Texas Holdem

Texas Holdem is a popular and dramatic variation for poker across the world. Though, there is no ‘universal set’ of rules for Texas Holdem, below are given some common rules:

A full table of Texas Hold’em typically has 9 or 10 players. If any less, this game can also be explained as ‘short handed’. In order to decide who starts the game, one card is given to every player; the one who has high-card shall be the first person to deal. The position of dealer is signified by white ‘plastic chip’ which is called the button and is sometimes also known as ‘being on button’. After every round of game play (known as hand), the dealer-button rotates to left, making sure that each player gets an opportunity to participate and in this as well as other positions.

Before the cards are being dealt, forced bets should have been paid which are known as little blind and big blind. The ‘little blind’ is sometimes also called small blind. The bet is placed when a certain amount is placed in the pot for the first instance in the round. The money of blinds and bets is preset and the ‘little hand’ is half of what is the big-blind always. The position of little blind is always at left side of dealer, while big blind will be a seat to left side of little blind.

The dealer then deals 2 cards, referred to as hole cards or pocket cards, face-down to every participant, one at time, beginning with the participant on left. After the cards are ‘dealt’, the players look at their cards, and decide (on their turn) if they want to call current bet. That denotes to match the bet, fold hands without betting if players do not like cards, or simply raise bet by adding more money. Every player, beginning with seat to left side of the big-blind, makes own acts and choices. If any player raises bet again, every other player now must call a new amount, incorporating the ones who have acted already. Any time of the game, players can re-raise, implying that they put in more money surpassing the amount the bet was previously raised. In case, no player chooses to raise big-blind, then, players in that situation may ‘check, implying they do not wish to ‘raise’. It is imperative to make a note that if the player puts in more money, they may not ‘raise’ again unless and until they were re-raised. The play of ‘betting’ shall stop when participants have either called the ‘last raise’ or folded.

An Important Note:

The Texas Holdem game is usually played as limit, pot limit and no limit. Limit Texas Holdem implies that a player can bet upto a preset amount, usually equal to big-blind and raise same amount. Pot limit means the player can raise upto the ‘current amount’ in pot, while no limit version is the most dramatic. In this, a player can declare ‘All In’ and bet on nearly everything one has.

At least 2 individuals are required to play the game, and the key goal is to arrange a 5-card combination using 5 community cards and 2 hole cards.

Texas Holdem is the game that will take a few minutes to learn, but the entire lifespan to master.