Start here if you are new to poker: the aim of the game, the deal, betting, showdown, and the main game families. Later chapters cover each topic in detail.
1.1 You win the pot with the best hand or by being the last player left
Each hand, the players put chips into a central pile called the pot. You win it in one of two ways: hold the best hand when the remaining players show their cards at the end, or make a bet that every other player declines to match, so they all give up (fold) and you take the pot without showing anything.
That second way is what makes bluffing possible. A weak hand can win if the others believe it is strong.
Before any cards are seen, some or all players must put chips in, so there is always something to play for. These forced bets are either blinds, posted by one or two players in turn as the deal rotates, or antes, a small equal amount from everyone. Some games use both. Chapter 5 covers who posts what (Blinds, antes and bring-ins).
1.3 The deal goes clockwise from the dealer's left
One position at the table is the dealer for the hand. In a card room a house dealer does the dealing and a disk called the button marks whose turn it would be; the button moves one seat clockwise after every hand. Cards are dealt one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player on the button's left, so the button gets the last card. How many cards, and whether face up or face down, depends on the game. The deal and its mistakes are The deal and misdeals.
1.4 Betting happens in rounds, one player at a time
At set points in the deal there is a betting round. Starting from a fixed seat and going clockwise, each player still in the hand either checks (passes without betting, allowed only when nobody has bet), bets, calls (matches the current bet), raises (makes it bigger) or folds (gives up the hand and anything already put in). The round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount, or everyone has checked, or only one player is left. Chapter 4 has the details (Betting action).
If two or more players are still in after the last betting round, they show their hands and the best one wins. Tied hands split the pot. In card rooms "the cards speak": a hand is worth what it actually is, whatever its owner says about it. Who shows first, and what happens to hands nobody wants to show, are Showdown; splitting and side pots are Pots.
Hold'em is the most widely played game, so here is one hand of it at $1/$2 no-limit, six players. Clockwise from the button, the seats are Ana, Ben, Cal, Dee, Eve and Finn, and Finn has the button.
Blinds. Ana, on the button's left, posts the small blind of $1. Ben posts the big blind of $2.
Hole cards. Everyone gets two cards face down.
Pre-flop betting. Cal, left of the big blind, acts first and calls $2. Dee folds. Eve raises to $8. Finn folds. Ana folds, leaving her $1 in the pot. Ben calls $6 more, and Cal calls $6 more. The pot is $25.
The flop. Three cards go face up in the middle. They belong to everyone. From now on the first player still in on the button's left acts first. Ben checks, Cal bets $15, Eve calls and Ben folds. The pot is $55.
The turn. A fourth shared card. Cal and Eve both check.
The river. A fifth shared card. Cal bets $30 and Eve calls. The pot is $115.
Showdown. Cal made the last bet, so he shows first. Each player's hand is the best five cards out of their own two and the five on the table. Eve's is better, and she wins $115.
1.7 Most games pay the highest hand; some pay the lowest, or split
In most games the pot goes to the highest hand under the standard ranking (Hand rankings). In lowball games such as Razz and 2-7 the lowest hand wins, and in high-low games the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low one. The game decides which.
1.8 Games come in families: flop, combination, stud, draw and mixed
Poker games are usually grouped by how the cards are dealt:
Flop games (also called community-card or shared-card games): each player has a few private cards and shares a set of face-up cards in the middle. The Hold'em family deals two to four private cards and plays two at most (Texas Hold'em onward); the Omaha family deals four or five, of which exactly two must be used (Omaha onward).
Combination games, such as SOHE and Dramaha: a flop game whose pot is split between two different kinds of hand, a Hold'em hand and an Omaha hand, or an Omaha hand and a draw hand (SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha and Hold'em) onward).
Stud games, such as 7-Card Stud and Razz: each player gets their own cards, some face down and some face up, with a betting round after each new card (7-Card Stud onward).
Draw games, such as 5-Card Draw and Badugi: all cards are private, and players may throw some away and draw replacements (5-Card Draw onward).
Mixed games, such as HORSE or dealer's choice: a table takes turns playing several of the above (Mixed games).
1.9 The betting structure is part of a game's name
The same game plays very differently depending on how much you may bet. "No-limit Hold'em" lets you bet everything you have at any time; "pot-limit Omaha" caps a bet at the size of the pot; "fixed-limit" (or just "limit") games set every bet at a fixed size. Chapter 3 explains each (Betting structures).
1.10 In a cash game, the chips are money and you can leave at any time
In a cash game (also called a ring game or live game) you buy chips for money, play as long as you like, and cash out whatever is in front of you when you leave. The blinds stay the same all session. You can only bet the chips on the table at the start of a hand, a principle called table stakes (Betting structures).
1.11 In a tournament, everyone starts equal and plays until one player has every chip
In a tournament each player pays an entry fee and gets the same stack of tournament chips, which have no cash value. The blinds go up at set intervals, so stacks keep shrinking relative to the bets. Players who lose all their chips are out, and prizes are paid by finishing place. Most table rules are the same as in a cash game; the differences are in Tournaments.
Poker has no single governing body. This book mainly cites the Poker Tournament Directors Association's tournament rules and Bob Ciaffone's Robert's Rules of Poker, Version 11. Where their rules differ, the relevant entry identifies each approach.
1.13 House rules fill the gaps, and the house has the last word
Card-room rulebooks give the house the final decision, and may let it rule in the spirit of fairness where the letter of a rule points the other way (Robert's Rules says both outright). No rulebook covers every situation. A home game is the same: the host's rules apply, and the time to agree on them is before the cards are dealt, especially when new players join. Home-game customs and how to write your own rules are Home-game customs.