The game of Poker is played with an ordinary pack of fifty-two cards.

The number of players is limited only by the number of cards, but in practice it is found better to limit each table to five, or at most six, players.

The cards have the same values as at Whist, i.e. ace is the highest in each suit; then follow king, queen, knave, ten, etc., down to two.

In sequences, however, the ace is the lowest card, and the king the highest.

The suit of hearts, ceteris paribus, takes precedence of other suits.

Before beginning play, it is customary and advisable to agree upon a sum (technically called the limit or rise) which shall be the maximum stake permitted to be made by a player at one time; or, in other words, which shall be the greatest sum by which he may increase the stake at any one time.

The limit, of course, does not refer to the total amount of a player’s stakes, and it is understood that a player may stake less than the limit at any time, but not more.

After being seated, the players cut for the deal, and the player who cuts the lowest card deals first.  If two or more players cut equal lowest cards, these players must cut again for the deal.

The duty of dealing in each game after the first, devolves upon the player to the left of the previous dealer.

Before beginning play, every player has a right to shuffle the pack; the dealer has a right to the last shuffle.  After being shuffled, the pack must be cut by the player to the right of the dealer.

The player to the left of the dealer then stakes a certain fixed sum (generally small in comparison with the limit) which is called the ante.  This initial stake must in every game be laid by the player to the left of the dealer, before the cards are dealt.  He is, in fact, identified with this initial stake, and is known as ante throughout the game.

After ante has staked, the player to his left, who is called No. 1, has the option of straddling, i.e. of staking a sum double that of the ante.  If No. 1 does not straddle the ante, no other player may do so, and the dealer proceeds to deal the cards.

If No. 1 straddle the ante, the player to his left has the same option, and may increase the straddle by the amount of the ante.  This may go on round the table, each player in turn having the right to increase the straddle before the deal; but the ante may not be increased by any straddle, or by successive straddles, to an amount exceeding one-half of the limit.

To illustrate this, let us suppose the limit be 24 tokens and the ante be one token.  This latter sum is staked (i.e. placed in the middle of the table before him) by the player on the left of the dealer.  No. 1 then has the right to straddle the ante, and he may stake two pence.  No. 2 then has the same option, and may, if he wish, increase the straddle by one penny.  When the sum staked in this way by successive players reaches 6 tokens (half the limit), the straddling must cease, and the cards must be dealt. It should be fully understood that if No. 1 does not exercise his right to straddle, no other player may do so.

The dealer, beginning with the player at his left hand, then deals one card, face downwards, to each player (himself included) in succession, until every player has received five cards.¹
¹ These five cards constitute the hand, and in no case may a player have a greater or less number of cards than five.
He then places the remainder of the pack before him on the table, face downwards.  After the cards have been dealt the betting before the draw begins.

If the ante has not been straddled, the player to the left of ante has the say, and may begin the betting before the draw.

He looks at his cards, and may either;

(a) Reject them, and elect not to play.
(b) Accept them, and so open the game.
If (a) he reject his cards, he throws them, face downwards, on the table, and is out of the game until the next deal.

If (b) he accept his cards, he must stake a sum at least twice the amount of ante.  He may, of course, increase the ante by any sum not exceeding the limit; but it is not usual or advisable to do more than double the ante.

No. 2, who is the player on the left of No. 1, has now the same option.  He looks at his cards, and may reject them without staking (throwing them, in this case, face downwards, on the table), or he may accept them and elect to take part in the game.  In this latter case he must stake a sum equal to that staked by his predecessor, or he may increase this sum by an amount not exceeding the limit.

Each succeeding player, including and ending with the dealer, has, in his turn, the same privilege.  He must either reject his cards and not play until the next deal, or accept them and stake a sum at least equal to that staked by his predecessor.

It is not advisable for any player to increase the stake on this first round, since to do so would probably cause succeeding players with moderate hands to reject their cards and not stake.  The dealer or last player frequently, however, raises the stake with the object of inducing ante, who may hold a weak hand, to relinquish his initial stake.

Ante is the last to look at his cards, or in other words, has the last say.

If he pass, i.e. elect not to play, he throws his cards, face downwards, on the table, and retires from the game until the next deal, losing his original stake.  If he accept his cards and elect to play, he must make his stake at least equal to that of the player on his right.

If the ante has been straddled, the player to the left of the straddler (or of the last straddler, if there be more than one) has the say, i.e. has the option of beginning the betting before the draw.  He may, after looking at his cards, either

(a) Throw them, face downwards, on the table, and elect not to play.
(b) Accept them and open the game.
If he open the game, he must stake a sum at least equal to double the ante and straddles together, and he may also, if he choose, stake a further sum not exceeding the limit.  Whichever he elect to do, the say afterwards passes to the player at his left hand, who has a similar option; and so on round the table.  The last straddler has thus the last say.

Beginning with ante, or with the first player on the left of the dealer, each player may then exchange all or any number of the cards he holds for others from the remainder of the pack.  He must first throw on the table, face downwards, the number of cards he wishes to exchange (this is called discarding), and the dealer then gives him an equal number from the top of the pack.  Before exchanging any of his cards, however, each player must make his stake equal to that of ante, or of the last player.

It is not compulsory for a player to exchange all or any of his cards; but he must exercise or relinquish the privilege of doing so when his turn comes, once for all; and he cannot afterwards modify his choice, nor take back any card or cards he may have discarded.

Whether he exchange any of his cards, or whether he retains the hand first dealt out to him, each player must make his stake equal to that of ante, or of the last player, so that when all players have been supplied with, or refused, new cards, the stakes are all equal, and are all placed in the pool.