This page will introduce you to basic Poker concepts and how it relates to Poker on our site.

Bluey's Online Poker Play

Basic concepts

Hands and Rankings

Video Poker Play

The game of poker, as played on our site, consist of 4 basic actions: Bet, Deal, Draw, Payout ( if any ). Click here for a detailed description of game play with images.

Bet - Before anything, you must Bet. This is the amount you are willing to wager that you will end up with a winning hand.

Deal - This is the first action to take place after the Bet. You will receive five new cards from a fully shuffled deck of 52 cards + 2 jokers. You then can draw up to five new cards.

Draw - In our online version of poker, you are Dealt five cards. This is called the Deal. You can then Draw, or select,  up to five new cards - the result of which is your Hand.

Payout - if your hand qualifies, as listed in the payout  board, you are awarded points which are accumulated in your winnings.

Some basic playing card concepts:

Value - the value of a card. Each card has either a number or symbolic value. ( 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack,Queen,King,Ace)

Suit - Each card is assigned a suit, of which there are four. These can be Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, or Spades.

Hand - the overall value, in Poker terms, of the Five cards in your hand after the completion of the Draw. These are listed in order below.

Joker - This is a wild card and can be considered any value that will result in the best hand. If you had 4,5,9,5,Joker then the best poker hand you could have is 3 fives ( 5,5 + the Joker )

Typical play begins by betting, followed by the deal. It is then up to you to select which cards to keep, and which to discard in the hopes of producing the highest paying hand.

Example: You bet 2, then click "deal". You are given the following hand:

• 2 of diamonds
• 6 of spades
• 9 of hearts
• 6 of diamonds
• King of clubs

At this point, the most common action would be to discard the 2, the 9, and the King in hopes of drawing more 6's.

Standard Poker Hands ( in order of ranking )

Five of a Kind

Five of a kind is the highest possible hand. This is five cards of the same value such as five kings or five nines. You must have at least one Joker to achieve this hand.

Royal Flush

This is an Ace high straight flush. ( 10-J-Q-K-A of the same suit )

Straight Flush

A straight flush is the best hand. A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such as 5-6-7-8-9) that are all of the same suit. The Ace is either high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5). However, a straight may not 'wraparound'. (Such as K-A-2-3-4, which is not a straight). An Ace high straight-flush is called a Royal Flush and is the highest hand.

Four of a Kind

Four of a kind is at least four cards of the same rank such as 5-5-5-5-6, four fives and a six.

Full House

A full house is a three of a kind and a pair, such as K-K-K-5-5.

Flush

A flush is a hand where all of the cards are the same suit. The value of each card is not important, just as long as they are all one suit.

Straight

A straight is 5 cards in order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. An ace may either be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5). However, a straight may not 'wraparound'. (Such as Q-K-A-2-3, which is not a straight).

Three of a Kind

Three cards of any rank, matched with two cards that are not a pair, such as 8-8-8-3-K. If the remaining 2 cards were a pair, this would be a full house.

Two Pair

This is two distinct pairs of card and a 5th card, such as 7-7-10-10-A.

Pair

One pair of same valued cards, like two fives or two nines, along with three other non related cards. example: 2-2-4-10-K.

High Card

This is any hand which doesn't qualify as any one of the above hands. If you don't have a pair or better, then all you have is a high card. High card is not considered in this version of the game.