DOYLES POKER ROOM HOW TO PLAY
THE DECK AND CARDS.
The game of poker is conducted with a fifty-two card deck consisting of four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) of thirteen ranks each (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.) Some forms of Draw and Lowball are played with a fifty-third card, known as a joker or bug. (See Article Seven of Caro & Cooke's Rules for more details regarding the use of the bug.) Except for the special case of the bug, there are no wild cards in any poker game spread in a public cardroom, although wild cards are not uncommon in private home games where such variations as baseball and deuces wild are played. Subject to an occasional exception arising from the rules of a particular game an Ace can serve as either the highest card (above a King) or the lowest card (below a deuce) or both, as the player holding the Ace may decide. Each player is dealt a pre-determined number of cards, depending on the variation of poker being played.
SUITS.
Unlike other card games, such as bridge, in poker one suit does not have superiority over another suit except in a few situations, which are discussed subsequently. Suits do not count in the ranking of hands. Thus, a flush of one suit does not take priority over a flush of another suit by virtue of which suit it is. Suits can be used in determining the lowest or highest card for a forced bet, assign-ing seats, resolving disputes, etc., as more fully set forth elsewhere in Caro & Cooke's Rules. For these purposes only, suits are ranked alphabetically, from lowest to highest (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, with Spades being the highest.)
THE POT.
The game is a contest for a pot of money, which builds in the course of play of each hand. The game begins as a battle for the blind bets or antes--money the players put into the pot be-fore they see their cards. As players receive their cards and consider the strength and potential strength of the hands they hold relative to the hands they believe their opponents hold and other variables, they commit additional money to the pot by making and calling bets and raises. The process of betting, calling and raising continues through a number of betting rounds until all the cards been dealt pursuant to the rules of the game, or one player is left after all others have folded. After the last card has been dealt there is a final betting round. PLAYER ACTIONS.
The contest of the game of poker is made up of five possible player actions: Check, Bet, Call, Raise and Fold. (See Definitions at Article 18 for more specifics on the five basic actions of poker.) Which player acts first, and what the player's choices are depend upon the rules of the particular game, as more fully hereinafter described.
START OF THE HAND.
The hand begins when the dealer has awarded the pot from the previous hand, gathered in all the cards, scrambled the cards and begun the shuffle. Once the first riffle of the shuffle begins the hand is in play, and may not stop until the end of the hand. (See Article __ of Caro & Cooke's Rules for more details regarding the shuffle and start of the hand.)
ORDER OF PLAY.
The play of a hand always proceeds clockwise, beginning with the player in first position, and ending with the last player to respond to an action. Each player acts after the player to his immediate right. If no action is made, then play continues to the player in last position.
FIRST TO ACT.
Who is to act first varies with the rules of the particular poker game. In Stud games the lowest upcard (highest upcard in Eight-or-better or Razz) is required to commence the betting with a forced bet, known as the bring-in, which is usually (although not always) equivalent to one-third or one-half a small bet in fixed limit games. Sometimes, though rarely, house rules require the high card to bring it in seven-card-stud for high. In Hold'em games the first two players after the dealer button are usually required to enter the pot blind, the first player for a portion of a small bet--generally between one-third and two-thirds of the small bet-- the second player for a full small bet. (See Article 8 for bring-in and blind requirements Pot-Limit and No-Limit games.) House rules may require instead one or three blind bets. There are many variations of blind rules, and they are handled differently at different establishments. (See Article 12 of Caro & Cooke's Rules relating to blinds and the dealer button for more details.) Draw games are usually played with blinds, like community card games, although they often require antes as well, and who makes the first action is complicated by kill pot rules and rules relative to required openers. (See Article 7 of Caro & Cooke's Rules on Draw and Article 8 for more details on kill pots.) Subsequent players acting in their turn must respond to these initial forced betting actions by folding, calling or raising. Action proceeds clockwise from the player who is required to act first. Once play is initiated, the hand progresses until the pot is awarded.
BETTING ROUNDS.
