Poker A Guide 1

Texas Holdem is the poker player’s game of choice and where big money prizes have to be made. Many players want to play Texas Holdem to win and win big.

Here we’ll cover the basics to get you started on your route to playing Texas Holdem and hopefully winning some big pots.

In no limit form, it is used today in world class poker tournaments, and is the most popular of all poker games by far.

The game is usually played by 2-10 players, although it can accommodate up to 22.

Playing games

To start, the dealer will deal 2 cards face down to each player (these are known as the player’s ‘hole cards’).

Casino Uang Asli  betting round will then follow shortly.

As the initial round of betting is completed, the dealer will deal the first face of the ‘community card’ 3 up (this is also called the ‘flop’). A second round of betting then follows.

At this point, the dealer will deal the 4th community card, again facing (called the ‘turn’ or fourth street).
A third round of betting then follows.

The dealer will deal 5 face up community cards (called ‘river’ or fifth street), and 4 and then the final round of betting begins.

All players use each combination of their 2 hole cards plus 5 community cards to create the best 5 card poker hand.

The highest scoring hand then wins the pot and the hand is finished

Rules and Playing Etiquette

Although the game is relatively easy to learn, there are still many strategies to follow if you aim to win. Let’s start with the basics of the game and the order of play.

Where you happen to sit can be very important in Texas Hold’em.

For example, if you are the last to act on a certain hand, it allows you to watch and react to what your opponent is doing.

Keep in mind if your first you are at a severe disadvantage because you don’t know how to react as players have given you an indication of how strong or weak their hand might be.

The rule is that the dealer is always the last to act in a given round of Texas Hold’em.

So, to keep the game fair, there is a rotation of agents around the table.

The ‘agent’ (or virtual dealer) has the last acting advantage for any round. After the end of each round the dealer button rotates one player clockwise.

In Texas Hold’em not every player will pay the ante.

Instead, the first 2 players to the dealer’s left must post a ‘blind bet’ before the dealer deals the first 2 cards.

They are known as ‘blind bets’ as the player pays the bet before seeing their cards. Hence they enter the ‘blind’ game not knowing how strong or weak their hand is

Actually the first player to the left of the dealer makes the ‘small blind’ bet, and the second player to the left of the dealer makes the ‘big blind’ bet. It works in the following way

The ‘big blind’ bet will equal the small bet, and the ‘small blind’ bet will be about half of the small bet.

For example a $20/$40 game will have a big blind of $20 and a small blind of $10.
The first round of betting uses blinds to start

Therefore, the $20 big blind will be the initial amount the player must call to stay in the hand.

Also if any player raises the starting bet, blinds are not required to pay back their bet to stay.

That is, if no player raises the initial bet the big blind doesn’t have to pay anything else to stay in, the small blind has to pay a $20 balance bet, which in this case would be $10 to stay.

Also, it’s important to remember that a player’s ‘hole cards’ are only as good as the community cards.
What does this effectively mean?

This means that having AK in the hole is not a very good opportunity for the player.

If the community cards are, say QQ-9-9-J. Cards do not fit into every hand of value.

Besides, it can be assumed that some of the other players could make a house full of queens or nines!

Finally, it is very useful for watching the flop.

You can measure the quality of your hand as 5 of 7 cards you can tell you how good your hand is in relation to others, by watching how they bet or react.

The Best Hand Is Not Always Winning!

It covers the basics of Texas Holdem; the rest is strategy and experience.

Texas Holdem is a game of psychology and doesn’t always win the best hand.

Texas Holdem psychology is not studied over night. It takes a long time and you need to practice on how to play your cards, or more importantly the players you are competing with.

It is the psychological aspect that makes the game so interesting. In Texas Holdem it’s a brutal battle where only the strong survive but if you can the payoff can be huge.