Texas Holdem

Texas Holdem Poker, otherwise known as Texas Holdem is the most popular poker game online today.

A variation of 7 Card Stud, but much faster and with more excitement. Two cards are dealt face down to each player and five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table. Your hand is determined by using the best five of those seven cards (in any combination) and the best hand wins the pot (The pot may also be won by someone betting and no one calling prior to the completion of the hand.).

The Game
Texas Holdem uses what is called a dealer button to indicate the theoretical dealer of each hand. After each hand is completed, as with standard poker rules, the button moves clockwise to the next active player at the table. This player will be considered “the dealer?for that hand.

The First Round
The player next to the button / dealer is required to place the small blind. The small blind is equal to half the lower stake or half the minimum bet. This is a guideline for determining the blinds and not a strict rule.

The player to the left of the small blind is required to post the big blind, equal to the lower stake limit or the minimum required bet. In a certain scenario it is possible for more than one player to post a big blind in a hand. This is if a new player joins a table in which a game is already going on. The player would get an option of placing a Big Blind at the start of the next hand or wait for his/her turn (as decided by the movement of the button) to place the Big Blind in turn. All the blinds in Texas Holdem are considered live bets and the players who posted them will have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding when the betting returns to their position.

After the blinds have been placed, the down cards are dealt to each active player sitting at the table. In Texas Holdem, two cards are dealt to each of the players, after which the first betting round starts. The player to the left of the player who placed the big blind starts the betting for this round.

Each player will now have the option to place his / her bets in the first round, which is set at the lower limit of the stakes structure. For example in a $10/$20 Texas Holdem Poker game, the value or incriment of each bet is $10 for the first round. When we say the bets are limited to $10, it refers to a single bet with a value of $10, so when a user places a “BET?then it is $10, a “RAISE?would be $20, which includes one additional bet and a call on the previous bet placed by a player.

Bets can be placed by playing any of the following options ?Bet, Call and Raise. Each player will also have the option to Fold at anytime they like. These options are available to each player depending on the action taken by the previous player. The first player (left of the Big Blind) to act in the first round would get the Bet, Call and Raise options. Subsequent players would also get the options of Call and Raise. To Call is to bet the same as what the previous player has bet. Raise is to increase whatever was the bet/call amount of the previous player, and can be calculated based on the value of the previous bet amount.

Every player participating in the hand should place equal amount of bet as the previous players (includes bets, calls and raises). Until the time all players have placed equal amounts in the pot, the betting will continue. There is a limit on the amount and the number of bets a player can place during a betting round, which also would be considered during the hand. The number of bets for a particular round of betting has been mentioned in the Texas Holdem Rules section and is explained there in detail.

After the first round of betting is over, the Flop (the first three cards of the community) is dealt. The community cards are common to all the players participating in the hand.