A game of poker got you curious? Wondering where and how to start playing poker? We’ve got your covered. Learn all about the growing real-money game of poker and the basic skills you need to win it!
A game of poker belongs to the family of card games and is played with a whole deck of 52 cards. Game play involves knowing poker hands and their rankings, betting and effectively utilizing poker strategies. Betting is crucial to understand how to play poker online because depending on the strength of your poker hands, you apply your betting skills. Further variations of the game vary in the number of cards dealt, the number of community cards and the betting procedures. Here’s a look at few poker FAQ,s floating on every beginners mind:
What does Poker Mean
While the history and the etymological meaning of ‘Poker’ continues to be debated, the most common theory suggests the word to be a probable modification of the French word ‘poque’, a card game similar to a game of poker.
The Merriam-Webster’s meaning of poker reads “ any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others, in which each subsequent player must either equal or raise the bet or drop out, and in which the player holding the highest hand at the end of the betting wins the pot”
How do you win a poker game or what is the objective of a game of poker
The winner of each hand of poker is the player that holds the highest ranked poker hand that he/she makes by combining their hole cards with three community cards on the board when all cards are shown at the end of the hand
OR
the player that makes the last uncalled bet, thus winning without the need to reach a showdown.
Poker hands and sequences may sound difficult as a beginner, but once you master whether a flush beats a straight and what makes a full house, you have pretty much got the basics covered and learned how to play poker online!
What are poker hands
Hands represented in descending order of strength
How to get started with a game of poker
A poker game typically begins with the dealer dealing a set of cards to each player. On distribution, players have their hole cards, opponents their hole cards and the community or shared cards are revealed when the betting rounds begin.
To learn how to play poker online, you need to understand the antes. A poker game typically features a forced bet like the Big Blind and the Small Blind that comprise the starting pot in any given hand of poker. This acts as an incentive for players to win the hand. Any action arising from the subsequent rounds of betting, further increases the size of the pot.
What are the actions in a poker game
In order to learn how to play poker online & avoid making rookie mistakes, you need to memorize all the actions that take place during a hand. Once the cards have been dealt in a poker game, each player can usually take on of the following actions when it is their turn to act, moving clockwise around the table:
To Check – To check is to decline the opportunity to open the betting or further increase the bet (in case when you are positioned next to the big blind)
When? Players can only check when there is no bet during the current round
What happens next? the action then passes clockwise to the next person in the hand without increasing the size of the pot.
To Bet – To bet is to increase the size of the pot in the current poker hand
When? The Players may bet if no other players have bet during the current round.
What happens next? Other players have to ‘call’ or match the bet amount in order to remain in the current poker hand.
To Fold – To fold is to forfeit your cards in the current hand of a poker game
When to fold? Players don’t have a strong hand or an opponent has bet in the current round.
What happens next? A player who folds their cards cannot win the pot or act again in the current hand and action continues to the next player.
To Call – To call is to match the amount bet during the current around
When? If an opponent has bet during the current round,
What happens next? the calling player must match the highest bet made
To Raise – To raise is to increase the bet size in the current round
When? Players may raise in an online poker game if other players have bet during the current round. Which means the raising player matches and increase the highest bet made during the current round.
What happens next? The raise now becomes the highest bet that subsequent players must match in order stay in the hand. At this stage all opponents may either fold, call or re-raise.
How does a round of poker play out
Different variants of poker have different betting rounds. There are typically four rounds of betting in the most popular variants of online poker games and are labelled as pre-flop, the flop, the turn and the river.
Pre-flop – This round of betting begins as soon as all the players have received their hole cards and before any community cards have been dealt.
The flop – Betting on the flop occurs after the first three community cards are dealt
The turn – Another round of betting occurs after the fourth community card is dealt.
The river – The final round of betting occurs once the fifth and final community card is dealt
In each betting round of a poker game, betting continues until every player has either matched the bets made or folded (if no bets are made, the round is complete when every player has checked). When the betting round is completed, the next dealing/betting round begins, or the hand is complete.
Note: It is not necessary for all five community cards to be dealt in an online poker game. If a bet remains unmatched at the end of the current round, the remaining community cards need not be dealt.
Showdown
Once the last bet or raise has been called during the final round of betting, the action that occurs is called the showdown. The remaining players in the round, show or declare their hands and the player with the best poker hand ranking wins the pot. Once you are well acquainted with the betting rounds, you now know how to play poker.
Where to play a poker game
A game of poker can be played both live and online. While the Indian laws have certainly limited the number of live games, online poker games are available in ‘ship’loads. If you are keen on witnessing a live poker game, visit the exclusive PokerBaazi Live Room aboard the Casino Pride II in Goa, Panjim. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, we have postponed live poker games until further notice but we managed to ship them all to the online felts! Want to give online poker games a shot? Try our latest tourneys and cash games on PokerBaazi. Sceptical about putting some real money? Try our free entry tournaments to practice your basics and you can well be our next END BOSS winner!
