Usually, poker involves a group of people around a circular table, with an initial dealer who deals cards to the players one at a time. The object of the game is to form the best 5-card hand from the cards that are dealt to you. The player who makes the best hand wins the pot. Poker is played with any number of players, but the ideal number is six to eight. The size of the stakes depends on the type of poker that is played. The stakes in poker are agreed upon at the start of the game. In some types of poker, players can double their stakes for short raises.
In standard poker, the highest value card in a straight is the top card. The ace can count high or low, depending on whether it is higher than the lowest card on the board. In a mixed suit straight, the top card of the suit is the top card. In the case of a flush, five cards of the same suit are required in any order.
A pair is two cards of equal rank. If two pairs are equal, then the pair with the higher odd card is better. The rank of the individual cards is ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, and two.
A straight is a sequence of five cards of the same suit. The straight begins with the highest value card. The highest straight is 6-4-3-2A, whereas the lowest straight is 5-4-3-2A.
There are three types of pairs: two-pair, three-pair, and four-pair. Two-pair is a pair of two cards, while three-pair and four-pair are pairs of three cards. The lowest pair is three-card, whereas the highest pair is five-card. Usually, the higher pair is better. Depending on the type of poker played, the highest pair can also beat the lowest pair.
The highest hand wins the pot, but it is not necessarily the highest card. The highest hand can also win the pot if the pot is split between two hands, or if the player with the highest hand folds. A player who folds is said to “drop”. He or she has to discard his or her hand, and cannot compete for the pot. A player who folds is usually a player who is not aggressive. He or she is likely to fold to aggression or run bluffs. A player who is aggressive is more likely to steal a pot.
A “backdoor flush” is a flush that is created by hitting the needed cards on the turn and river. The player who hits the needed cards has the best hand, and wins the pot. A “backdoor flush” is also called a “flushback”.
A player may have a hand of fours of a kind (fours of a kind is not used in English, although it is known in some parts of Europe). A fours of a kind is a hand of four cards of the same rank. A fours of a kind is not considered valid when compared to a five-card straight.