How To Play Texas Hold Em Poker For Dummies
This makes the game a lot more competitive—and exciting. There are a gazillion varieties of poker, but we'll be concentrating on Texas Holdem Poker, since that's the most popular poker variety being played today. The Basics of Texas. Texas Hold’em For Dummies Cheat Sheet. Texas Hold’em poker is everywhere these days — on TV, online, and in clubs and casinos. Before you sit down to a game of Texas Hold ’em, make sure you’re in good shape to be successful — take care of non-poker. Each game of Texas holdem is dealt using a standard playing card deck of 52 cards. Each deck has four suits made up of 13 cards per suit. The four suits are spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. Here are the bare basics of how to play Texas Hold’em poker. Three community cards are dealt face up on the table, called the flop. A fourth community card is dealt face up on the table, called the turn. Poker is a beautiful game. It’s not simply about the cards; you play the player, read the body language, analyse betting patterns, take risks and make tough decisions. Stay ahead of the game, be sure to read the other poker guides or view the basics of Texas hold ‘em poker video to recap. How to determine the winning hand in Texas Hold'em.
Texas Hold’em is the most popular variation of poker on the planet, today, and with millions of hands played every single hour, it’s no surprise that you want try this fantastic and exciting game too!
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at some of the basic Texas Hold’em rules, and we’ll also look at some Texas Hold’em strategy tips.
Like with most games, let’s start by learning the rules of the game first.
Basic Texas Hold’em rules
Texas Hold’em poker can be played with anywhere from two, to 100 players (there’s actually no upper-limit!) although the most popular type of game is played with between 6 and 9 players.
The basic principal of the game is to make a better hand than your opponent – or, if you feel you have a worse hand – then fold it. But of course it’s a lot more complex than that, and the game itself actually involves a fair degree of mathematics and statistical analysis.
(That being said, don’t worry; you don’t need to be good at math in order to make healthy profits at the poker table; a solid Texas Hold’em strategy requires little-to-no math knowledge).
Now, there’s two main types of poker game; the first is a cash game, and this is where you play with real money, against other players. The second type is a tournament, and this is where all participants pay an entry fee, and play with tournament chips instead of real money chips.
There are a number of hand rankings, with the best possible hand being the Royal Flush. This is seconded by a Straight Flush, and followed further, by a 4-of-a-kind, a Full House, and then the lower hands.
A solid Texas Hold’em strategy will require good knowledge of the hand-rankings, so ensure you’re versed on these early on. If you need more help, re-read this “how to play Texas Hold’em for dummies” guide a few times, to get a strong grasp on the basic rules and strategy.
How to Play Texas Hold’em
As part of this how to play Texas Hold’em guide, we figured it’d be good to include a general section on playing the game.
Texas Hold’em is incredibly simple to play and getting started is as easy as choosing your game, selecting a suitable stake, and taking your seat. (Make sure you have a good grip of the basic Texas Hold’em rules before starting – this will help your game a LOT!).
Once you begin playing, you’ll be dealt your hand; this is made up of two cards, and is the beginning of the action, so to speak. You can either throw these cards away (fold) if they’re garbage, call the blind bet (if the hand’s OK), or make a raise, if you like your hand.
Once other players at the table have acted, a community flop is dealt; this is comprised of three cards, and all players can share these cards. A round of betting now takes place, with all players again given the option to either fold, raise, or check their hand. A fourth card is then dealt (known as the turn), with the betting round once again taking place.
The final line of betting takes place after the 5th community card is dealt – known as the river – and once this betting round has ended, players turn their two cards face up, with the player holding the strongest hand being awarded the money (known as the pot) in the middle.
Now you have an idea of how to play the game, we’re going to look at some quick advanced Texas Hold’em strategy and tips.
Advanced Texas Hold’em Strategy and Tips
So you’ve played a few hands of poker and now you’re ready to advance your skills further, well here are some advanced strategies and tips just for you. If you came here solely for a how to play Texas Hold’em for dummies guide, the Texas Hold’em strategy below may be a little advanced… but it’s never too early to improve!).
One of the best tips you should be aware of, is to know your mathematics. While it’s not necessary to become a successful poker player, it will help, and one of the good examples of where math can come in handy, is with pot odds.
For example, if you need a specific card to land in order to make your hand, you’re doing what’s known as ‘chasing’. It may be fine to risk a dollar or two to chase this card – but how do you know how much you should actually risk?
By working out the percentage chance of this card coming in, you can work out your rough pot-odds. While this won’t help too much in the short-term, it can greatly improve your profitably as you play more, and it’s something you’ll definitely want to make yourself familiar with.
Another key tip to bear in mind, is that learning how to read your opponents can also be very beneficial. For example, observing facial twitches, heavy breathing, and trembling hands can help you make decisions on whether a player holds a strong or weak hand – but make sure you don’t let on that you’re observing them, or they could try to deceive you!
Improving Your Game
There’s really only one way to improve your game (aside from reading up on poker theory), and that’s practice!
Just like any sport, or pretty much anything else in life, practice makes perfect, and the more you play the better you’ll become! What’s more, thanks to the rise in internet poker sites you don’t need to bet big to play like was previously required if you played at a land-based casino.
And this means you can play from stakes as little as $0.01/$0.02.
Above all else, make sure you have a good grip of the basic Texas Hold’em rules, as this will make a big difference to the quality of your game; a strong Texas Hold’em strategy will help as well.
Hopefully this “how to play Texas Hold’em for dummies” guide will have helped your game and you have gotten a taste of winning.
Want to win even more? Make sure to check out all our other guides on the site too. They’re always accurate, up-to-date, and have your profitability in mind.
In hold'em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (holecards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand ('play the board'). A dealer button is used. The usual structure is to use two blinds, but it is possible to play the game with one blind, multiple blinds, an ante, or combination of blinds plus an ante.Rounds of Betting
How To Play Texas Holdem Beginners
- Opening deal- Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.
- First round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.
- The flop- The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.
- Second round of betting- Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.
- The turn- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.
- Third round of betting- It follows the same format as the second round, but the size of the bets have usually doubled in limit games.
- The river- The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card, or fifth street.
- Final round of betting- It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.
- The showdown- Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.)
How To Play Poker Texas Hold'em For Beginners
- These rules deal only with irregularities. SeeButton and Blinduse for rules on that subject.
- If the first or second hole card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results. The dealer retrieves the card, reshuffles, and recuts the cards. If any other holecard is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. The exposed card can not be kept. After completing the hand, the dealer replaces the card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burncard. If more than one hole card is exposed, this is a misdeal and there must be a redeal.
- If the flop contains too many cards, it must be redealt. (This applies even if it is possible to know which card is the extra one.)
- If the flop needs to be redealt because the cards were prematurely flopped before the betting was complete, or the flop contained too many cards, the board cards are mixed with the remainder of the deck. The burn card remains on the table. After shuffling, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without burning a card.
See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule. - If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board before the betting round is complete, the card is taken out of play for that round, even if subsequent players elect to fold. The betting is then completed. The dealer burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card's place. After this round of betting, the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not including the burn cards or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the final card without burning a card. If the fifth card is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt in the same manner.
See Explanations,discussion #2, for more information on this rule. - If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card (after all players have received their starting hands), the card is returned to the deck and used for the burn card. If the dealer mistakenly deals more than one extra card, it is a misdeal.
- If you are playing the board, you must so declare before you throw your cards away; otherwise you relinquish all claim to the pot.