Well, got to admit, after playing poker for the first time last night and for a second time today, I can honestly say, this game is addictive, especially when combined with some pizza, some decent quality tequila (Jose Cuervo Gold), good company and high stakes.

To anyone looking to play the game but are intimidated by the complexity, relax, you’ll learn it quickly and before you know it, you’ll discover that you have some talent, not that the game requires much talent, but if you can keep a straight face all the time, you’ll most likely make a killing.

Poker is played with a standard pack of 52 cards. (Some variant games use multiple packs or add a few cards called jokers.) The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can be high or low, but is usually high).

There are four suits (spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds); however, no suit is higher than another.

The rank of hands remains the same no matter which type of poker game you play.

In a nutshell, a poker hand consists of five cards. Poker hands fall into one of several categories, such as flush, straight, or two pair. The player with the highest ranking hand is the winner.

0) Royal Flush: A royal flush is an ace high straight flush.

1) Straight Flush: A straight flush is a five-card straight, all in the same suit.

2) Four of a Kind - Quads: Quads, or four of a kind, are four cards of equal rank.

3) Full House or Full Boat: A full house, or full boat, contains a set (three) of cards of one rank and a pair of another rank.

4) Flush: A flush is any five cards, all of the same suit.

5) Straight: Five cards of sequential rank. Every possible straight will contain either a 5 or a 10.

6) Three of a Kind or Set: Three cards of the same rank.

7) Two Pair: A two pair is two cards of one rank and another two cards of another rank.

8) Pair: One pair is two cards of the same rank.

9) High Card: The hand with the highest card(s) wins.

The dealer can either be a dedicated dealer, or one of the players in which case the a new dealer is chosen after every round, usually chosen clockwise. The dealer’s job is to hand out cards and take the bets.

We play the game with two cards, not the 5 card one. Before any cards are given to any player, the person next to the dealer must place the minimum bet and the person next to that person, double the minimum bet (it goes clockwise, so that would be the person on the left side of the dealer, assuming the dealer is one of the players) After those two bets have been placed, every player receives two cards which they can use to decide whether they are going to call (which means placing a bet equal to the highest bet), raise (which means upping the highest bet by a certain percentage or fixed amount) or fold (in which case the player decides not to continue the round and forfeit his bets)

Once every player matched the highest bid (or folded if they decide not to take part in the madness of increasing bets), the first three cards are placed on the table (only in the first round that 3 cards are placed on the table at once) after which the next round of betting occurs. Betting continues until the 5th card is placed on the table or only one player remains after everyone folded. The last person remaining after everyone folded, wins. If more than one person remains, the players reveal their cards and the player with the highest rank of hand wins. The winner takes all the accumulated bets.

This should give you a basic idea of how the game works, I’m still a newbie myself, but thought I might as well share the knowledge I learned yesterday. For a more in depth guide on the rules of the game, go to http://www.pokercoach.us

To spice up the game even more, add the jokers and make up some interesting rules for them, one set of rules that can particularity screw with your head, is when one joker is set as an instant win and the other joker as an instant loss, if you get the one joker, you keep everyone in the game as long as possible and when you reveal your joker, you take everything, it’s like winning the jackpot, how much you make is totally up to you. Revealing the other joker means you will lose instantly, the only way to win the game is to bluff until the end and hope everyone folds, whoever has the joker, may not fold until the last round of betting. If the joker happens to land in the cards on the table, they simply acquire whatever value you want them to be, basically a wild card, the way most people use the jokers if they choose to play with them.

Enjoy your poker games, any kind of feedback is welcome, especially if I’m misinterpreting the rules in one way of another.