RULES OF CONDUCT
1. Do not talk about your cards until the hand is over.
2. Do not discuss other peoples hands if you are not involved in the hand.
3. If your cards go into the muck pile face up or down, you fold the hand.
4. You must expose both cards if called
5. Treat each player with respect and courtesy.
6. Do not show your cards to anyone if you are sitll involved in the hand.
7. If you show any player your cards you must show everyone.
8. One person per hand
9. Do not pull your cards out of the muck pile
10. No string betting you must announce a raise & if you say call and then say raise, the call will stand.
11. If there are any questions during play call the tournament director over.
12. No splashing the pot.
13. No cell phone or text messaging at table, please step away from the table.
14. Cards must shuffled and cut.
15. All rule violations will result in a 15 minute penalty.
16. Good luck and have fun
Basic Poker Rules
Poker Tips and Tactics
It’s been said that poker is easy to learn but hard to master. Mastering any poker game is a fun and challenging
goal. In the poker strategy section, you will find many resources to help you become a winning poker player. This page features
general poker advice and strategy as well as links to poker strategy and tips for other poker games.
The basics of solid poker strategy involve many concepts that you must combine to become a consistently winning player. The
following concepts are crucial to learning poker strategy:
- Tight play
- Aggressive play
- Random play
- Taking advantage of opponents’ mistakes
Keep these concepts in mind as you develop as a poker player. These strategic concepts are like the colors on an artist’s
palette: the basic colors are the same, but the artist’s use of them is unique and stylistic.
Some Poker Strategy Considerations
Decisions for the New Poker Player
Decide whether you want to play poker to win or to play for fun. To play at a consistently winning level requires both
time and effort. In other words, it takes work. There is nothing wrong with playing poker for fun, but there is no reason
to plan to lose, even when you are playing for fun. However, deciding which type of poker player you want to be before you
start will make your decisions and sessions easier.
Make Good Decisions – the Results Will Follow
Even the best poker players in the world have losing sessions. Don't make the mistake of expecting to win every time you
play. Your goal should be to play to the best of your ability in every session. If you do, the cards and winnings will take
care of themselves as you improve.
Many players make the mistake of judging their poker playing ability based on the results of each session. Your goal should
be to make the best possible play every time. The closer you come to this, the better your results will be.
The Mathematics of Poker
Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of incomplete information. That may sound complicated, but it really
isn't. On a very basic level, winning poker starts with the selection of which starting hands to play. If you enter the pot
with the best hand more often than your opponents do, you will win more times than your opponents.
Beyond Starting Hands
Starting hand selection is fundamentally important, but it’s only one piece of the poker strategy puzzle. Once you
have mastered solid starting hand guidelines and understand how they change by your position at the table, the next area you
should work on is your play for the rest of the hand. The area that separates professional players from amateurs is that professional
players tend to play much better than their opponents during the remainder of the hand, after the starting hand decisions
are made.
This is especially true concerning the decisions made at the very end of every hand. These skills involve calculating pot
odds, recognizing betting patterns, bluffing, and using position. The years of practice necessary to master the middle and
end game play are well worth the effort, because even small improvements in a player’s abilities can have a tremendous
effect on that player’s lifetime winnings.
Avoiding Tilt
Another meta-skill that should be part of a winning player’s poker strategy is avoiding tilt. Your opponents will
use your emotions against you, but only if you let them. Emotional play results in poor decisions and lost money. Tilting
and steaming can happen to anyone, and sometimes the only cure is a break from the game. That’s okay; the game will
still be there ten minutes from now. In fact, it will still be there tomorrow.
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Basic Betting Rules
Bet: You can put in one
bet into the pot. The other players must call that bet, or else they must fold.
Check: You can choose not to
put in any money into the pot. If no one bets, then the game continues with everyone still in the hand. If someone else bets,
then you have a decision to make...
Fold: You don't
put in any more money, but you are out of the hand and cannot win any money. Any money you have put into the pot up to this
point is lost.
