Poker hands ranked from highest to lowest:
Five of a Kind
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
Pair
High Card
"Straight" means five cards of consecutive rank; Ace can be high or low but not both. "Flush" means five cards of the same suit. "Straight Flush" means five cards of the same suit and of consecutive rank.
Nota bene:
A-2-3-4-6, not of the same suit, is the lowest hand possible to get -- important in high-low games.
Play:
The most basic form of poker is 5-Card Draw, and is played as follows (after an "ante" of a certain amount of money is paid by each player to create an initial "pot" of potential reward for the winner.
The dealer deals out five cards face down to each player, including him- or herself. There follow two rounds of betting, between which each player (beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and progressing one player at a time through the dealer) has the opportunity to exchange 0-3 cards for new ones from the undealt deck (or to exchange 4 of the 5 cards if the fifth card is an Ace).
Each round of betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer. That player will either place a bet or "knock," meaning to bet $0.00. Each subsequent player must either (i) "see," or bet the same amount as the immediately preceding player, (ii) "raise," or bet a larger amount than the immediately preceding player, or (iii) "fold," or bet nothing and lay down his or her cards (a player who folds is not eligible to win the pot, and does not participate in the game any further until it ends and a new game begins). If any player raises, all other players in turn will have the opportunity either to match the raising player's bet or raise it again in turn. All bets are added to the pot.
When players have the opportunity to exchange cards, they do so with the goal of improving their hand of five cards by reference to the poker hands listed above.
After the second round of betting, the player who raised most recently shows his or her hand. No other player is required to show his or her hand, but of course any player holding a hand which can beat that player's hand has a strong incentive to show it, since you can only win if you show your cards.
The winning hand takes the pot.
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