Different games have different numbers of betting rounds. Draw games have two betting rounds, one before the draw and one after the draw. (A draw variation known as double draw--where players get two opportunities to replace cards and thus there were three betting rounds-is no longer spread in public cardrooms.) Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em and other Hold'em games (a.k.a. board or community card games) each have four betting rounds: before the flop, after the flop (first three community cards) is dealt, after the turn (fourth community card) is dealt and after the river (fifth and last community card) is dealt. Seven-Card Stud and its variations have five betting rounds: one after the first three cards are dealt and one after each subsequent card is dealt.
ANTES & BLINDS.
There is a variety of betting structures in poker. The most common are Fixed-limit (a.k.a. Limit or Structured), Spread Limit (a.k.a. Unstructured), Pot-Limit and No-Limit. Some games require that players post blinds--effectively calling before the cards are dealt. Other games require antes--dead money contributed to the pot before the cards are dealt. Some require both. The principal distinction between blinds and antes is that antes do not constitute part of a player's first bet after the initial deal, and blinds do. The proportion of the blinds and antes to the stakes of the game is an important procedural and strategic consideration, but is not an appropriate matter for rules. Rather the amounts of blinds and antes, like minimum buy-ins, are matters for each house to establish in accordance with its best business wisdom. Proposed betting structures are set forth at Appendix A, but they shall not be deemed Rules.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS.
Anywhere from two to thirteen players seek to make the highest possible five-card hand from the cards made available to them by the particular form of poker they are playing. More players are theoretically possible, but impractical. In seven card stud games the maximum number of players is eight. In Omaha games the maximum number of players is ten. In Texas Hold'em the maximum number of players is thirteen, although in Reno there used to be a fourteen-handed game spread. In Draw and Lowball the maximum number of players is nine, although eight is a preferred maximum because when you play nine-handed you constantly run out of cards and the discards have to be re-shuffled and dealt for the draw.
NUMBER OF CARDS.
In Five-Card Stud, players are dealt five cards, and must make their best hand from those alone. In Draw and Lowball, players have five cards, with an opportunity to replace them. In the most popular games--Texas Hold'em and Seven Card Stud--the players have seven cards from which to make their best poker hand. In variations of Omaha, players have nine cards from which to make their five card hands. There are forms of poker that use both fewer and more cards, but they are seldom played in public cardrooms, and are not within the purview of this book. WINNING THE POT.
The pot may be won in one of two ways. If a player makes a wager that no other player chooses to match, then the player whose bet is unmatched wins the pot. In the event that more than one player contests the pot all the way through the final betting round there is a showdown of hands, whereupon the player with the best hand is awarded the pot. In games played for low, the worst hand wins the pot. In high-low split games, the best hand and the worst hand--also known as the best low hand--each take half the pot. A player may relinquish his hand at any time when facing action by folding--refusing to match a bet--and in so doing he surrenders his interest in the pot, all money he has committed to the pot, and any interest in any future money added to the pot.HIGH HAND RANKINGS.
The highest possible hand is determined by the relative statistical frequency of the hand occurring. The following are the rankings of poker hands, in descending order:
- Five Aces. This hand is only possible in games played with a joker or bug.
- Royal Flush: The five highest-ranking cards in sequence, all of the same suit. 10, J, Q, K, A all of the same suit.
- Straight Flush: Five cards in sequence of the same suit. The highest card of the straight flush determines ranks of straight flushes. An eight high straight flush beats a seven high straight flush. Example: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 all of Hearts.
- Four of A Kind (a.k.a. Quads): Four cards of the same rank. The higher the ranking of the four matching cards the higher the rank of the four of a kind. Example: 5, 5, 5, 5, K.
- Full House: A hand that contains three cards of the same rank and two cards of a different rank but of the same rank as each other. The higher the rank of the three cards the higher the rank of the full house. Example: K, K, K, Q, Q.
- Flush: Five cards of the same suit that are not in sequence The highest ranked card of the flush is used to determine the rank of the flush; in case of a tie for the highest card, ranking is based on the hands' second highest card and so on. Example: Q, 9, 8, 6, 3 all in spades. This hand would beat the J, 10, 8, 6, 3 of hearts.
