How To Play Texas Poker
In hold'em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (holecards), after. Poker: How to Play Texas Hold'em Poker will welcome to the poker table with everything you need to win big - from the most basic elements of the game to advanced strategies for increasing your winnings. You'll find out how to navigate the various seats at the Texas Hold'em poker table, play the game like a pro, and avoid the 'never ever. How To Play Texas Holdem - Poker Great Falls. Owner: WilliemaeE. Description: Practice is important to success in sports, in music, in art, and in poker. Win or lose, after each time you play online poker you in order to be spend a long time taking a very long and objective look at how you performed at the table. Getting the with regard to you. Winning a Hand of Texas Hold’em Poker You can win a poker hand in one of two ways. Firstly, you might get to the end of the hand with at least one other player, in which case there’s a showdown. Now, both players’ hole cards are turned over, and the highest poker hand from the ranking list wins.
Table Of Contents
If you want to learn how to play Texas hold'em games, then you need to start from the basic rules and hands. That's exactly what you'll find on this beginner's guide to the game.
Texas hold'em is a simple poker game, but it can be daunting to get to grips with.
But don't let that put you off. By the time you are down with this beginner's guide to Texas hold'em, you will know:
1. What Is Texas Hold'em Poker?
Texas Hold'em is the most popular of all poker variations.
All of the marquee tournaments around the world (including those played at the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, the and the European Poker Tour) feature the no-limit variation of this game.
Texas hold'em is so popular that is the only poker game many players will ever learn.
It takes a moment to learn, but a lifetime to master.
Discovering how to play Texas hold'em poker is not difficult and the simplicity of its rules, gameplay, and hand-ranking all contribute to the popularity of the game.
However, don't let the simplicity of the game mislead you.
The number of possible situations and combinations is so vast that Texas hold'em can be an extremely complex game when you play at the highest levels.
If you are approaching the game of Texas hold'em for the first time, starting from the basic rules of the game is key. Not only these are the easiest ones to learn, but they are also essential to understand the gameplay and, later on, the game's basic strategy.
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2. Texas Hold'em Rules
So how do you play Texas hold'em?
The goal of a Texas hold'em game is to use your hole card and in combination with the community cards to make the best possible five-card poker hand.
Hold'em is not unlike other poker games like five-card draw.
However, the way players construct their hands in Texas hold'em is a little different than in draw poker.
It's always possible a player can 'bluff' and get others to fold better hands.
- In a game of Texas hold'em, each player is dealt two cards face down (the 'hole cards')
- Throughout several betting rounds, five more cards are (eventually) dealt face up in the middle of the table
- These face-up cards are called the 'community cards.' Each player is free to use the community cards in combination with their hole cards to build a five-card poker hand.
While we will see each betting round and different phase that forms a full hand of a Texas hold'em game, you should know that the five community cards are dealt in three stages:
- The Flop: the first three community cards.
- The Turn: the fourth community card.
- The River:The fifth and final community card.
Your mission is to construct your five-card poker hands using the best available five cards out of the seven total cards (the two hole cards and the five community cards).
You can do that by using both your hole cards in combination with three community cards, one hole card in combination with four community cards, or no hole cards.
If the cards on the table lead to a better combination, you can also play all five community cards and forget about yours.
In a game of Texas hold'em you can do whatever works to make the best five-card hand.
If the betting causes all but one player to fold, the lone remaining player wins the pot without having to show any cards.
For that reason, players don't always have to hold the best hand to win the pot. It's always possible a player can 'bluff' and get others to fold better hands.
READ ALSO: Common Poker Tells: How to Read People in Poker
If two or more players make it all of the way to the showdown after the last community card is dealt and all betting is complete, the only way to win the pot is to have the highest-ranking five-card poker hand.
Now that you know the basics of Texas hold'em and you start to begin gaining an understanding of how the game works, it's time to get into some specifics.
These include how to deal Texas hold'em and how the betting works.
Basic Rules Key Takeaways:
- A game of Texas hold'em feature several betting rounds
- Players get two private and up to five community cards
- Unless all players abandon the game before the showdown, you need the highest poker hand to win
How to Play
Let's have a look at all the different key aspects of a Texas hold'em game, including the different positions at the table and the betting rounds featured in the game.
The Button
The play moves clockwise around the table, starting with action to the left of the dealer button.
The 'button' is a round disc that sits in front of a player and is rotated one seat to the left every hand.
When playing in casinos and poker rooms, the player with the dealer button doesn't deal the cards (the poker room hires someone to do that).
In when you play poker home games with friends the player with the button usually deals the hands.