Call: You put in money equal to the amount bet. You stay in the hand. Play continues and the
next card is dealt, unless someone else raises. (If there are no more cards, then there is a showdown.)
Raise:
You put money into the pot equal to the amount bet so far, plus additional money (the raise). Now, all the other players must
call your raise or fold. They may also reraise you.
If there is more than
one player left after all the cards have been dealt, and everyone has called on the last round of betting after that card
is dealt, then those players show their hands. Whoever is holding the best poker hand wins all the money in the pot. If there
is a tie, then all tying hands split the pot in equal amounts.
Hands are shown starting with the last person to raise
or bet out, then proceeding clockwise (the normal direction of play). Any player may choose to muck his hand (fold
without showing).
The poker room will also take a rake from the pot before it is distributed to the winner or winners.
The rake is the house's share and is usually a few cents on the dollar.
If
everyone except one player folds, then that player gets all the money in the pot, minus the rake. He does not have to show
his hand to the other players.
Reraise: Suppose someone else
raises you, but you feel that you have a very strong hand. You can reraise your opponent to forfce him to put in another bet
to stay in. Some poker rooms will let two players reraise each other indefinitely. Others will cap the total number of bets
at 4 or some other number. Most online poker rooms cap you at 4 bets in each betting round. (The betting is only capped for
limit poker; no-limit and pot-limit games do not have betting caps).
Check-raise: Suppose you hold a strong
hand, and you are greedy. You want to take more than just one bet from your opponent. So you check, your opponent bets, and
you raise him. Now he calls, and if your hand is as good as you think it is, you just won two bets from him. Check-raising
is a powerful tool, but it can be dangerous, because your opponent might also check. Then you win no money from him. Or he
might have an even better hand then you and reraise you.
Check-call: If you have a decent hand, but you think
there is a good chance your opponent might have a better one, you may wish to avoid a raise. In this case, you can check and
call.
Blinds
Why
don't players just fold until they get pocket aces?
This is prevented by forcing each player to pay a "tax" on the
hands he plays. This tax comes in the form of blind bets commonly called blinds. Each hand, one player at the table
puts in a big blind (BB), and the player in front of him puts in a small blind (SB). In most games, the small blind is half
the size of the big blind. The big blind is usually the size of a small bet in a limit game.
For example, in a $2-$4
Limit game:
Small Blind: $1
Big Blind: $2
Small Bet: $2 (preflop and flop)
Big Bet: $4 (turn and river)
The blinds are paid regardless of whether the player likes his cards or not. The other players must call (or raise)
the blind bet, or else they must fold. The player in the small blind must make up the difference between the BB and SB in
order to stay in the hand. So if the big blind was $2 and the small blind was $1, the player in the small blind would have
to pay $1 to call.
Position
The blinds rotate each hand. The person to the left of the dealer pays the small blind, and the person to
the left of the small blind pays the big blind. In the preflop betting round, the player to the left of the big blind is the
first to bet, and the big blind is the last to bet. In all rounds after that, the small blind is the first to bet, and the
dealer is last to bet. Position is very important in poker, and here's why: Information is power in poker, and each bet gives
away information. If a person bets before you, he gives you information you need to make your bet. On the other hand, he has
to make his bet without the information contained in your bet.
Under the Gun (first to bet)
Big Blind
Small Blind
Dealer
Texas Hold'em Rules
Texas Hold'em is arguably the most popular form of poker. It is widely considered to have the most strategy of all
poker games, yet the rules are quite simple. Here is how a hand of Texas Hold'em is played:
- Hole Cards. Each player is dealt two cards face down.
- The Flop. Three cards are dealt face up on the table.
- The Turn. A fourth card is dealt to the table.
- The River. Finally, a fifth card is dealt to the table.
