Poker comes in a number of variations with Texas Hold’em being the most popular. All marquee tournaments across the world vary around this game. The game’s simplicity can be quite misleading. It has a large number of possible game situations, which makes the game very complex when you are playing at a high level. Although it may take a moment to learn this game, you will need a lifetime to master it. The game, also known simply as Hold’em, can be played by two to ten players.
What is the End Goal?
The end goal of any game, really, is to win. Texas Hold’em requires you to have the best combination of cards for you to have won a game. At the end of all the rounds, each player plays their best hand using five cards.
The Basics
This game is pretty straightforward, fast and easy to learn. There are usually four rounds per hand of Hold’em poker. At the beginning of the game, players are given two cards, also called pocket or hole cards. This is when the betting rounds start. Next, public or community cards are distributed to everyone; three of them. This is referred to as the flop. Now the second betting round begins. After that, players are each given their fourth community card, also called the turn. After a third betting round the fifth community card is dealt to the players. This is called the river. Then comes the last betting round. The showdown is the determinant of who has won. Each player picks five cards from the two private cards they were given, and the five community cards. Now that we’ve gone through the basics, let’s look at what you will need.
What you need for the Hold’em
You will need a deck of cards, 52 of them without a joker. You will also need players, two to ten as earlier mentioned, but any number from five is the most ideal. You also need something to act as money, chips are obviously the most common item of choice. A table is also an obvious requirement for any game of poker.
The Rules
Now to the Texas Hold’em rules, which is what you came here for. To decide who starts, each player is given a card. The highest card holder gets to be the dealer, which usually comes with a ‘D’ button (a plastic chip white in color). The highest card holder (starting with the ace) gets the position of dealer. To be fair, the dealer button is passed on to the next player to the left. At this point, forced bets are placed. The player on the right of the dealer gets the big blind while the player to the left gets the small blind. The specific amounts of these blinds or forced bets are determined beforehand, but as a rule, the small blind should be half of the big blind.
Each player gets to place their bets using the chips or whatever item is used in the game to take the place of money. Once each round is complete, all of these bets are combined into one and referred to as the pot. Isn’t it so easy so far? Now all the steps were already mentioned above, remember? That is, the flop, the turn, the river and the showdown which marks the end of the game when the winner is unveiled. The first player is usually the one who is on the left of the big blind, that is, before the flop.
Each player is required to make an act. This is poker lingo and could mean one of these six things: check, bet, call, fold, raise, and re-raise. I am sure you have heard of these words before, but you didn’t understand what they meant. Well, here is a breakdown. To check means to make a null or zero bet. As a rule, you can’t bet in the first round because of the forced bets in place then (small and big blind). To bet is just making your bet which happens at the start of a betting round. To call is to counter a previous bet. To fold is to forfeit. To raise is to raise your bet amount. To re-raise is to increase your bet amount for the second time in the same betting round.
Now these are just some basic rules to help you learn hold’em poker. As earlier mentioned, you won’t require much time to learn. With time, you will be a master of the game.