The button determines which player at the table is the acting dealer.
The first two players sitting to the immediate left of the button are required to post a 'small blind' and a 'big blind' to initiate the betting.
From there, the action occurs on multiple streets:
- Preflop
- Flop
- Turn
- River
Each one of these moments (or 'streets' in the game's lingo) is explained further below.
The button determines which player at the table is the acting dealer.
In Texas hold'em, the player on button, or last active player closest to the button receives the last action on all post-flop streets of play.
While the dealer button dictates which players have to post the small and big blinds, it also determines where the dealing of the cards begin.
The player to the immediate left of the dealer button in the small blind receives the first card and then the dealer pitches cards around the table in a clockwise motion from player to player until each has received two starting cards.
READ ALSO: Poker Positions Explained: the Importance of Position in Poker
The Blinds
Before every new hand begins, two players at the table are obligated to post small and big blinds.
The blinds are forced bets that begin the wagering.
Without these blinds, the game would be very boring because no one would be required to put any money into the pot and players could just wait around until they are dealt pocket aces (AA) and only play then.
The blinds ensure there will be some level of 'action' on every hand.
In tournaments, the blinds are raised at regular intervals. In cash games, the blinds always stay the same.
In tournaments, the blinds are raised at regular intervals.
- As the number of players keeps decreasing and the stacks of the remaining players keep getting bigger, it is a necessity that the blinds keep increasing throughout a tournament. [*]In cash games, the blinds always stay the same.
The player directly to the left of the button posts the small blind, and the player to his or her direct left posts the big blind.
The small blind is generally half the amount of the big blind, although this stipulation varies from room to room and can also be dependent on the game being played.
In a '$1/$2' Texas holdem game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2.
First Betting Round: Preflop
The first round of betting takes place right after each player has been dealt two hole cards.
The first player to act is the player to the left of the big blind.
This position referred to as 'under the gun' because the player has to act first. The first player has three options:
- Call: match the amount of the big blind
- Raise: increase the bet within the specific limits of the game
- Fold: throw the hand away
If the player chooses to fold, he or she is out of the game and no longer eligible to win the current hand.
Players can bet anywhere from the amount of the big blind (the minimum bet allowed) up to the total amount in the current pot.
The amount a player can raise to depends on the game that is being played.
In a game of no-limit Texas hold'em, the minimum opening raise must be at least twice the big blind, and the maximum raise can be all of the chips a player has in his or her stack (an 'all-in' bet).
There are other betting variations in hold'em poker.
In fixed-limit hold'em (or just 'limit hold'em), a raise is always exactly twice the big blind.
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In pot-limit hold'em (played much less often than the other variations), players can bet anywhere from the amount of the big blind (the minimum bet allowed) up to the total amount in the current pot.
After the first player ('under the gun') acts, the play proceeds in a clockwise fashion around the table with each player also having the same three options — to call, to raise, or fold.
Once the last bet is called and the action is 'closed,' the preflop round is over and play moves on to the 'flop.'
Second Betting Round: The Flop
After the first preflop betting round has been completed, the first three community cards are dealt and a second betting round follows involving only the players who have not folded already.
A check simply means to pass the action to the next player in the hand.
In this betting round (and subsequent ones), the action starts with the first active player to the left of the button.
Along with the options to bet, call, fold, or raise, a player now has the option to 'check' if no betting action has occurred beforehand.
A check simply means to pass the action to the next player in the hand.
Again betting continues until the last bet or raise has been called (which closes the action).
It also can happen that every player simply chooses not to be and checks around the table, which also ends the betting round.
Third Betting Round: The Turn
Call – match the amount of the big blind
The fourth community card, called the turn, is dealt face-up following all betting action on the flop.
Once this has been completed, another round of betting occurs, similar to that on the previous street of play.
Again players have the option to options to check, bet, call, fold, or raise.
Final Betting Round: The River
Fold – throw the hand away
The fifth community card, called the river, is dealt face-up following all betting action on the turn.
Once this has been completed, another round of betting occurs, similar to what took play on the previous street of play.
Once more the remaining players have the option to options to check, bet, call, fold, or raise.
After all betting action has been completed, the remaining players in the hand with hole cards now expose their holdings to determine a winner. This is called the showdown.
The Showdown
Players construct their hands by choosing the five best cards from the seven available
The remaining players show their hole cards, and with the assistance of the dealer, a winning hand is determined.
The player with the best combination of five cards wins the pot according to the official poker hand rankings.
3. The Hands in Texas Hold'em
These hand rankings aren't specifically part of Texas hold'em rules, but apply to many different poker games.
- Royal Flush — five cards of the same suit, ranked ace through ten; e.g., A♥K♥Q♥J♥10♥
- Straight Flush — five cards of the same suit and consecutively ranked; e.g., 9♣8♣7♣6♣5♣
- Four of a Kind — four cards of the same rank; e.g., Q♣Q♥Q♦Q♠4♦
- Full House — three cards of the same rank and two more cards of the same rank; e.g., J♣J♥J♠8♦8♥
- Flush — any five cards of the same suit; e.g., A♠J♠8♠5♠2♠
- Straight — any five cards consecutively ranked; e.g., Q♣J♦10♥9♠8♦
- Three of a Kind — three cards of the same rank; e.g., 8♣8♠8♦K♣4♥
- Two Pair — two cards of the same rank and two more cards of the same rank; e.g., A♠A♣J♦J♣7♠
- One Pair — two cards of the same rank; e.g., 10♥10♣9♥4♦2♦
- High Card — five unmatched cards; e.g., A♣J♦10♠5♣2♥ would be called 'ace-high'
Players construct their hands by choosing the five best cards from the seven available (their two hole cards and the five community cards).
If the board is showing 9♣5♠K♦3♠A♥, a player with the two hole cards 9♠ would have two pair (aces and nines) and would lose to a player who has 9♦9♥ for three of a kind (three nines).
Learning hold'em poker begins with understanding how hands are dealt and the order of play as described above.
Of course, learning Texas hold'em rules is just the beginning, as the next step is to learn strategy which involves understanding what constitutes good starting hand selection, the odds and probabilities associated with the game, the significance of position and getting to act last during those post-flop betting rounds, and many other aspects of the game.
4. How to Play Texas Hold'em Games Online
Now that you know how Texas Hold'em works, it's time to put the theory into practice and play your first games.
The best way to start playing Texas Hold'em is to start from these free poker games available online and then move up to the real money action only when you feel comfortable enough to do so.
All the 'must-have poker rooms' below offer free games to practice online.
If you are completely new to the game, you should go for play money options, first. These risk-free games with fake money are an excellent way to familiarise with the different moments of play and the betting rounds.
The play money games are a great way to learn more about the hand rankings and begin to read the board fast enough to take all the right decisions at the right time.
After that, you should more to the poker freerolls. These are free poker tournaments with actual prizes on tap that range from free money to free entries into more expensive real money games.
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Texas Hold’em is arguably the most popular version of poker as we know it. Just like most games of poker, Texas Hold’em uses a standard 52-card deck, which gets shuffled before every hand. It’s always a good time, with plenty of action, strategy, and big money payouts. With Satoshi Vision’s Texas Hold’em Poker Strategy Guide and Summary, you’ll be hitting the felt like a poker pro in no time - whether that’s poker night with the boys, at an on-land casino, or playing online for real money
How to Play Texas Hold’em Poker - Need to Knows
The rules of Texas Hold’em Poker are easy enough to grasp, with a little practice. Each player begins with two hole cards. There are also three rounds of community cards which are dealt face up - available to any player at the poker table. Betting happens after each round.
You win Texas Hold’em poker when you’ve got the best 5-card hand that uses any combination of the five community cards and two hole cards. These standard poker rules apply for online poker as well - if anything, it’s easier to play online. Read on to get a more detailed understanding of online Texas Hold’em poker terms. Once you’ve got these down pat, you can start thinking about strategy.
Blinds
Each Texas Hold’em poker hand begins with two blinds. You can think of them as early bets. There are two poker players who bet before the cards are dealt. The idea here is to stimulate the action, rev up the anticipation of a real money payout. After all, if there was nothing to win, what reason would the first player have to make a bet? Before the dealer gets to work, the player to the left of the dealer button throws in chips and (normally) bets half the size of the minimum bet. This is called the Small Blind. The next poker player to the left has to put in chips equal to the minimum bet for the game - also called the Big Blind.
Sitting Down at a Table
When you sit at a Texas Hold’em poker table, you have to wait for the big blind to get to your position. This is bound to happen because the button moves one position to the left (clockwise) after each hand. However, to get dealt in at the beginning of the next hand in a way that wouldn’t make you the small blind or dealer, you can always post. In Texas Hold’em poker this essentially means you would put in a blind equivalent to the big blind.
The rules of Texas Hold’em poker are 100% clear: Each player must put both a small blind and a big blind into the pot once per round. If you miss the blinds in a round, you either wait for the big blind to reach you, or post a blind equivalent - as we mentioned above.
The First Round of Texas Hold’em Poker - A Breakdown:
Once the blinds are in place, the dealer deals one card, and then another face down to each player (hole cards), beginning with the small blind. Following this, five cards are added face-up in the center of the table. These community cards are a part of your hand - making seven. Out of these seven you make your winning five-card combo. When you’re playing Texas Hold’em online, you also have the added benefit of the software giving you a helping hand and will pick the top five cards for you when it’s time to compare hands.
There are four betting rounds in Texas Hold’em. There are three ways the size of your bet can go:
- Limit game: each betting round has a fixed bet size.
- Pot-limit game: A player can bet anywhere between the bet minimum and the size of the pot.
- No-limit game: A player can bet from the minimum bet to the max number of chips they’ve got in front of them.
If you’re seated to the left of the big blind, the betting starts with you - you’re under the gun, as they say. Here are your options:
- Fold
- Call for the minimum (limp)
- Raise
How To Play Texas Poker'em
When you’re playing Texas Hold’em poker online, you can pick your action by clicking in a dialog box. If you fold, the software will remove your cards from the screen, and you’ll be out until the next hand is dealt. If everyone folds the pot goes to the big blind and the next hand is dealt.
If you’re following someone who has opened, you can do the following:
- Fold
- Call (you match the previous bet)
- Raise (you increase the previous bet)
If there have been no raises by the time the bet gets to the big blind, that player has what’s known as the ‘option.’ In Texas Hold’em poker, this means they can opt to raise, giving each active player the chance to either call, reraise or fold. The big blind can also opt not to raise, which stops the action for that entire round. In this scenario, the big blind player would be called a live blind.
The Flop
Once everyone has had the chance to either fold or match the total betting, the dealer gives out three cards face up in the center of the table. These are the first three of the community cards in Texas Hold’em poker - otherwise known as the flop.
The second round of the betting action begins. In this round of Texas Hold’em poker, the action starts with the first active player to the left of the button. If the small blind called in the previous round (the first round), that player would go first. They will have two options:
- Check (make no bet)
- Bet (put chips at the proper limit for that round)
If there are no bets, each player in turn will have the same choice. It’s not unusual for no betting to occur after the first round. This is known as being ‘checked around.’ If someone does bet, the following player will have these three choices:
- Fold
- Call
- Raise
If a player checks, they hold on to their cards. When the betting starts again and someone bets, the player who checked also has the same three choices. To check and then raise when the action returns is called ‘check-raising.’ A word of caution: if you check and plan on raising, you risk the chance that no one will bet.
The Turn
Once the betting for the second round is set, the dealer deals one more card face up in the center of the table. This is the fourth of the community cards - also known as the turn.
The third round of betting follows. The same rule applies: the first active player to the left of the button bets first. The betting follows the same rules as the second round. In the case of a limit game, the betting usually grows to twice the size in the third and fourth round.
The River
After the betting in the third round is equalized, the dealer deals a fifth and final card face up in the center of the table. The last community card in Texas Hold’em poker called the river. With this card, the fourth and last round of betting goes down. Same betting rules from the previous rounds apply here as well.
The Showdown
Once the betting for the fourth round is out of the way, the betting is officially over and the showdown takes place. All the remaining active players must show their cards and the best hand wins. The player with the best hands (a combination of the hole cards and community cards) walks away with the Texas Hold’em poker pot, earning them some real money. In the case of a tie, the two tied players split the pot.
When you’re playing Texas Hold’em poker online and the betting has not equalized during the final round (meaning, a player has bet or raised and no one called) then the showdown does not take place. Instead, the game’s software gives the pot to the player who made the uncalled bet. This can happen during the earlier rounds as well - in which case no further cards would be dealt and the hand would be over.
There are also instances when a player runs out of poker chips before the action ends, which results in the creation of side pots. The software then awards the relevant main and side pots. If a player goes all in, a bet or raise can be made that’s not called, but the showdown will happen anyway
Texas Hold’em Strategy Guide
How Do You Play Poker
When it comes to learning poker strategies as a beginner, experience is often always the best teacher. However, there’s a few additional things you can do to level up your game and get the edge you need to win Texas Hold’em poker, especially when you’ve bet real money. Other poker players might not agree to showing losing hands, but you, as a player, are entitled to see any cards that were active during the showdown, even if they weren’t shown. All you have to do is “Show previous hand” to bring up a new window that will give you the results of the last hand and all the active cards. You can always look up more advanced strategies later, but for now we’ve given you everything you need to play Texas Hold’em online and for real money. Time to hit the felt like a pro!