How online poker works
Online poker is different from most casino games because you play against other players, not the house. The site deals the cards, runs the table and holds the money, but it doesn’t bet against you. Every chip you win comes from another player at the table, and every chip you lose goes to one.
How the site earns money. Because the house isn’t betting, it charges a fee instead. In cash games this fee is called rake: a small percentage taken from each pot, commonly around 3% to 5%, usually with a maximum per hand. Many sites take no rake from hands that end before the flop. In tournaments, the fee is built into the entry price, which is shown as two figures, such as ₱1,000 + ₱100. The first part goes into the prize pool and the second is the site’s fee. Rake and fees are paid whether you win or lose, so they’re a real cost of playing over time.
Player vs. player, or house-banked? Some games with “poker” in the name, such as Caribbean Stud or Three Card Poker, are casino table games where you play against the dealer at fixed payouts, with a built-in house edge. This page covers player-vs-player poker, mainly Texas Hold’em and Omaha.
Seating and blinds. A table usually seats 2 to 9 players. In cash games you pick an open seat; in tournaments the site assigns one at random. Each hand starts with two forced bets called blinds, which make sure there’s always something in the pot. The player to the left of the dealer button posts the small blind, and the next player posts the big blind, usually twice the small blind. The button moves one seat clockwise after every hand, so everyone pays the blinds in turn. Table stakes are named after the blinds: a ₱5/₱10 table has a ₱5 small blind and a ₱10 big blind.
Online features. Cards are shuffled and dealt by a random number generator. The software handles the betting, ranks the hands at showdown and pays the pot automatically. A timer limits how long you have to act. Most sites also offer a “sit out” button so you can step away without leaving the table, though the blinds may still be charged while you’re away.
Poker hand rankings
Most poker games use the same ten hand rankings, from strongest to weakest. If two players have the same type of hand, the higher cards win; for example, a pair of kings beats a pair of tens. Suits are never used to rank hands, so if two hands are exactly equal, the pot is split.
| Rank | Hand | Example | Chance in 5 cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ | 1 in 649,740 |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ | 1 in 72,193 |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠ 4♦ | 1 in 4,165 |
| 4 | Full house | J♠ J♥ J♦ 8♣ 8♠ | 1 in 694 |
| 5 | Flush | K♦ 10♦ 7♦ 4♦ 2♦ | 1 in 509 |
| 6 | Straight | 8♣ 7♦ 6♠ 5♥ 4♣ | 1 in 255 |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 3♠ | 1 in 47 |
| 8 | Two pair | A♥ A♣ 9♠ 9♦ 5♥ | 1 in 21 |
| 9 | One pair | 10♠ 10♥ K♦ 6♣ 2♠ | 1 in 2.4 |
| 10 | High card | A♦ J♣ 8♠ 5♥ 3♦ | 1 in 2 |
The chances shown are for being dealt five random cards. In Texas Hold’em you make the best five-card hand from seven cards, so stronger hands come up more often than this table shows, but the ranking order stays the same.
For full rules and examples, see:
- Poker TDA Rules, the tournament rules used by poker rooms worldwide
- List of poker hands (Wikipedia)
- Poker probability (Wikipedia), for how the odds are calculated
Cash games vs tournaments
Cash games. Your chips are worth real money: ₱1,000 in chips is ₱1,000. You choose how much to bring to the table, within the table’s minimum and maximum buy-in, and you can leave at any time with whatever is in front of you. The most you can lose in one hand is what you have on the table. But if you lose it, you can add more chips straight away, so there’s no built-in cap on how much you spend in a session. Rake is taken from every pot you win.
Tournaments. You pay one entry fee and get a stack of tournament chips that have no cash value. Blinds rise on a schedule, players are knocked out when they lose their chips, and prizes go to the top finishers, typically around the top 10% to 15%. In a standard freezeout, your entry fee is the most you can lose. Re-entry and rebuy tournaments let you pay again after being knocked out, which raises your total cost, so check the format before you register. Tournaments can last hours, and there’s usually no way to cash out early.
Which suits a set budget better? A freezeout tournament is the easier way to keep spending fixed: you know the full cost upfront and pay it once. Cash games are more flexible on time, but sticking to a budget depends on not reloading after a loss. Whichever you choose, decide your session limit before you sit down and use the site’s deposit limit tools.
What to check before you play
- The site is on PAGCOR’s list of licensed sites.
- You know the rake and tournament fees.
- The table stakes fit your budget for the whole session.
- You’ve set a deposit and session limit first.