Back To Basics

Texas Hold'em Basics

Objective
Like most variants of poker, the objective of Texas hold 'em is to win pots, where a pot is the sum of the money bet by oneself and other players in a hand. A pot is won either at the showdown by forming the best five card poker hand out of the seven cards available, or by betting to cause other players to fold and abandon their claim to the pot.


Betting structures
A standard hold 'em game with the blindsSee the article on betting for a detailed explanation of betting in these variations of hold 'em.
Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets. Antes may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. (In some cases, the small blind is some other fraction of a small bet, e.g. $10 is a common small blind when the big blind is $15. The double-blind structure described above is relatively recent; until the 1980s, a single-blind structure was most common.)

The three most common variations of hold 'em are limit hold 'em, no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit hold 'em. Limit hold 'em has historically been the most popular form of hold 'em found in casino live action games in the United States. In limit hold 'em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet. No-limit hold 'em is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and is the game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker. In no-limit hold 'em, players may bet or raise any amount over the minimum raise up to all of chips the player has at the table (called an all-in bet). In pot-limit hold 'em, the maximum raise is the current size of the pot.

Play of the hand
Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down. These cards are the player's hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown, making Texas hold 'em a closed poker game. The hand begins with a "pre-flop" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise.

After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remains at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continue clockwise.

After the flop betting round ends a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A single community card (called the river or fifth street) is dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

The showdown
If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best five-card hand he can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the board (the five community cards). A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player's best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since the other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player (e.g. if no player is able to beat the board), then the pot is split equally amongst all remaining players, with any extra chips going to the person closest to the button in clockwise order. However, it is common for players to have closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. In particular, kickers are often needed to break ties. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand. The goal is to make the best five-card hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, such as two pair or three of a kind, then kickers are used to settle ties (see the second example below.) Straights sometimes split the pot.

The best possible hand given the five community cards is referred to as the nuts. The lowest possible nuts is three Queens (this occurs with 2 3 7 8 Q on the board with no more than two cards of any one suit).


Please Visit My Website!!

Are you in a slump?

Playing poker can be rough sometimes, especially when you aren't doing so well. Everyone goes on a bad streak now and then do to continuous bad cards and there isn't much you can do about it. You can try and change your style of playing but doing that only hurts you when you are finally hitting the cards that you need. The best thing to do in this situation is to stop playing for a while, take a break for a weak or so until you feel ready to play again. There is no need to keep playing when the cards haven't been going your way and risk losing your bank roll. What I do in this situation since it is hard for me to just stop playing is just play freeroll tournaments. There is no buy-in so there isn't any risk in losing any money, there is only a chance to win money. Not only that, but it also keeps you in the game and helps your gain more experience at the same time. Some of the best places I have found to play freeroll tournaments is Poker.com, Poker Time, Poker World, Poker Host, and Poker Champs. These places have plenty of freeroll tournaments that go on throughout the day everyday so there are plenty of chances to play. Poker Champs offers 24/7 freerolls. In some cases I have been able to build up a bank roll without making a single deposit into some of these sites.


Please Check Out My Website!!!

Discipline

When playing poker, you have to have discipline. Those who don't have discipline bet on weak hands just to keep themselves from getting bored. Sometimes these people get lucky and it is very frustrating especially when these people call all-ins on very week hands and end up winning. Whatever you do, don't get frustrated and call an all-in just cause they seem to do it every other hand unless you have something great. You should only bet when you have a good starting hand, generally when both cards are 10 or higher. Know when to quit, using the 30 bet rule will help out a lot. If you are having a bad streak, quit playing for the day or even a weak if you aren't doing so well for a couple of days in a row. This will help you keep from losing all your money. If you even think you are going on tilt, just leave, this is the fastest way to lose your money. Discipline is being able to control your emotions at all times so you don't let them get the best of you in a game or tournament. It is also knowing when to fold and when to bet. I usually fold about 90 to 95% of the time and it definitely pays off. Another thing you should think about is.... When you are dealt a starting hand, in my oppinion it isn't good to try and determine how much it is worth. Usually when you do this you tend to think, "well I will try and limp in with X amount of chips, but if someone raises I will fold." To me, if the hand isn't worth the raise, then it really isn't worth betting on in the first place.



Please Check Out My Web Site!!!