Texas Holdem Poker is the most popular version of poker, which is played in almost all casinos and online poker rooms. Texas Holdem is frequently seen on TV shows like ESPN’s World Series of Poker (The WSOP) and Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour (The WPT). If you want to start playing this thrilling game, then you need to learn Texas Holdem rules before tossing your chips into the pot. These are basic Texas Holdem rules, which are quite sufficient to start playing at cheap tables in any online poker room.
The Deal and The Blinds
The game starts with the dealer shuffling a 52-card deck used in all poker variants (except video poker, where Jokers are usually involved).
In brick-and-mortar casinos, card rooms and online poker rooms the dealer never plays. A round disc marked with “D”, which is known as a “dealer button”, marks the player, who represents the dealer and moves clockwise around the table after each hand.
According to rules of Texas Holdem, each game starts with two players to the left of the dealer button posting the blinds – a predetermined amount of money, which is contributed into the pot before any cards are dealt to the players. The blinds ensure that there’s always something to play for on every new hand. There are the small and the big blind. The first player to the left of the dealer button posts the small blind, which is usually half the minimum bet of a particular table and the second player to the left of the dealer button posts the big blind, which is usually worth the size of the minimum bet. For example in a $5/$10 game, the size of the small blind is $2,5 and the size of the big blind is $5. Right after both blinds are placed into the pot, all players are dealt two cards facedown. These cards are commonly called “hole cards” or “pocket cards”.
First Betting Round
When hole cards are dealt to all players, the first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind. The players can call, raise, when it is their turn to act.
The Flop
When the first betting round ends, the first three community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. These cards are commonly called “the flop”. Note that in casino and US poker rooms, the dealer will “burn” one card before the flop (discard the top card of the deck), which is done to ensure that no player will cheat using some marks on the rear side of cards.
The flop is followed by the second betting round, which begins with the first player to the left of the dealer button.
The Turn
The fourth community card, called “the Turn” or “Fourth Street” is dealt face up onto the table. The third betting round begins with the player to the left of the dealer button.
The River
The fifth community card, called “the River” or “Fifth Street” is dealt face up onto the table.
Showdown
At this moment, the players see all five community cards and may use any combination of their two pocket (hole) cards and five community cards to make the best possible five-card poker hand. Note that unlike in other community poker games, in Texas Holdem the players are allowed to use any combination of 2 hole and 5 community cards, which means that they can use both hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and four community cards, or just 5 community cards to present the best possible poker hand they can make.
The fourth betting round begins with the player to the left of the dealer button.
After the fourth (and final) betting round, the players remaining in the game reveal and compare their hands to determine the winner. The showdown usually starts with the player, who made the initial bet, or with the player, who made the last raise during the fourth betting round.
The player holding the best possible 5-card poker hand wins the entire pot. In case if there are more than one player holding equally strong hands, the kickers are used to determine the winner. For example if Bob has AQ, Mike has 9Q and the table is 7JQQK, Bob wins, because although both players have Three of a Kind (QQQ), Bob’s Ace is higher than Mike’s 9. In case if two or more players have completely identical hands (including the kickers), then the pot is equally split among them. For example if Bob has AQ, Mike has AQ and the flop is 7JQQK, then the pot is equally split among them, because both players have equally strong kickers. Note that in Texas Holdem poker, the card suits are irrelevant.
