Posted in Poker December 22nd, 2009
A Basic Education in Texas Hold ‘Em
Texas Hold ‘Em is one of those cards games that is simple – but not easy. The basic rules are simple to learn while the advanced strategies rival any sport for complexity. You can get into the game if you know the card values and how to bet.
Then the fun really starts as you see and play the strategy side of the game. The winner is the high hand, so you have to protect your good cards and hope to have more time to draw on bad cards.
Meanwhile the other players are trying to do the same. Players to the left of the dealer begin with the small blinds or bets, usually a dollar each and moving around the table to the big blinds.
Based on what you have in the two face down cards or hole cards, each player has three choices: call the bet by matching it, raising the bet with a higher amount or fold and leave the game.
Going clockwise around the table, each player has to make one of these three decisions. Next the community card are dealt to the remaining players. The “flop” of first three cards are dealt, the dealer burns a card and then deals three cards face up.
Going around the table again, the players can bet, call or fold. Next the dealer gives each player another card called the “turn” card and the next betting round proceeds. Then the last card is dealt called the “river” and the final betting round is done.
If all but one player folds, the last player gets the pot. If two or more players are still in after the “river,” then they must all turn their cards face up. The player with the highest hand wins the pot.
It’s possible for two players to have different cards but end up with the same value in their hands. In that case, one more card is dealt to each player. That’s called the “kicker” card.
If the kickers are both lower than cards from the hands showing, then the players split the pot. Otherwise the player who has the highest kicker cards gets to collect the pot. What’s the big winner?
A Royal Flush with Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 in the same suit takes the money every time. Next in order for winning is Straight Flush with all the cards in sequential order and of the same suit.
Four of a Kind comes next and beats a Full House, which is a pair plus three of a kind. An ordinary Flush is next with five cards in the same suit – even if they are not in numerical order.
After that, the winner is a Straight of five sequential cards, not of the same suit. Following these are pairs and three of a kind. If you want to play Texas Hold ‘Em, spend time memorizing this order of winners so you don’t accidentally throw away the wrong cards.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
