Help and rules

Poker tables

Open a table or join one from the lobby, by its invite code, or by the link the host shares. Chips come from your play credits: the buy-in is moved to your table stack when you sit down and returned to your credits when you leave. The host picks the game, the number of seats (2 to 10, within the game's limit), the minimum bet and the buy-in, and can add 1 to 5 computer players, each with its own style (tight, solid, loose, aggressive, wild). Hands continue automatically while at least two players have chips; a player who runs out can rebuy. Each turn has a time limit, shown as a bar under the player's name; when it runs out the hand is checked or folded automatically.

Betting, in every game

Betting is no-limit. On your turn you can fold, check (when nothing is owed), call the current bet, bet or raise (at least the size of the last raise), or go all in. When a player is all in for less than the others, side pots are formed so that nobody can win more from an opponent than they put in themselves. At the showdown the best five-card hand wins each pot; equal hands split it.

Order of hands, highest first, with an example of each

#	Hand	Example	What it is
0	Five of a kind	9♣9♦9♥9♠Q♠	Only possible with wild cards: here the queen is wild and counts as the fifth nine. Beats every other hand, including a royal flush.
1	Royal flush	A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠	Ace, king, queen, jack, ten, all of one suit. The best possible hand without wild cards.
2	Straight flush	9♥8♥7♥6♥5♥	Five cards in sequence, all of one suit. Between two, the higher top card wins.
3	Four of a kind	K♣K♦K♥K♠3♣	Four cards of the same rank. The fifth card breaks a tie.
4	Full house	J♣J♦J♥8♠8♣	Three of one rank and two of another. The three decide; here jacks full of eights.
5	Flush	A♣10♣7♣5♣2♣	Five cards of one suit, not in sequence. Compared from the highest card down.
6	Straight	8♣7♦6♥5♠4♣	Five cards in sequence, mixed suits. An ace can be high (ace to ten) or low (five to ace).
7	Three of a kind	7♣7♦7♥K♠2♣	Three cards of the same rank with two unrelated cards.
8	Two pair	Q♣Q♦9♥9♠4♣	Two different pairs. The higher pair decides, then the lower pair, then the fifth card.
9	One pair	A♣A♦9♥6♠2♣	Two cards of the same rank. Three unrelated cards break ties, highest first.
10	High card	K♣J♦8♥6♠2♣	Nothing matched. The highest card decides, then the next, and so on.

Within the same category the higher cards win: a pair of kings beats a pair of nines, a nine-high straight beats an eight-high straight. Suits never break ties; a tie splits the pot.

Wild cards

In games with wild cards (Follow the Queen and flavours defined by the administrator), a wild card becomes whatever rank and suit makes your best hand. This adds five of a kind at the very top, and makes four of a kind and full houses much more common, so bet accordingly. A wild card can also complete a straight or a flush.

Who acts first

In community games (Texas hold'em) the two players left of the dealer post the small and big blind; before the flop the player left of the big blind acts first, afterwards the first active player left of the dealer. In stud games everyone posts an ante and, in every betting round, the player with the highest cards showing acts first and play continues clockwise. "Highest showing" is judged on the face-up cards only: a pair showing beats an ace showing, and so on down the ranking above.

The games

Texas hold'em 2 to 9 players

Two private cards each, five shared cards dealt in three streets (flop, turn, river), no-limit betting with small and big blinds. Best five of the seven cards wins.

2 private cards, board dealt 3 + 1 + 1, blinds, betting before the board and after each street.

Follow the Queen 2 to 8 players

Five-card stud with wild cards. One hidden card, then four cards face up, a betting round after every face-up card, opened by the player with the highest cards showing. Queens are wild; whenever a queen is dealt face up, the next card dealt face up sets a second wild rank (the newest one replaces the previous). If the last face-up card of the hand is a queen, the dealer turns one extra card to set the wild rank. Best five cards win; five of a kind beats a straight flush.

Deal: card 1 down, card 2 up, card 3 up, card 4 up, card 5 up. Betting after cards 2, 3, 4, 5. Ante 1 × minimum bet. Wild: Queens. Follow the queen in force.

Five-card stud 2 to 8 players

One hidden card and four face up, betting after each face-up card. No wild cards.

Deal: card 1 down, card 2 up, card 3 up, card 4 up, card 5 up. Betting after cards 2, 3, 4, 5. Ante 1 × minimum bet.

Seven-card stud 2 to 7 players

Two hidden cards and one face up, then three more face up and a last hidden card, with five betting rounds. Best five of seven.

Deal: card 1 down, card 2 down, card 3 up, card 4 up, card 5 up, card 6 up, card 7 down. Betting after cards 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Ante 1 × minimum bet.

Follow the Queen, an example hand

Four players ante. Everyone gets a hidden card, then a card face up: Nikos shows a king, Elena a seven, you a queen, Sofia a four. Your queen is wild, and because it was dealt face up, the next card dealt face up sets a second wild rank: Sofia's card. Nikos, highest showing with his king, opens the betting. On the next card up Sofia receives a nine, so nines are now wild as well as queens. Later another queen appears face up for Elena; the next card up after it is a two, so twos replace nines as the second wild rank (queens stay wild throughout). If the very last face-up card of the hand is a queen, the dealer turns one extra card from the deck to set the final wild rank. At the showdown each player's five cards are read with the wild ranks in force: a hand of queen, two, two, seven, seven reads as five of a kind, sevens: the queen and both twos are wild and all become sevens, because wild cards take whichever value helps most.