Basic Poker Rules Texas Holdem
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>>Play at BetOnline Now (US Players Accepted)!<<The basic rules of Texas Hold’em gameplay are really easy to learn and, in fact, a complete beginner can be taught how to play in a matter of minutes. Texas Hold’em is known as the Cadillac of poker for a reason. No other variant finds such a perfect balance between all of the various elements of poker. Texas Hold’em Rules. In Texas hold’em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole’ cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.
Rules of Texas Holdem:
Texas Hold’em by far the most popular form of poker online. Poker’s simplest variant contains just the right balance of skill, strategy and luck to keep the internet poker players hooked, and beginners gagging for more.
Learn the Basic Rules of Texas Holdem
- From a full deck (52 cards), players are dealt two, face down ‘hole cards’. Between two (heads up) and ten (full ring) players can play.
- One player is always the dealer, and two players must always post blinds – small blind and big blind.
- There is a round of betting pre-flop (before the first three community cards are dealt). In No-Limit Hold’em, a player can move all-in at any stage. In Pot-Limit Hold’em, a player can only bet the ‘pot’ (money in the middle), or factors of the pot. In Limit Hold’em, a player can only raise one big blind.
- On his turn, a player has three options – he can fold (muck his cards), check (invest no further money) or raise (increase the pot size).
- After the first round of betting, the flop is delivered. There is another round of betting.
- After the fourth card, the ‘turn’, there is another round of betting.
- There is a final round of betting after the ‘river’, the fifth community card is dealt.
- The aim of the game is to make the best five card hand. The player who achieves this scoops the pot.
Here is a chart summarizing the hand rankings in Texas Hold’em. Of course, it is very rare you actually see a Royal Flush or Four of a Kind. The most common scenario is a player hitting a pair. If both players hit the same pair, then the pot is awarded to the person with the highest ‘kicker’.
For instance, on a 5c 10d Jh 2s 7s board, Steve has Ac Js. His five card hand is Jh Js Ac 10d 7s, so in full word form, ‘a pair of jacks with ace kicker’. John holds Kd Jd. He holds a pair of jacks with king kicker, and so loses the pot. In Texas Hold’em, the ace can represent high or low. So you can make a straight, Ace to 5, and a straight 10-Ace. If both players table exactly the same hand, the pot is split.
Table set up:
Now you know the basics, let’s look at how the game works in practice. This screenshot is taken from a full ring (9 player) table on Full Tilt Poker, one of the biggest online poker sites. It may look confusing at first, but we’ll explain all the terms.
This is a $2/$4 No Limit Hold’em game. This means that two players must post blinds of $2 (small blind) and $4 (big blind) respectively. In this case, ‘spades42011’ and ‘loques’ are the blinds. ‘crudobad’ is the dealer.
Before the flop, ‘lryyyyyy’ is first to act. Therefore he is in ‘early position’ – he must act the ‘earliest’ before the flop. He has three options – he can fold (commit no money to the pot), flat call (call the big blind of $4) or raise. So why are loques and spades in early position? Although they act last before the flop, because they are on the blinds, they must act first on every other ‘street’ (after the flop, turn and river). Your ‘position’ is determined by your seat, in relation to the dealer. The dealer is always in late position, as he is the last player to act on the flop, turn and river.
The later position you are in, the better. This is because you can adjust your actions to how people act before you. If you are in late position, you have more information on your opponents holding.
Starting Hands
A lot of Texas Hold’em is about selecting the right starting hands to play. For beginners, we advocate playing tight – this means only playing a small range of hands.
Hands such as AA, KK and QQ are premium hands, and should be played very aggressively. Hands such as AK suited and JJ are also very powerful holdings. We should be more careful about playing hands like AQ, and pocket pairs such as 10,10 and 9,9, but they are still strong holdings. We should be very careful about playing marginal hands such as KQ, KQ, A10, as in a full ring game, it’s quite likely there is a superior holding. The earlier your position on the table, the tighter you should play, because there is a higher chance someone acting after you will have a better holding.
There is also value in playing hands like suited connectors (6d 7d) in multi-way pots, because they have flush and straight potential. With these hands, you have the potential to rake in a big pot if you connect with the flop. You should only play these kind of hands if you are getting the right pot-odds (i.e. you stand to win a lot of money on your investment). This will be explained in more detail in later articles.
