When you start playing poker, you should first understand the basics of the game. This primer will give you an overview of the rules and psychology behind poker. Then, you can use this information to decide if you’d like to bet on a specific hand. If so, you should know what your betting range is. In addition, you should know when to fold your hand. There are certain betting rules that depend on the location of the dealer.

A pair is formed when two players have the same cards. When more than one player has two pairs, the highest pair wins. If the other player has a pair of cards, he/she will win. Another hand, called a straight, is when two players have the same five-card combination. A straight is a five-card hand, and a pair of high cards wins. You can use the same strategy in a five-card game.

The best natural hand in poker is the straight flush, which is a set of five cards in the same suit. The ace can be high or low, but cannot wrap around the other four cards in the set. An ace high straight flush is a royal flush. Having five cards of the same suit in one hand means you have an ace high royal flush. The odds of winning with a royal flush are nearly 650,000 to one, making it a very challenging hand to achieve.