Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em (or simply “Hold’em”) is generally regarded as the most popular variant of poker today.

In Hold’em you are dealt two ‘pocket cards’ (or ‘hole cards’) face down which belong only to you. Five community cards are dealt face up on the ‘board’. Your object is to obtain the best 5 card hand using any combination of the 7 dealt cards. The player(s) left holding the highest ranked hand(s) [link to hand ranking] wins the pot.

In Hold’em, the “button” is passed to the next player to the left before the start of each hand. This is done to indicate the ‘Dealer’ for the hand and all action is initiated by the buttons position. The player to the immediate left of the button posts the “small blind” (or ‘SB’), typically half of the small bet (this would be $5 in a $10/$20 game). The player to the immediate left of the SB posts the “big blind” (or BB), which is always the full small bet ($10 in a $10/$20 game). Once the blinds are posted, all players are dealt their pocket cards. Betting action proceeds around the table clockwise, starting with the player to the immediate left of the BB.

The ‘flop” is dealt face-up on the board and consists of the first three community cards to be used by all active players. The second round of betting begins with the first active player to the immediate left of the button.

All bet and raise amounts in these first two rounds of betting are in increments of the small bet ($10 in a $10/$20 game).

The ‘turn’ is the forth community card to be dealt face up on the board after the completion of the ‘flop’ betting round. Again, betting begins with the first active player to the immediate left of the button.

The ‘river’ card is the fifth and final community card dealt face up on the board. And you guessed it, betting begins with the first active player to the immediate left of the button.

Assuming that more than one player remains active in the hand after the completion of the last betting round, the ‘showdown’ now takes place to declare the winner. The last bet or raise on the river card must show their hand first. If the river card was checked by all players, the active player to the immediate left of the button shows their hand first.

In the event of identically ranked hands, the pot will be divided equally with any left over difference being awarded to the player nearest the dealers left.

Now that the pot has been awarded, the hand is complete and the dealer button is passed to the next player to the immediate left and a new hand begins.

1 on 1 - Heads up

Short Handed games can offer non-stop excitement – heads up is the pinnacle as it’s your skills up against a single player.

The rules are altered slightly to accommodate 1 on 1 play. The button will now posts the small blind and will also initiate the betting pre-flop. The second player will post the big blind and will initiate all subsequent betting rounds.