Poker rules general I
Poker, one of the most popular casino games that have found favor among gamblers all over the world, has many variants of the game and therefore many different sets of rules. However, there is a general set of rules for playing poker common to the variations that every poker player, beginner or experienced, playing for high stakes in a casino or in a tournament or for fun in home games, needs to know.
Generally the game of poker is played with a standard 52 card deck with four suits of card – spades, club, heart and diamond – and each suit having 13 cards. However, it may be remembered that in some variations of poker game, multiple decks are used or extra cards like the joker are introduced. The value of the cards in poker is what is called rank, with cards 2 to 10 having face value and the face cards of jack, king and queen are designated values 11, 12 and 13 respectively. The rank of ace in poker is either the highest 13 or the lowest 1, although usually the ace cards are given the higher rank value. Playing a game of poker, the players hold 5 cards in the hand and the person with the highest hand value wins the game. Another important aspect of a poker game is the use of wildcards which can be used to change the suit or rank as the player holding the wild card in his hand may wish. Though in some games, wild cards are designated according to the rules of that game, mostly the jack or joker is used as a wildcard in poker.
The arrangement of cards according to their rank in a game of poker determines the hand ranking and in the descending order it looks like – Five of a Kind, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, Pair and High Card.
