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Poker Magazine providing reviews of popular online poker rooms, Poker Tips, |
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Rules of Texas HoldemIf you'd like to play online poker, then you'll find the most opportunities at the Texas Hold'em tables. Players that have been enjoying Texas Hold'em for a while are quick to claim that the game is easy, but this poker variant's many dealing and betting rounds can be confusing to someone that's never played before. Rest assured that Texas Hold'em is in fact pretty easy to learn, especially when you've had some hands-on practice. Texas Hold'em is played with the same 52-card deck as all other poker games. The deck is divided into four suits: hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. Furthermore, each suit is divided into 13 cards of different values. The numbered cards range in value from 2-10. Face cards are valued in this order: Jack, Queen, King and Ace. Texas Hold'em is a “high” style poker game, which means that the objective is to build the best possible hand. Possible hand combinations, in order from lowest to highest, are: High Card Texas Hold'em is a community card style game. That means that a player's hand is comprised of cards dealt solely to them in combination with cards shared by the entire table. A Texas Hold'em hand has four dealing rounds interspersed with four betting rounds. To start a hand, two cards are dealt face down to every player. These are called “hole cards.” Players then make their first bets. Now three cards are dealt to the center of the table; this round is called “the flop.” Players bet again, and then another card – called “the turn” – is dealt to the center of the table. This is followed by the dealing of a fifth and final community card called “the river.” Any players left in the hand make one more bet and then proceed to the showdown where they will reveal their hole cards to determine the winner. Texas Hold'em also has a special betting structure. In a casual live game, players may deal the cards themselves, but in any poker room the position of dealer is only symbolic and is marked by the button. The position of the button at the table and of the players in relation to the button will determine the order in which players bet. To ensure that every hand has a bet, Texas Hold'em uses two mandatory bets called “blinds.” There is a small blind and a big blind, and they travel around the table in the two positions to the left of the table. To see the flop, a player must bet the equivalent of the large blind. When playing a Texas Hold'em tournament, players should be aware that the blinds will get larger with every round to keep the action moving along. Some tournaments will also require every player to make a small bet at the beginning of every hand; this bet is called an “ante.” It's important to note that not all Texas Hold'em ring games and tournaments are created equal. They may be separated by betting restrictions such as no limit and pot limit, by table size, by stakes size or by the speed in which the blinds increase.
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