Best Way To Learn Texas Holdem

4/14/20224/14/2022

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Easy Way To Learn Texas Holdem Poker
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Easiest Way To Learn Texas Holdem

The object of Texas Hold em poker is to create the best five-card hand using seven available cards. Each player is dealt 2 cards which only they can see and use. There are then 5 cards dealt to the middle of the table which are community cards which everybody can see and use.

Dealer Button

Once the game starts an imaginary dealer is assigned. Obviously with online poker the computer does all the dealing automatically but this nominal dealer is important as it indicates who posts the compulsory bets (known as blinds) before each hand and it also indicates who is first to act in each betting round.

The current dealer is indicated by a disc marked with a “D” known as the dealer button. At the end of each hand the dealer button moves along to the next player to the left of the current dealer and continues to move clockwise after each hand is finished.

The Blinds

Texas Holdem is the most popular variant of poker and the one we recommend beginners start with. Once you have a good understanding of Texas Holdem, other poker variants are quite similar and will be easier to learn. The object of Texas Hold em poker is to create the best five-card hand using seven available cards. Two Ways to Win Texas Hold’Em Poker. Having the best hand isn’t the only way to win, which is what sets poker apart from other gambling games as a game of skill. To put it simply, there are two ways to win a hand: Showdown: Betting or checking until all community cards are dealt, then comparing hands to determine the winner. If you are a complete newbie and you want to learn about the old fashioned Texas Hold’em Poker game, then Poker Fighter is designed to give you that fighting chance. It allows you to play stimulated games with real hands, get immediate feedback from professional players, and the best part? It’s all risk free.

In Texas Holdem there are two compulsory bets that are made before the start of each hand. These are known as the “Small blind” and the “Big blind” and ensures that there are chips to be won in every hand.

The player to the immediate left of the dealer places the small blind and the player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind.

In No Limit games the size of the blinds is set by the stakes of the table you are at. So for example at a $1 / $2 table the small blind would be $1 and the big blind would be $2.

Before The Flop – First Betting Round

Once the blinds have been posted, two cards are dealt face down to each player at the table, these are known as “hole cards”. Only the individual player can see these cards.

At this point the first betting round begins and each player must make a decision on how to act based on the strength of their hole cards. They have the following options:

Fold – Throw the cards away and not play in this hand
Call – Call the size of the big blind or highest bet if another player has raised, and take part in the hand
Raise – Make a larger bet than the current bet (or big blind). Any other player who wants to continue would then have to call your increased bet in order to carry on. A raise must be at least an increase the size of the Big Blind so the minimum raise would be 2 times the big blind amount. In No Limit there is no maximum to your raise, It can be your whole stack if you wish.

Action always goes clockwise on a table. On the first betting round, the first person to act is the player to the left of the big blind. Each player acts in turn until all the players have acted at the table, and the amount put into the pot by each player remaining in the hand is equal.

The Flop – Second Betting Round

After the first betting round has finished, the dealer places 3 cards face up in the middle of the table – this is known as the “Flop”. The cards in the middle of the table are called “Community Cards” as they are shared by all the players towards making their final hands.

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Players can now see 5 cards (2 hole cards + 3 community cards) out of the 7 cards to come and should have good idea of how their hand is developing. At this point the second betting round begins.

In this and all subsequent betting rounds, the action starts with the first player remaining in the hand to the left of the dealer. This player can either:

Check – not bet anything
Bet – place a bet which the other players must at least call to continue in the hand. The minimum bet is the size of the big blind.

If everyone checks then this betting round ends with no-one betting. As soon as someone bets then the other players can either:

Fold – drop out the hand
Call – call the bet that has been made
Raise – increase the bet that has been made which the other players must then call to continue in the hand.

As in the previous betting round, the plays continues clockwise around the table until all players have called, checked or folded and the amount placed in the pot by each player still in the hand is equal.

The Turn

After the second betting round, the dealer places a 4th community card, face up on the table – this is called the “Turn card”, it is sometimes also referred to as “Fourth Street”.

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After the Turn there is a third betting round, which operates in exactly the same way as the previous betting round.

The River

After the third betting round, the dealer places the 5th and final community card face up on the table – this is called the “River card”.

After the River the fourth and final betting round takes place in the same way as the previous round.

The Showdown

After the final round of betting, each player still left in the hand can use any combination of the 2 hole cards in their hands and the 5 community cards on the table to produce the best 5 card hand.

The player with the highest ranking hand wins the pot. If two or more players have the same value hand then the pot is split between them equally.

If you have not already learnt which hand is better than another then please look at our Poker Hand Ranking Guide.

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Next Hand

Easiest Way To Learn Texas Holdem

Once the hand has finished and the pot has been awarded to the winning player, the game moves onto the next hand.

The dealer button moves to the next player on the left of the current dealer, the cards are shuffled, the blinds are posted by the next two players and the cards are dealt again.

Where to Play Texas Holdem?

We recommend 888 Poker for a great place to play Texas Holdem. To find out more about them see our 888 Poker Review or to see alternate rooms to play Texas Holdem then see the Professor's reviews in our Poker Reviews section.

Master the rules of Texas Holdem in minutes and learn how to play this extremely popular poker game.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 15 Minutes

What You Need:

52-Card Deck
2-20 Players
Money or Chips

Here's How:

The two players to the left of the dealer put out blind bets. The player directly to the dealer's left puts out the small blind, while the player two to the dealer's left puts out the big blind, which is twice as much as the small blind.
Don't know what blinds are? Read more about Betting Basics
Every player is dealt two cards, face down. These are called hole cards or pocket cards.
The action, or the first move, falls on the player to the left of the big blind. They can either call the blind, raise it, or fold. The size of a raise must be at least twice the size of the bet preceding it; the maximum depends on whether you are playing with a limit or no-limit betting structure. Betting then continues around the table, clockwise.
After the betting round is completed, three cards are dealt face up in the center of the table, which is referred to as the board. The first three cards in Texas Hold'em are called the flop. These cards are “community cards” meaning everyone can (and will need to) use at least three of them in combination with their own hole cards to make the best hand.
From the flop on, betting begins with the player to the dealer’s left, who can check or bet. The players after must either check or bet if no one has bet yet; or they must call, raise, or fold if someone has.
A fourth card is dealt face up onto the board. This is called fourth street or the turn card.
Another round of betting.
The final card is dealt face up. This card is also called fifth street or the river.
A final round of betting occurs. The remaining players show their cards and the person who can make the best five-card hand by combining their pocket cards with the cards on the board wins.
Note: In some rare cases in Texas Hold'em, the five cards making up the board will actually be the best hand, in which case everyone left in the hand divides up the poker.
The deal passes to the next player to the left (who was small blind last hand) and a new hand is dealt.

And now you know all the basic rules to Texas Hold'em poker!

Tips:

Make sure you learn the best starting hands in Texas Hold'em poker and how to play them, as well as the worst starting hands to play. Playing the former and folding the latter will immediately make you a better player.
Once you've got the basics of how to play, make sure to understand how your position at the table can help or hurt you.
It's always a good idea to follow good poker etiquette.