What Is Texas Holdem

• Texas Hold’em is a community card poker game with game play focused as much on the betting as on the cards being played. Although the rules and game play are the same the end goal is slightly different depending on if you’re playing a Texas Holdem cash game or a Texas Holdem tournament.
• Texas Hold'em is a very complex game, and there is a lot to learn. In this section, we'll reveal the bare-bones of the game. Texas Hold'em is usually played with nine or ten players at a full table with a rotating blind system. A blind system is designed to generate money to put into the pot and stimulate betting. There are two types of blinds.
• Although as stated above, Texas Holdem is ostensibly a simple form of poker, there are in fact three types of Holdem and these are: Limit, No–limit and Pot–limit. It’s worth pointing out that these terms actually refer to the betting structures in each game.

Team PokerStars Liv Boeree and Nick Wealthall break down the game of No Limit Hold'em for people new to the world of p.

Texas Hold ’em is by far the most popular poker game in casinos around the world. It is a variation of 7 card stud poker, where 5 of the cards are dealt in the middle of the table, and can be used by anyone in the hand. Each player is dealt 2 cards, face down, which are known as the players ‘hole cards’. Players use their two hole cards as well as the community cards to make the best possible 5 card combination.

Texas Hold ’em owes it’s popularity to exposure it gained on TV and the internet in the early 2000’s. Today, the no limit betting structure is the most widely used in television events of the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour.

Mathematical probability is introduced into Texas Hold ’em because each player is only dealt two cards, giving players the ability to employ strategic analysis. There are many different books that have been published regarding the various strategies of Texas Hold ’em, and recommendations for improving game play by reducing risk, and maximizing pots when odds are good. In general, most strategies suggest playing few hands, but aggressively betting and raising the hands that are played.

In Texas Hold ’em, the objective it to accumulate the most chips or money. Players in each hand are afforded the opportunity to bet during each round of betting. Players bet that they have the best hand. Once a bet is made, the next player can ‘call’, or match the bet, raise the bet to a higher amount, or fold, conceding their hand.

To start playing Texas Hold ’em, a dealer is first designated, usually by dealing cards around the table until one play is dealt an Ace. This player is designated the dealer. When you are playing in a casino, the dealer is not actually the one the deals that cards, but the player is still designated as the dealer. The dealer is in the best position at the table, because he can see what everyone else at the table is going to be before they commit money themselves. The player to the left of the dealer is the small blind, the player to the left of the small blind is the big blind. Blinds are best described as antes. The small blind is generally half as much as the big blind.

There are several different rounds of betting in Texas Hold ’em. As the hand begins, each player is dealt two cards face down. Since the small bind and the big blind already have money in the pot, the first play is to the person to the big blind’s left. That person may call, raise, or fold. Bets continue around the table in this fashion, back to the small blind. The small blind must then either match the big blind, raise or fold. Finally, the big blind may check, or raise. If anyone raises at any point around the table, then bets must continue around the table until everyone at the table has either called or folded.

After the initial round of betting is complete, it’s time for the flop. The dealer will then ‘burn one, turn three’. This means that the next card is discarded, face down, and then the next three cards are turned face up, for everyone to be able to use. After the flop, another round of betting is initiated with the small blind (the player to the dealer’s left). Once betting is complete, the dealer will again discard one card face down, and then one card face up, for everyone to use. This is called ‘Fourth Street’ or the ‘Turn’. Again, another round of betting, followed by ‘Fifth Street’ or the ‘River’ and a final round of betting. If during any round of betting all players have folded except one, that player is the winner of the pot.

Texas Hold'em is easily the best known and most easily recognized type of poker in the world. It's the most popular for tournament play, and when poker appears on television or in a movie, there's a good chance that Hold'em is what they're playing. Texas Hold'em is a relatively new form of poker, having seen its Las Vegas introduction in the late 1960s, even though it was played in Texas for an untold number of years before that (historians estimate that it started in the early 1900s). This form of community card poker has become so popular because it offers increased betting options, which allow for a more complex and action-filled game. It has become the quintessential form of community card poker, and has even developed variations that, in turn, have become their own types of poker (such as Omaha Hold'em). Texas Hold'em is the H in HORSE games.

