Table Topics
Last reviewed · CardLore editorial
Some things are true at every card table regardless of which game is being dealt. A flush beats a straight in every poker variant. A raise must be at least the size of the last raise almost everywhere. The player on the button always acts last after the flop. These pages cover that shared ground once, so the game guides do not have to repeat it.
All topics
- Poker Hand Rankings
Ten hands, strongest to weakest, plus the tie-break rules that decide most showdowns.
- Betting Rounds and Bet Types
Five actions, one order of play, and the rules that decide how much you may put in.
- Table Position
The same cards are worth more when you act last. This is why.
- Pot Odds and Outs
Count the cards that help you, compare them to the price of the call. No advanced maths needed.
- Tournaments and Cash Games
Same cards, different clock. One format you can leave whenever you like; the other ends when the chips do.
- Table Etiquette
The unwritten rules that keep a game moving, and the ones dealers will actually correct you on.
- Bankroll Basics
Decide what the game may cost you before you sit down, not after.
- Card Game Glossary
Every term used across this site, defined once, in alphabetical order.
Read them in this order
If you are starting from nothing, the four pages below cover enough to follow a poker game and play it without making illegal moves. The rest can wait until you have played a few sessions.
- Hand rankingsTen hands, strongest to weakest, and the tie-break rules. Nothing else in poker makes sense until this is memorised. See Poker Hand Rankings.
- Betting roundsWhat check, bet, call, raise and fold mean, the order players act in, and the limits on how much may be put in. See Betting Rounds and Bet Types.
- Table positionWhere the dealer button sits, which seats act early, and why acting last is an advantage. See Table Position.
- Pot odds and outsHow to count the cards that would complete your hand and compare that to the price of a call. See Pot Odds and Outs.
Reference pages
Three pages here are reference rather than instruction. The glossary defines every term used on this site in one alphabetical list. Table etiquette covers the conventions a dealer will correct you on. Bankroll basics explains how players decide what a session may cost before they sit down, and why that decision has to be made in advance.
The remaining page, Tournaments and Cash Games, explains the difference between the two formats a poker game can take. The cards are identical; what changes is whether you can stand up with your chips.