# poker: a reference post about the rules and the hands

this is a reference post for myself so that i can easily look up / print poker rules and hand order.

# game variants

• 5-card draw: there is a betting round after the deal, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. after the betting round, each player is allowed to trade up to three cards with the deck. there is then another betting round, after which the players remaining show their hands.

• lowball: played like 5-card draw, except trying for worst hand.

• texas hold 'em: two cards are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. the stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. the stages are interspersed with betting rounds. each player seeks the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards: the five community cards and their two cards.

# hand cheatsheet

distributing a cheatsheet to everyone before the game makes thinking easier during the game. press print on this page to print many copies of this table below. you might want to limit the print range to the first page only and might need to play with print scaling to get enough cards onto one page.

 K♥  J♥  8♣  7♦  4♠

 4♥  4♠  K♠ 10♦  5♠

 J♥  J♣  4♣  4♠  9♥

 2♦  2♠  2♣  K♠  6♥

 7♣  6♠  5♠  4♥  3♥

 K♣ 10♣  7♣  6♣  4♣

 3♣  3♠  3♦  6♣  6♥

 9♣  9♠  9♦  9♥  J♥

 Q♥  J♥ 10♥  9♥  8♥

 3♥  3♦  3♣  3♠  **

# personal notes

this is probably quite annoying to others but i love to reveal only the weakest cards that can still give me a win. e.g. even if i have a four of kind, i'd only reveal one pair if that secures me a win. this is extra fun with another player who does that thing. imagine this showdown:

• alice shows her lowest card
• bob shows one pair
• alice reveals that she has a pair too (with a higher rank)
• bob reveals he has 3 of a kind
• alice also reveals she has 3 of a kind with a higher rank
• bob reveals that he has 4 of a kind
• alice throws rest of her cards away in frustration

i find such revealing method more fun than the boring "let's show all the cards at once". obviously this only works in for-fun settings with friends rather than for serious games.

published on 2021-12-26, last modified on 2022-04-10

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