Texas Hold'em
Starting hands
Texas Hold'em's popularity has exploded in the last years, mostly due to the exposure in television and online poker. It is easy to learn, the rules can be learned in a couple of minutes. But Texas Hold'em is a highly complex and difficult game to master. The key skills in Texas Hold'em are a good sense of probabilities together with a strategic mind and a skill to read other peoplse.
Rules of Texas Hold'em
The goal in Texas Hold'em is to win the pot by holding the best five card hand in a showdown or if the other players fold their cards before the showdown.
How Texas Hold'em is Played
There are four betting rounds in Texas Hold'em, they are called pre-flop, flop, the turn and the river. In fixed limit, players make small bets on the first two betting rounds and big bets on the last two betting rounds. In a no limit game a player can bet any amount up to what is left in front of him.
Texas Hold'em is a community card game, which means that there are community cards dealt open on the table that every player use to make the best possible five-card hand (poker hand). In Texas Hold'em there are five community cards dealt and two pocket-cards dealt to each player.
On the pre-flop round the two players nearest to the left of the dealer post the blinds, which are two mandatory bets that have to be posted on all hands. The blinds open the game and in a fixed limit game the big blind is equivalent of a small bet. Each player gets two cards dealt and the first betting round takes place.
The dealer places three cards face up on the table, this is called the flop. The players bet, fold or call as usual. The third betting round begins with the dealer placing a fourth open card called the turn, on the table. When players have made their moves a fifth card called the river is dealt on the table and betting begins again. The last player who bet shows his or hers hand first. The player with the best poker hand wins the pot.