Poker is a game of chance – but it also becomes a game of skill and psychology when betting comes into play. The basic rules are that you ante something (the amount varies depending on the game, but our games are typically nickels) and then get dealt cards in turn. Players then choose to fold, call a bet, or raise it. The player with the highest hand wins the pot.
The math of poker is important to understand because it’s used throughout the game to figure out how to play your hands. You’ll want to practice the math to ensure that you can internalize the formulas and make them second-nature when making decisions at the table. This workbook will help you do just that by breaking down the basic calculations and giving you plenty of examples so you can see how they apply to real-life situations at the poker table.
A basic understanding of the rank of different hands is essential to playing well. A full house is three cards of the same rank plus two matching cards of another rank. A flush is five cards of consecutive rank but from more than one suit. A straight is five cards in sequence but from the same suit. A pair is two cards of the same rank plus one unmatched card. You can also win the pot with a high-low or high-no low combination of cards. In these cases, the winner is awarded the amount of money he staked plus any additional bets made by other players.