Poker Rules: Texas Holdem

Introduction:This game has been getting the most attention recently. There has been lots of promotions both on TV as well as print ads. Texas Hold'em is the "Cadillac of Poker" as put by Matt Damon in the poker movie "Rounders". This is also the game that is played to determine the world champion of poker every year at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Imagine that the event now draws almost 1000 players and costs $10,000 to enter.

Also Texas Hold'em is a game that requires you to calculate more and most importantly to read your opponents. You can read more about this in the strategy section.

Basic Game Rules: In Texas Hold'em the goal is to make the best possible 5 card combination of a total of 7 cards. However, in this game you won't be dealt all 7 cards. You will only receive 2 cards face down, and the rest of the cards will be so called "community cards". Everybody can use the community cards.

The Betting: In the beginning, everybody is dealt two cards down. Basically, after the cards have been dealt, you will see everybody holding 2 cards facing down. There is a dealer button on the table, basically the person with the button is really the dealer (naturally, you don't actually deal, there is a designated casino dealer who does that). The first person in front of the dealer will be asked to post the "Small Blind" and the person next to him, the "big blind". The blinds are designed to put money into the pot initially to get some stakes onto the table. Everybody will now be asked to either call, or bet if they want to stay in the game, otherwise people can just fold as well without paying the blinds. A call means that you will match the amount/per player put into the pot so far. This means that if nobody has raised the blinds you will be able to play for the minimum, which is basically the "Big Blind" bet, as long as nobody behind you bets more money, which would mean that you would also be asked to match it to see the next card. As an example if you are playing 2/6 limit Texas Hold'em, the small blind will be $1, and the big blind will be $2 so the minimum amount to play with, after you have seen the initial 2 cards will be $2. If one of the players ahead of you raises the blind by $2, you will have to match $2+$2 = $4 to play (or fold). Betting continues within one round until everybody has just called or checked. So if the first player bets $3 on top of the $1 and everybody calls at a table with 9 players there would be a total of $36 in the pot. After this procedure,the "Flop" will be dealt. The flop consists of 3 community cards all facing up. Combine your two cards with the flop and see if you caught something. After the flop has been dealt, there is another round of betting. Each round after the flop has been dealt, there will be only one card dealt. The card dealt after the flop is called the "Turn" and the last card is called the "River " When the last round of betting is finished, the cards are turned over and compared. The winner takes the pot - The dealer is usually tipped as well. (Note: Only the person betting will have to show his hand, if everybody checks, the first person has to show his cards and all other can fold. If you bet and everyone folds, you do not have to show your hand at all.)

Besides the regular call, or bet options there are also the options to check or re-raise. If there hasn't been a bet ahead of you, you can always "check", which means that you also don't want to put more money down. With this option you stay in the game, but you don't put more money down. If everyone behind you also checks, the next card is dealt out practically "for free".

If you believe you have a strong hand (or want to make people believe you do) you can re-raise someone else's bet after they have bet a certain amount. Careful here, this can get costly as they can re-raise again. Also make sure that if you want to re-raise you will have to re-raise, the minimum re-raise is of what has been bet before and again the maximum is $6 for our example in 2/6 Limit Texas Hold'em. Also make sure you post the entire amount at once, the dealer will not allow a call, and then a bet but only a re-raise. If you want to be sure you put the right amount you can always say "re-raise $6" or "re-raise $2", then the dealer will help you and you will have more time.

Now to the most important part of the Rules:

Rank of Cards: (Lare Letters are the cards and small letters are the suit i.e. Ts = 10 of Spades)

More Rules and other info: