Introduction to Texas Holdem
Texas Holdem is by far the most popular poker game, so learning how to play it is nearly mandatory for any potential poker player. The popularity is fueled by the fact that nearly all of the televised tournaments are played in no limit holdem.
Texas holdem is a community card game, which means that each player receives some cards, and the rest of the cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. Each player makes their best five card hand out of their own private cards (hole cards) and the community cards. In Texas holdem, each player receives two hole cards, and five are dealt on the board for use by all players. The player makes a five card poker hand using zero, one, or two of their hole cards in combination with three or more of the board cards. It is possible for the five cards on the board to be the best possible poker hand on this deal. In that case, all players remaining in the hand after betting is complete share the pot equally.
Play Structure and Dealing
In casinos or online poker sites, the players do not actually deal the cards themselves, but each player gets a turn acting in the dealer’s spot, which is an advantage, because you get to act last on most rounds of betting. The player who has the privilege of that position for the current hand has the dealer button (usually just called the button) placed in front of them.
To begin each hand, the two players immediately to the left of the button place forced bets, called blinds, into the pot. The first player places the small blind and the second player places the big blind. These are bets that each player must make once on each orbit of the deal around the table. If a player elects not to pay their blind, they must get up and leave the table. The blinds rule is in place to put something worthwhile into the pot to play for. If there were no blinds, the play would slow terribly as players waited for premium hands.
After the blinds are in the pot, the dealer gives two private hole cards to each player, one at a time starting with the small blind. Now the action is on the player to the left of the big blind, called the under the gun (UTG) position. That player must match (call) the big blind, raise (increase the amount of the bet), or fold. After the UTG player acts, each player in turn around the table must either call the previous largest bet, raise, or fold. When the action gets around to the players in the blinds, if they choose to call the previous bets, the amount they already contributed to the pot (the blind bet) counts towards their total contribution, reducing their cost to play. If the big blind is acting, and no one raised the bet previously, that player can check (and continue for free), or raise. This is called the preflop betting round. Any player who folds is out of that hand, and will be back in action once the current hand is complete. A hand can be finished preflop if one player makes a raise that no one else is willing to call (or if everyone chooses not to call the big blind, in which case the big blind player wins the hand).
Once everybody has either matched the same bet amount or folded, the dealer will place three cards face up in the middle of the table. These cards are called the flop. After the flop, the first player to act is the first player to the left of the button that is still in the hand. The first player to act can check or bet. A check is simply saying “I choose not to make a bet at this time.” Since there are no forced bets other than the blinds in the preflop round, a hand could theoretically be checked down on each round after the flop. As each player around the table gets a turn to act, if no one bet before them, they can either check or bet. If someone bet before them, they must call, raise, or fold.
If two or more players have bet or called the same amount on the flop (or if everyone that saw the flop checked), the dealer exposes the turn card. Another round of betting follows, using the same rules as the betting on the flop round. Again, if two or more players check or bet and call the same amount on the turn, the dealer will expose the fifth and final board card, called the river card. One final round of betting ensues using the same rules. If two or more players have matched the same bet amount on the river (or checked), there is a showdown. The players remaining in the hand take turns exposing their hole cards to make a claim on the pot. The player with the best five card poker hand (any combination of the five board cards and their two hole cards) wins the hand. If two or more players have the same hand value, they split the pot equally.
Any hand can be completed at any time without a showdown if one player makes a bet that no one else is willing to call. In that case, the bettor wins the pot and the hand is over.
After each hand, the button moves one seat to the left, and the next two players post their blinds (the big blind for the previous hand is now the small blind, and the previous hand’s small blind is now the button).
Texas holdem is typically played in fixed limit or no limit formats, and occasionally in pot limit. Fixed limit means the bet and raise amounts are determined by the rules of the game. In a fixed limit game with 2/4 stakes, the small blind is one unit, the big blind is two units, and all bets on the preflop and flop betting rounds are in 2 unit increments. The bets on the turn and river betting rounds are in 4 unit increments. The number of raises per round of betting is capped, usually at three raises per round.
In a pot limit game, the minimum bet is always the amount of the big blind. The maximum bet is the amount currently in the pot. In the case of raises, the amount that would have been in the pot had the player just called is used. For example, if the pot is 10 units, and you bet 10 units (making it 20 units now), I can raise to 40 (calling your ten unit bet makes the pot 30 units, and I can raise 30 units on top of that).
In a no limit game, the minimum bet is always the amount of the big blind. The maximum bet is the number of chips any player has in front of them when the hand started. No player can go into their pocket (or online account) to add more chips in the middle of a hand. No limit and pot limit games usually have minimum and maximum buy ins.