Texas Hold'em poker

Introduction:

With this guide to Texas Hold'em poker Poker-rules.com intends to introduce the fascinating game to newcomers. We will try to make it as easy as possible for the novice player to start playing Texas Hold'em poker. We will also try to provide you with enough knowledge to do it with success. By following the basic principles and guidelines you should be well equipped to play Texas Hold'em poker online as well as offline.

But let us make it clear from the beginning - we can not make you a Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot-clone by reading this guide. But we can give you some tools which, if used in the right maner and with common sence can help you avoiding the most fundamental traps and save you from loosing all your money on cards that never should have been played. If you give yourself the time needed to learn the basic principles you will be able to avoid making mistakes which might resemble lack of luck i the game. We will provide you with a good foundation to build upon in your quest to become a reputable poker player.

What is poker?

If you never has played poker before it might seem as if luck is major part of the game. This is partly true but poker is a lot more. There are other things as position, opponents and odds are also a vital part of the game. To become a good poker player you have focus on all these aspects of the game. If you only focus on one part of the game, you will never get good at it, and you will loose your money over time.

The basics you need to know

To win a game of Texas Hold'em poker you have to make the best poker hand consisting of five cards out of 7 usable cards - two of them are dealt to you - your "pocket cards" or "hole cards", the rest is laid on the table as community cards.

The winner is determined by comparing hands with the raking from the following table:

Pos.	Cards	Description
1		Royal Straight Flush Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 suited.
2		Straight Flush 5 consecutive and suited cards.
3		Four of a kind I.e. four 4's.
4		Full House Consists of three of a kind and a pair.
5		Flush 5 suited cards, not connected.
6		Straight 5 consecutive cards which are off suit.
7		Three of a kind I.e. three 4's.
8		Two pairs I.e. two 5's and two 4's.
9		A pair I.e. two 4's.
10		A high card I.e. an ace.

The game of poker starts with you sitting down at a poker table.There are always at least two players and dealer. The dealer has a button called the "Dealer button" which indicates who is the first player to be dealt a card. The button indicates who is to receive cards first from the dealer. The button shifts clockwise with each game. The dealer starts by dealing cards to the player who is sitting to the right of the dealer button and continues clockwise until all players have received two cards (their pocket cards). These cards should not be shown to the opponents, as these are private cards. The game is now in the "pre-flop" phase and this is where you need to make up your mind if you want the cards or not. We will deal with how to evaluate the cards dealt to you later.

When the dealer has finished dealing cards the game starts with two forced bets, "Small blind" and "Big blind". These bets are always placed by to the left of the dealer button. The first player posts the "small blind" which is half the minimum but and the next posts "big blind". After the blinds have been posted the player to the left of the player who posted the big blind starts the first round of betting. The round continues until all players who whishes to participate in the hand has the same amount in the pot. Normally there can only be raised 4 times per round. Small and Big Blind counts as bets made be the players who posted the blinds...

When all players who wants to participate has bet the equal amount and there still are more than one player left in the game the dealer turns over three cards called "the flop". These three cards are community cards and can be used in every player's effort to make the best hand.

The game now moves into the second round of betting. The player to the left of the dealer button starts by either checking, betting or folding. De andre kan herefter enten "checke", "calle", "raise" eller "folde". All the players must have made the same contribution to the pot before the next round can begin.

The dealer now shows a fourth card on the table called "the turn". All players now have six cards to make the best hand from.

The third round starts with the first player to the left of the dealer button and the players have the same options as in second round. All players must have contributed with the same amount to the pot before the next round can start.

Finally the dealer turns over the fifth community card called "the river". Every player still in the game now has seven cards to make up the best five card hand.

The fourth and finale round is played just like the second and third. All players must have contributed with equal amounts for the game to end. If the last player calls every player is entitled to see the cards. If you can't beat the hand shown, you are entitled to muck your cards. That is not to show what you got. If on the other hand you have a better hand, then you must show it. The player with the best hand wins the pot. In case of two or more equally good hands the pot is split between the players with the best hands.

We now have an idea on how a game of Texas Hold'em poker commences.

Other poker variants?
Looking for other poker rules? We got poker rules for Texas Hold'em, Omaha Poker and Draw Poker.

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