Introduction

Texas Holdem is one of the fastest and most exciting games in poker and, because of its popularity on TV and vast prize-money available in the big tournaments, such as The World Series of Poker, it is now the most popular game, in both offline and online poker.

Playing Texas Holdem Poker

The "button" is used to indicate the dealer position in both offline and online poker. It moves one place to the left after every hand. Before any cards are dealt, the first player to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind". The player to his or her left then posts the "big blind".  Blind bets are live, real money bets – put in place to ‘force’ the betting. The blinds are last to act in the first round of betting at the poker table, and the players in these positions will have the option of folding, checking, calling or raising.

Beginning with the small blind, each player in the tournament or cash game receives two cards face down, one at a time, in a clockwise direction. These are called the ‘hole’ or ‘pocket’ cards – you should make your first judgement on the level of hand you can achieve in the poker ranking as soon as you see your hole cards.

The player to the left of the "big blind" is first to act. This position around the poker table is called being ‘Under The Gun’. He or she must either fold, bet the minimum bet (which will be the size of the big blind), raise or check. The next player must fold, call the existing bet or raise. This continues all round the poker table until all players remaining in the hand have bet the same amount of money.

There can be 1 bet and 3 raises maximum in each round of betting.

The Flop

After all bets are equal, 3 cards are dealt face up in the centre of the table. This is called the "flop". These cards are called ‘community cards’, as they belong to all the players still in the hand. Those players use their 2 ‘hole’ cards along with the 3 ‘community cards’ to make a 5-card poker hand. This will form the basis of each players decision to continue betting, either with the hand they have already made, or the likelihood of making a better poker hand with the 2 further ‘community cards’ that are possible. There now follows a round of betting, starting with the first player still in the pot to the left of the dealer. Once all players remaining have checked, folded or bet and the bets are matched the next card is dealt face up.

The Turn

Once all players remaining have checked, folded or bet and the bets are matched the next ‘community card’, called The Turn, is dealt face up in the centre of the poker table, or your online poker screen. This is followed by another round of betting.

The River

After betting is complete, the fifth and final ‘community card’, or the ‘river’, is turned face up in the centre of the poker table. A final round of betting now follows. Once betting is finished, the players remaining in the pot show their best five-card poker hand made from the 2 ‘hole’ cards and the 5 ‘community cards’. There can be any number of the ‘hole’ cards used by a player to make their best hand.