Online poker is one of the most popular Internet games since it allows millions of fans of this challenging card game to play with others in the comfort and privacy of their homes. They can also sharpen their skills before sitting down for a real money game by practicing with free play money games. Online poker is played using the same rules as regular poker, although there are a host of variations available.

In the basic game of poker, each player is dealt five cards and has to make the strongest hand they can and then make a bet. The objective of the game is to win the pot (collected bets of all the players) either by having the best five-card hand or by convincing the other players that you have the best hand so that they will fold (forfeit the hand). Poker hands, ranked from best to worst are as follows:

Royal Flush. A hand consisting of a King, Queen, Jack, Ace and ten of the same suit.

Straight Flush. A hand which has five consecutive cards of the same suit, i.e. ten, nine, eight, seven, six.

Four of a Kind. Four cards which have the same rank (i.e. four queens or four kings); the fifth card can be any suit or rank. Hands with higher ranks beat those with lower ranks.

Full House. Three cards of one rank, two cards of another (i.e. three kings, two aces). If two players have a full house, the one with the higher ranking cards wins.

Flush. Four cards with the same suit, which do not have to be consecutive (i.e. ace, nine, five, three, two). A flush with a high-numbered top card beats one with a lower numbered top card (for instance, the above hand beats one whose top card is a king).

Straight. Five cards in sequence which don’t have to be of the same suit (i.e. ten, nine, eight, seven, six).

Three of a Kind. Three cards with the same rank (i.e. three aces or three eights); the remaining two cards can be any suit or rank.

Two pair. A hand which has two pairs, each with the same rank (i.e. two kings and two threes) and the fifth card can be any rank. In case of ties, the fifth card will be used as a tie breaker.

One pair. A hand which has a pair of cards of the same rank; the remaining three cards can be any rank.

Online poker sites also offer a wide variety of poker variations, the most popular of which are Texas Holdem and Omaha.

In Texas Holdem, five community cards are dealt face up on the table, and each player is dealt two private cards face down. The players then have to make the best poker hand possible using the community cards and their private cards.

In Omaha, players first place their bets then receive four cards and bet again. Three community cards are dealt face up on the table, then bet again. A fourth community card is dealt face up on the table, then another round of betting takes place. Finally, a fifth community card is dealt and there is a final round of betting. The winner is the player with the best poker hand using two of their personal cards and three of the community cards.

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Category: Entertainment
Keywords: poker,online poker