The five cards
on the table are community cards. Your hand is formed by taking the best poker hand you can by using any five out of the seven cards (5 community + 2 hole cards). But remember, all the players
have access to the community cards. When played for money, there is a round of betting after a round of cards is dealt (so
four rounds of betting in total).
Poker Hand Rankings
A poker hand consists of five playing cards. Poker hands fall into one of several categories, such as flush, straight, or two pair. The player whose hand is in the higher
category wins. If two players have hands in the same category, the tie is broken usually by who has higher cards. Below is
a table of the hand categories, highest to lowest.
| Category |
Example |
Tiebreaker |
| Straight Flush |
|
A Straight Flush consists of 5 cards in numerical sequence, all of the same suit. The higher straight flush wins. AKQJT
is the highest straight flush, and is also called a royal flush. 5432A is the lowest straight flush. |
| 4-of-a-kind |
|
The higher 4-of-a-kind wins. If two players have the same 4-of-a-kind, then the highest kicker (the 5th card) wins. 4-of-a-kind
is also known as quads. |
| Full House |
|
A full house consists of a 3-of-a-kind and a pair. The higher 3-of-a-kind wins. If two players have the same 3-of-a-kind
(using community cards), then the highest pair wins. Full House is also known as a boat. |
| Flush |
|
A Flush consists of five cards of the same suit. The higher flush wins. The highest card from each hand is compared, then
the second highest, and so on. |
| Straight |
|
A Straight consists of five cards in numerical sequence. The higher straight wins. AKQJT is the highest straight; 5432A
is the lowest straight (5432A is also called a wheel). |
| 3-of-a-kind |
|
The higher 3-of-a-kind wins. If two hands have the same 3-of-a-kind (using community cards), then the 2 kickers (unpaired
cards) are used to break the tie. 3-of-a-kind is also known as trips. If you have a pocket pair in Texas Hold'em, and
you form trips with a third card on the board, you have a set. |
| Two Pair |
    
Aces over sixes, king kicker | |
The hand with the higher top pair wins. If the top pairs are equal, then the bottom pairs are used to break the tie. If
those are also equal, then the kicker (unpaired card) is used to break the tie. |
| Pair |
   
Pair of kings, ace kicker | |
The hand with the higher pair wins. If the pairs are equal, then the kickers are used to break the tie, first by comparing
the highest kicker, then the 2nd highest kicker, and finally the lowest kicker. |
| High Card |
|
If a hand does not fit in any other category, it is judged by high cards. Two hands are compared by taking the highest
cards and comparing them. If those are equal, then the 2nd highest card from both hands are compared, and so on. |
Texas Hold'em Rules FAQ
No, there is no such thing
as three pairs. Only your best five-card poker hand counts in Texas Hold'em. Example:
Your final poker hand is two pairs, aces over sevens, with a king kicker, using 
A
A
K 7
from the board and the 7 from your hand.
A kicker matters
if it is part of a person's final five-card poker hand. Example:
In this case, Victor would win. The nine is better than the seven, so Victor wins.
    
Victor's final poker hand |
Stephen's final poker hand |
However, suppose the board is:
Then the outcome would be a tie. Both would have aces over queens with a jack kicker. Victor's nine would no longer
be part of his final five-card poker hand, so it would no longer matter.
In Texas Hold'em, a player makes the best five-card hand using any
combination of his hole cards and the cards on the board. Only the best five-card hand is considered.
This is a tied pot. Each player's final poker hand is A K Q J
10
This depends on the rules of the house. Sometimes, when a player must make a large call,
he displays his hole cards to his opponent to see if the opponent gives some sort of reaction. Certain poker rooms and home
games allow this but other places would instantly call the hand dead and would make the player fold.
If one person has a higher straight, then
that person would win. For example, if Tom has a straight 87654 and Jerry has a straight 98765, then Jerry would win the pot.
Please
note that only the final five-card poker hand matters.
This would be a split pot. Each person's final poker hand is the board: 9 8 7 6 5. It does not matter that Peter also has a four, because it would not make him a higher straight.
