How To Play Texas Holdem

Your Guide to Basic Texas Holdem

If you don't know how to play Texas Holdem, that is not a problem because you have come to right place to learn how to play Texas Holdem, which has been called the "cadillac of poker" by the great Doyle Brunson.

In brick and mortar venues around the country, you can walk in and watch people playing Texas Holdem, and you can find them playing on the Internet too. Meanwhile, a growing number of poker players are learning how to play Texas Holdem within the comforts of their own home. Basic texas holdem is popular because it is easy!

How To Play Basic Texas Holdem

Now according to the official poker rules a hand of basic Texas Holdem starts with two players left of the dealer putting in the blinds, which are referred to as forced bets.

There is a SMALL BLIND and a BIG BLIND. The big blind is usually twice as much the small blind.
The blinds are set at the beginning of the game. The PURPOSE for the blinds is to push the action.
Once you get few games under your belt, you will see without blinds, players would just muck their cards until they got the MONSTERS.

After two players put in their blinds, each player receives TWO HOLE CARDS face down.

Now, each player has the opportunity to CALL, RAISE, or FOLD.
The person sitting to the left of the big blind is "under the gun" and is the first to act. This is commonly referred to as early position.
If no one raises the pot, the last person to act is the player who put in the big blind. He has the option of either CHECKING or BETTING. If he bets then another round of betting begins.

How to Play Texas Holdem on the Flop

At the end of the round of betting, it is time to see the flop.

The dealer burns or discards the top card of the deck. This is common procedure for basic Texas Holdem to avoid cheating.
The dealer then turns over three cards face up on the table for every one to see. These are community cards that anybody involved in the hand can use in combination with their two hole to form a holdem hand.
Then another round of betting starts. The action will start to the immediate left of the dealer and move clockwise...with the person on the button (see Texas Holdem Terms) acting last in any round of betting.

How to Play Texas Holdem on the Turn

Once the second round of betting has ended, the dealer discards a second card and then places a FOURTH card on the table.

You will hear the term "turn" or "Fourth Street" in basic texas holdem used quite often. Once again, players place their bets.
Players can use this sixth card now to form the best five-card holdem hand.

How to Play Texas Holdem on the River

At last, the dealer burns or discards a third card and then places the final card on the "board" We call this round "Fifth Street" or the "river."

Players can now use any of the five cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form the best five-card holdem hand.
A final round of action begins.
Subsequently, all of the players remaining in the game begin to show their pocket cards. This starts with the player to the left of the last player to call. It is called the showdown. Players use a combination of their pocket cards and the cards on the board to form the best texas holdem hand.
The player who shows the best holdem hand wins! There are instances where players with equal hands in value will share or split the pot. Both players will get 50% of the pot and the next round of basic texas holdem will begin.

The only way to learn how to play Texas Holdem is to play. Check out Full Tilt to get a feel for the action. Play all you want for free, and then start playing for real money as soon as you feel you are comfortable with the official poker rules. Full Tilt has both low limit cash games for beginners as well as high stake sit and go poker tables for advanced players.

Helpful basic texas holdem tips:

Now that you know how to play texas holdem, move on to what beats what in poker.
Make sure you learn the best 10 best starting poker hands as well as the not so good hands to play.
Once you know the official poker rules, make sure you understand poker position at the table it can help or hurt you.
It is always a good idea in basic texas holdem to follow good poker etiquette.
While you learn how to play texas holdem you must avoid these 10 Costly Texas Holdem Mistakes.

You can learn how to play holdem in a few minutes and once you understand the official poker rules will be playing good in just a short amount of time. In order to learn how to play texas holdem, however, you must play and you must play often.

Learn to play
Play today.

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