Poker

Win the other players' chips. In each hand, the bets pile up in the middle, in the pot. You win it in one of two ways: by having the best five-card combination at the end, or by betting so hard that everyone else gives up. What follows describes Texas Hold'em, the most widely played form of poker today.

A 52-card deck, without jokers, and chips: about twenty per player to start, in two or three denominations. Two to ten players; among friends, four to eight.

A hand is always made up of five cards. From highest to lowest:

1. 1Straight flush: five cards in sequence, of the same suit (5-6-7-8-9 of hearts). Ace-high, it is a royal flush.
2. 2Four of a kind: four cards of the same rank.
3. 3Full house: three of a kind and a pair (three Kings and two 4s).
4. 4Flush: five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.
5. 5Straight: five cards in sequence, of mixed suits. The Ace can be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5).
6. 6Three of a kind: three cards of the same rank.
7. 7Two pair.
8. 8One pair.
9. 9High card: none of the above; the highest card counts.

Between two hands of the same type, the higher one wins (a pair of Queens beats a pair of 9s); if they are equal, compare the remaining cards, one by one.

A marker, the button, shows who the dealer is; it moves one seat along each hand. Before the deal, the two players to its left bet automatically: the small blind (for example 1 chip) and the big blind (2 chips). These forced bets give every hand something at stake.

1. 1Hole cards: each player is dealt two cards face down, for their eyes only.
2. 2First betting round, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.
3. 3The flop: three community cards are turned face up in the middle. Everyone can use them. Second betting round, starting with the first player still in the hand to the left of the button.
4. 4The turn: a fourth community card. Third betting round.
5. 5The river: a fifth and final community card. Last betting round.
6. 6The showdown: the players still in the hand show their cards. Each makes their best five-card hand from the seven cards available to them (their two cards and the five community cards). The best hand takes the pot.

In each betting round, players act clockwise:

• fold: give up the hand, and whatever you have already bet;
• check: bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round;
• call: put in as much as the biggest bet of the round;
• raise: put in more. The others must then call this new bet, raise in turn, or fold.

The round ends when all the remaining players have put in the same amount. If only one player is left, they take the pot without showing their cards.

A player who does not have enough chips left to call may bet everything they have left: they are all-in. From each other player, they can only win as much as they have bet; the excess forms a side pot, contested by the others. If two hands are exactly equal at the showdown, they split the pot.

In a friendly game, each player stops whenever they like, with whatever they have won. In a tournament, you play until one player has all the chips; the blinds go up regularly to keep the game moving. In Marquoir, you record each player's stack after every hand.

• Fold often: most starting hands are not worth playing. Pairs, and two big cards (Ace-King, King-Queen), are a good start.
• Look at what the community cards allow the others: four hearts in the middle means a possible flush for anyone.
• Acting last is an advantage: you see what the others have done before deciding.
• A bluff works against a few players, rarely against all of them.