Texas Hold’em is sweeping the world and is arguably the most popular poker game of all time. It is a favorite among all players, low stakes to the biggest games in Vegas. Not to forget the myriad of tournaments offered in online poker rooms and offline poker rooms.
Hold’em is a card game played for high hand, as the game doesn’t play well high-low split. If you like games of the high-low variety, check out Omaha High-Low.
The Button and BlindsHold’em is generally played with 2-10 players. All betting begins to the dealers left. A white disk, also known as the ‘Button’, designates the game’s ‘Dealer’. The ‘Button’ is advanced around the table one poker player at a time after each hand is completed. The poker player seated to the to the immediate left of the ‘dealer’ is called the ‘Small Blind’ and makes a forced (mandatory) bet, which is commonly half the minimum bet at the table. The poker player seated to the left of the ‘Small Blind’ is called the ‘Big Blind’ and generally makes a forced bet the size of the minimum bet at the table, usually twice the size of the ‘Small Blind’ bet. Occasionally the game is also played with/and/or an ‘Ante’ which is a forced bet required of all the poker players at the table. The betting structure in this tutorial will reflect what is customary in Limit Texas Hold’em, the most commonly played version of the game.
The Hole CardsThe play begins with each Hold’em player being dealt two cards face down, starting with the Hold’em player to the left of the dealer button, also called the ‘Small Blin...