The rise of online poker has contributed to it becoming one the most popular card games in the world, but 🔑 there are so many different types of poker that it can seem daunting to the beginner.
Here, Telegraph Betting introduces you 🔑 to the broad concepts that unite all forms of poker and shows you how they fit together to play one 🔑 of the game’s most popular variants, Texas Holdem.
We’ll also discuss the four main types of poker under which all poker 🔑 games can be categorised.
Then, once you’ve got to grips with the basics, you’ll find our guides to the specifics of 🔑 how to play the most popular types of poker at the bottom of this piece.
How to play poker: concepts common 🔑 to most types of poker
Poker-hand rankings
All games of poker are based around common poker-hand rankings which are used to decide 🔑 which player’s hand wins in a game of poker.
Some poker game types will use the common hand ranking in different 🔑 ways, such as making the lowest value hand the most desirable (low-ball poker).
Learn the order of strength of poker hands 🔑 on our poker-hand rankings page.
Bluffing
It’s possible to win poker hands without holding the best hand by bluffing your opponents.
Bluffing usually 🔑 involves projecting confidence in your hand by betting in a manner that suggests your hand is better than it is, 🔑 in the hope that your opponents will believe you and fold rather than risk taking you on in the showdown.
Forced 🔑 bets
Most forms of poker require some form of compulsory bet at the beginning of a hand usually referred to as 🔑 the ‘ante’ or ‘blind’. Many forms of the game feature a small blind and a big blind, with the latter 🔑 generally twice the size of the former.
The dealer
Whether you’re playing physical poker at home, at a bricks-and-mortar casino, or an 🔑 online casino the role of the dealer determines the order in which the blinds are put up and players make 🔑 their bets. The game usually unfolds in a clockwise direction starting with the dealer.
In both physical and online casinos the 🔑 dealer is generally not one of the players so a token denotes which player is nominally the dealer for each 🔑 hand. This then rotates clockwise from one hand to the next.
Betting options
Following the forced bets, the first round of betting 🔑 begins. Players usually have the following betting options to use depending on their confidence in their hand.
Call — Matching another 🔑 player’s bet or raise
— Matching another player’s bet or raise Raise — Increasing the size of your existing bet in 🔑 the same round of betting
— Increasing the size of your existing bet in the same round of betting Fold — 🔑 To withdraw from the hand, sacrificing any bets already made.
— To withdraw from the hand, sacrificing any bets already made. 🔑 Check — Until the first bet in a round of betting is placed, players can choose to check (decline to 🔑 make a bet while reserving the right to bet later in the round).
— Until the first bet in a round 🔑 of betting is placed, players can choose to check (decline to make a bet while reserving the right to bet 🔑 later in the round). All in — When a player doesn’t have enough chips left to call a bet they 🔑 can play all their remaining chips. Subsequent betting takes place in a side pot and the all-in player can only 🔑 win the amount of chips in the pot when they went all-in in any subsequent showdown.
Rounds of betting
In poker, each 🔑 round of betting offers a chance to utilise the betting options outlined in the previous section, based on your confidence 🔑 in your hand and your perception of the quality of your opponents’ hands. The latter can chiefly be gauged by 🔑 seeing how much they are betting or raising.
All types of poker feature at least one round of betting, while the 🔑 vast majority feature at least two.
These rounds usually take place before and after game events such as the dealing of 🔑 the flop in Texas Holdem and allow for degrees of strategizing by players as the hand progresses. Texas Holdem and 🔑 Omaha, which are so called ‘community card’ games, can feature up to four rounds of betting.
How to play in a 🔑 poker in a nutshell: a game in brief
Here we illustrate how to play a game of poker in a nutshell. 🔑 This is how to play the world’s current most popular type of poker, Texas Holdem.
Dealer deals each player two cards 🔑 The small blind is placed, followed by the big blind. The first round of betting ensues, players bet according to 🔑 confidence in their hand Dealer deals three ‘community cards’ face up. The second round of betting begins Dealer deals the 🔑 fourth community card, also known as the turn The third round of betting begins Dealer deals the fifth community card, 🔑 also known as the river The final round of betting ensues. If two or more players still haven’t folded, all 🔑 remaining players show their cards. The winner is the one with the best hand according to the poker hand rankings.
Betting 🔑 structure/limits
There are various different ways in which betting can be structured in poker. The three structures below are the most 🔑 common in online poker and are usually listed alongside the type of poker in online poker lobbies.
Pot limit (PL) — 🔑 A player may bet or raise any amount up to the size of the total pot.
Fixed limit (FL) — Betting 🔑 and raising must be done by fixed amounts.
No limit (NL) — A player can bet all of their chips any 🔑 time it’s their turn to bet
The four main poker variations
The many different types of poker can generally be classified as 🔑 falling into one of the following four categories:
Community card poker
Players are dealt a number of cards less than a complete 🔑 five-card poker hand. A number of face-up community cards are then dealt with the objective that the players make the 🔑 best possible five-card hand with some combination of their own cards and the community cards.
Famous varieties include: Texas Holdem, Omaha
Straight 🔑 poker
The earliest form of poker, each player is dealt a full hand of five cards. A round of betting ensues 🔑 in which players can raise and reraise until the game concludes.
Famous varieties include: five-card brag, three-card brag
Draw poker
Another poker variation 🔑 in which players receive all five cards at the beginning of the game, draw poker then allows them to attempt 🔑 to improve their hand by discarding cards and being dealt replacements.
Famous varieties include: five-card draw
Stud poker
In stud-poker games, players are 🔑 dealt their cards one by one in a specified combination of face-up and face-down cards, typically with a round of 🔑 betting between each card being dealt.
Famous varieties include: seven-card stud, razz
Learn how to play popular types of poker and the 🔑 rules specific to each game
Want to know the rules specific to popular types of poker? Check out the links below.
Ready 🔑 to start playing online poker in the UK?
Take a look at our painstakingly researched list of the best poker bonus 🔑 sign-up offers for UK players.
