The Basics of Poker

Originally a game of chance, Poker gained some skill when the betting phase began. Today, Poker is commonly regarded as having ancestry to the French poque and German primero, two games of chance that made their way to the New World through the French and Spanish settlers.

The game’s most obvious feature is the way players are dealt cards. The standard 52-card deck is used. Occasionally, jokers are added to the deck.

The ‘best’ hand is the highest possible five-card hand. In fact, if more than one player has five of a kind, the higher card wins. Similarly, the ‘lowest’ hand is the smallest pair.

In poker, a hand is considered to be a winning hand when it has the highest value and wins the pot. The pot is the sum of all bets made by all players in a given deal.

Depending on the type of poker game, there are many variations. Some have a special “Wild Card” that takes any suit. Some include a “kitty” – a fund that is shared by all players in the game. The kitty is usually used to pay for food, and sometimes the kitty is split among the players who are still in the game.

The highest card in a high-card hand is a kicker. This card is the highest-ranking card in the deck and is used to break ties.

A high-card hand may be a pair of aces or another high-ranking card. In some games, the ace is treated as the lowest card.