>On ITWT we proudly present you some of the greatest poker games variations. You’ll be able to play the well known Holdem Poker which comes from the popular Texas Holdem Poker; the common no holdem poker; the other poker games so popular in the casinos. We recommend you to play these poker online free flash games before you start with the real poker online, where you whether win or lose you real money.
Let’s get straight to the common poker rules.
The cards and their values.
Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards which are ranked from high to low in the following order: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
In poker, each player is dealt five cards. The object of the game is to end up with the highest-valued hand. From best to worst, hands are ranked in the following order:
Let's see what those Royal Flush, Straight Flush and others mean.
Royal FlushThis is the most valuable hand in all of poker. A Royal Flush is composed of 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, all of the same suit. It's the toughest hand to get.
Straight FlushIt is comprised of five cards in numerical order, all of the same suit. It's not allowed to "wrap around," such as Q-K-A-2-3. This is also very rare. If you get two of these in a row, you are cheating. If there are two Straight Flushes at the table, then whichever hand's Straight Flush reaches the highest card value wins.
Four of a KindFour cards of the same numerical rank and another random card. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the highest-ranking Four of a Kind wins.
Full HouseOf the five cards in your hand, three have the same numerical rank, and the two remaining card also have the same numerical rank. Ties are broken first by the Three of a Kind, then the Pair. So K-K-K-3-3 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, which beats Q-Q-Q-7-7.
FlushIt is comprised of five cards of the same suit, regardless of their numerical rank. In a tie, whoever has the highest ranking card wins.
StraightFive cards in numerical order, regardless of their suits. Just like with the Straight Flush, a Straight cannot "wrap around." In a tie, whoever's Straight goes to a higher ranking card wins.
Three of a KindThree cards of the same numerical rank, and two random cards that are not a pair.
Two PairTwo sets of pairs, and another random card.
One PairOne pair and three random cards. If more than one person has a One Pair, then the person with the highest ranking pair wins.
High CardIf none of the players have anything of value, the player holding the highest-valued card wins, with the 2 as the lowest card, and the Ace as the highest. In the case of a tie, you move to the next highest card, and continue.
So now we know the card combinations and their value. Let’s pass to the basic rules of the game.
Basic rules of the game.
We start with dealing cards. The dealer deals them face down around the table, starting at the player to his left and continuing clockwise. If the dealer’s playing) he always deals to himself last. The dealer deals everyone their first card, then goes back around the circle to deal the second, and so on. As soon as everyone has five cards, the remainder of the deck is placed in the middle of the table, and play begins.
Each player looks at his cards, and then the first player places a bet. On the next hand, the person to his left will bet first, and so on around the table for each new hand.
Players have several options as far as the first round of betting goes. If no one has made a bet yet, you have two choices:
Open: If no betting has begun when your turn comes, you may "open" the pot. This simply means that you make the first bet (any amount up to the betting limit).
Check: The opportunity to "check" only occurs if no one has yet opened the betting when it comes time for you to decide what to do. When a player checks, it means that he doesn't want to open the betting, but doesn't want to quit either. It basically means "I'm not going to open the betting, but I'll stick around and see what happens."
Now let's say that someone opens the betting (at some point, it will occur). You now have three choices:
See: When you "see" another player, it means that you match their bet. So if someone bets $1 and you want to stay in the game, you have to "see" their $1 by putting $1 of your own into the pot.
Raise: When you "raise", it requires you to first "see" the previous bet, and then increase the bet. For example, if the previous person bet a nickel and you want to bet more than that, you would say "I see (match) your nickel, and raise you (increase the bet) another nickel."
Fold: When someone else opens, you can always jump ship and cut your losses. In other words, you "fold." The act of folding is to "give up," place your cards face down on the table, lose whatever you've bet so far, and grab a beer. In other words, you give up early and lose your dough. This option is used when you think your hand is too weak to compete.
At this point, all the players who haven't folded are allowed to get rid of the cards they don't want and take some new cards. A player is permitted to get rid of up to 3 unwanted cards and receive up to 3 new ones from the deck (as long as the player always has 5 cards total). No one sees what anyone else discarded (threw away) or drew (got as a new card). It's all done face down.
After every player draws 0 to 3 new cards, the betting begins again. You have the option of opening or checking, and once someone opens, you can see, raise, or fold. The game ends when there are no more raises (everyone saw everyone else's bet), or everybody folds (except for the winner, of course).
Now it's time for everyone to turn their cards over and see how they fared. The player with the highest hand wins the pot.
Poker games variations.
- 5-card stud & 7-card stud
5-card stud & 7-card studIt is played without the option of trading your cards in for new ones. 5-card stud is played with each player receiving 5 cards, and betting based on the hand in front of them.
7-card stud is played in much the same way except, as the name would indicate, each player receives 7 cards and must make the best 5-card hand possible out of the cards available.
These games are usually played with some cards dealt face up so that players can base their bets based on what they perceive to be the strength of other players. More specifically, usually the first two cards will be dealt face down (so only you can see them), then the rest of the cards will be dealt face up, except for the last card. Each time a card is dealt, there's another round of betting. Stud is a popular game because betting is done between every round of the deal, meaning there is the possibility that the pot can get big very quickly.
Holdem pokerIn Holdem (also known as Texas Holdem), each player is dealt two cards face down. At this point betting opens based on the two "pocket cards" that each player holds. After betting is complete, the dealer lays out the flop. The flop consists of several cards dealt face up in the middle of the table, used as community cards. The dealer first lays three cards into the flop, so your initial poker hand will consist of the three flop cards plus your two personal cards. There is a betting round, then another card is added to the flop. More betting, and finally a fifth card is added. The goal is for each player to make the best 5-card hand possible based on his/her two pocket cards and any three cards in the flop. This game can be expensive in a casino, and because of its complexity, should only be played by skilled players.
LowballLowball is a game for the perpetual loser. In this game, the goal is to have the hand of the lowest possible value. In other words, the hand with the high card becomes more valuable than the hand with a royal flush. The perfect hand in a game of 5-Card lowball becomes a 2-3-4-5-7 of varied suits (you would not want 2-3-4-5-6 because that is a Straight. Lowball is a fun game to play around the kitchen table with some buddies. If you like that sort of thing.
Video Slot Machine GamesThe above versions are all table games, played at either a green felt table in a casino. Casinos offer video poker slot machines, where every hand is assigned a certain payout. It's just like the real game except that instead of all your money going to a live opponent, it goes into a coin slot. Of course, there's one crucial difference: there's no betting involved at all. You put in your money, get your 5 cards, throw out the ones you want and draw some new ones, and your payout depends on what you have in your hand. Video poker is usually an inexpensive, non-threatening way to learn your way around the poker table, just to get a sense of the different hand combinations.
Based on information from SoYouWanna.com
