Poker Hands
Each poker hand has a rank which, when compared with other hand rankings at the showdown, will determine which hand wins the pot. There are 10 hand rankings: the highest ranking being a Royal Flush with the lowest ranking being a High Card.A player's poker hand is determined by combining five cards dealt on the table (otherwise known as community cards or the "street") along with two hole cards, dealt to each player (also known as a starting hand), for a total of seven cards. The five strongest cards of the seven amount to an individual player's hand.
Some good starting hands include A♠️A♥️(pocket Aces), K♣️K♦️ (pocket Kings), A♣️K♣️ suited (Ace and King of the same suit), A♦️Q♦️ suited (Ace and Queen of the same suit), A♣️K♥️ offsuit (Ace and King not of the same suit) and A♦️Q♠️ offsuit (Ace and Queen not of the same suit).
Position
Position refers to (as the word implies) where you are seated at the table. This position will determine the betting order. When each new poker hand is dealt, there will be a dealer (D), otherwise known as The Button. To the left of The Button, you have Small Blind (SB) and to the left of the Small Blind, you have BIG Blind (BB).Position is a very important concept of the game. Players who act first are in "Early position" while players who act last are in "Late position". Players in late position hold an advantage; acting later than those in early position, late position players have more information with which to make betting decisions.
Betting
Before we finally focus on betting, let's talk about the "street" (community cards). The street consists of a flop (the first three community cards dealt), the turn (the fourth community card dealt), and the river (the fifth and final community card dealt).At the start of the first betting round in a new poker hand, the Small Blind and Big Blind place their blind bets (blinds). Blinds are forced bets which primarily serve to subject players to a minimum, ongoing cost for participating in the game. The big blind is generally equal to the minimum bet, with the small blind equalling half the big blind.
After blinds have been placed, each player is dealt their starting hand (hole cards). The player to the left of the Big Blind is first to act. This player has three options: call (match the BB), raise (at least a minimum bet on top of the BB), or fold (discard their cards and end their turn until the next poker hand is dealt). Each player, in turn, is faced with these options, in a clockwise direction, until it circles back to the Big Blind, being last to act, who may, if no one has raised, check (this action ends the first betting round), or bet (at least a minimum bet on top of their BB) and if someone has raised, call, reraise (at least a minimum bet equal to the amount of the last raise), or fold.
Once the first betting round has ended and there are still two or more players in the pot, all the bets are collected and the flop is dealt. Starting with the first player to the left of the button still in the hand, each player, again in turn, is faced with aforementioned options: check, bet, or fold. Once the last player has acted, the second round of betting ends and the turn is dealt. The cycle is repeated and the river is dealt before a last round of betting. The winning hand takes the pot.