How to Understand Poker

Series Summary

Poker has become an American pastime. However, though it has been around for generations, the card game has shown no signs of slowing down. It is always evolving, and with the recent popularity of online tournaments and television programs, we still see the game of poker creating quite a following. Poker encompasses a wide variety of games from Five Card Stud and Heinz 57 to Texas Hold ‘em. Each one of these is a variation of poker with different rules and strategies. In this free video series on the game of poker, an experienced card player offers a few tips on the game. First, understand the values of each hand, which start with a high card and end with a royal flush, a 10, jack, queen, king and ace of all the same suit. Find out how to choose the right poker chips that fit specific needs, and get information about poker table tops. Find out how to play poker like a pro, and even get advice on playing poker to make a living. Understand this game, for business or for pleasure, with this helpful guide to card games.

Video Transcript

"Playing a game is often the easiest thing to do. My name is Dean Hale and I'm going to talk to you a little bit today about how to understand poker. Understanding poker really starts off with the basic premise of knowing what the hand rankings are. You have anywhere from a high card which is the ace and actually a lot of people don't necessarily know this, but the ace of spades is actually the highest card in the deck. It actually would trump any other ace that is in the deck. The spade being the highest ranking suit. To understand poker, you need to understand the value of all the cards. An ace can actually be used as a high card but if you were trying to make a straight which is 5 cards in sequential order, not of the same suit, you can actually use an ace as a one instead of as a high card. As you go along, you need to understand that obviously a ten is better than a two so understanding some of the basic premises of just your basic math and counting that certain cards are going to be of higher value than others. After a ten, the jack would be the next highest card, that's the one with a J on it. The next would be a queen and that has a Q on it. The next card after that is a king which has a K. Some people actually when they're playing poker and they have two kings, they call those cowboys. So the rankings go from high card to a pair which is where you have two cards of the game number then you could have two pair, say two fives and two tens, that would be two pair. So understanding those concepts are very key to poker and just real quickly to let you know, after two pair you have three of a kind, which is also called a set, you have a straight which is five cards in sequential order but not of the same suit. After that you would have a flush which is five cards not in sequential order but of the same suit, so say five cards that are all hearts. After that, and that's called a flush, after a flush you have a full house which is three cards of the same number and then two cards of the same number, so let's say three tens and two fives would be a full house with tens over fives. After that you have four of a kind, it's just like it sounds, you have four cards of the same number so say four fours. Then you would have a straight flush which could be in sequential order of the same suit. The highest ranking hand in all of poker would be called a royal flush and that is ten, jack, queen, king, ace all of the same suit. My name is Dean Hale and I've just given you a couple of tips to learn how to play the basics of poker."