Welcome to POKERSQUARES.COM, the new free online multiplayer version of the popular card solitaire game, where people play for fun. If you're not familiar with the game, the original game of poker squares dates back to the late nineteenth century, and was first documented as poker squares in the Hoyle series of card rule books in the early 1930's. Other card rule books have also documented the game, calling it poker squares, poker solitaire, or poker patience. Single player versions of the game have existed for the PC, Mac, Palm Pilot, Unix, and other computers since 1985. POKERSQUARES.COM has three exciting multiplayer variations of the game that we call Classic, Pro, and Ultra.

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Basic Rules: Each of the three games (Classic, Pro, and Ultra) has its own World High Score list. Each Tuesday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time, all three World High Score lists are cleared, so that all players once again have a chance to make it into the World High Score lists during the following week.

Please read the frequently asked questions for more details. For complete rules, copyright, trademark and other legal information, please click on legal info. We hope you have fun and wish you the best of luck!!!

Each game consists of 10 rounds. At the start of each round, the deck is shuffled and you draw 25 cards, one at a time, and place each card on the 5 by 5 grid, attempting to get the best possible poker hand for each row, column, and diagonal. In the Classic game, you may place a card on any unoccupied spot on the grid. In the Pro game, you may place cards in any row, starting at the leftmost spot and moving from left to right. In the Ultra game, you may place the first card of the round on any spot you wish, but all subsequent cards must be placed on adjacent spots (vertically or horizontally) next to the existing cards on the grid. When you're done with each round, you will have formed 12 poker hands: One for each row, one for each column, and one for each diagonal. You earn points based on the hands you have formed in each round, according to the SCORING chart shown below.

	This button is used to view these pages.
	This button is used to view the World High Score list for the particular game variation (Classic, Pro, or Ultra) that you are playing.
	This button is used to toggle Power Search, a powerful tool that allows you to search all major search engines and directories without ever leaving the game. This button can also be used to reload the banner if your connection becomes interrupted.
	This button is used at the end of each round in order to proceed to the next round.
	This button is used to clear Your Best Score for the particular game variation (Classic, Pro, or Ultra) that you are playing. It has no effect on any high scores you may have listed in the World High Score lists.
	This button is used to start a new game (or reset a hopelessly bad game).
	This button is used to switch to a different game variation (Classic, Pro, or Ultra).

POKERSQUARES.COM is a game that requires some mental skill. Luck also plays an important role, and a run of bad luck can humble even the best players. Control of one's emotions is also critical, because greed can easily make a player give up safe flushes for the chance to score the more lucrative straight flushes and royal flushes. The best strategy is the one you develop yourself by playing the game often. However, a good starting strategy is to go for flushes along the rows, and pairs or better along the columns.

The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. The cards are divided into four suits: spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. There are 13 ranks within each suit: A (ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J (jack), Q (queen), and K (king). Each poker hand consists of five cards. The order of the cards within each hand is not important. For example, two cards of a pair don't have to be next to each other, as long as they are in the same hand. Thus, if a valid hand can be formed by any arrangement of the cards in that hand (row/column/diagonal), then it will be a legal hand. For straights and straight flushes, the ace can be the lowest card, or the highest card, but not both within the same hand. For example A,2,3,4,5 and 10,J,Q,K,A are valid straights, but Q,K,A,2,3 is not.

VALUE	NAME	EXAMPLE	DESCRIPTION
	nothing		a nothing hand
	pair		two cards of the same rank
	two pair		two pairs in the same hand
	three of a kind		three cards of the same rank
	straight		sequential cards not of the same suit (ace can be high or low, but not both)
	flush		non-sequential cards of the same suit
	full house		a pair and a three of a kind
	four of a kind		four cards of the same rank
	straight flush		sequential cards of the same suit (ace can be high or low, but not both)
	royal flush		10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit