Texas Holdem Poker

Introduction

Texas Holdem became one of the most popular poker games around the globe thanks to wide media exposure. Professional poker players as well as poker fans prefer this version of poker because it is an easy game to learn. In fact, many of current school poker celebrities have had their success playing this version of poker.

Playing Procedure

The objective of Texas Holdem is to collect the highest hand. Usually, the game is played with a standard 52-cards deck and up to ten participants. Players receive two cards down, known as hole cards, afterwards 5 cards are dealt face up (community cards) and then players try to make their best 5 card poker hand out of the 7 cards.

Texas Holdem begins with the dealer button, a small flat disk, that indicates who is to deal the cards. The two players to the immediate left of the dealer button are the blind positions, first to the left is the small blind, and second to the left is the big blind. The dealer then deals two cards face down to each player, known as hole cards or pocket cards, and the first round of betting ensues.

Once the first round of betting is complete the dealer burns one card and places three cards up in the middle of the table for all players to use, known as the flop. Once these community cards are in the game, a second round of betting occurs, beginning with the first player to the left of the dealer that is still in the game. Players may bet, check, raise or fold.

Following this second round of betting another card is laid face up, known as fourth street or the turn card. Another round of betting takes place.

Finally, the last card is placed face up on the table, which is called the river card. A final round of betting takes place and the person with the best 5 card poker hand between any of the community cards and the two face down wins the pot.

Occasionally, two players will have hands of equal strength so in this case the pot is split equally between the two.

How to Bet

There are three types of betting structure in Texas Holdem poker: Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Holdem and No Limit Holdem.

• Limit Holdem: In limit holdem the amount that a player wishes to bet or raise with is limited to predefined amounts
• Pot Limit Holdem: In this type of texas holdem game the maximum bet cannot exceed the amount that has been accumulated in the pot at that point
• No Limit Holdem: In no limit holdem, as the name suggests, any player can bet or raise any amount of their chips at any given time

A poker enthusiast should acknowledge that Texas Holdem is purely a game of chance; therefore, no one can guarantee pockets full of money with or without extensive practice. Even though Texas Holdem conveys a trendy poker variation with multiple gaming strategies, the truth behind the concept of the game is waiting to be discovered.