Official Rules for Poker GamesBefore we get into the official rules for poker games we must first cover the basics. We will get into the different games, which there are many under several main categories: Five Card Draw, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Stud, Texas Holdem, Omaha Poker Hi and Hi/Lo, Pai Gow Poker, etc. See the bottom of this page for information on individual poker game rules. We will go through all of that including betting, wild cards, and how to play most poker games. For more information on official poker rules click here. The very first thing to understand is the winning poker hands ranking (or poker hierarchy). I cannot stress enough that to be even an average poker player at any poker game is to memorize the winning hands. It doesn't matter which game of poker is being played, you want the best hand possible. The cards from highest to lowest are: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Suits do not have any ranking. For all the hands explained below you want the highest cards to be a part of them. The highest cards win! These is the very basic rules for poker games. For example, if there are two hands that have a straight in them (see straight below), the one that has the highest ending card wins. So, 3,4,5,6,7 beats a 2,3,4,5,6. With a full-house (see below), the three cards rank plays first and if it is a tie with an opponent, then the two cards rank plays next. For all hands you look for the next important aspect of the hand to see if a card is higher to determine which player wins. If there is a legitimate tie, for example if both players have two pair (see below) with 3,3,7,7,K and 3,3,7,7,K with different suits then it is a TIE and the money is split (“chopped pot” in poker terms). I cannot stress enough to memorize this before the individual rules for poker games. See the graphic below for a more illustrated example of the winning poker hands. Remember these are the hands to memorize no matter what the individual rules for poker games are. Below the chart is a description of the hands. 
From Best to Worst we have: *Five of a Kind: Five cards of the same rank (i.e. 5 Jacks). *only possible with wild cards. Royal Flush: Five cards of the same rank and same suit starting with the 10 (i.e. 10,J,Q,K,A all hearts) Straight Flush: Five cards of the same rank and same suit (i.e. 5,6,7,8,9 all clubs) Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank (i.e. 4 Queens and A) Full House: Three of one rank and Two of another rank (i.e. 3 Tens and 2 Twos) Flush: Five cards with the same suit (i.e. 3,8,9,J,K all hearts) Straight: Five cards in a row (i.e. 3,4,5,6,7) Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank (i.e. 3 Twos and 8,J) Two Pair: Two cards of one rank and Two cards of another rank (i.e. 2 fives, 2 Tens, and 3) One Pair: Two cards of the same rank (i.e. 2 Sixes and 4,9,K) High Card: The highest card in the hand from 2-Ace (low to high) *A wild card is a card that is designated wild. This means that the card can take on any other card. Often jokers are used as wild cards and in some games 2’s are wild. So, if 2’s are wild and you have A,A,2,2,K then you have 4 Aces because this is the best hand (you make the 2’s Aces). In some games the wild card is referred to as a bug. This means that the wild card is always an Ace except if it completes a flush or a straight.
I am working on getting the rules for poker games. I will have them listed here shortly. Thank you for your patients.
More poker information and rules for poker games.
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