Rules of Poker

If you’re looking to learn the rules of poker, there’s something you should know: there are a lot of them. Not necessarily for each specific variation of poker, but for all of the different variations combined. To help your task, we’ll start with the rules that are common to most poker games, and then go on to the rules for the most popular poker games played today. Additionally, you may choose to check out the rules of poker for a specific variation of the game with the links at the bottom of the page, or for the less popular games, using the navigation on the right.

The Basics of Poker

Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards (although some variations use multiple decks or add jokers to the mix). The card rankings, from high to low, are Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace (the Ace can be high or low, although in some games Aces are only high). In a straight (five cards in sequence), the cards can not wrap around (as in King, Ace, 2, 3, 4). The four suits of a deck of cards, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, are all equal in ranking. Poker hands typically are made up of five cards.

The hand with the highest ranking always wins, although in some games known as “high-low split” games, a “low hand” can also split the pot with the high hand. To have a qualifying low hand, a player’s hand must be made up of five cards of 8 or lower with no pair. Some variations of poker may also have what are known as wild cards, which can be any card that one wants them to be.

Poker Hand Rankings

Poker hands are ranked in a certain way depending on the probability of getting that particular class of a hand, as well as the rank of the particular cards within those classes. To check out a detailed chart of the rankings of poker hands, along with examples, check out our Poker Hand Rankings section.

Specific Variations

There are many, many variations of poker, but there are only a few variations that are popular and regularly played. To check out a large database of poker variations, check out our Poker Variations section. Or, click the links below to learn about a specific popular game in more detail.