Easy Steps to Playing Poker

All you need is a deck of cards, group of friends, table and the nerve to bluff on your hand to have a good round of Poker. Sounds like fun? These steps will help become an awesome Poker player.

• Players bet on having the highest-scoring hand, but only they know what cards they hold.
• Even if you have a low hand, with a cool exterior and good judgment, you might tough it out and win.
• It's all about reading your opponents' body language while not giving anything away yourself. This is what a “Poker Face” is!

• Six to eight players
• One 52-card deck.
• You can add a jack as a wild card or the dealer can pick a card to take its place. This is called "dealer's choice

• Each player buys into the game with a stake in the pot called the "ante."
• One player takes the deck and starts to deal cards face up. Cards are dealt clockwise. Each player receives five cards.
• The first to receive a jack is dealer.
• Any player may shuffle the pack but the dealer takes the last shuffle.
• The turn to deal passes one to the left with every game.
• Each new deal is a separate game so you're betting on your current hand.
• Aces are high except in a straight or straight flush (5-4-3-2-A).
• The player to the left of the dealer stakes money on his hand or discards it. This is called “folding”.
• The next player must match the bet or "call", make a higher one or "raise" it in a show of bravado or fold.

You have a chance to bid. This is called the "betting interval." Since you cannot raise your own bet, an interval ends when the betting has returned to the player who made the last raise.

Players left in the game then show their hands and the winner takes all the stake money in the pot. In the event of a tie, the pot is split and a new game begins with a new deal.

There’s a lot at stake in a Poker game even if it is only your ability to bluff. This is what makes it a game of strategy but also of lots of fun. If you follow these steps, you’ll be playing like an ace in no time.