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Texas Hold'em Poker is probably the most popular version of poker being played today. This poker game is the game played on televised events such as the World Series of Poker and Celebrity Poker Showdown and as such is familiar to many non-poker players who have stumbled upon it being played on television. Poker players also love this game and thousands of players are playing hold'em at this very moment.
A Texas Hold'em game can be played at a table holding few as two players to as many as ten players. In tournaments where large numbers of players play at the same time a multi-table format is used. In tournament play there are two ways to play in determining who the winner will be: 1) as players are eliminated those remaining are moved from table to table to balance the tables and tables are taken out of play until only a single table remains or 2) each table plays in isolation producing a table champion for each table then these table champions play at a final table until a winner emerges.
Texas Hold'em poker is, like a lot of games, fairly easy to learn but difficult to master. Here are the basics of how to play the Texas Hold'em Poker.
There are four times the dealer deals. In between each deal the players bet, a final round of betting takes place after all of the cards have been dealt after which the cards are turned and the best hand wins the pot.
The first deal is for two cards face down to each of the players, these are the "hole" cards. A players' hole cards are not shown to the other players at the table, they are only known to the player they were dealt to.
The second deal "the flop" is three "community cards" that are dealt face up in the centre of the table. These community cards are available to all players and are used by everybody in their attempt to make the winning hand. The players now have a fixed five card hand consisting of two hole cards only they can see and three community cards that all can see.
The third deal "the turn" (sometimes referred to as the fourth street) is a single card added to the community cards. Players now have six cards from which to make their five card hand with, the two hole cards and the four community cards.
The fourth and final deal "the river" (or fifth street) is another single card added to the community group. The players now combine their hole cards and the community cards to make their best five card hand. Players are allowed to use both of their hole cards, one hole card, or none of their hole cards in making the best hand they can.
With the betting over the cards are shown, and the best hand takes the pot.
In poker much skill is in the betting and since Texas Hold'em is a poker game the betting is important. So, here is a brief description of the betting that takes place in a Texas Hold'em game.
Betting takes place after each deal the dealer makes and continues until all but one player folds or until all of the players have contributed equally to the pot and have decided not to bet further. During the betting round each player is asked, in turn, what action they would like to take; there are four choices they can make.
Fold - when a player doesn't like the cards they were dealt or feels that another player has better cards he/she can fold. They simply return their cards to the dealer and are out of the game for the rest of the hand.
Check - is done when a player wants to stay in the hand but doesn't want to make a bet. A player can only check if no-one has bet in this round of betting.
Call - a player can match the bet(s) that were made before their turn to act without increasing the bet. This is done so that all players contribute equally to the pot.
Raise - increase the bet by more than matching the bet(s) that were made before. Players sometimes raise when they have good hands and sometimes "bluff" when their hand contains nothing, hoping others will fold leaving them the pot by default.
When the betting is over the remaining players show their hands and the best hand takes the pot.
When playing poker there are three basic betting types that a player must decide among before starting. These three betting types are Table (Fixed) limit betting, Pot limit betting, and No-limit betting.
Table (Fixed) Limit Poker
Table limit poker games set a fixed amount a player is allowed to bet ahead of time. Table limit games are often referred to by the betting limits placed on them. Thus a $1/$2 hold'em table tells a player that the fixed amount of the bets allowed at that table are $1 for the first two rounds and $2 for the last two rounds. There is a large range of table limit games with online poker rooms offering Texas Hold'em games with limits as low as $.05/$.10 up to $20/$40 and more. When playing a $1/$2 hold'em table after the players receive their cards the betting is fixed at $1 for the first and second rounds. Thus, to raise the bet you can increase it by $1, and if another player wants to re-raise they do so by $1. Most of the poker rooms cap, or stop, betting after three or four bets and then move on to deal the next card(s).
The third and fourth round of betting has the betting limits doubled. For example, in the previous example the $1 bets of the first two rounds would double to a fixed $2 limit.
Pot Limit
When playing pot limit poker games the raises can only be equal to the amount in the pot at the time the bet is made. This type of betting has lower betting maximums early in the game but they get progressively higher with each betting round because the pot grows. The betting in pot limit games is a little difficult to calculate as the pot size includes the pot on the table plus all bets on the table plus the amount a player must call before raising.
No-Limit Betting
The no-limit poker game is the type normally played on televised poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker Tournament. This type of poker game has basically no limit to the amount that a player can wager on their turn. A lot of poker enthusiasts feel that the no-limit game is the ultimate in poker because players can bet everything they have on a single hand.
Both pot limit poker games and no limit poker games are best left to advanced hold'em poker players. Those learning poker basics should stick to playing fixed limit hold'em poker games until they are comfortable playing with advanced level players.
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