Texas Hold'em Rules

The Rules for Texas Hold'em Poker

 

How to Play Texas Hold'em Poker

Learning the rules for Texas Hold'em is the first step into becoming a Texas Hold'em poker player. Texas Hold'em Download presents the rules for Texas Hold'em poker.

 

Learning Texas Hold'em rules is easy, but there's an old saying, "it takes a minute to learn Texas Hold'em, but takes a lifetime to master"!

After you learn how to play Texas Hold'em from the rules below you'll then want to familiarize yourself with the poker hands to know the different hand strengths. Then you'll want to learn some Texas Hold'em tips to get you playing and winning!

There are three different bet structure versions of Texas Hold'em poker: Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Hold'em, and the ever popular No Limit Hold'em. While the basic fundamental rules of the game are the same for all three, the betting structures are different and there is a definite strategy difference between them as well, as you will learn from experience and further studying the game.

 

Texas Hold'em Rules:

Texas Hold'em is typically played with up to nine or ten players a table. Mathematically though, Texas Hold'em poker can be played with up to 22 players at once using a single 52 card deck! Texas Hold'em is a poker game where all players are dealt 2 cards face down (the hole cards) and five cards that are dealt face up in the middle of the table that are shared between all the players (community cards). The goal is to create the best five card poker hand out of the seven cards available (the two hole cards plus the five community cards). Sometimes a wining hand is composed of entirely by the community cards in which all the players have the same hand. This is important to note; you can use both of your hole cards with three community (board) cards to make a five card hand or you can use one of your hole cards with four community cards, or there are times when you won't use your hole cards at all and just use the community cards. Playing just the community cards is called 'playing the board'.

 

First Round

The game starts by selecting a dealer. This is usually done by dealing a single card face-up to each player, and the player with the highest card becomes the dealer for the first hand. If one or more players have the same high card then suits are used to determine the dealer. The rank of suits goes spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, then clubs.

After the first hand the person to the left (clockwise) of the last dealer then becomes the dealer, and continues clockwise for subsequent hands. A white disk (Dealer Puck) usually labeled 'Dealer' is placed in front of the dealer to note who is dealing. This makes it easy for the other players to know who starts the betting and who deals next.

In order to always have money in the pot and force some action (chips in the pot), Texas Hold'em uses a small blind (half bet) and big blind (full bet) at the beginning of every new hand. In some Texas Hold'em tournament structures a small ante is also used from all players, usually after a certain amount of game time has been played.

The person immediately to the left of the dealer is the small blind, and the person immediately to the left of the small blind is the called the big blind (these are the forced bets). After all players are dealt two hole cards (each player is dealt one card at a time face down) the first round of betting starts with the person immediately to the left of the big blind (that person is 'under the gun'). Because the big blind already placed the first minimum bet (forced bet), the person under the gun has three choices: Fold (muck, throwing the cards away face down and is now out of this round), Call (matches the amount of the bet from the big blind) or Raise (increases the bet by raising the big blind). This continues clockwise until the last player has acted. At this point usually a few players are already out of the hand.

 

The Flop

Next the first three cards (the Flop) are dealt face up in the center of the table. Before dealing the three community cards (the flop) the dealer must 'burn' a card, that is, the dealer takes the top card off the deck and places it face down close to the chips. This is to help prevent any cheating. Now the 2nd round of betting begins with the person immediately to the left of the dealer (the former small blind). The betting is started by either Checking (not wanting to make a bet at this time) or Betting (minimum bet will be the equivalent to the big blind from the previous round to the maximum allowed under the rules of the version of Texas Hold'em being played). The betting continues around the table until the last player has acted.

 

Fourth Round: 4th Street (The Turn)

Now the 3rd round starts with the 4th community card (4th street or 'The Turn') dealt to the center of the table face up. Again the betting is started by the person immediately to the left of the dealer with the option to Check or Bet. Once again the betting continues around the table until the last player has acted.

 

Fifth Round: 5th Street (The River)

The 5th and last round now starts with the 5th community card (5th street or 'the River') dealt to the center of the table face up. The last round of betting starts again with the person immediately to the left of the dealer. Again the betting continues around the table until the last player has acted.

 

The Showdown

Now the players show their hole cards if required to determine the winner. The player who bet last or who raised last shows their cards first. Then the player to the left shows next, and son on. You do not have to show your cards and you can simply muck (fold) your hand if you can't beat any hand that was already shown. The player with the highest hand gets all of the chips that were put into the pot.

Now the dealer button (dealer) moves to the next person to the left and the entire round gets repeated as above.

 

 

No Limit, Limit, and Pot Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Variations

 

Texas Holdem rules are the same for no limit, limit, and pot limit Hold'em with these following betting exceptions:

 

No Limit Texas Hold'em (NLHE) Poker

Arguably the most popular version of Texas Hold'em.

The minimum bet in no limit Texas Hold'em (NLHE) poker is equal to the amount of the big blind. The minimum raise must be double of the last bet or raise. The maximum one can bet or raise in NLHE is equal to the amount of their chips. At any time a player can move 'all-in' with all their chips!

There is no cap on how many raises can be made in no limit Texas Hold'em and you can't lose more chips than you have.

Example of a no limit Texas Hold'em game: The game is called $1/2 No Limit Hold'em. This means that the small blind is $1.00 and the big blind is $2.00. All bets in all the betting rounds must be minimum $2.00 bets.

 

Limit Texas Hold'em

Limit Texas Hold'em is played with a fixed blind structure and fixed betting limits for each round. The big blind is equal to the small size bet, and the small blind is half of the big blind. The first two rounds of betting use the small bet and the last two betting rounds use the large bet. For example: In a $1/2 limit Hold'em game, the small blind is $0.50 and the big blind is $1.00. The first two rounds of betting are in $1.00 increments, and the last two betting rounds are done in $2 increments.

 

Pot Limit Texas Hold'em

In pot limit Hold'em the minimum bet is equal to the big blind. The minimum raise is double of the last bet or raise. The maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot, which is the total of the pot plus all the bets on the table plus the amount the player must call before raising.

Calculating the betting pot size is a bit tricky; lets say there is already $40.00 in the pot and the first player to act bets $30.00, and the next player calls the $30.00. The 3rd player can now bet as high as $160.00. $30.00 to call + a $130.00 raise. The $130.00 maximum raise is equal to the pot of $40.00 + the first player's $30.00 bet + second player's $30.00 call + his own call of $30.00.

 

Now that you know the rules of Texas Hold'em poker it's time to play... see you at the tables!

 

 

Related: Poker News and Poker Articles