Number of players: 2 to 8.
Material: 1 set of 32 or 52 cards and tokens to bet.
Purpose of the game: To obtain, with 5 cards, combinations stronger than those of his opponents, or to bet in a way to make them believe in a superior game.
Poker is a game of straightforward combinations with simple rules, but one that requires coolness, experience and psychology. It is both a game of chance and strategy where you have to make the most of the 5 cards of your hand by calculating the risks and anticipating the opponents’ reactions. Whether played online or offline, poker requires the same reflexes and strategies. A game of poker without money, which leaves to tokens for putting a symbolic value, is also almost as interesting (more, even, according to some), as the game is taking with his « strokes » and clashes. There are many ways to play poker, but all variants differ only in the organization of betting and betting systems. In any case, the rules are simply to get the strongest combination possible.
8 Combinations of Poker The 8 types of combinations, ranked according to the probabilities of appearance on a draw of five cards, are the following, in ascending order:
• The pair: 2 cards of the same rank
• The double pair: 2 pairs of different rank
• Three of a Kind: 3 cards of the same rank
• The continuation (or fifth): 5 cards that follow each other, in different colors
• Color: 5 cards of the same color, but not all consecutive
• The full: a set plus a pair
• The square: 4 cards of the same rank
• The straight flush: 5 consecutive cards in the same color
At equivalent combinations (or in the absence of combinations), the rule is that this is the highest card that commands, as shown in these examples:
Player A: Lady of Hearts, Queen of Spades, Lady of Diamonds, 8 of Clubs, 2 of Diamonds.
Player B: King of Hearts, King of Spades, 8 of Diamonds, 8 of Hearts, 4 of Diamonds.
Here, the player A in the strongest hand: the set of Dames beats the double pair Kings-Eight. Player A: Lady of Clover, Jack of Diamonds, 10 of Spades, 9 of Diamonds, 8 of Clubs.
Player B: Jack of Diamonds, 10 of Hearts, 9 of Hearts, 8 of Spades, 7 of Diamonds. Here, it is still A who has the strongest hand here: the Lady of Clubs beats Valet de Carreau.
Player A: King of Spades, King of Hearts, King of Clubs, Lady of Diamonds, Queen of Spades.
Player B: Ace of Clover, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, 7 of Spades, 7 of Hearts.
B, this time, has the strongest hand, because his full Aces beats the full to the Kings of A, despite the Ladies stronger than the Seven.
We set at the beginning a « cellar », made up of tokens, and symbolizing the sum of money brought by each one. Each player must have his cellar (also called his « carpet ») in front of him, in the light of all, early in the game. If, after a few unfortunate strokes, one of the participants is deprived (it is said that he is « stolen », a word that has passed into the current language), he has the right to « retreat » (to ask other chips). However, he is strictly forbidden to do so during the game, and he must wait for the end of the stroke.
Equipped with his game (hidden or discovered according to the rules of the poker variant played), the player who has the word put (puts into play a certain number of chips) according to the confidence he has in his cards and in himself. His goal is to roll back opponents to whom he assumes a hand stronger than his own (by persuading them that he has a better game) to face only those he deems weaker and to incite them to raise challenges.
All the art of poker is to analyze the most adverse resources without revealing anything of his own game. As such, the auction is the engine of the game, the card is only a support and a pretext. The first bids take place at the time of the initial bet (for closed poker).
At the sight of the 5 dealt cards, the player has four possible choices:
• Bet (if he is the first to speak)
• Relaunch (go up on the previous bet)
• Follow or equalize (put the same bet as the previous player)
• Pass, if the deal does not satisfy him or if the circumstances do not seem favorable to him. He then declares: « I pass » or « Word », which will not prevent him from possibly returning to the game if the auction continues.
If a player bets all his chips, he is said to be « stacking ». He remains in the race, even if those who follow him outbid. It is at auction that a player measures the opponent, betrays or conceals himself, plays bluffing and false bluffing. It is also at auction that he probes the characters, detects habits. The overly violent attack, the appropriate risk-free defense, the systematic bluffing are some of the novice’s own tricks that a seasoned player avoids with ease.