Poker is a popular type of card game in which players gamble on the superior value of the card combination ("hand") in their possession, by placing a bet into a central pot. The winner is the one who holds the hand with the highest value according to an established hand rankings hierarchy, or otherwise the player who remains "in the hand" after all others have folded (the player who makes an un-called bet).

   Poker has many variations, all following a similar pattern of play. Depending on the variant, hands may be formed using cards which are concealed from others, or from a combination of concealed cards and community cards.

   Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as "poker". Video poker is a single-player computer game that functions much like a slot machine.

You see yourself as the next Cool Hand Luke, just waiting to burst out. You know that you have the same abilities as a poker shark, yet you've never played the game in your life. We will begin with learning the rules for poker games. Because everyone has to start somewhere, it is just as well that one may start from here. The act of watching an inexperienced poker player is about as interesting as watching the paint dry, or the grass grow. Many common problems occur because players just don't learn the rules for poker games.

The classic Kenny Rogers song called "The Gambler" was offered as a source of rules for poker, according to the erroneous assumptions of many people. Although it is prudent not to keep account of one's money while actually at the table, there is no rule against doing so. Without a reasonable estimate as to the number of chips you have, you run the risk of making a foolish decision in case it becomes necessary to go "all-in".

An essential rule with respect to the rules for poker games is simply understanding the different hands and their hierarchy. The highest card is the first winner. The game is all about ranking cards according to the number on them, Ace being the higest. The rules for poker games dictate that a pair comes next. Two pairs comes after a pair. A pair and any high card is a worse hand than two pairs.

The rules for poker games tell us that all of the hands mentioned before can be beat by three of the same kind, and a straight will beat three of the same. So far we've covered the most common winning hands that you will see in a game. After a straight comes a flush. That occurs during the time that five cards are the same suit The next best hand after a flush according to the rules for poker games is a full house, also known as a boat. It is like that when you have three of one kind and two of another kind. A few flushes and full houses are quite common in a game of cards.

Let us continue with rules for poker games. The next highest hand after a full house is four of a kind. This will occur, of course, when you hold all four of the cards with any single value. There are only two hands that will beat a four of a kind say the rules for poker games, the straight flush and the royal flush.

If there are five numbers of the same suit in a row, it is called a straight flush. You should probably bet if you get one as this is a very rare hand to get. When playing poker, you will be least likely to get a royal flush. One of the most difficult, but best hands, to have in poker is a royal flush which, according to rules for poker games, consists of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten on one suit. According to the rules for poker games nothing beats this hand. If you get it, you know you can't be beaten.

The question of a player's position at the poker table is something that should never be underestimated. Where you're sat in relation to the Big Blind should have a huge influence on how you decide to play your hand. Yet all too often the question of position is ignored (most notably by new or inexperienced players) who end up effectively handing over their hard earned chips to their competitors without a second thought. In poker, the person who is able to act last has a big advantage over their rivals. That person is able to estimate how strong his hand is in relation to his opponents based on how the other people at the table have acted.

In an ideal world, we would be able to sit in the final position for every hand of a poker tournament. Unfortunately though, that's not going to happen. As we all know, action at a poker table rotates in a circular manner meaning that for every occasion we find ourselves able to act last, there will be another occasion where we are going to be sat in the first seat trying to decide whether to bet without any information about our opponents' hands at all. This is why we need to be aware of where we are sat in relation to the play and adjust our game accordingly. Generally speaking (and in the absence of any other information), players should be a lot more conservative when sat in an early position. For example, trying to decide what to do with a marginal hand like an A 10 becomes very tricky when you're the first to act. The sensible thing to do would probably be to muck this sort of hand. After all, with so many players left to make their move, the chances are that someone has a better hand than yours. You may try to limp in or maybe go one stage further and bet out to see where you stand, but again with so many other strong hands likely to be out there, all it needs is for someone to raise or even re-raise the pot and you're going to be forced to throw the hand away ... by which time you'll have lost a few extra chips.

However, this kind of situation changes greatly if you're in a late position. When you've seen a raise and a re-raise before you, you're able to fold your hand easily without wasting those chips. To take things one step further, if you've seen people folding and quietly limping in before you, then you can start building a bit of confidence in your hand and even consider making a raise of your own, seeing as no one else appears to be showing much faith in their own cards.

Either way, these decisions become a lot easier when you've been able to see how the rest of the table has responded to a situation. Don't make the mistake of assuming that you're going to play your hole cards the same way no matter where you're sat at the table.

Even if you're dealt an obvious raising hand such as a pair of Aces in the hole, bare in mind that where you're sat gives you different options when it comes to playing them. When sitting in first position for example, you have a great opportunity to encourage a large pot to be built. Therefore, with so many people left to act, you may consider just calling the Big Blind and then coming over the top of any raisers.

When you're last to act with a pair of aces, you will probably choose to raise straight away to reduce the number of players who are looking to catch a lucky card on the flop.

Position is not a complicated concept to come to grips with, but it's one of the fundamental rules of playing solid poker. It only takes a split second to think about where you're sat but, when applied correctly, position will help to preserve your chip stack.