I learned how to play poker from my mother. She taught me all kinds of card games; rummy, poker, spades... and how to shuffle properly. They're some of my favorite memories with her before she died, so maybe it’s not so weird that I love poker as much as I do now.

Basics

Poker is pretty amazing. There are many different kinds of poker games, and they're all rooted in the same concept. Meaning no matter what poker game you're playing; Stud, Hold'em... your hands in poker will always rank the same way, from lowest to highest:

High card (Highest cards being Ace, then King, Queen, etc)
Pair (two of the same card)
Two Pair
Three of a kind (AKA 'trips')
Straight (3,4,5,6,7, for instance)
Flush
Full House (three of a kind and a pair, AKA a 'boat')
Four of a kind
Straight Flush (Straight in the same suit)
Royal Flush (A,K,Q,J,10 of the same suit)

Let's Play!

I’m assuming that you want to play online poker at lucksacks.com but maybe you don't really know how to play Texas Hold'em Poker and even less about Hold'em online. To start, here’s what it looks like:

See, not so scary! 😉

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Broad Strokes

First, Texas Hold’em is a five card poker game. You will be dealt two cards, these are called your 'hole' cards. Five cards will eventually be placed face up in the middle of the table. Those are called the 'Community Cards' and everyone plays with them, they’re shared. The goal is to make the best poker hand you can - pairs, trips, straight, flush, full house etc., using usually one of your hole cards plus the community cards, making a total of five cards per hand.

Once everyone is dealt their hole cards, the first round of betting begins.

Let’s look at our table again:

Notice that white, round thing with a 'D' in front of @wahidtchiko? That's the Dealer Button, or 'the button'. Whoever is sitting where the button is, is considered the dealer. The ‘action’ begins at the button and moves clockwise around the table. Everyone will be the button at some point.

The person just to the left of the button is called the 'small blind'. This person will pay a small blind in order to play. You can't escape the blinds; you don't get to play unless you pay them. The person to the left of the small blind is the big blind, and they will pay twice what the small blind is. In my screenshot, for instance, the small blind is 20 and the big blind is 80.

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Shuffle Up and Deal!

After the blinds put up their chips, everyone is dealt their hole cards. In the screenshot, my buddy wahid is the button, so he will act last. In this first round, the first to act is the person to the left of the big blind, in my picture it is @christ2169. Christ now has to decide if he wants to 'call;' that is to match the big blind, or to raise; to add more chips to the big blind, or to fold; to stop playing and 'muck' their cards.

Everyone has the same options, to:

Call - whomever has bet the most, you are choosing to match their bet amount
Bet - add money to whatever the last, biggest bet was
Check - if you already have the same amount of chips as the biggest bet, you can choose to not bet any more by ‘checking’, and
fold - throw your cards away. Only do this if your only other option is to put more chips in and you don’t want to. It's important not to fold when you can check.

Action goes around the table until the “pot is right”... this means that everyone has called, bet, checked or folded and the table is ready for the first 3 of our Community Cards.

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Viva la Comunidad!!

Flop

The first three community cards are dealt. They are placed face up in the middle of the table. This is called the 'flop' and the betting starts again, this time with the small blind. Let's say everyone checks until Steve, who is the button. Steve decides to bet, and throws 100 chips in. The action goes around the table again, with everyone either calling Steve's bet, folding or raising - adding money to Steve's initial bet. If someone raises, everyone else now has to call or raise THAT bet, until it gets back around to the bettor/raiser.

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Turn

Once the pot is right yet again, it's time for another card. This one, the fourth community card, is called the 'turn'. Betting/checking/folding commences just like the first round. Once the pot is right again, the fifth card is dealt.

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River

The fifth community card is called the 'river'. If you are a 'river rat', it means you have won your hand on the river, which is considered chasing, which is dangerous and I will call you a donkey and a river rat and curse your name, if you beat me on the river. I kid. (not really)

Once the River is dealt, action goes around the table again, checking, betting, raising, calling. Once the pot is right, your cards are flipped over and you see who wins! However many chips are in the pot is how much you win, and it starts all over again!

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I hope this helps. Lucksacks.com has ‘Ring Games’ for beginners to play and learn how to play. If you want someone to talk you through any of them, let me know and I’ll try to play with you. I'm thinking of hosting a 'beginners' tournament for anyone who wants to learn, so let me know in the comments if you're interested, or find me on @spl’s discord channel or steemit.chat. As always, i'm just @bethalea, here to help.

Have a lucky day!