If you somehow don’t know the basics of Texas Hold ‘Em by now it’s high time you learned before another craze comes along and really takes off. So get out your baseball caps and your dark sunglasses, grab your deck of cards and let’s play.
Texas Hold ‘Em starts with the blinds. This is the part that really confuses people. There are some variations of the blinds rule, but we are going to go with the official one. The person to the left of the dealer is the “small blind” they would pay the pot half of the agreed upon blind amount. So if the agreed upon amount is $50, the small blind plays $25. The Big blind is the person to the left of the little blind. They pay the full amount. As the deal as passed to the left from hand to hand, the blind will change. In effect, with four people playing, two get free cards. This is non-negotiable.
The play begins with two cards dealt face down. The order of betting is the same as it is in regular poker, but just in case you missed learning to play poker at all, we will cover the basic betting round. Player A is to the left of the dealer. They can either bet or check (pass). The bet now goes to Player B who has the same options and so on. Everyone can pass as long as the player before them has passed. If say Player C bets $5, the Player D must bet at least $5 or fold. Players A and B must follow suit until everyone has paid the same amount of folded. If someone raises along the way, betting will continue.
Once the betting is completed it is time for the flop. The flop is a series of three face up cards that serve as community cards for all the players. To deal the flop, the dealer will burn or discard the top card and deal three cards face up in the center of the table. Based on the potential hand or the hand you may already have, another round of betting takes place.
Once more another card is burned and a final card is turned up. This is called the river card. Another round of betting takes place. When someone calls then the round of betting is over and the two down cards are shown by the remaining players.
After round three, the river card is to follow. The river is dealt the same way as the turn. Betting takes place based upon the hands that people now have. Once betting is completed, it is time to see who has what.
A suggestion is to ride things out at least through to the river card. Folding too early sometimes will make you feel like kicking yourself when the 2, 6 in your hand could have been a small straight. Unless betting is heavy, you might as well stay in. Another suggestion is for when you have Texas Hold ‘Em night at your place. Your guests would no doubt appreciate a second table so they can continue gambling while they are waiting for everyone else to finish up. Often things can get pretty rowdy at table 2, but it sure beats people poking through your closets for some unknown reason- it’s happened to me once.
Texas Hold ‘Em is a lot more intense than the average “call it” poker night. One needs to be aware that once you start playing Hold ‘Em, you have to keep playing or else then someone is going to be upset. This is due to the big and little blinds being the only ones having to ante. Keep this in mind and good luck to you.
Zeeman Haus enjoys writing articles online on a variety of subjects. You can check out his latest website on Folding Poker Table which provides reviews on Fat Cat, ChipsAndGames, Trademark Global and more.
To learn how to build a poker table visit BYOPT. For discount poker supplies visit Discount Poker Outlet.
Tags: basic poker, card games, cards, entertainment, flop, Gambling, games, learning games, Poker, poker night, poker party, rules, texas hold em, turn
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