Texas Hold'em Poker Rules
Texas Hold'em is a version of Draw Poker that has become the most fashionable version of Poker played towards the latter half of the first decade of the 21st century. It is the Poker game most commonly played in Casinos and is also the game regularly featured in the World Poker series tournament and other televised Poker games - which accounts for its popularity.
Preliminaries
The player to the dealer's left bets a starting amount by putting down some chips. This is called "First Blind". The next players puts down some chips too - this is called the "Second blind" and is normally equal to double the first blind. The second blind also usually is the value of the minimum bet.
First Round
Each player is dealt 2 cards, face down. These are called "The Hole Cards"
The player to the left of the player who bet the Second Blind starts the first round of betting. Each player in succession can do one of 3 things:
* "Fold" - Throw in their cards and take no further part in the hand
* "Call" - Increase the bet in front of them to match the level of the player who last raised it.
* "Raise" - in addition to calling, a player may also raise the stake by adding more to the bet in front of him.
After a player raises, if all the subsequent players either fold or call but do not raise the stake further, then no further raises may be made and play proceeds to the second round.
Second (The Flop), Third (The Turn) & Fourth (The River) Rounds
The second, third and fourth rounds are played in a similar way. First, the top card of the deck is discarded - an anti-cheating ritual called "Burning the card". Then:
* In the second round, three "community cards" are dealt face-up in the middle of the table. These cards are called "The Flop" and the round is usually called "The Flop" round.
* In the third round called "The Turn", a fourth community card is dealt to join those already on the table. This card is called "Fourth Street".
* In the fifth round, "The River", the final community card dealt. This card is called "Fifth Street".
The community cards are used by all the players in conjunction with their two hidden "hole" cards to form their hand and from these cards, the players choose the five that give them the highest ranked Poker hand.
The betting process then restarts with the first player to the dealer's left who has not yet folded. In the second, third and fourth rounds of betting, until someone Raises, players may:
* "Fold" - Throw in their cards and take no further part in the hand
* "Check" - Stay in the game at the current stake level
* "Raise" - a player raises the stake by adding more to the bet in front of him
If all players Check, then play proceeds straight to next round. Otherwise, as soon as someone raises the stake, subsequent players can only Fold, Call or Raise. Betting ceases when, after a raise, all the other remaining players either Call or Fold.
After the fifth card has been dealt and the final round of betting is completed, the Showdown occurs.
The Showdown
If at any point during any of the betting rounds, only one player remains in the game, that player wins the pot. The player's hole cards are not revealed to the other players. This means that if the player had been bluffing - pretending that his hand was highly ranked when it was not, then no-one will be any the wiser.
Otherwise, all players reveal their hands and the highest ranked hand wins the pot and all bets.
