Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em is the worlds most popular form of poker. While it is widely considered hard to master, it is surprisingly easy to learn. It is a community card game, which means each player selects his best poker hand from his two private or ‘hole’ cards, and the five ‘community’ cards on the table. The players can use both, one or neither of their ‘hole’ cards with any of the ‘community’ cards to make up five cards. There are four rounds of betting which run between the dealing of the cards.

How to play Texas Hold’em

Before any cards are dealt, the player to the left of the dealer posts the ‘small blind’. The player to the left of the small blind then posts the ‘big blind’. These are compulsory bets to build the ‘pot’. Then each player is dealt two private cards face down on the table, these are called ‘hole’ cards.

The player to the left of the ‘big blind’ starts the first round of betting or ‘pre-flop’. The player has three options,

• Fold - out of the game.
• Call - match the ‘big blind’ bet.
• Raise - increase the ‘big blind’ bet.

After this round of betting the dealer places three cards face up on the table, this is called the ‘flop’. This is followed by the second round of betting.

The dealer places a fourth card on the table face up, this is called the ‘turn’, followed by a third round of betting.

The dealer places a fifth card on the table face up, known as the ‘river’. Followed by the fourth and final round of betting.

The winner of the ‘pot’ is the player with the best five cards, made from any combination of their two ‘hole’ cards and the five ‘community’ cards.