Texas Hold em is the most popular card game in casinos and online poker rooms. Due to a blast of recent media exposure Texas Hold em has enjoyed great popularity for gamblers at all levels. Still, the game shares a few key differences with that of traditional poker that can be mystifying to Texas Hold em novices. As opposed to other poker variations where individuals carry their own hand, Texas Hold em is a community card game where players may use the five “community cards” as well as their own two “hole cards” in combination to make a winning hand. Because Texas Hold em is relatively simple with a little experience, and five cards are shared among all players, it is the perfect game to apply mathematical strategy. Texas Hold em is the game publicized in televised poker tournaments, like the World Series of Poker.
Texas Hold em play requires a minimum foundation of knowledge of the poker game and involves a few tidbits of technical knowledge and jargon. There are several modes of betting, including small blind bets, big blind bets, and Antes, which are defined as forced contributions by all players at the table. Blind bets are placed by players to the left of the dealer button. In Texas Hold em the dealer button is used to designate the player acting as dealer. The number of blind bets can vary. The small blind bet is posted by the player directly to the left of the dealer and usually equals half of the big bet, posted by the player to the left of the small blind player. Betting structures of Texas Hold em include limit, no limit, and pot limit Hold em.
Each hand in Texas Hold em begins when each player is dealt two cards face down, with the small blind player receiving the first card. The dealer receives the last card. Betting begins with the small blind player and continues until all players fold. This is the pre-flop round. Following the pre-flop round the dealer produces three face up community cards and another round of betting commences. After this flop round another community card is dealt followed by another round of betting. Next, the final community card is dealt, referred to as the river. The next phase is referred to as the showdown. If all players fold and one betting player is left, that player is awarded the pot without having to reveal his hole cards.
Common Texas Hold em poker strategy recommends playing “tight,” meaning restricting the amount of times one bets while raising on few chosen hands. Raising later in the game is recommended as well, since players who bet later have more information about cards than those who bet early.