How To Play Texas Holdem Poker

The most popular online poker takes the form of texas hold'em poker. This is known as a stud poker as there is no swapping of cards as in 'draw' poker. Each player receives a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple betting rounds

Play of the hand

Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down. These are the player's hole cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown, making Texas holdem a closed poker game.

The hand begins with a "pre-flop" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. After the pre-flop betting round, the dealer deals a burn card, followed by three face-up community cards called the flop. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continue clockwise. After the flop betting round ends, another card is burned, and a single community card called the turn (or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final burn card is followed by a single community card called the river (or fifth street), followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

Betting structures

There are normally two distinct betting structures that you can play, either limit or no-limit poker.

In a game played with a fixed limit betting structure, a player chooses only whether to bet or not - the amount is fixed by rule. Commonly later betting rounds specify higher bets than earlier rounds.

For example, a four-round game called "2 and 4 limit" (usually written as $2/$4) may specify that all bets on the first two rounds are $2, and on the third and fourth round $4. This amount applies to each raise, not the total amount bet in a round, so a player may bet $2, be raised $2, and then re-raise another $2, for a total bet of $6, in such a game. A game played with a no limit betting structure allows each player to raise any amount of his stake at any time (subject to the table stakes rules and any other rules about raising).

In either case there is first a forced bet known as a blind. With texas holdem this is generally the first 2 players to the dealers left, known as a small blind and a big blind. The actual monetary value depends on if limit or no-limit poker is being played. With limit poker the small blind is usually equal to half of a small bet, and the big blind is equal to a full small bet. With no limit poker, the blinds normally starts at a low value then increases during the game at a fixed time.

Ranking of hands

Of course you need to know how you hand ranks compared to other players.

The most common ranking of hands is as follows:

The hands are ranked in this order because of their relative probabilities, with rarer hands ranking above more common hands.