How to Play Poker: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Objective of Poker

Poker is incredibly enjoyable. As well as being mentally stimulating, it’s incredibly social. Therefore, your main objective is to have fun. Regardless of how skilled you are, and whether you’re winning or losing, don’t forget to enjoy yourself.That’s the reason we all play. Sure, it’s nice to win a few pots, but that shouldn’t be the only reason you ante up. If you can remember this, you’ll get more out of the game. You’ll also be more willing to learn the basics of poker and become a better player.

Other than having fun, your main objective in poker is to win more chips than you lose. You don’t need to win as many pots as possible. In fact, you don’t even need to win more pots than you lose. All you want is to have more chips at the end of play than you had at the start.

This objective applies to cash games and tournaments, both of which have secondary objectives:

How to Play Poker Cash Games

Cash games don’t have start and end points. You buy in for any amount of money that’s between the table’s minimum and maximum limits.

Each chip has a 1:1 cash value, which means a $1 chip is worth $1. You can play for as long as you like, but the overarching aim is to make a profit.

How to Play Poker Tournaments

Poker tournaments have entry fees and set starting points. That means everyone pays the buy-in before registration closes.

Everyone who enters gets a stack of chips that only has value inside the tournament. In other words, you can’t exchange tournament chips for cash. Instead, chips are your lifeline.

They keep you alive in the tournament, and once you lose them, you’re out. Therefore, the goal in poker tournaments is to protect your stack while winning chips from other people.

Doing this allows you to outlast other players. When you outlast enough players, you “make it into the money,” which means you get a return on your investment. The longer you survive, the more prize money you win.

To recap what we’ve said so far, the objective of poker is to win more chips than you lose. In cash games, this means leaving the table with more money than you started with. In tournaments, this means outlasting everyone else by protecting your stack while winning chips.

Poker Basics: How to Win Pots

The question you’re probably asking now is, how do I win pots? That’s a complex question to answer because it requires an understanding of poker rules and poker strategies. However, when you strip everything back, there are two ways to win pots:

1. By having the best-ranked hand at a showdown.
2. By betting in such a way that everyone else folds their hand (aka you win the pot uncontested).

There’s an element of skill and luck in both scenarios. For example, you could be playing Hold’em, move all-in preflop with pocket aces, and get someone to call with 5♥ 6♣.

Put that hand into a poker calculator, and you’ll see that pocket aces have an 80% chance of winning. Despite being a heavy favorite, aces aren’t guaranteed to win. That’s where luck comes into poker.

You can only master poker if you accept that skill and luck are both part of the game.

Poker Basics: Cards, Formats, and Bets

Now you know the aim of poker, let’s look at how to set up a game. Although there are differences between variants, the main poker rules you need to know are:

• Number of decks used in poker = 1
• Number of cards used in poker = 52
• Number of players in a game = 2 to 9

Poker Table Set-Up

Once you’ve got some cards and players, you need something to get the game started. The way you do that is through forced bets known as blinds and antes.

Blinds

Two players put in forced bets known as blinds before any cards are dealt. There is a small blind and a big blind.

The former costs 50% of the latter, e.g., $1 small blind and a $2 big blind. Finally, the blinds move clockwise around the table, and the dealer button follows them.

The blind system is used for these poker variants:

• Texas Hold’em
• Omaha
• 5-Card Draw
• 2-7 Triple Draw

Antes

The second set of poker rules covering forced bets involves antes. Like blinds, antes are forced bets that must be paid before any cards are dealt.

However, instead of two players posting forced bets, everyone pays the ante. The antes are followed by the “bring-in,” which is a secondary forced bet paid by a single player.

These poker rules are used for Stud variants, including 7-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo, and Razz.

Formats and Betting Structures

The final parts of a poker game you need to know are the format and betting structure. There are three main formats in poker:

• Cash games
• Tournaments
• Sit & go tournaments (aka on-demand tournaments)

You need to use different poker strategies in each format to be successful. But as we said earlier, the overall objective in all types of poker is to win more chips than you lose.

One of three betting structures can be used for cash games, tournaments, and SNGs:

• Limit = the amount you can bet or raise is limited to the value of the blinds/table stakes.
• Pot Limit = the amount you can bet or raise is limited to the value of the pot.
• No Limit = there are no restrictions on the amount you can bet or raise, i.e., you can bet your entire stack.

Those are the poker basics you need to know if you’re going to play any type of poker. Of course, learning how to play poker doesn’t mean you’re going to win.

For that, you need the ranking of hands, how to make bets, and the moves skilled players make. Let’s tackle each of these things in turn, starting with the ranking of poker hands.

Poker Hand Rankings

Go back to the start of this guide on how to play poker for beginners, and you’ll recall that we said you can win pots in two ways. If you don’t make everyone else fold, a showdown takes place.

