A family of card games, Poker is played by competing against other players. In poker, players compete to form the best hand and place bets based on this hand’s value. The earliest form was played with a standard deck of twenty cards, but many variations now feature 32 or 40-card decks. The types of hands, deck configurations, and number of cards shared by players vary, but all games feature at least one round of betting.
The best poker hands are called hands with five cards in common. The highest hand, the royal flush, consists of a pair of kings, queens, or aces with the same suit. A straight flush, on the other hand, is a set of five consecutive cards of the same rank. The other winning hands are four of a kind, which consists of two cards of the same rank, as well as two cards of any rank.
Two players may form a set of five cards, but the higher-ranking player has the advantage. This is called a “suited hand.” Moreover, an Ace can be considered a suited hand if two or more of the other cards have the same suit. The joker can also play a role as a wild card in poker. The kicker cards are non-factors in forming the hand, but contribute to the overall strength. Hence, in a situation where two players have the same hand, the best kicker will win.
