Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular of all poker variants. All tournaments around the world (including those played at the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour and others) offer an unlimited version of this game.
Learning to play Texas Hold’em poker is not that difficult, but don’t let the simplicity of the game mislead you. The number of possible game situations is so large that the game can be very challenging when played at a high level. Remember the famous saying about Texas Hold’em: “you can learn in a moment, but you can improve for a lifetime.
Texas Hold’em Rules
So, how to play Texas Hold’em? In Hold’em, players try to put together the best combination of five cards according to poker combinations.
In Hold’em, each player is dealt two cards face down, then five more cards are dealt during subsequent rounds. These dealt cards are called “community cards” because each player uses them to build a hand.
The five common cards are dealt in three rounds. The first three common cards are called the “flop.” Then only one card, called the “turn,” is dealt. Finally, another card is dealt, the fifth and final common card, the “river.”
Players assemble combinations using the best available five cards from the seven common cards (two open cards and five common cards). This can be done using either the open cards in combination with three common cards, with one card in combination with four common cards, or using all five common cards.
Button
Texas Hold’em is played with a standard deck of 52 cards.
The round chip is called Button and it indicates which player is the dealer. After each hand is completed, it goes clockwise from one player to the next.
When playing online poker, you don’t have to worry about this, but when playing with friends, everyone involved in the game will be the dealer, one at a time.
The goal of the game is to put together the best combination of two of your cards and five other, common cards that will be on the table. Such a combination may consist of two of your cards and three of the common cards, one of your cards and four of the common cards, or even all of the common cards from the table. The player who makes the best combination takes the entire pot, which is the sum of all bets.
Blinds
In Hold’em, there are two mandatory bets, called blinds (blind bets).
The game starts with the two players to the left of Button betting a predetermined amount before the cards are dealt.
The player after Button, bets the small blind and the next player bets the big blind. The big blind is usually twice the size of the small blind. In tournaments, the size of the blinds goes up after a certain period of time, which ensures that players are eliminated.
