is two cards of the same number or letter.

One pair - how to play poker

Next in line is the Two Pair combination which is two different pairs of cards. Like 3, 3, 9, 9 etc.

two pair - how to play poker

Next comes Three of a Kind which are three cards of the same number or letter. Here the suits have no role in the combination.

Three of a kind - how to play poker

Next up is the Straight which are 5 cards in sequential order. An Ace can be used both as A-2-3-4-5 (lowest straight) and 10-J-Q-K-A.

straight - how to play poker

After the straight comes Flush. The flush consist of 5 cards of the same suit. In any order.

Guide on how to play pokerFlush

Then we have the Full House – a combination of Three of a Kind and one Pair – all in one hand.

How to play poker - Full House

Four of a Kind is 4 cards of the same number or letter.

Four of a Kind - How to play poker

Next up is the Straight Flush which is a Flush in sequential order.

Straight Flush, How to play poker

Finally we have the Royal Flush which is the best hand in all of poker. It’s basically the same as a Straight Flush, but it goes from 10-A. Here’s a fact: The probability of getting a Royal Flush is 649,739 to 1.

Royal Flush (straight flush) - how to play poker

How to Play Poker – Getting Started

With Texas Hold’em each player is dealt two cards facing down. These two cards are for your eyes only and must be kept a secret for the other players. These are called hole cards and are just for you. Once all cards are dealt, the two players sitting clockwise from the dealer button (the player who is dealing) will have to put out the small- and big blind. This is also called ante. These blinds make sure that we always have chips on the table each round. The big blind is usually the double amount of the small blind. Let’s set the blinds to $1 and $2 for this example. All players will have to at least match the big blind in order to continue to the next round. This is called to Call. Players also have the option to Fold and Raise. Folding means to quit the current round and you will have to give up your two cards. If you Raise you not only match the current bet, but raise the price for further participation.

The Flop

After the initial betting round three new cards will be put out on the table for all players to see. This is called the flop. See image from EasyPoker. The cards on the table are called Community Cards. These are for all players to combine with the cards in your hand. After the flop comes another round of betting – starting with the player sitting left of the dealer. All players who wish to stay in the round have to match the highest bet (just like in the initial betting round). Unlike the initial round, players now also have the option to check, which means not to bet nor fold. This will simply let me go to the next round – but only if nobody makes a bet. If one of the other players bet, yoou will have to either fold, call or raise.

The Turn

The dealer “burns” the top card of the deck (meaning it’s removed and put aside) and then proceeds to add another card face up on the table. This means we now have four community cards on the table. Players then have another round of betting – following the same format as last time.

The Final Card (River)

The dealer burns another card from the top of the deck and draws a fifth and final community card for the table. After this we have one last round of betting before players have to show their cards. The player with the highest 5 card combination wins and gets all the chips betted during the round (the pot). The role of the dealer then changes clock wise as well as the role of small- and big blind before all cards are shuffled and you starting all over for a new round.

Let an app handle your game

An easy way to get started with poker is to use an app like EasyPoker to facilitate your game. The app takes care of everything from shuffling to dealing and makes sure that all rules are followed and that chips are correctly distributed. It’s free to download on the App Store and Google Play. Consider giving it a go.

Poker Hands Ranking Guide

Poker is a well known game using 52 playing cards. But it’s not always clear to me which poker hands are the strongest. Therefore I’ve made this guide to mainly help myself and maybe you.

Poker Hands & Hand Ranking

Check this video for a simple and intuitive explanation.

The cards are divided into 4 suits of 13 ranks each. The four suits are Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds. Traditionally, clubs are listed as the highest of the suits, but officially they all have the same rank in poker.

Aces, poker hands ranking

Poker ranks from highest to lowest

When playing a game of poker, the highest card is Ace (A). The lowest card is Deuce (which is the card with the number 2 on it). Here is the full list of the 13 ranks listed from highest to lowest.

high to low, poker hands ranking

Poker Hands Strength (Highest to Lowest)

I have listed the strongest hands from the highest Royal Flush to the high card standard. But remember; you never play the hand, you play the man.

