How to Play Poker

How to play poker? That is how online poker schools usually begin their lessons. I guess that was also the question that popped into my mind when I first got to hold my dad's poker set. Anyway, let's zero in.

First and foremost, I would like us to bear in mind that learning how to play poker doesn't only involve holding the cards and learning how to use them. There are the rules, the techniques, the ways to bet, and the various game configurations. Let's start of with the rules.

There are four basic rules in a poker game: the call, the raise, the check, and the fold. This refers to your actions or intentions. When you make a call, it means you are making a bet that is equivalent to the highest valued bet of the previous player. When you want to post a higher bet amount, you make a raise. If you don't want to bet just yet but you want to remain in the hand, you have to say check. On the other hand, if you, so to speak, wish to chicken out of the entire thing, you call it a fold.

Just a reminder: please don't, even if you can, raise, call, fold, or check out of turn. It's part of what we call the poker ettiquette.