Official Poker

A family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game’s rules. There are many variants, but they all share a standard deck of 52 cards with the addition of one or more jokers (for example, in Canasta).

The basic premise is that each player has five cards and that the highest card wins. The card is ranked from high to low, and each suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) has different ranks.

Each player must ante a certain amount before any betting can take place. The minimum and maximum amounts are in relation to the blinds; in a game of $1/$2 the table minimum is usually $40 (20x the big blind) and the maximum is $200 (100x the big blind).

After the players have antes, they are dealt five cards, face up, by the dealer. Each player then decides whether or not to fold their hand, check, or bet.

If a player checks, they must make an informed decision by considering their cards, the board and any other information available to them. If they are confident that they hold the best hand, they must raise their bet.

If they are not, they must muck their hand and concede the pot. The player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.