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| HOW TO PLAY TEXAS HOLD |
Texas Hold'em poker is almost single handedly responsible for the current popularity of poker today. It is the game of choice for most professional and amateur players alike and the No-Limit version is the game played during the World Series of Poker's main event.
It is a more complex game than both Draw and Stud poker, because all players share a group of community cards, which they combine with their own to make the best possible five card hand.
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| | | Limit Hold | | Preliminaries |
Before each game, betting limits are established which dictate how much each player is allowed to bet in each betting round. For example, if you were playing $2/4 limit poker, the first and second round of betting would consist of individual $2 bets, and the third and fourth round of betting would consist of $4 bets.
Each player will deal one hand each to the completion of the hand, then the person to the dealers left will become the dealer for the hand.
In casinos, a professional dealer will deal for everyone, and online the computer program will deal for everyone, so in both instances, a dealer button will be placed in front of the person whose turn it is to deal, and the independent dealer will deal accordingly, in the order that the player with the dealer button would have dealt. |
| | | Pre-Flop |
The player to the dealers left will automatically pay the small blind. This is always equivalent to half a bet (in the above example $1) and the next person to the left will pay the big blind, which is always equivalent to the one bet ($2 in this example).
Cards will then be dealt face down in a clockwise direction, starting from the player to the dealers left, until all players have two cards. The player to the left of the big blind will now act first, and all players in turn will have the opportunity to either fold their cards (place no further money into the pot and sit out the hand), call (match the single bet placed by the big blind or any raises that have been made), or raise (bet one more bet than the last bettor/raiser).
It is permittable, in our example, for the big blind to place the compulsory $2, the next player to raise one bet to $4, the next player to raise one more bet to $6 and then the big blind to raise again to $8.
Of course, as the big blind already has $2 in the pot, it will only cost him $6 more to raise to $8. The original raiser who bet $4 will now have the choice to pay $4 more to match this bet, and the person who bet $6 has the choice to pay $2 more to match the bet. If they chose to, these player could continue to raise indefinitely, but only one bet at a time.
At any time, when it is their turn, any player can choose not to match the bet and fold. |
| | | The Flop |
| After the first round of betting has finished, the dealer will discard the first card on top of the deck, then deal the next three cards face up in the middle of the table. These community cards are for everybody to se, and players will bet again, basing their bets on who they think has the best five card hand, using their two personal whole cards, and the three community cards. Again, as in a $2/4 limit game, bets will always be placed in $2 increments. |
| | | The Turn |
| The dealer will again discard the card at the top of the deck, and then this time only turn one card over, placing it in the middle of the table with the other three community cards. Players will now bet on who they think has the best five card hand, consisting of any five of the six cards available to them (two in their hand and four on the board). This round though, the bets will double to $4. |
| | | The River |
| For the last time, the dealer will discard the top card from the deck and add one more card to the community cards, making a total of five community cards, and each player left in the hands two hole cards. Players will now bet, again in $4 increments, on who they think can make the best five card hand from the seven available to them. Player can choose to use either both, one of none of their whole cards to make their five card hand. Other players can of course do the same. It is possible for two or more players to share the same community cards when making their hand. |
| | | The Showdown |
| When all betting is finished, all players left in the pot will turn their two hole cards face up, and the person who can make the strongest five card hand from the seven available (see hand rank chart) will win. If two or more players have hands of equal strength, they’ll share the pot equally. If at any point during the hand all but one player folds their cards, the layer remaining wins the pot and doesn’t have to show his cards. |
| | | Variations | | No-Limit Hold |
This is the version of poker that poker legend Doyle Brunson calls "the Cadillac of poker". It is the version of poker played at the World Series of Poker's main event and is the version of poker that is regularly shown on television all over the world. It is the type of poker played in cult movie 'Rounders' starring Matt Damon and is the form of poker played in recent James Bond movie 'Casino Royale'.
It is also, almost single handedly responsible for the recent boom in poker that has made it into a multi-billion dollar industry. No-Limit Hold'em is played exactly the same as Limit Hold'em except for one major difference. There is no limit to the amount that any player can bet at any time.
This makes No-Limit Hold'em far more of a game of reading players and having the courage to make substantial bluffs, and call substantial bets, than the more mechanical Limit Hold'em. |
| | | Pot-Limit Hold |
| This game is far less popular than the other two versions of Hold'em. It is played exactly the same except that the players can bet any amount they want, up to the amount currently in the pot |
| | | Omaha |
| Omaha is played exactly the same as Hold'em, except that every player is dealt four hole cards, and must use exactly two of them when making their best five card hand. Omaha can be played in Limit, Pot-Limit and No-Limit versions. |
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