Texas Holdem
General
Texas Holdem Poker has increased in popularity in the
last few years due to it receiving a lot of television and internet
exposure. Tournaments like the
World Series of Poker and the
World Poker
Tour have made Texas Holdem a very well known version of poker.
Game Play
The games starts with the player to the left of the dealer putting the first
blind towards the pot. This is called the small blind,
The player then to his left must put in the big blind,
The dealer then deals each player two cards face down. The player to the big blind's
left then starts the betting round. The players can then call, raise or fold.
This happens in a clockwise manner around the table.
When the round is complete, the dealer places three cards
face up in the centre
of the table. These are community cards.
Another round of betting ensues. Once all players have either called,
raised or folded the Turn round starts.
In the Turn round the dealer places another card face up with the community
cards. Another round of betting takes place starting from the blinds. This
betting round's amount is set at the table's high limit. This is the
first expensive street.
Once all bets have been made, the final round (called the River round) takes
place. The dealer places another card face up among the community cards, to
bring the total number of community cards to five. Again this is an expensive
street and betting starts from the blinds in a clockwise manner around the
table.
At the end of the River round, it's time for the Showdown.
Unlike the other Poker styles, players may use only the community cards if they
wish and ignore their hole cards
completely. The best poker hand is made up of five cards. If there are two
players with the same hand (i.e. both players have two pairs of the same value
cards), they generally split the pot.
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