Understanding Texas Holdem Poker

Texas Holdem is actually quite easy to learn. This is perhaps why the game is becoming quite the rage in card rooms all over the world whether online or offline. In the Texas Holdem poker, the dealer gives two faced-down cards, which is called the hole cards or the pocket cards in poker lingo. After which, the players are dealt with 5 faced-up cards, which is called community cards. At the final round of betting, players must make the best hand out of the seven cards that they are dealt with, the two cards given faced down and the five cards given faced-up.

The process

For the first round of betting, two faced-down cards are given. Three are then supplied facing up at the middle of the table. These cards can be used by other players to make their hands strong. This is known as the flop. A round of betting is done after this. The fourth card is dealt with faced down and betting is again opened. This is called the fourth street or the turn card. The fifth and final card is dealt again at the center of the table and the last round of betting will then occur. This final card is called the river card. Players have the option to bet, to check, to raise or to fold.

Players that are in immediate left of the dealer are called the small blind (referring to the nearest) and the big blind (referring to the farthest positions). Players that want to enter the hand should call the big blind so that they can stay in the game. Otherwise they will have to fold.
As mentioned before, players who have the best hand will win the pot. The best hand combinations will of course depend on the standard poker hands. In case of ties, which often happens with this variant of poker, players will split the pot money.

Types of Betting

There are three types of betting in Texas Holdem Poker. In the Limit Holdem betting structure, the amount that a player will bet or raise will be limited to amounts that are already specified at the start of the game. Small blind and big blinds will have specific amounts that they can bet on the first two rounds of betting. On the third and succeeding betting rounds, the bets will be raised in specified increments, for instance, two-dollar increments. After turn and river betting will of course be more expensive.

Spread limit Holdem Poker, on the other hand, is much the same as Limit Holdem except for one thing, the raising of bets will not be according to a specified amount but instead according to a certain range or “spread,” the term used in poker games.

Another kind of betting structure is the Pot Limit Holdem, which limits the player’s maximum bet. In this structure, a player’s bet cannot exceed the total amount accumulated in the pot.

In the no limit holdem betting structure, there is no limit on the amounts that players can bet or raise. This can be difficult for players who also depend on the size of the betting to guess the strength of the hand of their opponents. Because there are no limits and no ranges, they have no way of knowing if the player is confident with his hand or just a plain big casino spender.