In poker you do not win by having a good hand - you win by either having the best hand of those remaining at showdown, or being the only hand left. There is no

In poker you do not win by having a good hand - you win by either having the best hand of those remaining at showdown, or being the only hand left. There is no "house" - all the players are equivalent, and playing alone is meaningless. When you play real poker in a casino, the casino isn't taking either side of any of the bets - the players are just paying the casino to play (real poker isn't generally very profitable for the casino - where it's offered its generally for "prestige" reasons, to bring in players who will hopefully play other casino game while they're here). The only thing that these played-against-the-house games take from real poker is similar hand rankings.