How to Play Poker

Learn how to play poker by trying your hand at the basic poker game of Five-Card Draw. These poker basics will give you teach you poker etiquette and how poker hands are ranked for winning.

At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt five cards. The object of the game is to end up with the highest hand. The hands are ranked here, from highest to lowest:

• Royal Flush: a ten, jack, queen, king and ace of the same suit.
• Straight Flush: five cards in ascending order from the same suit. Hands that "wrap around," such as Q-K-A-2-3, don't count.
• Four-of-a-Kind: four cards of the same number and one random card.
• Full House: three cards of the same number and two cards of another same number.
• Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
• Straight: Five cards in ascending order from any suits. "Wrap around" hands don't count here, either.
• Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same number and two random cards.
• Two Pair: Two pairs of cards with the same number and one random card.
• One Pair: One pair of cards with the same number.
• High Card: If none of the players have a valuable hand, the player with the highest-valued card wins. In the case of a tie, you move to the next highest card.

1.  Each player places an "ante," or primary bet, into the center of the table (known as "the pot") before cards are dealt.

2.  Beginning with the player to his left and moving clockwise, the dealer deals the cards face down around the table. He continues this until every player has five cards; then the rest of the deck is placed in the center of the table.

3. The players look at their cards, and then the first player places a bet. Usually, the player directly to the left of the dealer make the first bet.

4. If a player's turn comes and no one has made a bet yet, he can either make the first bet ("open the pot") or "check." Checking occurs when a player doesn't open the betting, but also doesn't choose to quit. 

5. When a player opens the betting, the other players have three possible options. They can "see," or match the bet with an equal bet of their own, raise the bet by seeing the bet and increasing it, or fold. When a player folds, he loses the money he has bet so far and quits the game.

6. The players who haven't folded can then get rid of up to three cards that they don't want and receive three new ones from the center deck. The players must have five cards at all times.

7. Once the players are done changing their hands, betting can resume and they can see, raise or fold. The game is over when there are no more raises or every player but one has folded.

8. When the game ends, all players turn their cards over. The player with the highest hand wins the entire pot.

Bluffing about the quality of your hand is a helpful tactic to keep other players betting, but not if you have an amazing hand. If the other players suspect that, they may fold and leave you with small earnings!

Becoming a great poker player requires practice, so try playing a few "practice games" before you start betting your money.