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Rules of Poker

The rules of poker vary with each individual poker game that you play. Although the differences are subtle, it's still important to know them in order to be well prepared before the commencement of a game. You don't want to be the person that drags down the entire game because you haven't got your act together, do you?

I've included a quick summary of the rules of poker for the most popular games including Caribbean, Let it Ride, Pai Gow and Texas Holdem poker. This page should be useful for getting a general idea as to how each game is played. For more information, visit each of the individual sections.

Buy-Ins

Before you can start playing, you first have to buy in. When you do a buy-in, you're actually trading money in for a stack of chips. Usually, the buy-in at limit poker is at least ten times the maximum bet for that particular game. You are allowed to add to your stack between hands, and it's not considered a buy-in.

Wild Cards

The rules of poker pertaining to the use of Wild Cards depends on the variations; usually, however, wild cards take on whatever rank or suit you want it to take. A wild card can either be a separate card added like a joker or you may specify a certain card in the standard deck to be wild such as deuces, or whatever else.

Deck Used

Most poker variations use a standard 52-card deck, with the exception of Pai Gow poker, which has an extra Joker. The cards are shuffled after each round as most cards in the deck are used up during a game.

Number of Cards Dealt

The number of cards dealt is dependent on what type of game you are playing: Five card draw is the standard poker game where 5 cards are dealt to each player face down. The rules of poker pertaining to Pai Gow are exceptionally different, where each player receives 7 cards (the most cards dealt in any of the variations).

Ranking of Hands

Although the ranking system for all poker hands is standard, your should still have a look at the ranking of hands at the tablet that you are playing, especially when playing Pai Gow poker. With the extra Joker, things get a little twisted in this variation of the poker game.

Poker Betting

Betting is another aspect of poker that is fairly standard across the board. You really only have three choices when you're faced with a decision. More on poker betting here.