The basics

oker, despite its appearance of being a game of luck, can only be won consistently by a player who truly understands the finer aspects of the game. Rather than being a card game played by people, poker is a people game played with cards. While there is a multitude of poker variations, poker game rules don't change much from game to game.

In nearly every poker game, players try to make the best possible hand with five cards. The hand structure, from best to worst hand, is as follows:

• Royal flush - 10, jack, queen. king and ace of the same suit
• Straight flush - five sequential cards of the same suit
• Four of a kind - four cards of the same denomination
• Full house - three cards of the same denomination and a pair
• Flush - all five cards the same suit
• Straight - five sequential cards
• Three of a kind - three cards of the same denomination
• Two pair - two separate pairs
• Pair - two cards of the same denomination

Psychology

The poker aspect that people have the most difficulty understanding, is that possessing the winning hand has little to do with winning. Good poker players win consistently through their correct judgment of the behavior and habits of their competitors. When you take this into consideration, skilled deception is worth more at a poker table than the luck of the Irish.

Bluffing is the bread and butter of poker, but only when done properly. Players that can keep opponents guessing will rake in the pots, while obvious bluffs and power moves will send them home broke. Experience is the only way to learn what works for each individual, but the good player's key objective is to trick the competition into thinking he has a good hand when he doesn't, and vice versa.

Capitalizing

When players get caught in a bluff (and they all do, eventually) it's not the end of the world. In fact, if approached properly, this can help a players game. The other players will view the individual as less credible, and therefore less of a threat. If that same player waits for a good hand to come along and in turn represents a good hand, opponents will be eager to call or raise, resulting in a solid and lucrative win.

An understanding of simple poker game rules is not enough to be an effective player. Poker game rules reach far beyond what beats what. It is psychological game. The thing to remember, is that statistics beat luck every day of the week. By examining the behavior of the competition and adjusting accordingly, the odds of winning are greatly increased.