The Rules of Online Poker
At our site you’ll find all the world’s most popular poker games, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha 0️⃣ and many more.
How Do You Win?
Typically, the winner of each hand of poker is the player that holds the highest 0️⃣ ranked hand when all cards are shown at the end of the hand –known as the ‘showdown’ – or the 0️⃣ player that makes the last uncalled bet, thus winning without needing to reach a showdown. Not sure whether a flush 0️⃣ beats a straight? Can’t remember how to make a full house? You can find all the information you need to 0️⃣ know about hand rankings in the table below (click here for more). The strongest hands are in the top row, 0️⃣ running from left to right, with the weakest possible hand being simply a high card.
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full 0️⃣ House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
One Pair
High Card
Getting Started
Poker games typically feature a forced bet, such as the Big Blind and 0️⃣ Small Blind in Hold’em and Omaha. These forced bets comprise the starting pot in any given hand of poker, which 0️⃣ is the first incentive players have to win the hand. Action arising from the subsequent rounds of betting further increases 0️⃣ the size of the pot.
Dealing Cards and Betting Rounds
After any initial cards are dealt, players are usually called upon to 0️⃣ act in turn, moving clockwise around the table. Each player can usually take one of the following actions when it 0️⃣ is their turn to act:
Check – To check is to decline the opportunity to open the betting. Players can only 0️⃣ check when there is no bet during the current round, and the act of checking passes the action clockwise to 0️⃣ the next person in the hand. If all active players check, those players remain in the hand and the round 0️⃣ is considered complete.
– To check is to decline the opportunity to open the betting. Players can only check when there 0️⃣ is no bet during the current round, and the act of checking passes the action clockwise to the next person 0️⃣ in the hand. If all active players check, those players remain in the hand and the round is considered complete. 0️⃣ Bet – Players may bet if no other players have bet during the current round. Once a bet has been 0️⃣ made, other players must ‘call’ by matching the amount bet, in order to remain in the hand.
– Players may bet 0️⃣ if no other players have bet during the current round. Once a bet has been made, other players must ‘call’ 0️⃣ by matching the amount bet, in order to remain in the hand. Fold – Players who fold forfeit their cards 0️⃣ and cannot win or act again during the current hand.
– Players who fold forfeit their cards and cannot win or 0️⃣ act again during the current hand. Call – Players can call if other players have bet during the current round; 0️⃣ this requires the calling player to match the highest bet made.
– Players can call if other players have bet during 0️⃣ the current round; this requires the calling player to match the highest bet made. Raise – Players may raise if 0️⃣ other players have bet during the current round; this requires the raising player to match the highest bet made, and 0️⃣ then make a greater one. All subsequent players are required to call the raise or raise again (‘re-raise’) to stay 0️⃣ in the hand.
Different variants of poker have different betting rounds. Texas Hold’em and Omaha are the two most popular poker 0️⃣ games in the world and have identical betting structures, with four rounds of betting known as pre-flop, the flop, the 0️⃣ turn and the river. The pre-flop betting round begins as soon as all players have received their hole cards, before 0️⃣ any community cards have been dealt; betting on the flop occurs after the first three community cards are dealt; on 0️⃣ the turn after the fourth community card; and on the river after the fifth and final community card. On each 0️⃣ betting round, betting continues until every player has either matched the bets made or folded (if no bets are made, 0️⃣ the round is complete when every player has checked). When the betting round is completed, the next dealing/betting round begins, 0️⃣ or the hand is complete. Here’s an example of a Texas Hold’em hand after all the cards have been dealt. 0️⃣ As you can see, players may use any of their two hole cards with any of the five community cards 0️⃣ to make the best five-card hand they can make - in this case, you can use both your hole cards 0️⃣ and three of the shared community cards to make a straight.
Your opponents’ hole cards Community Cards Your hole cards
Showdown
Once the 0️⃣ last bet or raise has been called during the final round of betting, a showdown occurs; the remaining active players 0️⃣ must show or ‘declare’ their hands, and the player(s) with the best ranking hand(s) win the pot. Players often show 0️⃣ their hands in order, rather than all at the same time. Multiple players can share a single pot, with the 0️⃣ pot divided in different ways depending on the game rules and how each player’s hand ranks against their opponents.
Betting Limits
Betting 0️⃣ limits refer to the amount players may open and raise. Typically, poker games are of the following types; no limit, 0️⃣ pot limit or fixed limit.
No Limit – in poker games with a no limit betting structure, each player can bet 0️⃣ or raise by any amount up to and including their full stack (the total number of chips they possess at 0️⃣ any given time) in any betting round, whenever it is their turn to act.
Pot Limit – in poker games with 0️⃣ a pot limit betting structure, each player can bet or raise by any amount up to and including the size 0️⃣ of the total pot at that time.
Fixed Limit – in poker games with a fixed limit betting structure, each player 0️⃣ can choose to call, bet or raise, but only by a fixed amount. The fixed amount for any given betting 0️⃣ round is set in advance.
For No Limit and Pot Limit games, the ‘Stakes’ column in the PokerStars lobby indicates the 0️⃣ Small Blind and Big Blind in that game, while for Mixed Games, the Stakes listed in the lobby are the 0️⃣ betting amounts for Limit games; in Pot Limit and No Limit rounds, the blinds are usually half of the blinds 0️⃣ in limit games.
Table Stakes and All-in
