Texas hold’em, often just called Hold’em, is one of the most popular forms of poker played in card rooms and casinos all over the world, as well as online. In recent years it’s become well known due to being televised at events like the World Series Of Poker (WSOP), the World Poker Tour and the Late Night Poker series.
Hold’em, like all poker, requires at least 2 players, and technically it can be played with as many as 22 players though around 8 – 10 is considered optimal (and rarely is it played with more than 12).
Blinds
A hand of Hold’em begins with the player left of the dealer placing a small forced bet known as the small blind, while the player 2 left of the dealer places a forced bet of twice that amount, known as the big blind.
The blinds (like antes in some other forms of poker) ensure that there is something in the pot each hand, which makes the hand worth winning. Since the dealer changes each hand, so the position of the blinds also change. This means that you can’t simply sit there waiting to be dealt the best hand, and folding all others, since you would slowly bleed chips each time you were in the blinds (don’t worry – there will be more more about the blinds, and position in a later part of this tutorial series!)
Once the blinds have been placed the dealer deals every player 2 cards, face down. These hold cards and peeked at only by the player, and are kept secret from all other players throughout the hand.
Betting
Next comes a round of betting. Starting with the player the left of the big blind, each player in turn decides (based on the cards they have been dealt) whether or not to play the hand. The player has three choices. If they decide not to play the hand (because they believe they have a poor chance of winning the pot) they can fold. They don’t have to place any chips in the pot, and their cards are mucked – placed face down in the pile of discarded cards.
If the player does decide to play they can either call, which means matching the current bet (in this instance the value of the big blind) or raise (increasing the size of the bet, which all others must then match if they want to stay in the hand).
Each player makes his or her choice in turn, until all players have either folded or called (placed a bet equal to all other players). If there are no raises on the first round, then the player in the small blind needs only bet half the amount – since they already placed a half bet, they simply have to double it to match the big blind to stay in the hand. Finally, the player in the big blind has the choice of either raising (in which case the other players all have to match that raise, or fold) or check which simply means that they choose not to raise, and play continues.
The Flop
After the first round of betting comes the flop. The dealer deals three cards, face up, in the center of the table. These are community cards, which are used with the player’s hole cards to make the best possible poker hand. In total, 5 cards will be dealt as community cards and each player will make a 5 card poker hand using any combination of their hold cards and any of the community cards.
After the flop comes the second betting round. This time (and in all subsequent betting) the action starts with the player to the left of the dealer. Again, the players bet, call and raise in turn based on whether or not they believe they can win the pot. This time however, they will consider both their hold cards (which only they can see) and the 3 flop cards.
If nobody in the current betting rounds has bet the player may choose to check. A check can be made by saying check, or tapping on the table. Play then passes to the next player. If all players check then the next card will be dealt for free (with nobody betting) but if any player bets then all others must call (match the bet) or fold.
The Turn (forth street)
Next, a single forth card is dealt faceup next to the flop. This card is called the turn, and again a round of betting follows with the same rules as before.
The River (fifth street)
The final card, known as the river, is dealt to make 5 community cards face up in the middle of the table. At this point the players know their final hand values, and the final betting round ensues.
Again betting continues until all players have either placed an equal bet (called) or folded. If all other players fold, the one left in the hand wins the pot and doesn’t have to show their hand. However, if 2 or more players are left in the hand and have placed equal sized bets there is a showdown. The players turn their hands face up and the player with the highest 5 card hand (made from any combination of their own hole cards and the community cards) wins the pot.
And that’s a hand of poker!
Sure there are a few extra rules, like what happens if a player is low on chips and goes all-in (which I’ll cover shortly) but basically that’s how a game of Texas Hold’em is played, and play continues in that manner until the game is over.
The best way to understand the rules, is with an example, so let’s take a look at a sample hand…
