Texas Hold'em Rules For Play
Texas hold'em poker is a card game played with a typical 52 card deck. It is extremely simple to play, and as such you can find it in casinos, card rooms and pubs all around the world. Texas Hold'em needs a minimum of two players two players ('heads up'), and has a limit of eleven players. Regular poker hand ranks apply to this game;
A game of texas hold’em starts with a player being nominated as dealer. The two people to the left of the dealer become the small blind and the big blind. The purpose of these two bets is to ensure that there is money on the table every hand;
Once the a game is started, a typical hold'em hand can be broken down into 5 sections, and goes as follows:
‘Preflop’
Starting with the person to the left of the dealer button (the small blind), each person is dealt two cards, face down. After everyone receives their two cards (called ‘pocket’ or ‘hole’ cards), betting begins. The person to the left of the big blind is the first to act, and betting goes round the table clockwise until completed.
Players who do not want to play because they consider their cards too weak can fold them, and wait till the next hand. Once everyone has either bet the same amount or folded, the pot is collected and play moves on to the next round, called;
‘The Flop’
The dealer turns over three cards in the middle of the table (called 'the flop'). These are community cards that each player can use to create the best hand possible out of (see ‘Hand Rankings’).
Once again, betting occurs, starting with the big blind and moving clockwise. On this round of betting, players can ‘check’, ‘bet’, or ‘fold’. Again, once betting is complete, the pot is collected and play moves on to the next round, called;
‘The Turn’
The dealer turns over another card in the middle of the table, making four community cards. This fourth card is called ‘the turn’ or ‘fourth street’.
Betting occurs again in the same fashion as before, with the first player to the left of the dealer being the first to act. Again, once betting is complete, the pot is collected and play moves on to the next round, called;
‘The River’
The dealer turns over the fifth and last community card. This is called "the river" or "fifth street". This is the card that has made or broken thousands of players across the years. An unlucky river card has seen many people leaving the table early, and a lucky river granting salvation to a player with an otherwise loosing hand!
Betting occurs for the last time now, in the same fashion as before. Then, we move on to;
‘The Showdown’
All the players that are still in the hand now show their cards to see who won the pot. The winner is decided by who has the strongest hand – please see our hand ranking section for an explanation. If two players have an equally strong hand, then the result is a 'split pot'.
Once this is done, the dealer button and blinds move one place to the left, and a new hand starts.
See more guides
Strategy Guides
- Staying in the game
- Check your position
- On the flop
- Turn and river
- Slow playing and trapping
- Large stack dominion
- Short stack aggressiveness
- Table image
- Choosing your table
- Choosing your style
- Projecting your image
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