Texas Hold Em

Texas Hold'em (otherwise known as Hold'em) is the most popular poker game around and everywhere that you play poker, Texas Hold'em will be available. Texas Hold'em is popular with amateur and professional players alike as it is simple to learn, but difficult to master. Texas Hold'em is the variation of poker that is used in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Between 2 and 10 players can play a game of Texas Hold'em. To begin play, the dealer deals each player 2 cards face down. These are called the hole cards. The dealer then deals five community cards that can be used by any of the players. The first two rounds of betting in Texas Hold'em are called the pre-flop and the flop. The next two rounds of betting are known as the turn and the river.

The aim of the game of Texas Hold'em is to produce the best poker hand possible made up of five cards incorporating the two hole cards you were dealt and the community cards.

There are two mandatory bets that must be placed at the beginning of a game of Texas Hold'em and these are known as the small blind and the big blind. At the end of every game the players who must post the small blind and big blind shifts one place clockwise to give each player a turn to be the one to post the bet. For example, if you are a playing a $6 - $12 Texas Hold'em game, this means that the small blind is $6 placed into the pot by one player and the big blind is $12 placed into the pot by another player. The aim of the blinds is to ensure that if all the players but one fold their hands, the winner will still receive a pot.

There are three common variations of Texas Hold'em – limit hold'em, no limit hold'em and pot limit hold'em.

Limit Hold Em – Limit hold'em is the most popular variation of Texas Hold'em found in casinos. In this variation, the bets and raises placed in the first 2 rounds of betting must be equal in value to the big blind. This is called the small bet. The big bet is the amount of money that is bet in the next two rounds and in these rounds the bets and raises must be double the big blind.

No limit Hold Em – No limit hold'em is the most popular variation of poker in poker tournaments. In this variation, players are able to bet or raise any amount that they want as long as it is more than the minimize raise (which is equal to the big blind).

Pot limit Hold Em – In pot limit hold'em, players can raise any amount up to a maximum amount which is calculated as the current size of the pot.

There is a fourth variation of Texas Hold'em known as mixed Texas Hold'em. In mixed hold'em the game switches between limit hold'em and no limit hold'em between rounds.