Texas Holdem

Texas Holdem-the most popular poker table game, is very simple in terms of the basic rules, yet it takes a lifetime to really master it.

Texas Holdem is played on a single poker table with anywhere between two to ten players. It is possible to win this game by either having the best hand or having everyone else fold up before the showdown. The focus here on this game lies equally on betting as on the cards played. Tournaments have slightly different rules than a regular game. To begin the game it is imperative that each player should have chips before them, in this game the dealer is rotated which means that in each hand the dealer is different, after each game the person on the left of the dealer is made the next dealer.

At the beginning of the game the dealer is selected by giving each player a card, the player with the highest value card is the dealer. Once the dealer is finalized the small blind and big blind are next to be decided. The small blind is on the left of the dealer and the big blind is placed on the left of the small blind. The person dealing the cards deals to his left with the dealer having to deal first, it keeps rotating round the poker table clockwise, where each player is given one card at a time till  all players have two cards each. These are called the hole cards.

One hand of Holdem has anywhere between one to four rounds of betting. One hand gets over when either all but one player has folded or when betting rounds have been completed, whichever is earlier. When all players receive their hole cards the preflop betting round starts. Each player needs to decide on his action. Only one player can act at a time. The players are faced with three options, to fold that is putting the card away, to call is to match the amount of the big blind or raise that is to raise the amount of the big blind by doubling the amount. The betting round ends when everyone has had a chance to bet and when all those who have bet have bet the same amount of money. Once the preflop round is over the next one is the flop, thereafter the burn and turn, the river and finally the showdown.