How to Play Poker: Rules for Beginners 2024

The Hole

Poker will start with the dealer handing each player two face-down cards, called “the Hole”. If you have ever heard the phrase “ace in the hole”, it is poker-speak for “ace in the hand”. Players should not show their cards to other players, though there technically isn’t a rule against it. This is hidden information, so saying “ace in the hand” means “ace where other players can’t see it”.

Whenever anything happens in poker, players are allowed to adjust their bets. A poker table will usually have an “ante”, or “minimum buy-in”, which is the minimum amount of money required to participate in the game. However, most tables (though not all) will only require players to put this forward once they have looked at their cards. After that, there is a phase of betting.

So, the initial cards are dealt with, and buy-ins are made. Most tables will also have a phase of bets after the buy-ins (sometimes at the same time as the buy-ins) before the next step in the hand.

If a player does not wish to buy in, they say they “fold”. If they want to bet more, they say they “raise”. And if they want to stay in the game, but not bet more, they “check”. If they want to match someone’s raise, they say they “call”. And if the bets are getting too confident and a player wishes to cut their losses, they say they “fold” there too.

The Flop

Once everyone has their bets placed on their initial cards, the dealer then lays three cards out on the table face-up. Everyone can see these cards, and everyone has access to these cards. What does it mean to “have access” to these cards? That means that these three cards are all part of a player’s “hand”, and the player with the strongest hand wins the game.

But we’re not there yet. Because after the flop has been revealed, players have another opportunity to place bets. And this is where the real psychology of poker comes in. No one knows what’s in your hand. All they can see is your bets and the flop.

Imagine that you’re watching someone play poker, but you cannot see their hand. Their cards are dealt, and they place a moderate bet. The flop is revealed, and it contains an ace. That player then makes a huge bet. The question is: Does the player have an ace in the hole?

Of course, there are three cards in the flop. That means they could be confident for a huge variety of reasons, depending on things like if the cards are the same suit, royalty, and so on.

The Turn

After another round of bets, one more card is revealed. This is called the Turn. After this, there is one more round of bets. Remember, rounds of bets continue until players are not making any other actions. You can have an extremely short round of bets or a drawn-out battle.

Because the Turn is a single card, a player’s intent will be a lot more transparent. If the Turn is a king, for instance, and a player suddenly goes all-in, then it is like he has a hand that benefits a king. You can also take the Flop into consideration alongside this. If there is a king on the Turn and a queen and a jack on the Flop, he might have an ace and a ten in the Hole.

Once bets on the Turn are complete, you go to the final card in the hand.

The River

Once bets from the Turn are settled, next comes the River. The main reason the River is interesting is because of how poker strategy works. Players, generally speaking, are aware that if someone makes a bet on the Turn, then the Turn gave them exactly the card they need.

For that reason, a player might wait until the reveal of the River to make the bet that they would have made on the Turn. Of course, they might also have nothing, or the River might give them the card they really needed. And it’s totally possible that a player puts a bet on the River that they have been wanting to place since the Flop, but have kept hidden.

After the River, there is one last round of bets. Once this round is done, the dealer will call for a show of cards. Players reveal the cards in their hand and the dealer measures them to show which one is the winner. But which hands are the best? And what happens if there is a tie?

High Card

If it comes time to show hands and every player somehow has nothing greater than a pair, flush, straight, or anything else, then the winner is the player with the highest value card. As we talked about before, the 2 is the lowest value card, and the Ace is the highest value card.

The suit of a card does not impact its value.

Pairs and Two Pairs

Above high card is a two-pair hand. This can be two pairs in the hole, or you can have one card in the hole that matches with another card of the same number with a different suit on the table.

Right above a pair is two pairs.

Three of a Kind

Just like with a pair, this is when you either have a pair of a card in the hole or one card in the hole while the other or others of different suits are on the table.

Straight

This is where things get confusing for players. It makes sense that a pair is valuable, and a three-of-a-kind is more valuable than a pair. But a straight is more valuable than either a pair or a three-of-a-kind, but less valuable than anything else.

A straight is when you have a five-card sequence of cards. If you have a four-card sequence, then it doesn’t matter, and a six-card sequence won’t make the straight better. It’s five cards or nothing. If two players have straights, the higher number value straight wins.

Flush

Right above a straight-in value is a flush, which is when you have five (no more, no less) of the same suit between your cards in the hole and on the flop.

Full House

After a flush is a full house. This is when you have three of a kind of one number and two of a kind of another number. An example of this is if you have a King and an Ace in hand, and there is one King and two Aces on the table. That would be a “full house, Aces full of Kings”.

Four of a Kind

New players are generally surprised to see that there is such a large gap between the value of three of a kind and the value of four of a kind. The best way to remember the hands in poker is to remember that there are three types of hands between three of a kind and four of a kind.

Straight Flush

After four of a kind is a straight flush, which is a combination of a straight and a flush. That means you have five cards in sequence that are also all of the same suit. So, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 5, and a 6 that are all also spades is a straight flush. It is very hard to get this hand and hard to beat it. In fact, there is only one type of hand in poker that beats it.

The Royal Flush

Technically speaking, you automatically win if you get a royal flush, as it is definitionally impossible for another player to get a royal flush at the same time. A royal flush means you have a straight of a 10, a Jack, a Queen, a King, and an Ace. They must also all be the same suit. It is impossible for another player to get this because it is so exclusive.

For this hand to happen, you need to have at least one of those five cards in the hole. And if you have one of those in the hole, then that disrupts the sequence for another player. For example, if you have a 10 of hearts in the hole and the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of hearts, are on the table, then no one else can have a royal flush since it would require the 10 that you have.