Poker Online Guide: How to Play Texas HOLD’EM Poker

A poker online game, Texas HOLD’EM is now becoming the world’s most popular game. All the big tournaments of poker feature it in their tournaments.

Learn Everything related to Texas HOLD’EM

Do you know which the most popular variant of poker is online? It’s Texas HOLD’em. Most of the popular tournaments worldwide feature this game in their series. In fact, the popularity of this variant is so much that many people do not know that there are other variants of poker too.

Texas HOLD’EM poker is very easy to learn and master, but sometimes its simplicity may mislead you. The numbers of situations in this variant are the largest. Therefore, if played at a large level, it can be a bit confusing. It is easy to learn the game but it is really hard to master.

Hence, if you are reading this then you are definitely playing Texas HOLD’EM for the first time.

Here are the basic rules you need to know:

In Texas HOLD’EM players are required to make the best hand out of five cards in the order of rankings. Hence, poker is similar to other games like five-card draw. The only difference is the construction of hands in Texas HOLD’EM.

Each player gets two cards facing down and as the round begins 5 extra cards are picked up from the middle of the table. The two-faced down cards are known as Hole cards and faced up cards are known as Community Cards. The face up cards are known as Community Cards because the players on the table use them for making their five-card hand of poker.

Therefore, The community cards are picked up in three rounds. “Flop” is the term denoted for the first three cards. After that only one card is picked up, this is termed as “Turn”. At last, the last card is picked up which is termed as “river”.

Therefore, each player has a total of seven cards and they have to make the best five-card poker hand out of them. There can be various combinations for making the five-card hand. Like, you can use two hole cards and three community cards, a hole card and four community cards, and all community cards with zero hole cards. Do whatever that helps you to make the best five-card poker hand.

Furthermore, Let us now dive deep into the specifications of Texas HOLD’EM and learn how the betting is done. Two key positions are available i.e. Button and the Blinds. Hence, let’s learn about them one by one.

Button

The chances move in the clockwise direction around the table. It begins from the left side of the button. The button is a circular disc that is meant to be rotated every time. Usually, in casinos, it is not the player who sits in front of the button dealing cards, but casinos hire someone to do that. On the other hand, in a household game, the player who sits in front of the button deals.

Hence, to start the game, the two players who are sitting to the left of the button put the blinds. Then, the game starts. From this point, there are several actions performed like flop, turn, and river. Therefore, we have explained all this further in the post.

The Button decides the player who will act as a dealer. Hence, the player who sits in front of the button or near the button is the one who gets the chance to call the last action.

The dealer button tells which player has to make the big blinds and also tells from where the card deal will begin. The player sitting to the left of the dealer button gets the first card and then it follows a clockwise rotation until every player has a set of two cards each.

Blinds

 As stated before, two players have to forcefully place big blinds in order to begin the game. If these big blinds will not be played then the game will lead to boredom since no one would require putting money inside the pot. Players can just wait until they get good cards and then start playing. The blinds make sure that action is performed with every hand.

During tournaments, blinds are played in a fixed interval. Since players keep leaving the game and the remaining players are left with higher stacks. Therefore, it is important to increase blinds. However, blinds are the same for a cash tournament.

In other words, the player who is sitting next to the button will put the bigger blind and the person next to him will put smaller blind. The small blind is 50 percent of the big blind.

The initial round of betting – The preflop

 The first bet is played when every player has got two of the hole cards. The first player to play the move is the one who sits to the left of the player who played big blind. This players’ position is called “under the gun”. The player can choose to do any of these actions:

• Call: He can put the same amount as the big blind.
• Raise: He can increase the current bet
• Fold: he can throw the hand to another player

If the player opts for the fold option, then he can no longer take part in the current hand.

Hence, In Texas HOLD’EM the opening pot is twice the big blind and then maximum pot limit is the number of chips a player has.

After under the gun has been played, the action takes place in a clockwise manner with all players having the same three option i.e. call, fold, and raise. After the final bet, an action close is available.

The Second round for bet – The flop

In the first round of this game, the action begins with the player sitting on the left of the button. Now the player gets one more option known as check which means to pass your hand to the next player.

Therefore, betting continues and when the last bet is called the round ends. Every player can choose the check option and still the round finishes.

The third round of betting – The turn

The number four community card is known as the turn. It is dealt with face up and follows the same actions as on the flop. Hence, after this round completes another betting round begins. All layers again have the same options i.e. fold, raise, call, or bet.

The final round of betting – The river

In this round, the player is introduced with the last community card i.e. the river. Once every player has completed his turn, a similar process reoccurs. Again, all the players have five options i.e. bet, check, fold, raise, and call.

Hence, the betting is completed. Now the cards in the player’s hands are opened and the winner is decided. This process is known as the Showdown.

Showdown

Hole cards are opened in this part of the game. The winner is selected in accordance with the ranking system. Below are the ranking systems and note that they not only apply to Texas HOLD’EM but in every other poker online game as well:

• Royal Flush – Same suite of 5 cards i.e.  A, K, Q, J, 10
• Straight Flush – same suite of five cards and in addition consecutively ranked i.e.  9, 8, 7, 6, 5
• Four of a Kind – same rank of four cards i.e. Q, Q, Q, Q, 4
• Full House – Three cards of similar rank and two more cards with similar rank i.e. J, J, J, 8, 8
• Flush – All of same suite
• Straight – Any five consecutive cards i.e. Q, J, 10, 9, 8
• Three of a Kind – Three cards having similar rank 8, 8, 8, K, 4
• Two Pair – Two cards having similar rank and in addition another two cards with same rank too i.e.   A, A, J, J, 7
• High Card – A, J, 10, 5, 2 is called as an ace high

Winding this up

So, that was all about the Texas HOLD’EM. After reading this guide, you have a clear image of how the Texas HOLD’EM is played and its various rules. Let’s have a quick recap of the things we discussed in the post. Texas HOLD’EM deals with seven cards and player has to choose five cards i.e. four community cards and 3 hole cards. There are two positions at the table, Button and the blinds. Blinds are of two types i.e. big blind and small blind.

There are four total rounds in this game i.e. pre-flop, flop, turn, and river. In pre-flop, every player gets two hole cards and has three options to choose from i.e. call, raise, and fold. Then in flop, each player gets three community cards and has the same options as in the first round of betting and also, a new option called check is introduced. In turn, each player gets another community card and has all the options as in flop. In the river, the player gets the last community card and then comes the showdown. It’s time to open the hole cards and select a winner.