- Straight: Five cards in sequence, not all of the same suit. The highest card within the straight determines the rank of the straight. A nine high straight would beat an 8 high straight. Example: 7, 8, 9,10, J.
- Three of a Kind (a.k.a. Trips): Three cards of the same rank and two non- matching cards. The rank of the three matching cards determines the ranking of the three of a kind. Example: 9, 9, 9, J, K.
- Two Pair: Two separate pairs of matching cards of different values contained within the same hand with an unrelated fifth card. The ranking of the highest pair within the two pair determines the ranking of the hand. A hand containing Kings and deuces beats one with Queens and Jacks. If two players hold the same high pair, then the ranking of the second pair determines the winner. (i.e., K, K, Q, Q, x beats K, K, 9, 9, x.) If two players held the same two pair (IE Kings and Jacks) then the ranking of the sidecard (a.k.a. kicker) would determine the winning hand.
- One Pair: Two matching cards of the same value combined with three unrelated cards. Example: Q, Q, 9, 7, 4. The ranking of the pair determines the strength of the hand. If two players hold the same pair, then the ranking of the sidecards determines the winning hand.
- High Card: A hand that contains no matching cards, is not of all the same suit or has no particular sequence. Example: A, Q, 10, 8, 6. The high card determines the strength of the hand. In case of a tie the second highest card would determine the winner and so on. Thus an A, J, 10, 8, 6 beats an A, 10, 9, 8, 7.
KICKERS/SIDE CARDS
In determining the highest possible five-card hand, if all five cards are not used to make a hand, such as with three of a kind, two pair, one pair or high card, then the rank of the side cards (a.k.a. kicker cards) shall determine which hand is better. For example in Texas Hold'em if the board were A, A, Q, 3, 2 and player A's hole cards are A, 10 and player B's hole cards are A, 6 then player A wins the pot since the best five card hand wins. Player A has three aces with a Q (on board) and a 10 (in hand). Player B has three aces with a Q (on board) and a 6 (in hand). In Texas Hold'em the best five cards play regardless of whether the cards are in the player's hand or if they come from the board. In this game, where four of a kind sometimes comes on board, the ranking of the side card would determine the winner, even though all active players in the pot have four of a kind.
If in Draw two players each held Aces and Kings, the fifth card in each hand would determine the winner. If one player's fifth card were a Q and the other player's fifth card were a Jack then the player with the queen would win the pot with Aces and Kings with a Queen over Aces and Kings with a Jack. In seven card stud, if two players held the same two pair the one with the highest fifth card would win the pot, just as in draw. If both players held an identically ranked fifth card the hand would be tied and the pot would be split.
In Omaha Hold'em, because of that game's rule requiring that a player must play two cards from his hand and three from the board, the rule is a little different but the concept is the same. For example, if the board is A, A, K, Q, J and Player A holds A, 8, 6, 5 and Player B holds A, 7, 7, 6 the best five card for player A using two cards from his hand as required by Omaha's rules would be A, A, A, K, 8. Players B 's best hand would be A, A, A, K, 7. Thus, Player A would win the pot with the best five card hand.
RANKING LOW HANDS
In split pot games and games for low, the following is the ranking of the best low hands:
- 5-4-3-2-A (a.k.a. Wheel)
- 6-4-3-2-A (a.k.a. Six-perfect or six-slick)
- 6-5-3-2-A (Six, no four)
- 6-5-4-2-A (Six, no three)
- 6-5-4-3-A (Six, no deuce)
- 6-5-4-3-2 (Straight Six)
- 7-4-3-2-A (A.k.a. Seven-perfect or seven-slick)
- 7-5-3-2-A
- Etcetera. This progression continues all the way through the smallest pair, trips, full house, four of a kind and straight flush (note that straights and flushes do not count against low hands, except when playing Kansas City Rules as hereinafter set forth). Thus, a player whose best low hand was a pair of deuces would win the pot against a player whose best low hand was a full house. In most low and high-low split games aces play for high or low, so that a pair of aces is a better low hand than a pair of deuces.