A showdown compares the active hands, and the best one wins the pot. In this context, best means the highest-ranking hand according to the table below:

There are two caveats when it comes to poker hand rankings. The first is split pots. When two or more players have a hand of equal value, the pot is split evenly between them.

The second caveat is lowball games. Poker variants such as Razz use a different ranking system that puts hands with low-value cards above hands with high-value cards.

We don’t have time to cover the nuances of lowball poker variants, other than to say they involve a modified ranking system. That being said, the majority of poker variants, including Hold’em and Omaha, use the standard hand ranking system shown in the table above.

If you’re new to poker and want to make your life easier, check out our downloadable poker hand ranking chart. There’s nothing wrong with referring to a hand ranking chart while you’re playing, so print it and keep it with you while you’re learning the basics.

Betting Options and Terminology

• Poker hands are broken down into betting rounds, also known as streets. We already know that the way you bet is dictated by one of three structures: Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit.

  Within these formats, standard poker rules dictate that you can make one of five moves:

  • Check = you pass the action along to the next player without putting chips into the pot.
  • Bet = you’re the first player to put money (aka chips) into the pot.
  • Call = you match the last biggest bet.
  • Raise = you add more chips on top of the last biggest bet, i.e., you raise its value.
  • Fold = you decline to call the last biggest and give up your cards.

  It’s important to understand that some of the options listed above might not be available. That’s because the fundamental principle in poker is that you must match or beat the last biggest bet to remain active in the hand.

  For example, if the player to your left bets $10, you need to match that amount (by calling) if you want to stay in the hand.

  The only time you won’t need to put chips into the pot is if there hasn’t been a preceding bet. In this situation, it’s possible to check. However, if there has been a prior bet, you can’t check.

Common Poker Variations

We’re showing you how to play poker from a general perspective, but each variant has its own rules.

The good news is that we’ve got guides for Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and 3-Card Poker, so check those out if you want to learn more.

For this guide, here’s a quick overview of the most popular poker variants:

The Basic Rules of Poker: How to Play Texas Hold’em

It’s at this point that we need to take all the poker rules we’ve talked about and put them into an example.

For ease and because it’s the most-played variant, we’ll use Texas Hold’em for this example:

Table Set-Up

• Format: Cash game
• Betting Structure: No Limit
• Number of Players: 6
• Stakes: $2/$4

The Blinds and Button

• Player 1 posts the $4 big blind
• Player 2
• Player 3
• Player 4
• Player 5 has the button
• Player 6 posts the $2 small blind

Pre-Flop Betting Round

• Player 2 acts first and folds
• Player 3 folds
• Player 4 raises to $12 with A♦ J♣
• Player 5 folds
• Player 6 folds
• Player 1 calls with K♥ Q♥

The Flop Betting Round

The flop: K♣ 10♠ 4♥

• Player 1 acts first and bets $16
• Player 4 calls

The Turn Betting Round

The Flop + Turn Card: K♣ 10♠ 4♥ Q♦

• Player 1 checks
• Player 4 bets $30
• Player 1 calls

The River Betting Round

The Flop + Turn + River Card: K♣ 10♠ 4♥ Q♦ 2♣

• Player 1 checks
• Player 4 bets $65
• Player 1 calls

Showdown

• Player 1 has two pair: K♥ Q♥ K♣ Q♦ 10♠
• Player 4 has a straight: A♦ K♣ Q♦ J♣10♠

Result

• Player 4 wins with a straight

Table Talk: How to Act in Live Poker Games

Online poker is great because you can tap a button to call, bet, fold, check, and raise. In the real world, you don’t need to make your intentions clear. You do that through a combination of physical gestures and words.

Now, it’s important to note that you don’t have to speak. Some people prefer not to because they’re concerned it might give away the strength of their hand.

However, it’s often a good idea to say what you intend to do when you’re a novice. This avoids any confusion and prevents you from making costly mistakes.

The main actions you need to use in live poker games are:

• Protect your cards, either with your hands or by putting a chip on them, so the dealer knows you’re still involved in the pot.
• Tap the table when you want to check.
• Push your cards across the line when you want to fold.
• Slide your chips across the line when you want to bet, raise, or call.
• Announce the amount you’re going to bet or raise. For example, if someone bets $5 and you want to raise $20 to $25, say: “I raise to $25.” Don’t say, I call $5 and raise $20.
• Put the required number of chips into the pot using a single motion. For example, if you want to raise $20, it’s best to count out $20 and put it into a small stack. After that, announce “I raise $20” and push your chips across the line.

You can stop announcing your bets and raises as you become more confident. However, at least initially, we recommend verbalizing everything you do.