How Texas Hold'em is Played

What Is No Limit Texas Holdem

Texas Hold'em is a form of community card poker, or flop poker, which means that unlike forms of straight, draw, or stud poker, where players each have their own individual hands, Texas Hold'em players have two cards in the hole (two cards that are individual) and five cards that are flopped on the table and are available to all players. Players can use any combination of hole and community cards to make the best hand. A typical hand of Texas Hold'em goes like this:

Each player is dealt two cards, face down. These are the hole cards. A round of betting takes place. Three community cards are placed on the table (the flop), face up. Players bet again. The turn (the fourth card) is flipped onto the table. Players bet. Finally, the river (the final and fifth card) comes down, with another round of betting.

Any players who are still in the action reveal their cards for the showoff, and the highest hand wins. Because of the community cards, Texas Hold'em often has many hands of equal value, and ties in the highest hand are broken with kickers, cards that are a part of the 5-card hand that the player has made but are not used in determining the rank of the hand. A hand of Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds Queen of Hearts 10 of Spades 3 of Clubs has a ten and three kicker, a hand of Ace of Clubs Ace of Diamonds Queen of Hearts Queen of Spades 4 of Clubs has a 4 kicker, and a full house, straight, and flush have no kickers, because all five cards are used in determining the rank. If players have matching full boats, straights, flushes, or identical kickers in other hands, the tie remains and the players split the pot.

What it Offers

First and foremost, Texas Hold'em offers countless opportunities to play. There are very few (if any) online poker sites that don't offer Texas Hold'em, and the game is present at almost all tournaments and live casinos. Because it is the most popular form of poker, it's easy to find games with other players or even video games with computer AI. The majority of computer games that are poker-themed are specific to Texas Hold'em, and it's near-impossible to find a poker player who doesn't know and understand the rules of this particular variant. In short, Texas Hold'em is the easiest form of poker to play simply because so many people play it. If you can learn only one type of poker, this is the one to learn, as you'll never run out of opportunities to practice.

The initial appeal of Texas Hold'em, however, and the reason that it became so incredibly popular so quickly, is because it offers more betting action than older, more traditional forms of poker. Most older forms of poker, such as straight, draw, and a lot of stud, only offer one or two rounds of betting, whereas Texas Hold'em offers four. This drew a lot of skilled players to the game, as more rounds of betting mean more potential for bluffing, slow playing, and therefore more money and better action.

Texas Hold'em is a good game for beginners simply because of how much information is available on the game. Most media representations of poker are of Hold'em, so if you want to watch poker on television to improve your game, you should be playing this particular variation. Texas Hold'em is the subject of more books, instructional DVDs, coaching sites and courses, and the like than any other form of poker, so a player truly dedicated to learning the game will find no shortage of resources that can improve the game of any player-- from the total rookie to the seasoned shark.

Texas Hold'em Variations

Pineapple - Like regular Texas Hold'em, except players are dealt three hole cards and then discard one after the initial round of betting, pre-flop.

Crazy Pineapple - Just like Pineapple, but the third hole card is discarded after the flop, instead of before.

Aviation - Players are dealt four hole cards and discard one before and one after the flop.

Church (also known as Iron Cross)- Players each get five pocket cards and the five community cards come down one at a time in the shape of a cross (with the middle card being last). Betting happens after the initial deal and after each community card is shown. Players can use up to three community cards in their hand, but they have to be in a row (up, down, or diagonal).

The River Wild - The river card, and all cards of the same rank, are wild.

River of Blood - Like a normal game of Texas Hold'em, but if the river is red, an extra card is given (a second river). If this too is red, another card is given and so on, until the river runs black. Players may use any of the community cards, their hole cards, or a combination of the two.

Double Flop - Two separate boards of community cards are dealt out, and the pot is split between the highest hand on each board, and players make separate hands to correspond to each flopped board.

What Texas Holdem Hands To Play

Two-Time Hold'em - Players are dealt four cards each and separate these into two hands. The hands are kept separate and a hand of Texas Hold'em ensues.

Super Eight Hold'em - Like regular Hold'em, except players get three pocket cards instead of two and can use any combination of hole/community cards for a hand.

In Texas Holdem What Is The Flop

Tahoe - Like Super Eight, except players can only use up to two of the three hole cards that they have.

What Is Texas Holdem

Speed Hold'em - Players get four hole cards each and discard two immediately. The five cards are flopped at once, and then players bet (this is the only betting round). Very fast!