 |
 |
|
Texas Hold'em
The goal of hold’em is to make the best possible poker hand using any combination of your personal cards and the community cards on the table. To begin, each player is dealt two cards face-down, called the hole cards. Using a button (usually some sort of disk) to show who the dealer is for the round – note that it shifts in a clockwise motion from player to player after each round – the player to the left of the dealer posts what’s called the Small Blind (half of the minimum bet), and the player to the left of that posts the Big Blind (equal to a full bet). Players can then look at their cards and betting begins to the left of the player who posted the Big Blind. Because the blinds are considered bets, players have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding. This is known as the Pre-Flop. After betting is over, the dealer burns a card and then lays down three cards face-up in the middle of the table. This is called the Flop, and they are community cards that any player can use. After this comes another round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer this time and from now on. The dealer burns another card and then lays down another one face-up, called the Turn card or Fourth Street. At this point, if you aren’t playing a No Limit or Pot Limit betting structure, the minimum bets are doubled and another round of betting occurs. Another card is burned, and the final community card is laid, called the River or Fifth Street. There is a final round of betting and then the Showdown where players still in the game show their cards.
Texas
Holdem |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Texas
Hold’em -- "the cadillac of poker" -- is probably the most popular
and widely-played poker variation being played today. It’s what
they play at the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, and
probably at your friends’ houses on their Thursday poker night.
On its face, hold’em is a simple enough game to learn, but impossible
to master. It’s played using standard poker rules, and can be played
by anywhere from two to eleven people.
There is a big difference between the way people play Texas Hold em online and the way they play in live games. Playing online is fun and can be helpful, but there are some mistakes that you can make online that would be just plain embarrassing in a...