poker: Basic Rules

Poker is fundamentally a gambling game and is played either for money or for chips purchased from the game's banker. In all of the many variations there are betting rounds during which each player in the game must fold (stop playing the hand), call (equal the bet made), or raise (increase the bet made). All bets are placed together to form a pot. The object of all poker games is to win the pot either by holding the best hand or by inducing (bluffing) the others to drop.

The two basic forms are draw poker and stud poker, in both of which a deck of 52 cards is used and sometimes a joker added. Five players are said to make the best game, although from 2 to 10 are able to play at once. All suits are equal, and cards rank from the ace as high (it is also low) down through the two, or deuce. Often deuces are designated “wild,” thereby counting (at the holder's option) for any other card.

There are 2,598,960 possible poker hands with 52 cards. In both draw and stud poker the player who holds in his hand the best combination of cards wins the game. The principal combinations rank as follows: straight flush (a five-card sequence in one suit, e.g., the ace, king, queen, jack and ten, also called a royal flush, the highest possible combination in the game), four of a kind (e.g., four aces), full house (three of a kind plus a pair), flush (five of one suit), straight (a five-card sequence regardless of suit), three of a kind, two pairs, and one pair. Below this, pots are won by the hand holding the highest cards.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Stud Poker
• Draw Poker
• Basic Rules
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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