Poker is a family of card games where players wager over which hand is best. The rules of each game vary, but all involve one or more rounds of betting.
During each round, players reveal their hands in turn, and the player with the highest-ranking hand wins the pot. This can be determined by the cards that have been revealed or by other criteria, such as the strength of the opponent’s hand or the number of antes placed at the table.
Blinds
Before each hand begins, two players at the table are obligated to post small and big blinds. These forced bets begin the betting and ensure that a ‘level of action’ will take place on every hand. Without them, the game would be very boring and players could simply wait until they were dealt pocket aces (AA).
Dealing Cards
The dealer deals each player a set of cards, one at a time. They may be faced up or face down depending on the variant of poker being played.
Betting Periods
During a poker betting round, each player may fold their hand, check or raise a bet. When a player raises, any other player must either call or fold their bet.
Royalties
A player earns points based on the hands that they reveal and collects royalty units if they win the game. The winning hand collects the most royalty units.