It should take 5 minutes to figure out how to play Texas Hold’em. Once you know how to play and how the rules work, you can start right away. Let’s begin. Each player in Texas Hold ’em gets two “hole cards.” These hole cards stay hidden during all of the betting rounds. They are only shown at the end of the game, which is called “showdown.”
During the betting rounds, five cards called “community cards” are dealt one at a time face up in the middle of the table. All money earning games players use all seven cards to make the best possible five-card Texas Hold’em poker hand.
There are five ways to make a five-card hand:
3 community cards + 2 hole cards.
4 community cards and 1 hole card.
No hole card + 5 community cards.
The player with the best sequence of cards in Texas Hold’em Poker wins the pot, the total of all the bets made during the hand.
During the betting rounds, players take different actions in Poker based on their hands’ strength. These are Call, Check, Raise, and Fold, which we will discuss in detail in the Texas Hold’em rules. You have to match your opponents’ bets to get the chips in the pot in Texas Hold’em Poker.
Texas Holdem Poker Rules
The rules of Texas Hold’em poker are easy to understand and follow. It’s mostly about the betting rounds and players’ actions during the game. Let’s start with the bets so that everything is clear.
Betting Strategies
In Texas Hold’em Poker, money earning games players can make five main types of bets. Let’s get to know each one individually.
Check: A player can “check” if no bets have been made in the current betting round. This means the player does not add more chips to the pot and passes the action to the next player.
Call: To call means to make the same bet as the player before you. So, if someone has already bet, another player can “call” by putting in the same number of chips. This keeps the player from losing their hand and lets them keep playing.
Raise: To raise means to increase the amount of the bet made by the player before you. A player can “raise” by putting in more chips than the person who bet before them. When you raise the bet, the other players must match it or fold their hands.
Fold: To fold means to stop playing the current hand and give up your claim to the pot. When players choose to “fold,” they give up all the chips they have already put into the pot. This removes the player from the current hand and stops them from winning more bets.
All-In: In Texas Hold’em, money earning games players can bet all their chips. When this happens, other players who want to stay in the hand must call the bet. If other players keep calling, a side pot is made for those still in the game.
Betting Rounds
There are four rounds of betting in a Texas Hold’em game. Players look at their cards and bet chips during each round to try to win the pot. These are the rounds:
Pre-Flop
This is the first round of betting after everyone gets their hole cards. The small blind and the big blind start things off. Once the blinds are set, the player to the left of the big blind goes first. He can call the big blind, raise the bet, or fold his cards. So, the rest of the players follow suit.
Flop
After the first betting round, the dealer puts three cards on the table with their faces up. This set of three cards is called the “Flop.” The player to the dealer’s left makes the first bet in the second round.
Turn
After the second betting round, the dealer puts a fourth community card face-up. We call this the Turn. The player to the dealer’s left starts the next round of betting.
River
After the third betting round, the dealer puts the fifth and last community card on the table. We call this the River. The previous betting round starts with the player to the Dealer’s left.