Texas Hold’em is the number one poker variation in the world.
With more people playing Texas Holdem Poker, it is easy to see why it is the number one variation for many of today’s popular Texas Holdem tournaments. Here are the basic rules of the game. Someone once said, “Texas Holdem takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master”, they are spot on.
Preflop: Call, Raise or Fold
Now comes the betting. First the player to the left of the big blind commences the action after all players have been dealt their cards. He or she does so by peeling or squeezing their cards, to see reveal what they are, while keeping the identity of their cards secret from the other players at the table.The player must then decide whether they wish to match the amount of the big blind (call), or if they like their hand they may wish to put more chips out (raise) which forces everyone else to match that amount if they wish to remain in the hand. The player also has a third option available to them, and that is to fold, if the player does not think their hand is good enough or has a good enough chance of improving over the course of the hand, they may not wish to match the amount of the big blind, so instead they will throw their cards face down into the middle of the table and their hand had ended.
Play now continues to the next player who must decide if they wish to call the largest amount bet to that point, raise more or fold. The raising, calling and folding continues until all active players (those who haven’t folded) have the same amount of chips committed to the pot. If a player bets an amount that no one wishes to call, they will win the pot by default. They do not have to show the other players their cards in this situation.
If a player bets more than the amount that another player has in front of them, the player with less chips can go “all-in”, this means that they only have to commit the amount of chips they have on the table. They then will stay active in the hand until the end and can win the same amount of chips that they put into the pot from each player. In this way a player can’t be muscled out of a pot because an opponent bet more money then they had available.
The Flop
Provided two players are still active, the dealer will then take the deck and discard the top card face down placing it with the other folded cards. This is called burning a card and happens before the flop, turn and river are dealt. The dealer will then reveal the next three cards in the centre of the table for all players to see. These three cards are called the flop.
At this stage in Holdem, each player has the two cards in their own hand, along with the three cards making up the flop.
Refer to the hand strength table above to see what you have at this stage of the hand.
Betting
From the flop onwards play begins with the first player still active to the left of the dealer button. This player has two options available to them – firstly they can check which means that they do not wish to commit any more chips to the pot at this stage. Because no other money has been bet in this betting round, they are allowed to stay in the hand until an amount is bet. Play then progresses to the next player who will have the same options available to them. If all active players check, then the next community card is dealt.
The other option is that if a player likes their hand, they can choose to bet. Players usually must bet the minimum of the size of the big blind and depending on the rules of the particular game they may bet up to the amount of their entire chips in front of them. If a player bets, play progresses to the next player in a clockwise direction who decides if they wish to call, raise or fold.
The Turn
After all active players have matched the size of the bet, the dealer proceeds to burn another card and reveal the turn card which is the fourth community card. This is a single card that is followed by yet another round of betting.
In Holdem, players now have available to them six cards to choose from, of which they will make their best five card poker hand.
The River
Once all players have matched betting once again, the dealer burns the top card from the deck and reveals the river. The river is the fifth and final community card dealt.
Players will now know the strongest five card poker hand they can make with the combination of cards they have. They should also be aware of what the best possible poker hand can be when considering the five community cards on board. This hand is nicknamed the nuts, and cannot be beaten.
The great thing about Texas Hold’em is that players do not have to use either of the cards that they hold; in some instances the best hand may be the five community cards on the table. In this case players can choose to use these five cards as their hand and is known as playing the board.
Once the river card is revealed, play proceeds with a final round of betting between the players. If one players is left in the hand at the completion of betting they win and do not have to reveal the contents of their hand, however if two or more players remain active and have not folded at the completion of betting, then there is a showdown to decide who wins the hand.
The Showdown
Showdown involves both players revealing all of the cards that they were dealt. All players left in the hand will turn over their cards and players refer to the poker hand strength table to decide who has the best hand. The player with the strongest hand revealed will win the pot.
If at any time throughout any of the rounds of betting, all players fold leaving only one remaining, then the remaining player wins the pot and does not have to show his/her winning hand. This allows players the opportunity to bluff – that is to force their opponents to fold a superior hand by applying pressure through betting. You don’t need to have the best hand to win the pot in poker!
