The Texas hold'em poker game

How to play Texas hold'em poker

Texas hold'em poker is similar to the straight poker but some cards are just for the player and some are shared (community cards) and used by all.

- Only two players have to place an initial bet called the "blinds."  This is determined by the position of the dealer button.  The dealer button moves to the next player on the left after every hand.  There are two blinds, the big blind and the little blind.  The big blind is the minimum amount for the first round and the small blind is half the big blind.  The blinds is how action is forced to start the game.
 

- The dealer deals two cards to each player. These are their personal cards for their poker hand.
 

- The player sitting to the left of the big blind has first action.  He/she can choose to call, raise or fold the hand.

- One after the other the players may call, raise or fold until all player call.

- Then the dealer turns three cards in the center of the poker table this is called the flop. These cards are considered community cards and can be used by all players to help make their poker hand.

- Starting with the left player, poker players one after the other can check, call, raise or fold.  Please note that a poker player can only check if a bet has not been placed. At this level of the game when a poker player folds, he does not have to show his hand.

- Once all players are called, the dealer ads one more card in the center with the other community cards, this is called the turn.

- At this point there is another round of betting.

-After the betting the final community card can come out, this is called the river. 

- At this point the final round of betting happens.

- A hand can be made by using any combination of the community cards and the cards the players have in their hand, to make the best five card hand. 

- It's usually the left player that show his hand first, then the poker player on his left, until all players showed their hands.

- To determine the winning poker hand, you can look at the list for the Winning video poker hands.

- If two players have basically the same hand, it's the player that has the highest card that wins. For example they both have a pair of jack, one has an ace and the other a queen, the ace is higher and wins.

See also :