LOW HAND RANKINGS/KANSAS CITY RULES.
An exception to the above hand rankings for Low games is the game of Kansas City Lowball, a form of draw which is somewhat popular in tournaments but not generally otherwise spread in public cardrooms. Razz (seven-card-stud played for low only) is also sometimes played by Kansas City rules. (See Article 8 for more details.)
QUALIFIERS FOR LOW.
Most high-low split games require an eight-or-better qualifier for low, meaning that if there is no low hand 8-7-6-5-4 or better, then the high hand wins the whole pot. Some houses play that a seven-or-better or even a nine-or-better is required to qualify for the low, but this is much more common in home games than in public cardroom games.
LOWBALL EXAMPLE.
In a $20-40 lowball game with blinds of $10 and $20 in the first and second positions, after all players have received their cards the third player has the option to call $20 or raise to $40 or fold. After the third player has acted the forth player has the option of folding, calling the amount of the bet to him or raising the bet the amount of the betting unit (in this case $20) and so on clockwise around to the button. When the action gets to the little blind his options remain the same and the money placed in the pot as the blind will be part of any call or raise on his part.The same concept applies to the big blind. After all bets are called and the after the betting round is complete the dealer scoops all bets into the center of the pot and each player is given the opportunity to replace cards in his hand with cards from the top of the deck. The first player declares to the dealer how many cards he would like to draw and surrenders from his hand an equal number of cards to the dealer. The dealer replaces the surrendered cards with cards from the deck. The procedure then moves clockwise around the table until each player has had the opportunity to draw anywhere from zero to five cards.After the completion of the draw another betting round commences starting with the first live player immediately to the left of the button who may check or bet and proceeding clockwise around to all players who may check (if no bet is to them), fold (if a bet is to them), bet (if no bet is to them), call (if a bet or a raise is to them), or raise (if a bet or raise is to them.) After the completion of the second betting round the players show down their hands to determine who has the best five card hand. The last player to make action on the final betting round shows down his hand first. If no player bets on the final round, then the player in first position (closest to the dealer button, going from the dealer's left) shows down first. (See Caro & Cooke's Rules relating to showdown.) The dealer then awards the pot to the best shown five card hand, the cards are gathered and the procedure begins anew.
STUD EXAMPLE.
In stud games, all players ante, except at the lowest limits where the game is sometimes played without an ante. The dealer scoops the antes to the center of the table and then deals the cards to all anteing players. In stud games for high, the lowest card opens the pot for the designated bring-in, a forced bet. The player to the immediate left of the bring-in has the option of calling the bring-in bet or completing the bet to the limit allowed on that round of betting (IE if the bring in is five dollars in a $15-30 game then a player raising the bring-in may make it $15; as set forth in more detail elsewhere this technically does not constitute a raise) or folding. As in all other poker games, the action then moves clockwise around the table until it is back around to the opener. After the initial round of betting is complete the dealer scoops the bets into the center of the pot, burns, then deals the next card. The second round of betting commences with the highest hand showing.That player may either bet or check, and players who act after him shall respond to his initial action.
In fixed limit stud games the betting structure remains at the lower limit for the second betting round unless a player has a pair showing on board in which case the limit may double to the higher limit. At the conclusion of the betting action all bets are again scooped to the middle and a new round of cards is dealt. Once again the player with the best hand showing on board starts the action. For the third betting round and all subsequent betting rounds the higher limit is in effect, regardless of whether there is a pair showing on board. The seventh card is dealt face down.
Should there be not enough cards remaining in the deck for all players to receive an individual card then a card is dealt face up in the center of the table and is used as a community card with all players playing that card as if it were in their hands. After the seventh card is dealt the action starts with the highest ranked board beginning the action and move clockwise. As in all other games, the showdown of hands starts with the last better or raiser. If no one bets on the final round then the player with the highest board shows down first and moves clockwise from there.
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