Elements of a Poker Game

No matter what the style or version of Poker being played, there are some elements common to all poker games. The most important are:

• the method of evaluating hands (pairs, straights, flushes, etc.);
• the hierarchy of winning hands;
• betting.

Betting is particularly important, as it is the main method by which players communicate. It enables one player to evaluate the cards of another. Thus, bluffing becomes an essential feature of poker. Without bluffing, the winner of a poker hand would be the one with the best cards. It would reduce poker to not much more than another game of chance, like any main floor table game.

The features that will vary from game to game are:

• whether cards are face-up, face-down or a combination;
• whether betting occurs once or several times;
• whether cards are drawn or just revealed;
• whether cards are shared amongst players "on the board" or belong to just one hand.

With only a couple of minor exceptions, the rank order of poker hands for determining a winner does not change with the game selected.