It is somewhat difficult to come up with a list of basic poker rules, simply because of the fact that poker itself is such a varied game. There are a number of different ways in which poker is played and therefore finding rules that apply universally is a very difficult task. However, there are a few rules that are universal in the game of poker and when you have learned those rules, at the very least you will be able to play a new format of poker without having to worry about annoying anyone else at the table with your behavior or getting a penalty in a tournament because you did something that was against the basic poker rules. While in some sense a lot of the rules that follow could be considered poker etiquette rather than poker rules, we choose to label them rules because poker etiquette tends to be very specific to the game you are playing at that particular time.

Click here to visit The Best Online Casino

Poker Hand Rankings: The poker hand rankings of five card poker hands refer to every single game of poker that you play without wild cards. This means that the rankings from high to low are royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card. This is true for every single poker game and therefore as long as you know these rankings you will be good to play in other poker games.

Showdown rules: There are actually rules that govern a showdown. For anyone that might not already know, the showdown is the name given to the phase at the end of the game when the betting is completed and there are still at least two people left in the pot. In that case, the person that was called should turn over their cards first and show the hand that they have. If the other person or persons do not have a hand that beats the first hand shown, then they do not have to show their hand. They may muck their cards (throw them away face down) so that nobody knows the hand that they decided to call with. It is bad etiquette in most places to ask to see a losing hand and in some places it is actually written into the rules that such an action is not allowed.

Betting direction: The betting direction is also something that is reasonably standardized from poker game to poker game. While the method in which the person to start a betting round is chosen differs from poker game to poker game, at the same time the fact that the person on their left continues the betting is something that is almost universal to all poker. This means that if you are at a random casino you've never been to before, you can be pretty sure about the left continuation betting direction if you do not get a chance to ask the floor director before your game starts.

It is somewhat difficult to come up with a list of basic poker rules, simply because of the fact that poker itself is such a varied game. There are a number of different ways in which poker is played and therefore finding rules that apply universally is a very difficult task. However, there are a few rules that are universal in the game of poker and when you have learned those rules, at the very least you will be able to play a new format of poker without having to worry about annoying anyone else at the table with your behavior or getting a penalty in a tournament because you did something that was against the basic poker rules. While in some sense a lot of the rules that follow could be considered poker etiquette rather than poker rules, we choose to label them rules because poker etiquette tends to be very specific to the game you are playing at that particular time.