This is a community card version of poker. The focus is as much on betting as it is on the cards being played. Texas Holdem is played on a single table with 2 to 10 players. The goal is to win as many chips as you can. A pot is won by having the best hand, or by having all other players fold before the showdown.
All players are dealt a sum of chips. Then one player is selected to start with the dealer button. The game is played with something called a rotating dealer. That means that every game the dealer changes.
The next step is putting out the bids. There are two blinds in Holdem – a small blind and a big blind. The player directly to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind. The big blind, about double the size of a small blind, is placed by the player to the left of the small blind.
Once the blinds are set you know what kind of chips which you’ll need to play. It is optimal to give each player enough chips in each denomination to allow the game to run smoothly.
The dealer deals the cards to the player to the left, rotating around the table in a clockwise manner. Each player takes one card at a time until each player has two cards. These are known as the hole cards.
A hand of Hold’em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all players but one have folded, or the fourth and final betting round completes with multiple players still in the hand in the game.
When all players receive their hole cards, it is the preflop betting round.
Each player must look at their cards and decide what action they would like to take. In this version of poker, only one player can act at a time.
The preflop betting round starts with the player to the left of the big blind. This player has three choices:
Fold: They pay nothing to the pot and throw away their hand, waiting for the next deal to play again.
Call: They match the amount of the big blind.
Raise: They raise the bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. A player may raise more depending on the betting style being played.
Once a player has taken their turn, the player to the left of them gets their turn to act. Each player is given the same options: fold, call the bet of the player to their right, or fold.
A betting round ends when all of the players have had a chance to act. And all players who haven’t folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.
Once the preflop betting round has ended, the flop is dealt. This is done by dealing the top card in the deck face-down on the table and three cards face-up.Once this has been dealt, the first post-flop betting round begins.
The rules of a postflop betting round are the same as a preflop, with two small differences: The first player to act is the next player with a hand to the left of the dealer, and the first player to act can check or bet. Now that the betting round on the flop is completed, the dealer deals one card facedown followed by a single card faceup, also known as the “burn and turn (or the Turn)“. Once the turn has been dealt, the third betting round starts.
The third betting round is identical to the flop betting round with one exception: The size of a bet for this round, and the final betting round, is doubled.
Assuming more than one player is left, having not folded on one of the previous streets, the river is now dealt. Dealing for the river is identical as dealing for the turn, with one card being dealt facedown, followed by a single card being dealt faceup.
This is the final street, and no more cards will be dealt in the hand. The betting round for the river is the same as the betting round on the turn.
Once the river betting round has been completed, the players now enter into the showdown. At this point, the best hand wins the pot.
Here are the rules you will need to be familiar with about a Texas Holdem showdown:
- The player who bet on the river is the default first player to reveal their hand. If any other players choose to show their hand first, that is OK.
- If no betting happened on the river (all players checked), the player closest to the left of the dealer must open their hand first, continuing clockwise around the table.
- If a player is holding a losing hand, it is their option to reveal their cards or simply muck their hand and concede the pot.
When there are more than two players left in the hand, only one bet and three raises can be made in one betting round. Once the third raise is made, the betting is “capped.” Once betting is capped, players may only call or fold.
A player must either declare their intent to raise, verbally, before making any actions, or bring the amount of chips equal to the total amount of their raise into play at the same time. A player is not allowed to place chips, return to their stack and place more chips. This is known as a string bet.
The minimum number of chips a player is allowed to buy before the first hand which they are dealt is determined by the house rules governing the game. There is no maximum to the number of chips a player may buy at any time.
A player may reload, or add more chips to their stack, at any time between hands. Once a hand is started, a player may only use the chips they had in play at the beginning of the hand. Any additional chips will not be “in play” until the next deal.