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There are many different forms of poker including seven card stud, Omaha, five-card draw, and Texas hold’em to name a few. Hold’em has evolved as the most popular game worldwide and is the form we shall use to cover the basic rules of poker.
In this lesson we’ll take you step by step through the basic rules of poker and we’ll use an example hand to illustrate. You can read the text that follows or alternatively you can watch the video version instead. Watching the video is probably the better option because it’s easier to follow the betting action, but the choice is yours.
The Setup
![Basic Basic](https://www.gamblingsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/texas-chart.png)
The game of hold’em is typically played with nine or ten players at the table.
Figure 1
In our example we have ten players. The dealer button is on player 1, the blinds have been posted, and each player has received their hole cards. If this doesn’t make sense to you, then don’t worry we’ll explain exactly what this all means.
The Dealer Button
The dealer button is the round disc labelled with “Dealer” or “D”, and it signifies who is the dealer for the hand. Please be aware that each player gets to ‘act’ as the dealer, even if they don’t physically deal the cards. After each hand the dealer button moves to the next player, in a clockwise manner. In figure 1, the dealer button is with player 1, but for the next hand it’ll be with player 2, and then player 3, and so on.
The dealer position is also called “the button” and is the most favourable position in the game as that player gets to act last after he has seen everyone else make their decisions. The exception to this rule occurs on the very first round of betting wherein the “blinds” will act after the button.
Blind Bets
Before any cards are dealt the two players to the left of the dealer button are required to post what are referred to as the blinds. These are forced and compulsory bets that encourage the action and give players something to shoot for. Typically there is a small blind directly to the left of the button, who posts half the size of the big blind’s obligation. The amount of the blinds is determined by the stakes of the game.
Figure 2
In our example we’re using blinds of $1 and $2. In case it’s not obvious, they are called blind bets because the two players are required to post them before they see their cards.
The Deal
Once the blinds have been posted each player is dealt two facedown cards, which are often referred to as their hole cards. The best two hole cards a player can be dealt in hold’em are two Aces’, but we’ll discuss the importance of starting hand selection in later lessons. All you need to know for now is that after the blinds have been posted and the hole cards have been dealt, the betting action can begin.
Pre-Flop
This first betting round is called the pre-flop betting round. The first player to act is the player directly to the left of the big blind (in our example this would be player 4) and he has three options; to call the amount of the big blind, which in our example would be $2, to raise, or to fold. If a player decides to fold then they muck (discard/throw away) their cards facedown and sit out until the next hand is dealt. The action then follows around the table in a clockwise direction until each player has been afforded the opportunity to call, raise or fold.
The whole betting procedure of poker can be a little confusing for beginners. In our example hand you can see that players 2 and 3 have posted the blinds. If all the players to the left of player 3 decide to call the $2 bet then the action is on the small blind, player 2, who has so far only posted a small blind of $1. He now has the option to call $1 more to make up the bet, or he can raise. If he calls the extra $1, then the big blind is left with the final option. Since the blind bets are made before the cards are dealt, they are considered “live” which means that even if all the other players just call the big blind he then still has the option to raise, if he wishes. If the big blind doesn’t want to raise then the betting round is over and we can move onto the flop, which we’ll explain in a moment.
What if a player decides to raise? If a player decides to raise the big blind bet of $2, then all the remaining players must either call the new bet, re-raise, or fold.
Figure 3
In our example player 6 raised the betting to $4, player 7 folded and is now out of the hand. Player 8 called, but players 9, 10, and 1 all folded and are also out of this hand. Players 2, 3, 4, and 5, all called player 6’s raise. Once all bets have been equalized (i.e. matched), then the betting round is over. In our example, six players are now left in and the pot contains $24 ($4 x 6). This brings us onto the next betting round, called the flop.
Do you have other poker questions? We fully recommend reading the book Unfolding Poker and getting usable answers that you can put to use in your NEXT session.
Basic Poker Rules Texas Holdemem Rules
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The Flop
After the first round of betting is complete three community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. All the active players can use these three cards, along with their two hole cards, to make their best possible hand. These three cards are known as “the flop”. Here’s the flop before any further betting has taken place:
Figure 4
You will notice that all the bets from previous round (pre-flop) are now in the pot. After the flop has been dealt, another betting round begins. The first active player to the left of the dealer button starts the action. In our example this is the small blind from the opening round, player 2. The forced action created by the blind bets no longer exists and that player has two options; to check or bet. A check means to neither open the betting nor fold. When a player checks the action moves onto the next active player, who may also check. If a player wants to check they either verbally announce “check”, or they tap the table with their finger or hand (or click the mouse if playing online poker).
If a player decides to open the betting, the option to check is over, and a player must either call, raise, or fold – this includes any players who have previously checked. Once all bets for this betting round have been matched or every player has opted to check, then we move onto the next betting round. For our example hand, let’s suppose that after the flop was dealt, players 2, 3, 4, and 5, all checked. But player 6 then bet $2, which was called by player 8. Players 2, 3, and 4 all fold, but player 5 calls the $2. These three players get to see “the turn”.
The Turn
After the second round of betting (the flop) a fourth card is dealt and that card is called “the turn” – it’s also sometimes referred to as 4th street. In our example hand we have three players remaining:
Figure 5
You will also notice that the pot now contains $30, which is made up of $24 from the first betting round, and $6 from the betting on the flop. After the forth community card (the turn) has been dealt, another round of betting takes place, exactly the same format as the previous betting round, starting with the first active player to the left of the dealer button. In our example, this would be player 5. He may check or bet. Let’s suppose that player 5 checks, as do players 6 and 8. If all the players check, the round is over, and we move onto “the river”.
The River
After the third round of betting is complete the fifth and final board card is dealt and that card is called “the river” – it’s also sometimes referred to as 5th street.
Figure 6
In our example hand, there is $30 in the pot and player 5 bets $4. He’s raised by player 6 (who makes it $8 total). Let’s suppose that player 8 folds, and player 5 decides to call the extra $4. When the final betting round ends with two or more active players (as our example has done), then we get to what is called a “showdown”.
Poker Rules Texas Holdem Wiki
The Showdown
After the final betting round is completed, it’s time to see who has won the hand, and the money in the pot. Now that all of the cards have been dealt, each player can combine his two hole cards with any of the five cards on the board to create his best five card poker hand. The winning hand must been seen, which means players can now reveal their two hole cards. The player that was called (player 6) is required to show first. Figure 7 shows an example showdown after both players have shown their hole cards:
Figure 7
Which hand wins? Player 5 has a straight (9, T, J, Q, K), and player 6 has a higher straight (T, J, Q, K, A) but his best hand is a flush (A, K, Q, T, 5 of hearts). If you studied the poker hand rankings lesson then you will be aware that a flush always beats a straight. Therefore player 6 wins this hand, and as you can see in figure 6, after the final betting on the river, the pot now contains $46. Player 6 wins the pot of $46, and a new hand can begin.
Some Important Points…
Poker Basic Rules Texas Hold Em
In our above example it was mentioned on more than one occasion that not all hands will reach the point of a showdown. It’s important that you realize that a hand of poker can be over even before the players get to see the flop. Our example hand made it to a showdown, but if a player had made a bet which wasn’t called during any of the betting rounds, then this player would’ve won, uncontested. Think of it like a boxing fight, where a fighter could land a knockout blow in the first round, or both boxers could still be standing after 12 rounds, in which case it’d be decided on points.
It’s also worth noting that if you do get to a showdown scenario then you are not obligated to even use your two hole cards. If the best five card hand you can make is comprised of the five community cards, you are said to be playing the board. For example, if the five community cards (flop, turn, and river) made up a Royal flush, the best possible hand in poker, then all the remaining active players would share the pot, regardless of their hole cards. Even though each player has seven cards in total, only five of them count – your best five.
Once you have the basic rules of poker understood, it’s time to start building a powerful strategy. See how our friends at Red Chip Poker built the perfect course to give you the perfect playbook…
Of course there are many other rules and important concepts you need to understand, but hopefully you’ve learnt a lot from this lesson. The game of Texas hold’em is a deceptively simple game, but as you move through the myriad of poker lessons here on Pokerlogy you will experience an astounding wealth of information and strategy.
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By Tim Ryerson
Tim is from London, England and has been playing poker since the late 1990’s. He is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ at Pokerology.com and is responsible for all the content on the website.