1. Royal Flush

Royal flush is hands down (no pun intended) the ultimate poker hand. It contains the cards A, K, Q, J and 10, all of the same suit. But don’t get your hopes up. The odds of you getting a Royal Flush is 649,739 to 1. That’s the same as a probability of 0.000154%.

straight flush, poker hands ranking

2. Straight flush

The Straight Flush is like the Royal Flush, except that it doesn’t have to contain the 5 highest ranking cards. That means that the odds of you getting a Straight Flush is simply 72,192.33 to 1. Easy.

Straight flush, poker hands ranking

3. Four of a Kind

Four of a kind is a pretty good hand. Maybe that’s why it’s ranked as the third best hand in poker? It must be. The hand consists of four of the same cards. Oh, like a book in “Go fish”? Now I get it.

Four of a kind, poker hands ranking

4. Full House

I know what you’re thinking. But a Full House has nothing to do with the classic TV series with the amazing Olsen twins. Been there, done that. A Full House is a poker term that means you have a pair and three of a kind, at the same time. Pretty crazy actually.

Full House, poker hands ranking

5. Flush

Even though this poker hand is given the name of a visit to the toilet, the flush has nothing to do with ~~shit~~ excrements. The flush consists of 5 cards of the same suits.

flush, poker hands ranking

6. Straight

(Insert gay joke here). A Straight is five cards of sequential ranks like 2-6, 7-J or 10-A. Be aware that Aces (A) can be both the highest and lowest card in a Straight.

Straight, poker hands ranking

7. Three of a Kind

Andy Warhol once said “One’s company, two’s a crowd, and three’s a party”. I’m not sure he was talking about poker, but damn, he was right. The Three of a Kind poker hand consists of three cards of equal rank. The chances of you having a Three of a Kind poker hand is 46.3 to 1. So it’s definitely not impossible to land this dreamy threesome.

Three of a Kind, poker hands ranking

8. Two Pair

You know that awkward double date where your girlfriend wants you to be best friends with her girlfriends boyfriend? That sucks, especially because her boyfriend has that weird thing or don’t play poker. Luckily, Two Pairs in poker is awesome. The hand consists (funny enough) of two cards of the same rank, plus two other cards of the same rank.

Two Pair, poker hands ranking

9. One Pair

One pair is pretty simple. You just have to have two cards of the same rank. Even my three legged blind dog can pull that off.

One pair, poker hands rank

10. High Card

Are your poker hand so weak that it didn’t meet any of the above requirements? Then I would probably just kill myself. Or you can use the High Card rule. Simply just pick out the person with the highest card in the rank from Deuce (2) to Ace (A). And there’s your winner.

High Card, poker hands ranking guide

Play poker with Friends

Poker is a fantastic game. And now you know pretty much everything there is to know about the poker hands you can play! So why not do a field test?

We’ve created an awesome and free poker app that lets you play face to face poker with your friends anywhere, anytime!

Poker Hands

So, we all know and love how poker was originally meant to be played. With friends and foes, face to face, at a table full of crisp cards and booming piles of chips. And we love to do that whenever we can.

But what if you just want to play a spontaneous game of poker with your friends on the go? Say at boring social events, on a long train ride, at the office or in line for a concert? No one cool walks around with a full poker set on them at all times. You may be able to gather half a deck of playing cards – but poker chips? Come on, man.
This is when you make desperate decisions and start using anything from broken matches to rolled up paper as chips. Stop. Right. Now.
We’ve got you.

Unlike other poker apps out there, EasyPoker mimics a real life game of face to face poker. With our app, you play against friends in the same room – not shady avatars from strange countries like “Asabajadar” – whatever that is.

Do you need to connect a credit card? No. A real life poker set doesn’t come with a credit card solution, so neither does EasyPoker.

EasyPoker really is the easiest way to play a game of face to face poker – anywhere, anytime.

The poker app you and your friends have been waiting for – and we think you deserve.

Click here to download the free app from the App Store or Google Play Store!

Highfive.