Texas Hold'em Poker Rules
Texas Hold’em Poker, also known as Texas Holdem or just plain Hold’em is a community card game that is one of, if not the most popular style of poker played today online and in live casinos. The object of the game is to be the player who has the best poker hand resulting from any 5 card combination from the 5 community cards and 2 hole cards. At a live casino, the dealer determines the winner, and with online poker it is the computer software that selects the winner of the pot. Players, Cards and Dealer Texas Hold’em Poker can be played with as little as 2 players - which is known as a “heads up” match - to a maximum of 11 players. A standard 52-card deck is used, and the game begins with the dealer button. This device is used when there is no house dealer, and identifies where the dealing begins, and is passed around the table after each hand.
Ante In some games of Texas Hold’em, usually during tournaments, all players must place a certain amount of money into the pot before the beginning of each hand. If this ante occurs, it is not included in any future bets made during the game. Blinds In Texas Hold’em games, the two players to the left of the dealer are forced to make a predetermined bet and add it to the pot before any cards are dealt. This is done so that for every hand there will always be money to play for. This is known as “posting the blinds”. The player on the dealers left is forced to make the “first or small blind”, and puts in half of the minimum bet (for instance at a $4 -$8 table they would put in $2), while the “second or big blind” is forced to be made by the player to the left of the first player left to the dealer, who puts in the full minimum bet (which in the case of the $4 -$8 table would be $4). Preflop Players are first dealt one face up card and then a second. These face up cards are called pocket or hole cards, and after both are dealt, the first round of betting takes place starting with the first player to the left of the player who made the big blind. Players must decide if they will fold and leave the game, call by meeting the full minimum bet placed by the big blind player, or raise, making a higher wager. The player, who made the small blind, may either fold; call, by adding in the other half of the minimum bet, or raise. If all players call to the minimum big blind bet, then only the player who made the big blind has the opportunity to check. This allows him or her to stay in the game without having to add in additional money, since they already have done so. However, if any of the other players raise a bet, the big blind must then call, raise or fold. Flop The top card of the deck is discarded by the dealer, which is known as “burning the card”, and is done to prevent cheating from occurring incase anyone happened to see the top card. The dealer will then play the following 3 cards face up on the table (called the flop). These cards can be used by all players and are known as the community cards. The first player to the left of the dealer will begin the betting, which will continue clockwise until all bets are finished (Following this round, each consecutive betting round will begin the same with the closest player - still in the game - to the left of the dealer and continue clockwise). During the betting round the first player may either check, raise or fold, and until a bet is made, every following player has the same options. However, once a bet has been placed, each player may only call, raise or fold. The Turn At the beginning of this round known as the turn or “ The River The final round is called the river or “fifth street”. In this round the dealer begins by burning the top card, before placing the fifth and final community card face up on the table. This is followed by the last round of betting, in which players can use any combination of the 7 cards (5 community and 2 hole cards). Showdown After all bets have been made, all players left in the game have the opportunity to either show their hand or muck it, beginning with the player who made the last bet. If a player chooses to muck their hand instead of showing it, this usually means that he or she knows they won’t win the pot and do not wish to show their had to the other players. From those players who show their hands, the pot will be awarded to the best hand. If by chance the 5 community cards happen to make the best hand, all those left in the game will split the pot. This is known as “the board plays”.
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