Texas Hold'em

Texas Hold em is the type of poker most often played in big tournaments, and is also very popular for residential poker games and card rooms. Here are the basics for playing Texas Hold’em.

First, the dealer gives each player 2 cards face down. These cards are “in the hole” or “pocket” cards. Each player makes their bet, with betting going clockwise.

Next, three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. This is called the flop and another round of betting follows dealing of the flop. Another card, called the turn is then dealt, and players bet again. The final card is dealt, face up. This card is called the river. The flop, turn and river are all community cards. The remaining players show their pocket cards. The player who could create the best hand between their hole cards and the community cards is the winner.

There are three variations of Texas Hold'em poker: Limit, No Limit, and Pot Limit.

Limit poker is essentially the basic form of Texas Hold’Em poker described above. However, there are two betting quantities associated with this form of poker. They are called the stakes of the table. Typical examples are $10/$20, $1/$2, $15/$30. You will note that the second amount is equivalent to half of the second amount. The first of these numbers (the smaller amount) is the size of bets and raises that are allowed during the first two betting rounds of the game. The larger amounts are reserved for betting after the turn and the river are dealt. Players are limited to three raises during a round. Once the third raise is made, betting is capped for that round.

In this form of Texas Hold’em, you can also elect to go all in. Going all in means that you don’t actually have enough chips to call or raise in the middle of the hand. By going all in, you put all your remaining chips in the game, even though you don’t have enough. You can no longer call or raise, but you can potentially still the center pot. Meanwhile, as the betting continues, your opponents who still have chips will create a side pot of their additional calls and raises. If you win, you cannot claim this side pot.

No Limit Hold'em Poker – No limit Hold’em poker is different only in the fact that you are not limited to 3 bets or raises in a round. This form of poker is most often played in tournament games.

Pot Limit Hold'em Poker - Pot Limit Hold'em poker is like No Limit, except that in pot limit, you can never bet more than the current size of the pot.