Teaching kids to play poker: lesson 1, learning the rank of poker hands

My niece Zoe learning the ranks of poker hands the afternoon before her first adult game

The first step of learning poker is to learn the rank of hands.   Teaching this has got to be more carefully done that shoving a list in someone’s face.   You want to drill these into the child until they are second nature.

Since the first game they are going to play is five card draw, this is the basis for teaching kids poker and dovetails nicely with learning the ranks of hands.  Here’s a simple drill to practice with your child student:

1. Get a list of hands for your student.
2. Get out a deck of cards and shuffle it.  Deal out a five card hand.  Have the child identify all the hands that can be made with those five cards.  Do with entire deck, shuffle, repeat for one more deck.
3. Now shuffle the deck and deal out a five card hand.  Ask them what’s the best hand that could be made if they replace one (and only one card) in their hand with any card from the deck.  Ask them the same question but for the second best hand.  So if they can make a full house, ask if they can make a straight, trips, two pair, one pair, etc.  Noticing what hands can’t be made with a single drawn card is crucial, and possibly more important than anything.
4. Repeat this exercise for two deck fulls.
5. Now shuffle the deck and deal out a five card hand.  Ask them what’s the best hand that could be made if they replace two cards in their hands with any two cards from the deck.   Repeat this exercise with lesser ranked hands.  Having kids understand that you can’t make certain hands, ever, with that starting hand is the most important point of this exercise.
6. Repeat this exercise for two deck fulls.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6, but allow the child a draw of 3 cards for two deck fulls.
8. Finally, shuffle your deck and deal your child a five card draw hand.  Without concern for probability, ask them what is the best hand they can make if they have the option of drawing 1, 2, or 3 cards.

Whenever you feel comfortable in here, start dealing out hands to yourself also, and playing the same draw game as your child.  Ask them which hand is better.  Don’t introduce any betting yet, or any probability about what they should be drawing for.