Basics of Poker for beginners

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Introduction to Basic Poker Hands..

Poker is one of the most popular gambling games in the world. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. The cards consist of 4 suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) of 13 cards ranked 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A. The first step towards learning Poker is to recognize what constitutes a winning hand. A winning Poker hand consist of 5 cards or less. Higher ranked hands will use all 5 of the cards to make the winning combination. Lower ranked hands can use just a subset of the total. The hands are ranked in the order of the odds of getting that hand. The lower the chance of getting a certain combination, the higher the value.

Here is a list of Poker hands ranked from the highest to lowest.
With the approximate odds of getting that hand.

Royal flush (1/40,000) This is the highest possible hand in poker.
It is a "flush" (all cards are the same suit)
With the added bonus of consisting of the highest ranked cards in the deck.
Example.. 10 J Q K A of any same suit

Straight flush (1/9000) This is the second highest hand possible.
It is a "flush" (all cards are the same suit)
And also the cards are consecutively ranked (straight)
But without the restriction of the cards having to be 10 or higher
Example.. A, 2, 3, 4, 5 of the same suit

Four of a Kind (1/420) 4 cards of the same rank
Example 2222Q
Here the "Q" is called the "kicker" Even though it is not part of the combination,
the rank of the kicker can be used as a tie breaker in case someone else also holds the same 4 or a kind.

Full House (1/86) Is a hand containing three cards of one rank plus two cards of another rank
Example K, K, K, 2, 2 or 4, 4, 4, A, A

Flush (1/90) All cards have the same suit

Straight (1/89) The cards are numbered consecutively

Three of a Kind (1/13) 3 cards of the same rank

Two Pair (1/7) Same rank pairs

One Pair (1/4)

Single high card

You may have noticed that the odds of getting anything better than a "Full House" are slim. As such, most of the hands you will be dealing with while playing Poker will be the Full House and below. When you play Poker, you are betting (or bluffing) that your hand beats that of your opponents. If you have a weak hand, you can "fold" (give up) and let everyone else duke it out. Or you can "check" (stay in the game without making more bets). If someone has bet, you can "call" (stay in the game by matching the bet) or "raise" (increase the bet and challenge everyone else to match it if they dare).
Poker is generally played very fast so you will want to be familiar with what constitutes the basic Poker hands before you venture out into the poker tables. One way to become familiar with Poker hands is to play a simple game based on Poker like Video-Poker. Our Video-Poker Tutor will teach you the basics of Poker while playing the popular "Jacks or Better" variety of the game. Even if you are a complete beginner you will easily learn the different names of Poker hands and how they are ranked from the easy to read highlighted chart that displayes the correct play for each deal.

Downloads..

(1) Video-Poker Tutor (FREE!)..(vptutorzip.exe) ver 1.0.1 ~2.0 megabytes

(2) Alternate FREE tutor download location (tucows)

(3) Alternate FREE tutor download location (winsite)

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