Key Poker Strategies for Beginners

1. Learning how to play poker is the first step in your quest to become a winning player. The next step is to master the poker strategies used by pros.There’s an almost infinite amount of poker strategy to learn, so we can’t cover everything. What we can do, however, is give you five fundamental skills that can help you scoop more pots:
   

   1. Learn to Read

   Reading in poker doesn’t mean deciphering words and letters. It means reading the game in terms of who is betting, the amounts they’re betting, and the cards they’ve shown. Essentially, you need to have a “read” on the game and its players so you can make better decisions.

   2. Exploit Common Traits

   Observing people and getting reads allows you to identify common traits. For example, you might notice that a particular player always raises when they have the button. You can exploit this trait.

   Let’s say you’re dealt pocket aces and the player you’ve got a read on has the button. Instead of raising as you usually would, you decide to call.

   The reason for calling is that you expect the player on the button to raise. If they raise, it gives you a chance to get more money into the pot by re-raising. That’s how you can exploit your opponent’s common traits.

   3. Don’t Bet Blindly

   The amount you bet matters, particularly in Pot Limit and No Limit games. There are three things to consider when you bet or raise:

   • Do you want people to call or fold?
   • How many chips are in the pot?
   • How many chips does your opponent have?

   These three factors determine the amount you bet. For example, people only fold when you put enough pressure on them.

   The best way to do this is to bet an amount that’s equal to the size of the pot and/or your opponent’s stack. This puts pressure on your opponent because it will cost them many chips if they make the wrong decision.

   4. Position is Your Friend

   Playing “in position” is easier than playing “out of position.” Being “in position” means you’re close to the button and get to act after other people. The benefit of acting after other people means you’ve got more information.

   You can make better decisions with more information. That’s why you should aim to play the majority of hands in position. We’re not saying you should play every hand you’re dealt. It’s more the case that playing in position gives you an advantage.

   5. Don’t Burn Your Stake

   Our final poker tip relates to responsible gambling. Otherwise known as bankroll management, this skill prevents you from risking more than you can afford to lose because, as we’ve said, poker is a combination of skill and luck.

   The general rule for cash games is 20x, which means you should have at least 20 buy-ins for the games you want to play. Let’s say you want to play $0.50/$1 cash games with a maximum buy-in of $100. You need a bankroll of at least $2,000 to play these games.

   For tournaments, it’s recommended that you have at least 100 buy-ins. If you’re playing $5 tournaments, you need at least $500. Sticking to these rules will give you the best chance of not burning through your stake.

Bonus Poker Strategy Tip: Player Types and Tells

• Poker strategy is as much about people as the cards you’re holding. In fact, if you can’t get reads on your opponents and determine when they’re weak or strong, winning pots is almost impossible.

  The easiest way to get reads on your opponents is to categorize them according to their playing style. There are five main player types:

  • Rock = These people don’t play many hands and tend to be passive, i.e., they prefer to check and call rather than bet and raise.
  • Tight and Aggressive (TAG) = These people play more hands than a rock, but they mainly stick to premium starting hands. When they decide to play, they’ll often try to be aggressive, which means betting and raising when they can.
  • Loose and Aggressive (LAG) = These people play quite a few hands. They’ll play premium starting hands, suited connectors, weak aces, and some bluffing hands. They’ll often try to dominate the action by betting and raising.
  • Tight and Passive (LAP) = These people play the same hands as a LAG, but they have a passive style, which means they call and check a lot. LAPs are great players to play against because they don’t put much pressure on you and will chase draws, even when it’s mathematically incorrect to do so.
  • Manic = These players are completely unpredictable. They can bet and raise with any two cards, which makes them hard to read. The best way to play against maniacs is to let them take the betting lead when you’ve got a strong hand.

  You have to watch players to categorize them. The traits (aka tells) to look for are:

  • The number of hands someone plays, and how often they check/call vs. bet/raise.
  • The average size of someone’s bets/raises.
  • How often does someone play in early position vs. late position?
  • The hands someone has at a showdown.
  • The time it takes for someone to make decisions. If they usually take 15 seconds to act but raise instantly, it’s probably a sign they’ve got a strong hand.

  Experienced poker players take all these variables into account so they can get better reads. They’ll also adjust their reads if something changes. Indeed, the mark of a skilled poker player is being able to adapt quicker than their opponents.

Poker Basics: Etiquette

An essential but underappreciated part of learning how to play poker is etiquette. Poker is a social game, so it pays to be nice. Treat everyone as you want to be treated. Be polite and do your best to keep up with the action.

This means knowing the game’s rules, paying attention, and not taking too long to act. Get these things right, and you’ll have a lot of fun playing poker in any setting.

Learn, Practice, and Play Poker

That’s everything you need to get you started. Poker, at its core, is a game where winning pots matters. However, as you get deeper into it, you’ll realize that there are many different facets to the game.