A Simple Introduction to Poker

Poker is any of many card games where players place wagers over what hand lies with them at the start of the game, in the same way as the ranks of the ancient Roman warring tribes were determined by these ‘war ranks’ of men. Poker has grown from its humble beginnings into a hugely popular sport with its own dedicated fan base. It is played around the world on an international scale and is often referred to as the war game, although the two titles have a long history going back hundreds of years.

The basic rules for poker are straightforward; each player is dealt a hand consisting of three cards, the two players to the left of the flop are called ‘queens’ and the two players to the right of the flop are known as ‘powers’. After the flop each player may call, raise or fold, depending on the nature of their poker hand. After the flop each player has the option of throwing in a set of cards, known as ‘no-limit’ play, and any player involved in a game with a stack of cards that are all raised above the number of cards in the pot will lose the game and forfeit all their chips.

Seven-card stud poker is a variant on seven-card stud. The rules for seven-card stud poker are the same as for seven-card stud, with the exception that players may only raise their hand to seven, or nothing at all if they are behind on the flop. In seven-card stud, however, players may both call and raise, or neither. Lowball is simply a variation of seven-card stud with the same rules; the main difference is that lowball is allowed after the flop, where as seven-card stud is not.