Guide To Texas Holdem Articles | Poker

By: Richard Bleuze

Guide To Texas Holdem

The game of Texas Hold’em is officially credited to Robstown, Texas and dates back to the early 1900s.

Texas Hold'em is a typically played on a single table with two to 10 players.

The goal in Texas Hold'em is to win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time.  You can do this by having the best hand or by having all other players fold before the showdown.

In Texas Hold'em, once the hand finishes, the player acting as the dealer passes on the dealer role to the player on the left and the next hand begins. Then wash, rinse, repeat.

Texas Hold'em was player friendly than the other poker variations popular at that time.  And because of the community cards removing the need to count cards, the game was also more friendly to the beginner player.

The game of Texas Hold'em began very popular in Las Vegas thans to a few Texas road gamblers such as Crandell Addington, Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.  And in 1970, the first World Series of Poker was held in 1970.

The game of Texas Hold'em was still somewhat of a backroom game until Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event and turned his $40 online satellite buy-in into $2.5 million on national TV.  He was sponsored by Poker Stars.

Thanks to Moneymaker and online poker, Texas Hold’em grew greatly and has now become the most widely played game in the world.

The basic rules of Texas Hold’em are:

* The dealer shuffles the deck.
* The two players to the left of the dealer (or the player with the dealer button if there is a permanent professional dealer at the table) pay the blinds, one small and one big.
* Starting at the player on his left the dealer deals every player two cards face down.
* Starting on the player to the left of the big blind, the players begin the first betting round.
* The first player has the option to call, raise or fold.
* Once the betting round is over, the dealer deals one card face down (the burn card), and three face up (the flop).
* The second betting round starts at the player to the left of the dealer.
* Once the betting round completes, the dealer deals one card face down, and one card face up (the turn).
* The third betting round functions the same as the second betting round.
* Once the betting round completes, the dealer deals one final card face down, and the final card face up (the river)
* The final betting round functions the same as the previous two betting rounds.
* All players still in the hand enter the showdown, where the player holding the best hand at this point wins the pot.
* The dealer passes the deck (or the dealer button) to the player on his left, and the next hand begins.

Texas Hold’em hand rankings are:

•Royal Flush         
•Straight Flush         
•Four of a Kind          
•Full House          
•Flush          
•Straight          
•Three of a kind          
•Two Pair          
•One Pair          
•High Card     
    
The basic terms in Texas Hold’em are:

•Blinds: These are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic "ante."
•Burn Card: The card dealt facedown before any community card is dealt.
•Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand, or the name for the physical dealer button used to denote the current dealer.
•Check: Similar to a call, but no money is bet. If there is no bet or raise, the next player to act may check.
•Fifth Street: See River.
•Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
•Fourth Street: See Turn.
•Preflop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is preflop.
•River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
•Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
•Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.

When it comes to learning the game of Texas Hold'em, it is best to play tight.  That is to play only strong hands and to fold every other hand - see hand rankings in this article.  If you want to be a winner at Texas Hold'em, you must learn to play tight in the beginning.

If you play tight in the beginning while learning Texas Hold'em, you will be making pre-flop decisions every single hand that you play.  Thus, if you play too loose, you will be costing yourself money every time you play a hand you that you should not be playing.

Know the more about what hands you should be playing to win at Texas Hold'em and how to play them.  When playing the game of Texas Hold'em, you must make the best hand possible using any combination of your two cards and the five community cards on the table.  You can use both, one or none of your own cards in Texas Hold'em to make your best hand.  Remember this!

As a beginner in playing the game of Texas Hold’em, there are a few common mistakes to watch for.  They are:

1) Playing too many hands before the flop.  This is the most common mistake made by beginners to the game of Texas Hold'em.

2) Taking hands too far past the flop.  In addition to most beginners play too many hands, they do not evaluate the true strength of your their hand against the likely strength of the opponents playing the game of Texas Hold'em. 

3) Do not playing by feeling.   Poker is a mathematical game and everything that can possibly happen boils down to odds.  Once again, know the hand ranking of the cards, as well as the situations and numbers

4) Do not let your emotions get the better of you.  If you are on a losing streak, take a short walk, returning to the table once you have you are in a  relaxed state.

5) Thinking short term.  Texas Hold'em is based on the decisions that you make.  In playing the game of Texas Hold'em, you can make all the correct decisions and still lose; this is the influence of luck.  Just remember, Texas Hold'em, and for that matter all poker games, are long term!

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