How to play Texas Hold’em Poker

All types of Poker have seen a surge in popularity in recent times; this is partly due to the increased coverage that poker is now receiving due to poker tournaments being televised and also with the increase of online gaming.  Texas Hold’em Poker is a card game that is played in Casinos the world over, it’s a relatively straightforward form of Poker and is probably one of the best games to start with when considering playing poker.   It is a game that is played with a standard 52 deck of cards and the object of the game is to try and make the best hand in order to win. 

The game starts by the dealer shuffling the standard deck of 52 playing cards.  He will then deal two cards to each player face down; players often refer to these cards as the hole or pocket cards.  Players can then look at their respective cards before they decide to place a bet.  Bets can be placed in the usual poker way of a call, raise or fold.  Once the betting has finished on the first round which is sometimes known as the “Pre-Flop”, the dealer will discard the top card of the deck, this is known as the “Burn Card” and this method is used to prevent any cheating. 

The next round begins by the dealer turning over three cards face up on the table.  This is called the “Flop” and the cards are communal cards whereby any of the players can use these in combination with their own hand of two pocket cards to make their own poker hand.  After this second phase of the game, betting can begin again in the same way as the first round.  The betting will always start from the player to the left of the dealer.

Once the second round of betting is over, the dealer will again discard (burn) the top card of the existing deck.  He will then turn one single card onto the table which is sometimes referred to as the “Turn” card.  Players can then use the turn card to adjust their own hand and incorporate this to make a five card poker hand.

Bets will then be placed again, starting from the player to the left of the dealer.  This is the usually the crunch point of the game as the amount of bets increase and the returns can be far greater at this point of the game.  After this round of the betting, the dealer will follow the same pattern and discard the top card of the deck (burn) and he will then turn a final card face up on the table which is known as the “River”.  This means that there is now five cards face up on the table and players can use any of these five cards in addition to their own two cards to form a five card poker hand.

There is one final round of betting which will again start from players to the left of the dealer.  Once all final bets have been placed, the players that have remained in the game and haven’t folded will have to show their hands.  This is called the “Showdown” and players who show the best hand wins.