In this chapter, we’ll show you the basics of flop games, such as Poker Hold’em, Poker Omaha, and Poker Pineapple, seven-card Stud Poker, and the high-low split variations of those games. There are a number of rules these games have in common:
✦ Your goal is to create the best possible five-card hand.
✦ Remember, the rank of poker hands is as follows: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Do note that these rankings are reversed when the object of the game is to get the lowest hand possible.
✦ When two players have a hand of the same rank, such as a pair of Aces, the next highest card in the players’ hands determines the winner. For example, if two players have a pair of Nines and a pair of Kings, but one player has an Ace as their fifth card and the other player has a Queen, the player with the Ace wins the hand. This extra card (or cards, if you need to use more than one to create the best possible five-card hand) is called a kicker.
✦ The suits have no value (i.e., they can’t be used to break ties).
✦ If the hands are exactly the same, such as if both of the players above had an Ace as their fifth card, the pot would be split evenly between the players.
