Basic Poker Rules to Know When Playing for Money

To play poker online for money, there are a few basic rules you should know. They can be divided into:

Rules for Betting

A poker hand is divided into rounds of betting. During a betting round, each of the players will, in turn, use one of the five betting actions. Betting proceeds circularly until each of the players has either folded or called the bets.

• Check: A check is a bet of zero which doesn’t forfeit the interest in the pot.

• Raise or Bet: This is a non-zero wager which is bigger than the bets which precede it. All the players who bet after this must either match or exceed it. If they cannot do this, they will lose all their interest in the pot.

• Call: This is a non-zero wager which equals the bet that preceded it. It maintains a player’s interest in the pot.

• Fold: This is a surrender of a player’s interest in the pot as a response to a bet placed by another player. This is accompanied by losing your cards and all that you have bet previously at the online poker real money game.

Rankings of Poker Hands

During a showdown, the online poker players who are still in the game will compare their hands in order to determine the rankings. Here are the hands in order of ranking:

• Straight flush: This is when the player has five cards which are of the same suit and are in sequence. For example: the 76543 of spades. They are ranked by the card of the highest value. The Ace can be either the highest card or the lowest. Therefore, the best straight flush is AKQJ10 which is also referred to as the Royal Flush. The lowest straight flush is 5432A.

• Four of a Kind: This is when four cards of the same rank are accompanied by a ‘kicker’. For example: 44443. They are first ranked by the quad cards which mean that 44443 will beat out 2222K. They are then ranked according to the side card. This means that 5555A would beat out 5555K.

• Full House: This is when three cards of the same rank form a hand with two of another rank. For example: 666JJ. When the cards are ranked according to the triple cards, 666JJ would beat 555JJ. When they are ranked according to the pair, 666AA would beat 666JJ.

• Flush: This is when five cards belong to the same suit, like AJ982 of diamonds. They are ranked by the top card in the hand and then by the next card. This is repeated for all the five cards in a hand in the online poker real money game. Therefore, AJ982 would beat AJ875. Suits are not used as tie-breakers.

• Straight: This is when five cards are in sequence. For example: 87654. The ace can be played either as the highest card or the lowest. Straights that are ‘around the corner’ are not usually allowed. For example: 32AKQ.

• Three of a Kind: This is when three cards of the same rank and two kickers of different ranks feature in a hand. For example: KKK84. When they are ranked by the triple cards KKK84 would beat QQQAK. They are then ranked by the two kickers, in which case QQQAK would beat QQQA7.

• Two Pair: This is when two cards of the same rank, two cards of another rank and a kicker which belongs to a third rank feature in a hand. For example: KK449. It is ranked by the top pair, then by the next pair and finally by the kicker. So, this means that KK449 would beat QQJJA and KK445 in an online poker real money game.

• One Pair: This is when two cards of the same rank are accompanied by three kickers which belong to different ranks. For example: AAK53. The hand is ranked according to the pair, then by each of the kickers (in turn) so AAK53 would beat AAK52.

• High Card: This is when the hand isn’t one of the better ones listed above. For example: KJ542 of a mixed suit. They are ranked by the top card, then the second card. This applies for all five of the cards like in the case of flushes.

Suits are not used as tie breakers nor are any of the cards which come after the fifth. Only the best of the cards in each hand are used. If there is a tie, the pot is usually split equally amongst the winning hands in an online poker real money game.