In order to explain how to play Poker - I am going to start out explaining the cards and the Card Rankings then move on to the various types of Games and what the differences are between them. The aim of the game in Poker - is to beat your opponents hands by holding a better ranked hand than they do. The cards rank from Two to Ace (although bear in mind that the Ace is allowed as both a Low and a High Card)

Single Card - This is the worst hand available and is where there is no common ground between any of the cards in your possession - They are not all the same color, not all the same suit and do not have any pairs of the same Marked Number.

A Pair - This is when two of the cards are the same Face Value - with a Pair of 2's being considerably worse than a pair of Ace's.

Two Pair - when you have two sets of pairs available to you - although beating a Pair - this is still not a strong hand and unless you have High Cards (Jack through Ace) you should be wary about betting highly.

Three of a Kind - This is when three of the cards available to you are all linked by the same Marked Number. E.g. Three 6's or Three 10's.

A Straight - This is when the cards get better and the Term stands for five sequential cards e.g. 4,5,6,7,8 but not all belonging to one suit. The best available Straight is the 10,J,Q,K,A.

A Flush - This is when all the cards are different Marked Numbers but all belong to the same suit - e.g. They are all Diamonds or are all Spades e.t.c. This is generally considered a strong hand and betting heavily on this would be expected. Be aware that the Highest Card of the Flush is the most important card as a 2,3,7,9,Ace would beat a 7,9,10,Q,K!

A Full House - This is a very good hand and is defined as a Pair and a Three of a Kind combined. That means in the five cards used - there are 2 matching numbers and 3 other matching numbers. Again the Three Card medley out-values the Pair should two players have the same hands.

Four of a Kind - A rare delight - when you have drawn this you are expected to bet heavily. This means that four of your cards all belong to the same Marked Number e.g. Four 8's or Four Queen's. The fifth card is only important should two players have the same identical cards - an unlikely event with this hand.

A Straight Flush - This is very rare and should be used to full effect when betting. This term applies to a hand of 5 cards - all consecutive numbers and all with the same suit. For example - 3,4,5,6,7 of Hearts would be termed as this and any player lucky enough to get this should bet heavily with it.

The Royal Flush - I have titled this appropriately as it is the hardest hand to get in the Game and should anyone be lucky to draw this at odds of 1 in 649,740 - you should be looking to bring every player into the game and bet all the chips available to you. This means that you have got the 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit.