Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker game and is played all around the world. Anyone can learn the rules of the game in just a few minutes, however, it’s a difficult game to master. There is no optimal strategy in Texas Hold’em but rather multiple good strategies that a player can make use of. Texas Hold’em is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Each player is dealt two cards faced down, these cards are called hole cards or pocket cards. After each player at the table has received his 2 hole cards, 5 cards are dealt faced up on the table during 3 rounds, these cards are called community cards and can be seen by all players at the table. The player who gets the best hand when combining his own pocket cards with the five community cards win. The player can combine the cards anyway he wants, using both his pocket cards, one of his pocket cards or none of his pocket cards to combine the best hand of five cards.
The Blinds
In Texas Hold’em a dealer button is used at the table to see where the cards should be dealt from. The dealer button is moved one step to the left after each round. The small blind and the big blind are posted by the two players to the left of the dealer button.
Preflop
When the blinds have been placed on the table, each player is dealt two cards faced down. These are the so called hole cards. The player to the left of the big blind starts the betting round by calling (matching the big blind put on the table), raising or folding his cards. The first betting rounds are finished when all players have either called the big blind, raised or folded. If any player raises during the first betting round, the other players must decide to call the raise, re-raise or fold.
The Flop
When the first betting round is complete the dealer deals 3 cards on the table faced up. These cards are called the flop and can be seen by all players. The player to the left of the dealer button starts the second betting round by either checking (not betting) or betting. If a player bets into the pot the other players have to decide if they want to call, raise or fold. The second betting round is over when all players have either put an equal amount in to the pot or folded.
The Turn
When the second betting round is complete the dealer puts out one more card faced up on the table. This card is called The Turn or 4th Street. This card is also showed to all players at the table. The third betting round works the same way as the second round. The third betting round is over when all players have either put an equal amount in to the pot or folded.
The River
The dealer puts out the last and 5th card called the river or 5th street. This card is showed to all players and can be used by any player to combine a hand. A fourth and last betting round occurs and works exactly the same way as the second and third betting round.
Showdown
After the fourth and last betting round, it’s time for the showdown where the players still left get to show their hands. The player can use any of the five community cards on the table to combine the best 5-card hand. In other words, the player can use all the five cards on the table or he can use for cards on the table and one of his pocket cards or he can use 3 cards from the table and both of his pocket cards to combine the best hand consisting of no more then 5 cards. The player with the best combination wins the pot when you play Texas Hold em. If both players have equally good hands, the pot is split.
