How to Play Texas Holdem
Texas Holdem
» How To Play
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Texas Holdem game commences with two players posting a variable amount of money. These postings (placing of money) are called the small blind and the big blind.
The person who sits on the immediate left of the dealer posts the small blind and the person to his or her left posts the big blind. The small blind is always half the big blind. Eg $5 small blind, $10 big blind. In fixed limit poker, the big blind puts up a bet equal to the small limit. In texas holdem tournaments, the blinds normally increase , after a set period of time, called the "ESCALATION" Each group of time where the blinds stay the same, this is called a "level" The blinds generally double in value.
EG a typical scheduled online texas holdem tournament the blinds would be as follows -
1st level blinds 10/20
2nd level blinds 20/40
3rd level blinds 30/60
4th level blinds 50/100
5th level blinds 100/200 -
The dealer then shuffles a standard deck of 52 playing cards.
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each player at the table is then dealt two cards face down, these are called pocket cards or your hole cards
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a round of betting starts starting with the person to the immediate left of the two persons who posted the blinds this is called pre-flop betting
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The amount that person can bet depends on the type of game eg a no limit game means he or she can bet as much as they like
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Players at the table can then call fold or raise
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When the betting has finished at this round, the dealer discards the top card, this I known as the "burn" card, this is to prevent cheating!
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The dealer then deals 3 cards on the table face up known as "the flop" these are communal cards that all players can use along with their 2 cards(pocket cards) they have face down.
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then there is another round of betting starting with the player left of the dealer
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after the betting has ended the dealer then "burns" another card and deals face up another card this is known as "the turn", again players can use this card to form a 5 card poker hand.
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the player to the left of the dealer then begins another round of betting
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finally the dealer burns another card and deals face up on the table this is called "the river" players can now use any of the 5 cards face up on the table along with their 2 pocket cards to make their best 5 card poker hand
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there is a final round of betting again starting with the player to the left of the dealer
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the players then show their 5 card poker hands called the "showdown" this begins with the player to the left of the last player to call
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the player with the best hand wins the pot!! Although sometimes the plot can be split two or even three ways with equal hands eg two people could have a top run AKQJ10