The Basics of the game
- Poker is a card game and hence you require a deck of cards and money if you would be betting. Usually 52-card decks are used to play poker. In some variations, the joker is also added.
- To get a real feel of the game, you can use chips. They are available in plastic and composite. They come in different colors with each color denoting a particular dollar value as for example, white denotes $1 and red $5.
- The amount of chips you require will depend on the number of players. For a game between 2-5 players you will require around 300 chips. As the number of players increase, more chips would be required.
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| A Poker table with players |
Starting a game of Poker
The game begins with the dealer distributing the cards to the players until each one of them gets five cards. He usually starts from his left and goes clockwise. The deck is placed in the middle. Poker can be played by any number of players, starting from 2 to 10.
Each player needs to study his cards and decide whether he has a strong hand or a weak hand and how much he should bet. The player on the left hand side of the dealer usually calls the first bet. He may choose to pass also.
The rest of the players should follow suit and have two options. They can stay in the game by betting equally or folding i.e., putting their cards on the table face down.
A player can also raise the bet by putting more chips than the last person who called. In that case, the rest of the players have to see their cards or fold, i.e., quit the game. The game continues clockwise in this fashion. The players are allowed to replace cards which they do not want with a new card from the deck of remaining cards(cards not used in game).
Players should replace those cards that won’t help them to win a hand. The cards that you discard should be placed faced downward so that no one else can see them. Usually, people start to fold when they realize that their hands are weak and may not help them to win the pot. In the end, everyone needs to turn their hands down and show the cards.
Whoever gets the highest hand wins the pot and takes away the money. This may sound very easy but in reality it is not as you have to call bets intelligently and also deduce the hands others are holding.
Playing poker requires patience and concentration. It often becomes a psychological game with the players trying to scare off others with higher bets and winning the pot eventually. Now that you know How to play poker online and offline, go explore the poker world and win some games ;)
