Texas Hold Em Rules

Texas Hold em is the most popular variation of poker. It is shown on television and is the variation that is played in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT). A full Texas Holdem game is made up of nine to ten players, although it can be played with less and is then referred to as a short handed game. It is played with a standard 52 card deck.

To determine the dealer, each player is dealt a single card. The player with the highest card then becomes the dealer and receives a white plastic chip called a button that indicates his position. After each round, the chip rotates so that every player has a chance to play in each position. There are different sections of the game of Texas Holdem and here we will go through them.

Pre-Flop

Before the dealer deals the cards, the mandatory bets must be placed. These bets are known as the big blind and small blind. The big blind is generally double the small blind. These bets are placed by specific players and each round the players required to place the bets changes. The bets are placed to ensure that even if every player but one folds, there will still be money in the pot to be won.

The dealer then deals two cards to each player – known as the hole cards. The players each have a turn to fold their hand, call the bet (match it) or raise the bet (add more money).

Flop

The dealer burns one card which means that he deals it to the side so that it is out of play. He then deals three cards into the center of the table, which become known as the flop – the first three of the five community cards. Players must each in turn, once again, decide whether to fold, call or raise their bets.

Turn (sometimes referred to as Fourth Street)

The dealer burns one more card off to the side and then deals the Turn – the fourth of the five community cards. Each player has another turn to fold, call or raise their bets.

River (sometimes referred to as Fifth Street)

This is potentially the last round of play in the game. The dealer burns one last card and then deals the last of the community cards – the River. Once again, each remaining player has a turn to fold, call or raise their bet. If there is only one player left at the end of this round, they win the pot.

If there are more than one player left in the game after the River round, then a showdown occurs. This means that the remaining players each show their cards and the best five card poker hand wins the game. If none of the players has a poker hand, the highest card wins. If there are two high cards of the same value, then the second high card is compared and so on until a winner is found.