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THE BASICS OF POKER

WHAT YOU NEED:
- Cards: Poker is played with one standard deck of 52 playing cards without the 2 jokers.
- A table.
- At least one other person to play against.

RANKING OF THE CARDS:
- The single card rankings are 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A
- Each suit is of equal value (e.g. a 6 of hearts isn't better/worse than 6 of clubs).

RANKING OF THE HANDS (DESCENDING ORDER):

Firstly, what is a 'hand'? A hand is the five cards that a player holds.
The ranking of the hands is based on probability - rarer hands rank highest.
- 'Royal flush': A K Q J 10 all of the same suit
- 'Straight flush': Any five cards in rank order (see above) each of the same suit. This is essentially a royal flush but not going above the K. For example, J 10 9 8 7 all diamonds. The hand 7 6 5 4 3 all hearts is lower than the previous straight flush because J is higher than 7. Note that 5 4 3 2 A all hearts is also a straight flush because an A can also be used as a '1' in a straight. This is the lowest straight you can get.
- 'Four-of-a-kind': Having 4 of the same card and any other card (X). For example, 9 9 9 9 X, or 3 3 3 3 X (where X is any other card). Note that four 9's is better than four 3's because 9 is a higher card.
- 'Full house': one pair (two-of-a-kind) and one triple (three-of-a-kind). For example, K K K 4 4. Full houses are ranked based on the triple, so 4 4 4 K K doesn't beat the previous full house.
- 'Flush': five cards all of the same suit. The cards may be in any order. Flushes are ranked based on the highest card. If these are equal then it comes down to the next highest card, and so on.
- 'Straight': five sequential cards that are not of the same suit. For example, A 2 3 4 5 or 9 10 J Q K. These are ranked on the highest card in the straight.
- 'Three-of-a-kind' or triple: Holding three identical value cards and any two other cards. For example, 7 7 7 X X or J J X X J. These are ranked on the rank of the 'triple' card, e.g. J beats 7.
- 'Two-pairs': Two different pairs of cards with different rank and any other card. For example, K K 8 8 X or K K 3 3 X. This is ranked based on the highest ranked pair, in our example K. In the case that this is equal, as shown, then it comes down to the lower ranked pair - 8 beats 3 in our example. However if these two are also equal, then the rank of X determines the winner.
- 'Two-of-a-kind' or pair: Having two of the same ranked card and any three other cards. For example, A A X X X (highest pair) or X X X 2 2 (lowest pair). These are

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