How to Play Texas Holdem

So, are you feeling lucky? Got some mad money burning a hole in your pocket? If you're a gambling person, you might want to check out Texas Holdem.

No doubt you've at least seen or heard about this popular poker game that's attracting fans like crazy. If you want to learn how to play Texas Holdem, here are the basics. For free.

Hand Rankings

For starters, in Texas Holdem you build five-card hands using any combination of seven cards. These seven cards are made up of five community cards on the table, and two hole cards (also called pocket cards) in your hand.

The community cards are eventually all dealt face-up on the table. You're dealt two pocket cards, which are for your eyes only.

As for rankings, you'll be relieved to know Texas Holdem hand rankings are the same as in many other poker games you may have played. That is, a royal flush beats every other hand, followed by a straight flush, four-of-a-kind, and so on, down to simply a high card.

If you'd like a refresher on how typical poker hands are ranked, check out the section Hand Rankings in Texas Holdem.

But that's just the beginning. Now you can get into the meat of this addicting fun game, which requires strategy and skill.

Dealers and Buttons

To determine who gets to deal first in a new game, each player is dealt one card. The player who gets the high card wins the deal.

A white plastic chip, called the button, is placed at the dealer's position. You might hear players refer to the dealer as being on the button.

After each hand and before the next deal, the button rotates to the next player on the left. This way, each player has a chance to be the dealer. It also means that each player's position will shift. As you'll see in the section Texas Holdem Strategy, player position is very important in planning your strategy.

Pre-Flop

The flop is the first three of five community cards dealt face-up on the table. But before any cards are dealt, the player to the left of the dealer puts a pre-determined bet into the pot. This bet is called the little blind.

The next player to the left puts the big blind into the pot. These bets, sometimes called forced bets, are agreed upon before the game begins.

When it's your turn to act, you have three options. Regardless of what position you're in at the table you can either match the current bet, raise the current bet, or fold your hand if you don't want to bet at all.

When you fold, you are no longer a player in that hand, and you place your cards face-down on the table. All you can do now is sit back and watch the fun.

Any time you fold is a good time to get a better look and feel for your opponents. See who wears a poker face, who bluffs, and who sweats when the going gets hot.

This will all come in handy for the rest of the game.

But let's say you're in the first betting position in the first round of betting after the blinds are bet, and you decide to raise the bet – which in this case is the amount of the big blind.

The player to your left has to call (match the new bet) or raise your bet to continue in the hand. If he doesn't want to call or raise, he has to fold his hand.

If no one raises the big blind, the player in that position can either check – which means he doesn't want to put more money in the pot – or he can raise, which effectively increases the amount of the pot.

After the first round of betting, the dealer deals two cards face-down (the hole cards, or pocket cards) to each player who is still in the hand. These are the hole cards, also known as pocket cards.

After all the players have been dealt their two pocket cards, take a look at what you were dealt. Your next action depends on how you feel about your pocket cards, and what the flop reveals.

Flop

After dealing the hole cards, the dealer burns the top card – that is, he places it to the side face-down. This is a poker tradition. It's done as a precaution in case the top card was accidentally revealed.

Next the dealer deals three community cards face-up on the table. These first three cards are the called the flop.

After the flop is dealt, another round of betting begins. The player in the first seat to the left of the dealer begins the betting.

The person in this position is sometimes referred to as being under the gun.

That means they are first to act on this and every subsequent round of betting in this hand.

Players still in the hand have the same betting options as in the pre-flop stage, including the option to check.

A player checks when he does not want to bet, but wants to remain in the hand.

This round of betting ends when and only when all players who didn't fold have either called or raised the last bet.

Turn and River

Now the excitement starts to build. After bets are placed on the flop, the dealer burns another card and deals another flop card.

This fourth community card is called the turn, and it starts another round of betting.

The dealer next deals a fifth community card, called the river. The final round of betting begins.

Determining the Winner

When all betting is finished, each player still in the hand can either show his hand, or muck his hand. When a player mucks a hand, he essentially concedes the pot without showing his hand. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot.

Good luck, and good betting!

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